HOW TO WORSHIP GOD Deuteronomy 26:1-15 September 24, 2017 Dr. Howard Batson First Baptist Church Amarillo, Texas As worship styles change, the elements of genuine worship continue to remain the same. This morning, we examine worship as expressed by ancient Israel in Deuteronomy 26. In this passage we find gratitude, confession, joy, and giving. Chapter 26 comes near the end of the second collection of Moses speeches, a collection contained in Deuteronomy 4:44 28:68. This passage brings to a conclusion the statutes and ordinances of Deuteronomy by setting forth two sets of instructions concerning worship. The first eleven verses address the first fruits offering. This offering was to take place after two conditions had been met. First, they were to have already taken possession of the Promised Land, and, secondly, they were to have already produced a crop from which they could give the first fruits. Coming to the sanctuary as an act of worship, the Israelite was to present a basket containing some of the first of all his produce to the priest. After he recited the confession of faith which acknowledged both God s provision and God s deliverance, he laid the basket, his gift, before the Lord. The offering of the first fruits by the Israelites was an indication that God s promises had been fulfilled. They had started a new way of life, an agrarian way of life, which they had long sought for in the promise of God to give them a land flowing with milk and honey. In this section, we discover some elements contained in genuine worship. I. Worship includes gratitude. In worship, the Israelites were to express gratitude toward the Lord their God. Notice what it says in verse 2 about the land....the land which the Lord your God gives you... The description of God as the Lord your God occurs 299 times in the book of Deuteronomy and makes clear both the personal and exclusive nature of the relationship between Yahweh and Israel. Worship exudes from a heart of gratitude. As the Promised Land yielded its very first produce, the ancient Israelites needed to recognize that God had, indeed, given them the land. In fact, six times in this brief passage we have the statement that God is the giver, God is the source of the land. Look at verse 1. When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives... We ve already see it in verse 2. Look at verse 3. I have entered the land which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.
Look at verse 9. He has brought us to this place, and He has given us this land. Verse 10. The first produce of the ground which You, O Lord, have given me. And finally, look at verse 11. So rejoice in all the good which the Lord your God has given you and your household. Because God is the provider of the land, all of the benefits that come from the land were unearned and undeserved by ancient Israel. For the worshiper to say, I have entered the land which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us (v. 3), is to say, I have received the gift that God had promised to Abraham. True worship has a heart of gratitude. We cannot worship God until we have a grateful heart, a heart that acknowledges God is the giver of all good gifts. Instead of being a people of gratitude, however, we find ourselves a people of a very selfcentered attitude. The ancient Israelite was to realize that God was the giver of all. God gave the land. God gave the strength. God gave their produce. Thus, they acknowledged with every breath, This is for what You have given me, O God. Dennis J. Prutow said to someone, You must be very thankful to God for all you have. The person whom he addressed retorted quickly, I ll have you know I ve earned all I have. I m afraid the attitude that has no gratitude is so common among people today. People don t think of God as providing shelter, clothes, transportation and food. And when Thanksgiving Day comes along, they re just glad for the four-day weekend. So many of us do, in our own arrogance, think that we deserve the good things that have come our way. Ancient Israel, instead of being grateful, could have said, Look what we ve accomplished. Look what we ve done. We have overtaken our enemies. We have entered the Promised Land. It is by our own strength and might and wit and wisdom that we have produced this great crop, and we will enjoy all the produce of the land. But instead, the first fruits, the very produce of the land was given back to God through the priest, through the place of worship. Kirk Douglas wrote the story of his life a few years ago, The Ragman s Son. He told of an experience in Pakistan during a time when hundreds of Afghan s were fleeing their country. He met with some refugees near the Afghanistan border. They were eating with their fingers out of a common bowl. Through the interpreter, Kirk Douglas told the refugees, In my country, today is Thanksgiving Day, one day every year that we set aside to give thanks for all that we have in life. The leader of the refugee group, a man with a long white beard, said through his interpreter, In my country, we give thanks every day. (Brian Harbour, The Pause That Refreshes, 8/16/04)
Every Sunday is a day of gratitude. Eugene Peterson tells a story about Johnny Berman, a young man in his congregation. He and his wife were enthusiastic and always came to church. But then the weeds of worldly care choked their young faith. The children came along; they suddenly became wealthy because of a good turn of events. Their lives were filled up with boats and cars, housebuilding and social engagements. They were in worship less and less frequently and then not at all. After a two year absence from church, on a bright winter Sunday Johnny was there again. Surprised to see him, Eugene Peterson said, Johnny, what brought you to worship today? He said, I woke this morning feeling so good, so blessed, so alive, so created, I just had to say thank you, and this is the only place I could think of to say it adequately. I wanted to say it to Jesus. (Eugene H. Peterson, Birthing, Christian Century, Jan 6-13, 1999, 27) What do you need to say to Jesus today? What are you thankful for? One of the elements of good worship is gratitude. II. Confession. True worship involves remembering what God has done on our behalf, remembering that God has set us free. The Israelites were to both remember and to confess that God had set them free from their bondage in Egypt. The church, the present people of God, is to remember what God has done for us in Christ Jesus. We can never forget that it is only through the death and resurrection of His Son that God has set us free from the powers of sin and death. In verses 5-10, we find the irreducible faith of Israel. This passage, much like chapter 6, contains the essence of Israel s identity and purpose before God. This passage contains a glimpse of God s ancient people confessing their faith to Him. All confessions are rooted in memory, and God s people must never forget what has done for them. The worshiper was to confess that his father, meaning Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, was an Aramean. Jacob is described as an Aramean because his mother was an Aramean (Genesis 25:20, 26). He spent twenty years living as an Aramean (Genesis 31:41-42). Both of his wives, Leah and Rachel, were also Arameans. The tribes of Israel received their names from Jacob s twelve sons, and the nation itself Israel is named for him. This confession that we find in this passage recalls that the ancestors of the Israelites were without a place, without a land. In order that they might survive the famine, God led them to Egypt. They arrive few in number, and Jacob is described as perishing, because he was already 130 years old (Genesis 47:9) and was ready to die (Genesis 45:28; 46:30). His descendants are called few in number because, upon arriving in Egypt, they were only seventy strong (Genesis 46:8-27). The confession declared, however, that while in Egypt they became mighty in number, strong in their presence, so much so that the Egyptians became threatened and treated them as slaves (v. 6).
In the despair of enslavement, they cried unto the Lord, and the Lord heard. The God of the ancient Israelites is a God who hears the cries of His people. Whether it was Abel s blood crying out from the ground or the exiles crying from Babylon, God always heard the cries of His people. The God we worship is a God who responds to the suffering of His people. God, therefore, led his people out with many signs and wonders (v. 8) and brought them to a land flowing with milk and honey. The whole Exodus is encapsulated in verse 8. We are to come with hearts of gratitude. We are also to come with confession upon our lips. Confessing that God has set us free. Confessing our story is a story in which God acts in history on our behalf. We read responsively from scripture because that is an act of confession. When we sing a hymn, we are confessing the truths of our faith theological truths with each stanza. The importance of the musical part of our service is that it is a part of confession. You are confessing through the words of the song theological truths about God acting on your behalf. How have you come to worship today? With a heart of gratitude? Have you come to worship with a confession on your lips? O God, help us to worship You in spirit and truth. III. Worship was to include joy. Not only gratitude. Not only confession. But joy. In verse 11, we read these words: and you and the Levite and the alien who is among you shall rejoice in all the good which the Lord your God has given you and your household. Part of their worship, part of their bringing of the first fruits offering was a sense not only of gratitude, but a sense of joy, a rejoicing. Sometimes we worship as if we have no joy, when God s people, in reality, have many reasons to be filled with joy. Our worship is to flow from grateful and joyful hearts. Viktor Frankl once wrote, The last of the human freedoms to choose one s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one s own way. William James made a profound statement when he said, The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude. Are you a person of joy? A person of hope? Did you come this morning with joy in your heart, rejoicing? When the phone rings, Lynn thinks the police are calling to say that her husband was hit by a car. When her child is ten minutes late, she decides he s been kidnapped. When her boss asks to meet with her privately, she expects him to announce that she has been fired. And when she is
asked to associate to words like luck and illness and love and marriage, she ll snap right back with bad luck, fatal illness, lost love, and divorce. That s the way Lynn has chosen to live life as someone who has no joy, someone overwhelmed with negativity. Grace is quite different. When Grace hears the telephone ring, she thinks it is an invitation to a party. When her child is late, she figures he is having fun. When her boss asks to meet with her privately, she anticipates a raise and a promotion. And she instantly associates good with luck, health with illness, marriage with love, and happiness with marriage. The difference between Lynn and Grace is this: Lynn is a pessimist and Grace is an optimist. And optimists want to be pleased. They want to see the good. An optimist is open to joy. Are you open to joy? Those without joy know that life, indeed, is unfair. Fate can be cruel. Friends can fail and betray us. Wouldn t you know that would happen to me, you might hear her say. That s just my luck. Those who have no joy remember every past disappointment, every disaster, every defeat, every failure, every hurt. They are bitter inside. I m not asking you to see life in a naive or foolish way. I m not asking you to be self-deceptive. Not really asking you to forget everything in the past. I don t think that is always wise, for, indeed, we should learn from yesterday so that we can live a better tomorrow. I m not asking you to be one of these people who runs around, always up and cheerful. For if you don t know how to embrace sorrow and joy as well, you ve only lived half of life. I am not asking you to deny the pain, the hurt, or the betrayals of life. But I am asking you to choose joy, even as you embrace pain. The best kind of optimist is the one who, in the face of sorrow not denying it, but in the face of sorrow keeps embracing life, keeps on dreaming, keeps up hope, and keeps up faith in God. The ancient Israelites were to worship rejoicing. What did Paul write? Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious in nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things (Philippians 4:4-8). I want you to listen to what I am about to say. Tim Hansel, a gifted writer, addresses our joy this way. Please don t miss these words, as his insights are powerful and life changing.
Pain is inevitable, but misery is optional. We cannot avoid pain, but we can avoid joy. God has given us such immense freedom that He will allow us to be as miserable as we want to be. I know some people who spend their entire lives practicing being unhappy, diligently pursuing joylessness. They get more mileage from having people feel sorry for them than from choosing to live out their lives in the context of joy. Joy is simple (not to be confused with easy). At any moment in life, we have at least two options, and one of them is to choose an attitude of gratitude, a posture of grace, a commitment to joy. (Willard Gaylin, The Rage Within: Anger in Modern Life, p. 33) Some of you cannot let go. You re holding on with all your might to the pain of the past. And when you do so, you re not going to have any joy. The truth is, maybe you don t want joy. Maybe you ve found life quite comfortable in the midst of your misery. But that s not the way God wants you to be. He wants you to come to worship with joy. The great cellist, Pablo Casals, in his life story entitled Joys and Sorrows, revisits his first memory of attending church on Christmas Eve when he was five. He walked to the church in a small village in Spain, hand-in-hand with his father, who was the church organist. As he walked, he shivered not because the night was cold, but because the atmosphere was so mysterious. I felt that something wonderful was about to happen. High overhead, the heavens were full of stars, and as we walked in silence, I held my father s hand... In the dark, narrow streets, there were moving figures, shadowy and spectral and silent, too, moving into the church silently... My father played the organ, and when I sang, it was my heart that was singing, and I poured out everything that was in me. (Casals, Joys and Sorrows, as told to Albert E. Kahn, p. 29-30) When we worship, do we worship as a people of joy? I m not denying sorrow. I m not denying pain. I m not denying sadness. But is there an inner joy? A new church was built in an upper middle class suburb. Sunday morning in the immediate neighborhood were no longer as quiet as they used to be. The cars coming and going to the church were noisy. Cars belonging to members of the congregation were parked in front of homes in the area. There was a powerful organ and vigorous hymnsinging that could be heard a block away. Some of the nearby residents, who liked to sleep through their Sunday mornings, circulated a petition to curtail the noise. When the petition was presented to a certain Jewish man who lives within half a block of the church, he refused to sign. No, he said. I won t sign that petition. Those people sing as though they really believe that the Messiah had come. If I could believe that, I would sing out even louder, and not just once but seven days a week. How do you worship? How do you sing? Do you sing as if you really think the Messiah has come?
IV. Another clear element to their worship was that of giving. They gave a confession with their mouths, but also with the giving of their goods. Even from these ancient days, worship has always contained the element of returning resources to God, giving to God through His house of worship giving the first fruits and, therefore, acknowledging that He is the giver of all good gifts of our life. Passing the plate is the midst of worship serves as one of the most authentic and biblical elements of all that we do in worship. Look at Deuteronomy 26:12-15 for a second set of instructions. The third-year tithe called for the setting aside of the tithe of the harvest every third year. The portion of the harvest was to be used to make sure that all of God s people benefited from the land, especially those who had no other way to receive God s blessing from the land. Those include the Levite, the alien, the widow, and the orphan. In Deuteronomy 14, we were reminded that the Levites, members of the priestly tribe of Levi, had no portion of the land (14:27-29). In this third year, what had gone to the Lord in the first and second years in the central sanctuary, was to be kept in the local towns to meet the needs of the underprivileged. Therefore, the offerings taken by God s people recognized the vertical responsibility toward God as well as the horizontal responsibility toward others. The offering of the first fruits went to the Lord, and the third-year tithe went to meet the needs of the members of the community. A part of our worship is giving. This is your church. This is your staff. This is your house of worship. These are your electric bills. These are your mission endeavors. This is your food pantry and your clothes closet. These are your ministries to reach out to our community. These are ours as we do our part to worship. Gratitude. Confession. Joy. Giving. How did you enter the doors today? But more importantly, how will you exit?