Video Transcript: Worship Warnings

Continue hearing God's verbs in the book of Ecclesiastes. And the theme of Ecclesiastes  is the vanity or emptiness of so many things in life and one place that things can be  really vain and empty and meaningless is church. You can go to the temple, you can go  to the house of God and things can be very empty and very meaningless there too. And  so this person being very realistic King Solomon observes the things that can go wrong,  even when you go right into God's house. Guard your steps, when you go to the house of God, go near to listen, rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools who do not know what  they do wrong. Do not be quick with your mouth. Do not be hasty in your heart to utter  anything before God. God is in heaven, and you are on earth. So let your words be few.  A dream comes when there are many cares. And many words mark the speech of a fool.  When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools  fulfill your vow. It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it. Do not let your mouth lead you into sin and do not protest to the temple messenger. my vow  was a mistake. Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your  hands, much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore, fear God. This ends the reading of God's Word. And God always blesses His Word to those who listen. When I was a boy growing up, we went to church each Sunday, and I was an observer of what  happened in church. I remember one lady who would spend the first half of every  sermon filing her nails. I don't know how much she got out of the sermon, but I know  she always had beautiful nails. There was a dairy farmer who would spend much of the  sermon nodding, and not necessarily in agreement with the sermon, he would nod and  get further and further and then he jerked his head and tried to stay awake. And then he  nodded again and fall away and get awake again. And then he looked at his kids, and if  any of them were napping, whack them, and get them all woke up, and then he dropped  off and go to sleep. And then every once in a while the cycle would repeat itself. Now all of this was very entertaining for a boy in church who was just looking for entertainment. Remember another man who would read the bulletin for the entire first half of the  sermon and then sleep through the second half. And he had an amazing talent, because  after reading the bulletin to the first half, and sleep into the second half, he always have  something bad to say about the sermon. I didn't realize you know that he had gotten  enough of it, even to criticize it. And I could go on and on with stories of things that I  noticed growing up in church. Now the fact that I noticed these things, may give you a  hint that I was not paying undivided attention at all times, to the presence of God or the  meaning of the sermon. And when I'm up here, sometimes I'll see people bumping each  other, giggling with each other doing this or that, of course, there's the occasional baby  crying, all the stuff that happens when people are in a building together, there's going to  be a lot going on sometimes distractions of various kinds, and the danger and all of that  is that we can come to a place of worship, without really worshiping and pay attention to a great many things besides God himself. What would happen if God actually showed  up in our worship service, in a form in which we could see him? I suspect that would  change the way we conduct ourselves in worship quite a bit. There are some people who  don't take God seriously enough to show up for worship in the first place. They've got 

many better things to do whether it's golfing or raking the leaves or sleeping in or  watching TV or what have you. Just about anything is of greater interest than spending a Sunday morning at worship but what if the biggest problem isn't so much those who  don't show up but those Do we can fill a good deal of our worship time with empty fluff  and vain words and lots of daydreaming. And Ecclesiastes warns us that daydreaming  and running at the mouse when you don't really know what you're saying or mean what  you're saying is a very dangerous thing to do in a worship service. Annie Dillard has  written Why do people in churches seem like a cheerful, like cheerful brainless tourists  on a packaged tour of the Absolute? Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of  power are we so blindly invoke, or as I suspect there's no one believes a word of it. The  churches or children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets mixing up batches of  explosives to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies straw hats and velvet  hats the church we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life  preservers and signal flares, they should last us to our pews. For the sleeping, God may  wake someday and take offence or the waking God may draw us out to where we can  never return. Worship. When we claim to come into the presence of the Almighty maker  of the universe, who is great beyond our wildest imagination, we should come with an  attitude that we are in a very dangerous place and a very dangerous position. That  doesn't necessarily mean that God is bad or that he's nasty. It just means that when you  are in the presence of a very great power, you're a little more careful. When you're in a  high voltage area, you should be very cautious. That's why they have signs like this  danger, high voltage Authorized Personnel Only, you better not go into those places if  you don't know what you're doing, because you could get fried. Even someone who is a  long time, electrician, and better always remember what they're dealing with. Because  one moment of carelessness can be very bad for electricians health, it can be fatal. And  God is not just a power, like electricity. But there is something very powerful and  dangerous about the reality of the being of God. And so we need to heed what  Ecclesiastes says about getting close to him. And acting like that's just another casual  event. I'm going to talk today about two main warning signs from this passage. The first  is take God, seriously. And the second is when you're in God's presence, take yourself  seriously. But first, this warning, take God seriously, when you go to the house of God,  go near to listen, and not to offer the sacrifice of fools who don't even know that they're  blowing it God's in heaven, you're on Earth. Keep that in mind, the fact that God is in  heaven, and you're on Earth means for one thing, you are very little, and he is very large. If large is even a word that can apply to the Maker of all the galaxies and the vast  reaches of the Universe, those things are only a tiny spin off of his power and genius.  That's who he is. And who are we? We are very little persons on a very little planet, in  one small part of that universe. And he cares very much about that planet and about us  little persons. But let's not fool ourselves about our true position. We are very little. And  he looms very large. In the grand scheme of things, he has everything. And not only that  it's not just a matter of him being in heaven in the sense that he's so far above us. But  also that our moral position is so different from his he's in heaven in the sense that he is 

holy. He is pure. He's beyond all sin or corruption. And we are fallen. And so we need to come into His presence with great humility and caution for at least two reasons. One is  that he is so far above us in majesty and greatness, but also in the sense that he is so  much better than we are that we don't deserve to rub elbows with God. And if we come  into His presence at all, it is at his invitation and that His pleasure and not because we  are such all around fabulous and wonderful people. And as we as we think about coming into the presence of such a God, we need to consider again who we are. It's not that it's  not that we need to be just grumpy or sour pusses when we when we come into the place of worship because Oh, it's always so grim and so dangerous. But it is dangerous, not  always grim and God is not one that we should trifle with. You don't want to offer the  sacrifice of fools. Instead, you come into God's presence with reverence and awe  worship the Lord, in the splendor of His Holiness, tremble before him all the earth.  When you live in a democracy, there's a great danger that you forget there is such a thing as monarchy or majesty at all. Everybody's equal. We all know as much as everybody  else, I'm as good as you are. You come into God's presence, without realizing is realizing his Majesty or with that kind of engrained in your bones. I'm as good as you are. You're  lucky I came today. Over that attitude, in a hurry, serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice  with trembling. Those are words that we don't combine very often in our vocabulary are  their worship the Lord with fear or rejoice, and tremble while you're doing your  rejoicing? And you say, well, those were Old Testament Psalms. Well, here's one snippet  from the New Testament after the coming of Jesus worship God acceptably, with  reverence and awe. For our God is a consuming fire. He did not change and become less awesome. Just because Jesus came. He came and showed us the full extent of his love,  but he never became less awesome, are worthy of our fear and respect. Don't go near to  offer the sacrifice of fools, says Ecclesiastes, instead, worship God, and come into His  presence. What did Moses do at the burning bush, God said to him take off your shoes  for the place you're standing on, is holy ground. When the Prophet Isaiah had a vision of God's majesty, he said, Woe to me, for I'm ruined, because he was just undone by the  greatness and majesty of God. If you read in the first chapter of the Book of Revelation,  the last book of the Bible, the best friend of Jesus Christ, John, when he saw the majesty  of Jesus, and the brightness of Jesus, as he's glorified and heaven, he says, he fell at his  feet as though dead. So let's not be under any illusion that Jesus is any less great, just  because he became one of us, and loved us was such a great love. Now, it's true that after John fell at his feet, as though dad, then the Lord touched him and said, Don't be afraid,  and consoled him, but the initial reaction was, I am in the presence of somebody who  was very great. And, and he just felt that he didn't deserve to even see such a lord. Now,  what's the sacrifice of fools? Well, here are a few examples from the Bible. Aaron, the  high priest had his two oldest sons named Nadab and Abihu. And we're not sure exactly  what was going on when they offered their incense. But it says in the Bible, they offered  unauthorized fire before the Lord, they didn't follow the command of God and how they  ought to go about doing that. And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and  consumed them, and they died before the Lord. It was a very dangerous thing. For 

somebody to say, I am a priest, it's kind of part of the job, you know, I just kind of do it  the way I want to do it. They ended up dead. Because they did it that way. There was  something about God's presence, God gave a token of his presence in the midst of the  people by giving them the tabernacle or temple and giving them the Ark of the  Covenant, that sacred box which symbolizes presence, which contain the 10  commandments, which had a place called the mercy seat where the blood was brought to make atonement for the sins of the people. And that ark in particular, could not be  treated casually. These men didn't take God's presence seriously, and they paid the  ultimate price. Another time when people thought they could just use the Ark as kind of  a good luck charm in battle, they lost the battle, and it was captured by their enemies.  But eventually, the enemies found out that the ark was very troublesome to them, too. So they sent it back on a cart pulled by some oxen, which was not the way the ark was  supposed to be transported, but that you know, what is the lessons know about handling  the ark. So, they did it that way. And the Israelite men at a place called Beth Shemesh  saw the Ark coming back on that cart pulled by oxen, and they were so excited to see it  back again. And they were delighted that the ark was back in Israel again after having  been captured. But then some of the men of Beth Shemesh about 70 of them said, Man, I wonder what's inside that thing?You know, we've, we've never had a chance. You know,  it's always been hidden inside that tabernacle, we're only the high priest can go once a  year, man, it'd be cool to touch that arc and look at it and get a peek inside. And so they  did. And 70 of them dropped dead instantly. Because that's what happened when people  thought they could just come right up to God and touch it. Look and do as they pleased.  And that wasn't even the last time something like that happened with the Ark later on  when King David was bringing the Ark up to Jerusalem to put it in the temple, taking it  from the tabernacle, and and moving the tabernacle into Jerusalem itself and then  bringing the Ark along with it. A man named Uza again they were transporting the ark  and the way they weren't supposed to. And these Israelites were supposed to know  better. And the oxen stumbled, and the man named Uza thought he would help out God  and touch the Ark and study it again. And he was killed instantly. There was something  about the ark, God had a rule, nobody ever touches that you carry it on long poles, you  keep it covered when it's out in the open and being transported or otherwise you keep it  in the Holy of Holies. But you treat this sign this token of God's presence with the  greatest care, or it will destroy you. Now, these these folks who just thought God is  somebody to be trifled with, found out that that is not so and you say, well, to glad that  stuff doesn't happen anymore. Well, at one level, we can have some relief that God  doesn't strike dead everybody who offers the sacrifice of fools. But another hand, we  have to be very careful about getting into an attitude that when God doesn't take instant  action, and zap people dead, that now it doesn't matter how you deal with him or how  you come into His presence. In Psalm 50. It says how God comes in will not be silent, of fire devours before him and around him a tempest rages to the wicked person, God says,  These things you have done. And I kept silent. You thought I was all together like you  know, that's the situation when God doesn't show up with lots of fireworks when he 

doesn't make a lot of noise, when his presence isn't real visible. When he seems to keep  the silence, people say God is kind of whoever I think he is or want him to be. And God  says, I kept silent you thought I was just like you, but I will rebuke you and accuse you  

to your face. Consider this, you forget God, or I will tear you in pieces, with none to  rescue. Eccliastes asked, he says something similar. Don't go into the house of God with  that sacrifice of fools, lest he destroy the work of your hands. And maybe not just  destroy the work of your hands either, but destroy you. Now, Ecclesiastes is not the most spiritual book in the world. In a lot of respects. It is a very hard nosed look at the way  life is realistically he looks at emptiness and meaninglessness wherever he finds it,  including in places of worship. But even when he's looking at it without a deeply  committed and loving relationship with God as he's writing, in that particular  perspective, he still knows God is somebody to reckon with. I mean, that's the bare  minimum. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It's not the end of it. It's not  the be all in the end all to know God is fearsome. But it's a pretty good starting point.  You learn to take God more seriously than you take anybody or anything else. That is  the very starting point of getting your head on straight of knowing what life really is  about. And even in the New Testament, God was very gracious, he gave a new sign in a  simpler, more portable sign a more accessible sign than that Ark of the Covenant. He  gave the Lord's Supper, he gave something that we could touch, that we could taste and  swallow, that we could look at, and not be struck dead. In a sense that the coming of our  Lord Jesus Christ is the glory of God that comes to us. And the Bible says the Word  became flesh and dwelt among us. And we've seen his glory, the glory of the One and  Only who came from the Father full of grace and truth. So in Jesus coming up, one,  much greater than the Ark has showed up in human flesh, and people could touch him  without being struck dead, and they could come to know him and come to trust him and  come to love him. And then after he went, he gave us the Lord's Supper as tokens of his  ody and blood. And he didn't say nobody, except once a year can have access to this. He  invites us to come to his table. But it's still a serious, even a dangerous thing. When God  has come not any longer that terrible Ark, which anybody would touch and die, but in  something that we can touch and eat and be nourished. Nonetheless, there are people  who have taken part of suffer in a wrong manner and, and the apostle Paul wrote to  some of them in the church at Corinth, he says, Whoever eats the bread, or drinks the  cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, will be guilty of sinning against the body and  blood of the Lord. Whatever your theology or understanding of what goes on in the  Lord's Supper, don't be so light that say, well, that's just kind of a picture. It's not really  God, being present with us well, however, you understand that if you take it in the  wrong manner, you're sinning against the body and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ  Himself. And Jesus did say this is my body, and this is my blood, understanding how  you will something very wonderful and very dangerous is going on. And therefore a man ought to examine himself before he eats the bread and drinks to the cup, for anyone who  eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on  himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick. And a number of you have 

fallen asleep. We could have a label on the front of that table, you know, sometimes the  label is do this remembrance of me or a wonderful encouragement. At times, maybe a  warning sign is needed to harmful or fatal if swallowed in an unworthy manner. Because that's what happened to people in Corinth, they were getting killed by the Lord's Supper, it had become poisoned to them, because they were not examining themselves. They  were not discerning the body of Christ in the supper, they were not discerning the body  of Christ and the people around them. They were just doing it for the sake of doing it,  and doing it with bad attitudes and in a terrible manner, and it was killing them. Again,  even if God is not striking you dead, the next time you take the Lord's Supper, realize  that it is an awesome thing. To say, I believe in this Lord, and I take his body, I take his  blood by faith, to be my own, to be my life to be my nourishment. So yeah, harmful or  fatal, if swallowed in an unworthy manner, lifegiving and joy giving if taken by faith. So the upshot in Ecclesiastes when you go to worship, is be still go near to listen, don't be  quick with your mouth. God is in heaven, you're on earth. Let your words be few. Cut  down on the Daydream. Watch the words you say. Fewer is better in many cases. And so this sense of stillness and quietness before God, the Lord is in His holy temple, let all the earth keep silent before him. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted, among  other things that may have to do with how we come into worship in the first place. Some of us have to be a little careful, perhaps just about our schedule, you know, we trip in  halfway through the start of worship. Getting ready for worship is an important part of  worshiping. I'm not a watch watcher, or, you know, a stickler on punctuality. But how do you get ready for worship? I, I know that some of us spend more time on our  appearance, getting ready for worship than we do on our hearts. We don't want to come  into church looking weird and bad, because what would other people think. But God  doesn't just look on the outward appearance he'd rather have, you come with a few hairs  out of place. And maybe you didn't get enough makeup on this morning. But he wants  you to come with your heart in place. And one of the ways to get ready is simply silence. Think about it. Take a little time on a Sunday morning, when you're still at home, to be  quiet. To spend some time meditating on God and ask Him to prepare you for the time of worship for the receiving of His word for taking part in the Lord's Supper. You'd be  surprised at what a difference it makes for you in worship. If if instead of just falling out  of bed, or throwing yourself together rushing off the church, okay, here I'm here what's  gonna happen? If you actually compose yourself, spend some time in silence in prayer.  Be still and know that He is God. You may notice his presence more than you otherwise  would. The Lord says, this is the one I esteem he was calm, humble and contrite in spirit and trembles. That my word, you come with a sense of anticipation, you're trembling  with eagerness, but also trembling with a sense of awe what God might have to say to  you today, and what God might do in you today. So that's the first warning sign in  Ecclesiastes five. take God seriously. And very closely related to that is a second  warning sign take yourself seriously now at one level, this is very bad advice because we already got people who take themselves too seriously. You know, they go around  thinking I'm the big cheese, everybody's thinking about me and looking at me and oh, 

how important I am, you know, are they go around all sober, they have no sense of  humor and so on. That's not what I mean, when I say take yourself seriously, think  you're the most important person in the world. And you're always grumpy, serious and  don't know how to laugh. What is meant by take yourself seriously, is, say what you  mean? And mean what you say. And be a person who, when you're in God's presence,  especially in in a place of worship, but wherever you go, weighs your words carefully.  And you take your actions seriously, and you're not just guided by your impulses. When  you make a vow to God, don't delay to fulfill it. One thing you'll notice is that these two  warnings, or not just two totally different warnings, where you say, well, way over here  is take God seriously. And you know, you can do that. And then the way over here is  kind of take yourself seriously, and the two are totally unrelated. When you read this  passage, you find that they're all mingled together, and that people who take God  seriously also take very seriously the words they speak, and the things they do. Show me somebody who doesn't take marriage vows seriously. And I will show you somebody  who doesn't take God very seriously. Show me somebody who needs 18 lawyers and  100 pages of contracts before their word means something. And I'll show you somebody  who does not take God very seriously. Because if you take God seriously, you know that words are a gift from him, that he is the God of faithfulness, who always keeps His  promises. And if you take him seriously, you become a faithful person of truth. And your word is your bond. And so you don't just make a vow based on how you happen to feel  at the moment. One of the great dangers of life is to be driven by feelings and say, well,  then I really I really felt moved at that time. And I made some promises. But you know  what? I don't feel that way anymore. It was a mistake. Well, if you were back in the  temple in those days, and you made a vow in the presence of a temple messenger, you  really didn't have an option to come back later and say, Oh, I shouldn't have said that. It  turned out to be harder than I thought, or my feelings on the matter have changed. He  says van, you say your vow was a mistake. You're better off keeping your mouth shut,  than making vows that you don't follow through on why should God be angry at what  you say? And destroy the work of your hands? What is care what characterizes a godly  person who takes God seriously? Well, he keeps his oath, even when it hurts. When you  make a promise, and you find out later that there's a high price to it, you keep it anyway.  When you make a marriage promise, you say for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer,  in sickness and in health, you know, as long as we both shall live. And when you say  that you say, but what I really meant was for richer in health, you know, that's what I  really meant. And when I said as long as you both shall live, I meant as long as we both  shall love. Well, if that's what you meant, that's what you should have said. You're better  off just shacking up and living together. Then saying you're committed to somebody for  life when you don't mean it. So a person who makes promises keeps his oath even when  it hurts, or when you stand at the baptism font, and maybe you're a parent presenting a  child for baptism, you promised to do all in your power to bring up that little one in the  ways of the Lord, or you've made those promises at a dedication as a parent. Well, now,  keep your oath even when it's hard, even when it hurts, because God takes those 

promises seriously, when you profess your faith before the congregation and say that  you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you're going to follow him. And you're going  to join with the people of God and doing the work of the Lord everywhere. And being an ambassador of his kingdom. That's not a one time thing which led to a party afterward,  and then life went on. That's a commitment and a promise you make and now it's time to keep your word. And when we make these promises, we need to be people who mean  them even when we haven't added the various kinds of oath to it. The Bible says do not  take the name of the Lord your God in vain for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless  who misuses his name now that's one The 10 commandments, and it can be done in a  variety of ways. One way is just to swear and say God or Jesus every other word and,  and use his name very casually. But perhaps an even worse way is to be a person in  church who sings a hymn, you know, take my silver and my gold, not a mite what I  withhold, yeah, right. Some people have sung that ham, who's given 50 bucks for the  year instead, all the rest of themselves, not a mite, what I would hold except everything.  So you know, you can you can say these flowery things, sing these wonderful songs. But if you don't mean them, you're better off just kind of keeping your lips zipped. When we  sing, you know, I'd rather have good singing. But if you don't mean it, then keep your  mouth shut. That's, that's the kind of warnings that we have from Ecclesiastes about  worship. And again, when it comes to Oh, in those days, they when Jesus was preaching, there were people who have kind of worked things out that old system. And they had  their oath to say that some were more binding than others. And they would swear by the  golden the temple, and that would really bind you but not the temple itself. You swore  me that it was not quite as binding an oath and Jesus says, knuckleheads, which is  greater than gold, or the temple that makes the gold holy in the first place. And he, he'd  say, Well, you've heard that it was said, you know, don't break your oath, but keep your  oath. He said, Well, I'll just tell you don't make any oaths at all. Just let your Yes be Yes.  And your No, no. You can swear by heaven, but it's God's throne. You can swear by the  Earth, it's his footstool, you can swear by Jerusalem, it's the city of the great king, you  can swear by your hand, but you can't make one hair white or black. So just cut the  swearing. And say what you mean mean what you say? If you say yes mean it, if you say no mean it and don't say, Well, I didn't Pinky promise, you know, or whatever other little thing you say that makes it not count what you said, if you said it, mean it. Jesus says  everyone will have to give a count on the Day of Judgment. For every empty word they  have spoken for, by your words, you will be acquitted by your words you will be  condemned. So keep your words few and serious, and meaningful, and you'll be a lot  better off and somebody who's running up the mouth and doesn't mean 90% of what  they say. Keep your word, take yourself seriously, when you speak, and not just than in a place of worship. But wherever you go, because the earth is the Lord's and everything in it. Wherever you go, you carry the Spirit of God within you, you are now God's temple.  And that makes it any it's a glorious thing. But that makes it even more serious. Then it  was an Old Testament times you yourself, have the Holy Spirit living within you, you're  you're a temple wherever you go. And you need to start treating your body that way. And

treating your life that way that your life is one big act of worship, in the presence of a  very great and splendid and majestic God. Now, you might say, Boy, take God seriously. take yourself seriously, that sounds serious. Yes, it is serious. Now, it doesn't mean  however, that it's grumpy, or boring, or blah. Let's take a great surfer. You might think of the surfer as just the guy with the cool shades and whatever dude. A surfer who does not  take the power of the ocean and the might of a wave seriously, is going to be a surfer in  very, very serious trouble. Whatever they're not serious about a surfer is serious about  waves. And they know what a wave can do. And that a wave can be fatal. That an  undertow can be far stronger than any poor little person trying to ride the wave. And,  and yet, the surfer delights in surfing. And in fact, the danger is kind of part of the  delight. They love these monster waves and they love the power that goes with it being  close to it and being even enclosed by it. But boy, they respect the waves. Or think of  somebody who is going along a cliff it can be a little dangerous if you don't keep track  of the equipment and and pay very, very careful attention to that. I mean, it's just totally  ugly out there. When you're up on the mountain looking over the the vast of you out  there. No, it's beautiful, its glory. It's a wonderful thing to do. And the danger is even  part of the fun, but be careful. Or if you're a rock climber, you know that that's an ugly  location. You know, it's very beautiful. And if you're good at it, it's probably very fun to  do But if you get careless, it could be a little rough on you. Now. So it is in these  worship warnings, it is a beautiful thing to come near to God, it is a glorious thing to get  to know God better, and to know His nearness and His blessing and the excitement of  having him in your life. And it is a wonderful thing to be able to give your word, you  don't know what's going to happen. You don't know what else could change. But you  know that if you gave that word, it's still going to be true. 10 years from now, 50 years  from now, because you said so. And no matter what challenges life throws at you, your  word means more than those challenges. Would it be more exciting, more fun to say,  Well, God is a nice, soft, sweet marshmallow. And I'm gonna do my way through life.  That That sense of God just being a nothing and a sugary, whatever. Where's the joy and  the thrill and the excitement in that, to know that he is Great and Majestic and holy, and  dangerous, and will make short work of his enemies is a more exciting God to know,  than just the God who is whatever, you vainly imagine him to be the one who you can  just treat with disregard and have no problem, to know God and to live for Him as the  greatest and most exciting thing in the world. And to know the Lord Jesus Christ, is a  thrill and a privilege when you realize who he is, and how great God is. If you think he  was just another guy with a few nice ideals that people ought to kind of pick up on, and  maybe their lives will get a little better. You haven't begun to appreciate the wonder of  knowing Jesus Christ, until you realize what it means that God is in heaven. And you are on earth, you are on earth, until you let it sink in what it means for God to be heavenly,  and you to be merely earthly, and then realize that he came down from heaven to earth,  you don't understand the wonder of what God did, in sending his own Son of what Jesus  did, in coming from that great position of majesty and power to be one of us. But when  you realize God is in heaven, I'm on Earth, and yet he came to be mine, and he even 

chooses to live within me by a spirit, then you can begin to appreciate the wonder of  who Jesus is, and the glory of His salvation. And until you realize what a horrible thing  it is, to live a life of vanity, to stumble along like a dunce to even go into the house of  God offering the sacrifice of fools with all your daydreams, all those cams that you sang, and didn't mean, all those words you uttered and didn't keep all that mess that your  religious life even is, because many of us are at our worst, not when we're out drinking,  or fornicating, or doing other things, we're at our worst, when we come right up to the  altar. And then act like God doesn't matter. When we realize who we are and how we  have failed in those respects, and then realize that he hung on the cross to pay for that to, to wash away all of our stupidity, and all the things for which he could destroy us. Then  we begin to understand what the love of God is, and what a Savior we have. And until  we regard him with reverence and awe and know that he is a consuming fire. We do not  appreciate what it means to be saved from the fire of His wrath, or to be brought near to  him. So dear friends, serve the Lord with fear. rejoice with trembling, guard your steps.  When you go to the house of God go near to listen, not to offer the sacrifice of fools.  God is in heaven. You're on earth. Let your words the few. take God seriously. take  yourself seriously in His presence. Dear Lord, we praise you, and we love you. You are  great and greatly to be praised and your greatness is unsearchable. Lord, we meditate on  the majesty of your power and your awesome deeds. We bow before you and we adore  you. Lord, help us every day to have a greater and greater sense of your majesty of your  splendor of your beauty, and of your power and even of your justice in danger in dealing with those who presume to come into Your presence without being made right with you,  Lord, humble us before you and then lift us up with the knowledge that you love us with an everlasting love. That you have come close to us in Jesus that you dwell within us. by your Holy Spirit and may we always rejoice in these privileges. We thank You, Lord, for the giving of the word for the preaching of the Gospel, for the Holy sacraments of  baptism and the Lord's Supper, for the opportunity to make promises in your presence,  to serve you all our days, to make promises to one another in marriage are promises to  be there for people around us whom we love as brothers and sisters in Christ. Lord,  make us people of faithfulness, and truth, who keep our promises even when it hurts,  and who always shine with the holiness and the majesty of God and all that we do. May  this be our life? May this Lord, characterize us more and more, forgive our sins and  shape us more and more into the character of Jesus? And his name we pray, Amen.