This Week\’s Sunday School Lesson, \”When Worship Becomes A Ceremony\”, 8/10/2015

 

WHEN WORSHIP BECOMES A CEREMONY

THE TEMPLE BECOMES A ROBBERS DEN

Jeremiah 7:1-15

 

PREACHER\’S OBLIGATION

V:1-2 \” This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:\”

\”Stand at the gate of the Lord\’s house and there proclaim this message: \”\’Hear the

word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship

the Lord.\”

1. Preachers have an obligation to God the Father.
2. Preachers must always be prepared to hear a word from the Lord.
3. Preachers must preach the Word given to them by God.
4. Preachers must be willing to go where God sends them.
5. The Word of God must be taught when believers come together for worship.
6. Preachers must preach the truth and the whole truth.
7. Preachers cannot preach the blessings of God without preaching the requirements to

receive the blessings.

1. We can not preach the righteousness of God without preaching the

penalty of sin.

1. We cannot preach discipleship without preaching discipline and chastisement.

 

A COMMAND TO REFORM

V:3. \” This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place.\”

1. In this verse, God gave us a command and a promise.
2. The command is to reform our ways and our actions.
3. The Israelite\’s had followed the ways of the world.
4. They followed the ways of the pagan nations around them.
5. They worshiped idol gods.
6. In their hearts, they rejected the true and living God.
7. They worshiped gods made with human hands.
8. They came to the Temple of God and participated in all the ceremonies,

but their hearts were far from the worship of the Lord.

1. God gives us time to reform before He executes His judgment.
2. The God we serve is a tolerant God. He is long suffering.
3. God puts up with our disobedience for a time.
4. We are here because God lets us live.
5. None of us can sustain ourselves.
6. We are here by the grace and the mercy of God.
7. God requires us to worship Him in the spirit of truth.
8.   God promised that if we follow His commands, we will live a prosperous

life.

1. We want the blessings of God without being obedient to God.
2. Some of the individual blessings of God are conditional on our

obedience.

1. Our quality of life is conditional on our obedience to God.

 

A FAILED RELIGION

V:4. \” Do not trust in deceptive words and say, \”This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!\”

1. The temple that Solomon built was designed by the Lord.
2. The Lord provided all the material and gifted the all the tradesmen with the

power of the Holy Spirit to build the temple to His specifications.

1. The general thought was that God would not destroy His temple.
2. The temple became the center of worship.
3. The Nation of Israel had come to worship the building but not the God

who built the temple.

1. God used His prophets to inform His people that He had no interest in the

building, but rather the spiritual well being of His people.

1. God is not concerned about our religious practices, but our lifestyle of

obedience.

1. You can practice religion without being obedient to God\’s Word.
2. Your religion is not an indication of your faith.
3. Your religion could be giving glory to a building, a congregation,

a denomination or a pastor.

1. Religion without faith in the Word of God is a trip to hell.
2. We cannot trust in the words of man.
3. We must trust in the Word of God.
4. What God wants from us is a religion that believes in His Word, lives by

His Word and acts according to His Word.

 

THE REQUIRED REFORMATION

V:5-6. \” If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, 6 if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm,\”

1. The Sins of the nation are specified in this verse.
2. They were walking not according to God\’s ways.
3. They were not dealing with each other justly.
4. They oppressed the foreigners.
5. They took advantage of the fatherless and widows.
6. The shed innocent blood.
7. They worshiped idol gods.
8. The people of Israel were practicing a religion that had no faith in God.
9. Their religion was one of ceremonies.
10. Their religion lacked love and compassion for others.
11. Their religion was one of selfishness.
12. Their religion was one of deceitfulness.
13. Their religion was totally ungodly.

THE CONDITIONAL PROMISE OF GOD

V:7. \” Then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever.\”

1. God said , I would rather obedience than sacrifice.
2. God gave us two great commands.
3. Love the Lord with all you heart, mind, soul and strength.
4. Love your neighbor as yourself.
5. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commands. Matt 22:37
6. If we could just follow through on these two commands,

we would fulfill God\’s requirements for righteousness.

1. Successful living in the Lord is conditional on our obedience to

God\’s commands.

1. We need the conviction of the Holy Spirit to keep our minds

focused on the Word.

1. Righteousness is preliminary to worship of the Lord.

 

TRUSTING IN THE WRONG VOICE

V:8. \”But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.\”

1. There is only one voice that is worth listening too and that is the Word of

God.

1. In this life we will find many false doctrines that are filled with lies

and deceptions.

1. Satan is the father of lies. John 8:44
2. He disguises himself as an angel of light. 2 Cor 11:24.
3. The Word of God is the unchanging truth.
4. Jesus said heaven and earth will pass away but My Word is eternal.

Matt 24:35

1. Jesus also said , you will know the truth and the truth will set

you free.

 

THE NEED FOR A SAVIOR

V:9-10 \”Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, \”We are safe\” — safe to do all these detestable things?\”

1. Satan the Father of lies, will have us believe that as long as we show up for worship,

God will over look our sinful behavior.

1. We were born in sin and shaped in iniquity, therefore lust of the flesh is our

natural behavior.

1. The Word says, that there is none righteous, no not one.
2. Men are lovers of darkness and likely to exchange the truth for a lie. Rom 1:23-26
3. The only solution to our sinful behavior is Jesus Christ.
4. Any man in Christ is a new creation; the old has gone and the new has come.

2 Cor 5:17

1. In Christ, the old man is dead and the new man has come alive.
2. On our own, we have no power to fight the lust of the flesh.
3. We have to have the conviction of the Holy Spirit to change.

 

ROBBING GOD

V:11 Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have

been watching! declares the Lord.\”

1. The Lord\’s house is a House of prayer.
2. We have made it a production of song, dance and eloquent speaking.
3. The Lord\’s house has become a place of entertainment.
4. We only want to hear a word that is pleasing to the ear.
5. An occasional mention of sin is ok, but don\’t make it the focus of the message.
6. We rob God of His Glory when we minimize our sinful behavior and the

need for conviction of the heart and repentance.

1. We rob God of His Glory when we preach the atoning blood of Jesus Christ

without the need for spiritual growth and development.

1. We rob God of His Glory when we hear the Word but don\’t make it a

lifestyle and a commitment to service.

1. We rob God of His Glory when we don\’t continuously seek the high calling

of Jesus Christ.

1. We rob God of His Glory when we bring a sacrifice of money but not our bodies

as a living sacrifice.

1. We rob God of His Glory when our prayers become what I want rather than

what I can do for God .

1. We rob God when trust man, idols or ourselves.
2. God takes note of our worship.
3. He knows if it is for show or comes from the heart.
4. We have to remember that one day we will have to give an account of

everything we have said and done.

 

EXAMPLES OF GOD\’S WRATH

V:12 \”\’Go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for my Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel.\”

1. The tabernacle of God was set up in Shiloh in the days of Joshua.
2. God destroyed Shiloh and gave the ark in the hands of the Philistines

because of the idol worship of Israel.  Joshua 18:1, Judges 18:31

1. God favor is not tied to any building or location.
2. The body is the temple of the Lord.
3. We should be the living Church that others can see.
4. Others ought to see a change that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has made in out lives.
5. God does not need us, we need God.

 

THE EVIDENCE OF GOD\’S LOVE IS HIS LIVING WORD

V:13 While you were doing all these things, declares the Lord, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer.\”

1. God is a tolerant God.
2. God is long suffering.
3. God extended His mercy to us, even though our behavior did not

change.

1. Unless we change, there will come a time when God will punish us for our sins.
2. Throughout the Bible, God has given us promises and warnings over and over

again.

1. We must not take God\’s kindness for weakness.
2. He is able to destroy us from the face of the earth.
3. He promised us life if we follow His commands and destruction if we ignore

His commands.

 

GOD KEEPS HIS PROMISES

V:14.-15.  Therefore, what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears my Name, the temple you trust in, the place I gave to you and your fathers. 15 I will thrust you from my presence, just as I did all your brothers, the people of Ephraim.\”

1. God point us to what He has done in the past to His people who disobeyed His

commands.

1. We have the example of the flood in which only Noah and his family survived.
2. We have the example of Solomon\’s temple which was destroyed in 586 BC.
3. We have the example of Herod\’s temple which existed doing the time of Christ

Ministry which was destroyed in 70 AD.

1. People are moved to worship a building rather than God, the builder of the Temple.
2. God has no special interest in a building, but He has love and compassion for

His people.

1. God will keep His promises and His covenants that He made to Abraham and David.
2. God promises are not dependent on a particular person or generation, but to

a covenant people who keeps His commands.

 

YOU AND I STILL EXIST BECAUSE OF THE GRACE AND MERCY OF GOD

 

WORSHIP THE TRUE AND LIVING GOD

 

GIVE HIM PRAISE AND HONOR

 

Rev. M. Mitchell

Asst. Pastor of Greater Macedonia Baptist Church