Brown's Daily Word 11-30-97

Good Morning,
Praise the Lord for this beautiful morning, on the last day of November, 2007. Praise the Lord for His many gifts, including the gift of music. Last night we, together with many friends from the church, had the high privilege of attending the Michael W. Smith Christmas concert at the Arena. It was amazing, exalted, and beautiful beyond description. Michael W. Smith was joined by the Katinas, a group of five brothers from American Samoa whose giftedvoices blended in tight harmonies. Also joining them was Melinda Doolittle, whose small name belies her enormous vocal talent. The live orchestra added depth and beauty to the concert. Wow! This is one of the highlights of the worship celebration of Jesus, our Savior, at Christmas.
Another highlight for me will be the Downtown Singers accompanied by the Binghamton Philharmonic in their presentation of "The Messiah". This will be the 25th anniversary performance of "The Messiah" by the Downtown Singers. It will be presented at the Forum on December 21 and 22. If anyone living around here would like to attend, please let me know. Our friend Alan Crabb is the conductor of this program.
Another yearly highlight for us is the opportunity to attend the Christmas Extravaganza at Radio City Music Hall. We have chartered a bus to attend this event. We will be departing in the early hours of Monday morning (in 3 days). For those who will be participating in this trip, we plan to leave by 6 AM from the church lot at 128 Maple Drive, Endicott. There will be a breakfast stop after the Delaware Water Gap. The bus will arrive in Manhattan at approximately 9:30. The group will be dropped off at Bryant Park, located at 6th Avenue and 42nd Street for free time. The performance of the Christmas Spectacular will be at 5 PM. The bus will leave the city at 7:15. There will be a stop at Six Brothers Restaurant for dinner, arriving back at 128 Maple Drive by 11:15 PM. Jim Holmes will be in charge of the tour. His cell phone # is 607-765-3577.
Christmas is all about the celebration and worship. Our highest priority as Christians is to give glory to God, to exalt Him by giving Him worship. Psalm 24 is one of the Advent Psalms. In Psalms 24, we find that David outlines for us some very important aspects of what our approach to worship should be. It is believed by most scholars, that this psalm of David was written not long after David had captured the city of Jerusalem. David’s desire was to build a religious and political center for his kingdom and Jerusalem was to be it. David wanted to establish a permanent place of worship for God. The ark of the covenant had been placed in the house of Obededom the Gittite and God was blessing his house (2 Sam. 6:10-17). However David desired to bring the ark to Jerusalem and set it up upon the Mountain of Zion and so he does. The ark is placed upon the “holy hill”. After the ark is set in it’s place, the question is raised, “who can ascend to the hill of the Lord?” to worship. In other words, what are the conditions to approach the Lord of Hosts in worship? Here David shares the conditions for the approach of worship.
David asks in verse 3, “who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?” The Hebrew word is the word `alah {aw-law’} which means to go up as to meet or visit with. Who can meet with God? Who can come before Him in worship? David answers this question by saying “he that has clean hands and a pure heart”.
The hands are often used in scripture to represent what we do. When the priests were set apart to be a priest, scripture tells us that the blood of a ram was placed upon his right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the big toe of his right foot (Exodus 29:20) signifying that the priest was separate and what he heard, and what he did, and where he went, were to all be done remembering that he was holy.
David is saying that what we do is important. One of the problems of the Old Testament was that people would often do cruel things to one another, such as robbing from one another, or and then go to the house of the Lord and offer their worship, acting as if nothing was wrong. God was not pleased with such worship.
Remember that the Hebrew word for ascend meant to go up to met. To go to God’s holy hill to meet with Him in worship. However, in Mal. 3:5, God is going to meet with the worshippers who abuse their brothers, not in worship, but in judgment. God was not happy with what the worshippers were doing. In essence, they were not in a right relationship with Him.
It is important to understand that what we do, our conduct, or conversation as it is often found in the NT, will affect our worship. Here’s why this is important. Worship certainly involves activity. We lift our hands, we sing, we pray, we give loud exclamations of praise and all of these things are certainly “manifestations” of worship. However, worship, while involving actions, is first and foremost a function of the heart. We can sing until we are blue in the face, we can shout until the rafters shake, but if it is not from the heart, it is not worship. You can sing, and not truly worship, you can clap your hands, or lift them up, and not truly worship, you can pray, or speak in tongues, and not truly worship. Worship must come from a pure heart.
Remember that worship begins before we ever get here. . So often we are guilty of having all the “actions” of worship, but never really worship simply because somewhere, somehow, we are not in a right relationship with God.
The only way to have a right relationship with God is through His Son Jesus Christ. The only way our hands can be cleansed, and our hearts made pure is through the blood of Jesus Christ. I believe it is important that we remember that we are worshipping a Holy God. Notice what David calls the place before the presence of the Lord in verse 3. The question is asked, “Who shall stand in His holy place?” In the Hebrew it reads ba-maqown qodeshu. There are two words to notice, first maqowm {maw-kome’}standing place, and next, qodesh {ko’-desh} apartness, sacredness, holiness. David is asking “who can stand in the standing place of holiness?” He is reminding his readers that to be in the presence of God is to be in a place of holiness.
In Exodus 3, when the Lord drew Moses to Himself at the burning bush, Moses was reminded that he was on holy ground. In Exodus 27: 9-18, we find that God gave Moses the specifics on the court of the tabernacle (worship center). On the north and south sides, there was to be a linen fence of about 150 feet in length and on the east and west side, it was to be around 75 feet in length. It was to be made out of fine twisted linen. The tabernacle was to be surrounded by a fence made basically of white sheets. When I first read this, I thought to my self, what good is that? A knife would cut the linen into. But then the Lord showed me, it wasn’t to keep people out for God desires that we enter in before Him in worship, but rather, it was to remind the worshipper that he was no longer standing on common We need to remember that we are standing before the very presence of a holy God, we are in His house, standing in His presence, on Holy Ground. Our minds need to be on Him. He deserves our respectful reverence.
Satan loves for us to allow our minds to wander, he will do anything to keep our mind off the Lord. Remember that to stand in God’s holy hill is to stand in His presence and He deserves all of our attention. The old English word for worship was a combination of two words, worth and ship. To worship means that we declare to God how worthy He is for all that He has done for us.
We are told that God inhabits the praises of His people.
Psalm 22:3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
God lives in an environment of praise, so to make Him feel at home, we need to praise Him. Here’s the heart of the manner, God wants to fellowship with His kids. He wants to be a part of our “worship” services. He wants you to experience His presence.
Notice in verses 7-10, that there is a reference to the gates being lifted up. The Hebrew word is the word nasa which means to lift up, or carry away, to be swept away. Many Biblical scholars believe that David is speaking prophetically of the time that the ark of the covenant would be carried into the Temple built by Solomon, that the gates of the Temple would literally be swept away by the glory of the Lord. Others see the reference to the gates of the city of Jerusalem being swept open before the ark of God as David brings it to the city of Zion, to be placed on the Holy Hill.
I could not help but think as I read this, of how the Lord desires our fellowship and worship. He desires that the gates (heart) of our temple (body) be swept away before His great glory so that He can enter in. As great as the Lord is, He allows us the response of opening up our hearts to Him, so that He can enter in. What A mighty God we serve!
In Him,
Brown