Sunday, October 12, 2014 am
COUNT IT ALL JOY – WHEN
WE ASSEMBLE!
When it comes to assembling with the saints, one might think that would
be one of the more enjoyable times in our lives.
We are assembled together with others of “like precious faith”
who genuinely care about our souls, and we are gathered together before
God, our Creator and our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.
We are here to render due worship to them.
In
Psalm 122:1, David said, ““I was glad when they said to me, “Let us
go into the house of the Lord.”” You look at the life of David and
you see one who looked forward to worshipping God.
It is reflected in many of his psalms of worship.
One of the first prophecies in Isaiah refers to the establishment
of the kingdom in Jerusalem.
Psalm 42:1–4 says, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants
my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day
and night, While they continually say to me, “Where is your God?” When I
remember these things, I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go
with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God, With the voice
of joy and praise, With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast.”
Psalm 95:1–3, “Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout
joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence
with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the
Lord is the great God, And the great King above all gods.”
Psalm 84:1–2, “How lovely is Your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts! My
soul longs, yes, even faints For the courts of the Lord; My heart and my
flesh cry out for the living God.”
Isa. 2:2-3 says, “Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That
the mountain of the Lord’s house Shall be established on the top of the
mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall
flow to it. Many people shall come and say, “Come,
and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of
Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem.” While this
text doesn’t use the word joy, you can see it reflected in the attitude
of those headed that way.
They want to be in the house of God and learn His will.
In
the New Testament our singing is to be with melody in our hearts (Eph.
5:19) and with grace in our hearts (Colossians 3:16).
But
even though our worship ought to be a joy, for many that joy is lost.
It is treated as drudgery.
Malachi 1:13 finds an ungrateful people who saw worshipping God
as a weariness. Is that a
problem with us? Do we dread
worshipping God? When we are
here do we find ourselves disinterested and bored?
Do we find ourselves complaining more than worshipping?
Do we find ourselves making excuses to NOT attend as we ought to?
If so, we need to do some examination.
For the rest of our lesson, we want to note some reasons why we
might not find our worship a joy.
Some reasons we might not find joy are because:
a.
We sometimes hear the
expression that our heart is not in the right place.
When we find no joy in serving God, it is very likely related to
our heart.
b.
The need for a pure
heart is emphasized in scripture.
Matthew 5:8 says, “Blessed are the
pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
Hebrews 10:22 calls upon us to draw near to God with a true heart in
full assurance.
c.
We may be serving God
with divided loyalties (Matt. 6:24).
Our heart may have become corrupted with weeds that are chocking
the word of God out.
d.
James 4:8 calls upon us
draw near to God, to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts.
e.
2 Corinthians 13:5 –
perhaps we need a good heart examination.
f.
IF your heart is right
with God, you will find joy in worshipping Him.
a.
We need to remind
ourselves that we are here to worship God.
We strive to follow His instructions in how we do that, as we
have continually emphasized.
b.
We are commanded to
assemble – Heb. 10:24-25.
And there are numerous passages that imply the need for
assembling (Acts 20:7, 1 Cor. 11:20, 16:1-2,
etc.). The same was
true with David under the Old Law.
All those passages in the psalms demonstrate an understanding of
why we are here.
c.
Why are we here?
First and foremost to worship God.
Secondly, to build each other up – exhorting and edifying one
another. Both of these
principles are outlines in scripture.
d.
If we find no real joy
in assembling with the saints, maybe we see some other reasons for why
we assemble – to please friends and family, to keep the elders off our
backs, to keep up appearances, etc.
This is never acceptable before God.
a.
Continually we need to
remind ourselves of our first loyalties.
We are citizens of heaven (Eph. 2:19).
Here we are sojourners and pilgrims (1 Peter 2:11).
We must never forget this.
b.
Colossians 3:1-2 reminds
us to set our mind on things above!
c.
Romans 8:5-8 describes
the difference between those who set their minds carnal things and those
who are spiritually minded.
d.
Perhaps one reason we
find no joy in worshipping God is that the world’s entertainment and
distractions has taken root in our hearts and lives.
We are so used to glitz and glamour, thrills and having our
senses tantalized, that worshipping God according to His instructions
becomes boring and tedious.
Thinking of the worship assembly becomes drudgery rather than a joy.
Friends, the answer to such a dilemma is NOT to see how entertaining we
can make the worship, but to refocus our minds and hearts where they
need to be. Romans
12:1–2 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of
God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable
to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to
this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is
that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
a.
Ezra 7:10 reminds us of
the example of Ezra the scribe.
Before teaching the people we are told, “For Ezra had prepared
his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach
statutes and ordinances in Israel.”
The attitude of David, as seen in Psalm 122:1 was anticipation for
worship. He WANTED to do it.
b.
Often we don’t get more
out of our Bible studies because we don’t put anything into them.
We don’t prepare for class.
We don’t get adequate rest to be alert as we worship God.
We have tried to purify our hearts by praying to God beforehand.
c.
2 Cor. 9:7 in dealing
with our giving says it is to be done, as we have purposed in our heart.
We make preparation!
d.
Acts 10:33, when
Cornelius heard that Peter was coming he made ready for him.
They were all there when Peter arrived and gladly received the
word with all readiness.
e.
Acts 17:11, “These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that
they received the word with all
readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether
these things were so.”
a.
The Bible is clear that
we are to love our brethren!
We ought to prefer them over the world.
Jesus taught His disciples – John 13:34, 35.
In 1 John 4:7-11, we are called upon to love one another, with
God and Jesus our example.
This is in a letter where such was a concern.
In 1 John 2:9-11, 4:20-21, we find that to hate your brother is
to walk in darkness.
b.
Sadly, many have
problems with their brethren and these stand in the way of properly
worshipping together.
Sometimes attitudes toward brethren keep us away from the assembly and
at other times they taint our attitude while together.
Such attitudes can cause our assembling together to be a
drudgery.
c.
Phil. 2:3-4 calls for us
to esteem others better than ourselves.
Romans 15:1-2 calls for us to bear with the scruples (weaknesses)
of the weak.
The attitudes in such verses ought to be the goal in our lives, if they
are there, we will not let others deter us from proper worship.
a.
There are some who live
their lives without any hope beyond this life.
Some are not truly convinced of heaven and/or hell.
Others have not duly considered the wonders of heaven and the
horrors of failing to make it there.
They are not living with a strong desire to depart and be with
the Lord.
b.
Hebrews 11:13-16 spoke
of those examples of faith that died “not
having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured
of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and
pilgrims on the earth.”
Vs. 16 says, “Now they desire a better
country, that is, a heavenly country.
Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has
prepared a city for them.”
1 Peter 1:3-5 speaks of our incorruptible inheritance in heaven.
c.
It has been said that
our worship assemblies are (or at least they ought to be) a taste of
heaven. If you don’t find
pleasure in worshipping God (as He has commanded) on earth, heaven will
be miserable as that is what we will be doing throughout eternity.
When it comes to our attitude in worshipping God, there are many excuses
given for it not being a source of joy.
But if truth be known it all boils down to this – is YOUR
attitude what it ought to be?
The attitude of others doesn’t matter, yours is the only one you
can control. Let us strive
to find real joy in serving God – when we assemble and throughout our
lives.