Proper Worship | Sunday, February 27, 2022

These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land which the LORD God of your fathers is giving you to possess... You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods... but you shall seek the place where the LORD your God chooses out of all of the tribes to put His name for His dwelling place, and there you shall go. (Deuteronomy 12:1–5)

When the Lord becomes your God, the old altars must come down and He alone must take the exalted place of honor in your life.

Untroubled in Troubling Times

It has been an eventful week, and the chaos of our world continues to intensify, reminding us that we live in a broken world. These are the kinds of times Jesus described in Matthew 24:

And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. (Matthew 24:6–8)

Notice the words: "See that you are not troubled." How is that even possible? In John 14:1, Jesus told His disciples:

Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions... I go to prepare a place for you.

The apostle Paul wrote to the church at Rome that it is through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures that we find hope. At the very least this weekend, I want to encourage you with those hopeful words. Our Lord is on the throne. He is unsurprised by the happenings of our world, and He desires to work in and through these situations to expand His kingdom and reach people with the gospel.

Hope on the Verge of the Promised Land

In our study in Deuteronomy, Israel some 3,400 years ago was on the verge of tumultuous times as they prepared to enter the promised land. Moses gives them final instructions before they cross the Jordan, and one of his encouraging words of hope is that he repeatedly speaks of their entry to possess the land as a complete certainty.

We find this again in Deuteronomy 12:1. Moses does not say, "I really hope you get into the land." He says you are going in, and every place the sole of your foot treads will be yours. No man will be able to stand against you. As we saw in Deuteronomy 11:31–32, "You will cross over the Jordan and go in to possess the land... and you shall be careful to observe all the statutes and judgments."

In a similar way, when Jesus speaks of wars, earthquakes, famines, pandemics, and persecution in Matthew 24, He says, "See that you are not troubled," and, "He who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come."

Sometimes when chaotic things happen, people ask me, "Pastor, do you think it's the end of the world?" Honestly, I don't know for certain—Jesus Himself didn't know the day. But I'll tell you this: I don't think it's over quite yet. God has more for us to do. These challenging times are also opportune times—opportunities to share the hope God has given us with neighbors, coworkers, family, and friends who are troubled by all that is happening. Just as Moses spoke to Israel as though the promised land were already theirs, the Scriptures give us comfort, encouragement, and hope. Let not your heart be troubled; put your trust in God.

A New Section: Israel's Governing Law

In Deuteronomy 12, we open a new section of the book. From chapter 12 through the end of chapter 26, Moses focuses on three basic things: the ceremonial laws, the civil laws, and the social laws of Israel.

Remember that the name Israel means "governed of God." The reason the people have the Pentateuch—Genesis through Deuteronomy, often called the Torah, which means "law" in Hebrew—is that they were to be governed directly by God. Israel was to be a theocracy. So these words Moses gives are, in a sense, their governing constitution, the document by which they were to live. And Moses is pastoring the people, exhorting Israel to be fully devoted to God.

He begins with the ceremonial laws, focusing on their worship under four headings: the place of their worship, the pattern of their worship, the purity of their worship, and the purpose of their worship.

The Place of Israel's Worship

When Israel took possession of the promised land, it was filled with idolatry. The places of idol worship dominated the hilltops and the valleys. The Canaanites worshiped multiple deities in immoral, vile, and carnal ways.

The typical practice of ancient conquerors was to come in and replace the deities of the conquered people with images of their own gods—simply toppling the old gods and putting up their own. But Israel was not to do that. They were to destroy all the places the nations served false gods: the high places on the mountaintops, built to get closer to the gods, and the heavily wooded groves. The altars were to be destroyed, the sacred pillars—images to a deity called Asherah—broken down, the wooden images burned, the carved images cut down. The very names of these deities—Baal, Chemosh, Dagon, Asherah, Molech—were to be removed from the land. Israel was to purify the land and rid it of all idolatry.

Then, in verse 5, they were to seek the place the Lord God would choose to make His name dwell. Ultimately this would be Jerusalem, where the temple would be established. God was not to be worshiped in the places, the ways, or the patterns of the Canaanite gods. There was to be the place where the one true God would be worshiped properly.

This idea of "the place" is central—it appears over and over in this chapter: verse 5, verse 11, verses 13–14, verse 18, verse 21, verse 26. You are not to worship in all the places like the Canaanites; you are to worship in the place God chooses for Himself.

Tearing Down Our High Places

The lesson is simple. When God becomes Lord of our lives, He alone is to take the exalted place of honor. This requires the removal of old places and old names that we were committed to. When Christ occupies the place of honor in our lives, there are high places and dark groves that need to be destroyed—burned, broken, cut down, and removed.

This is the New Testament principle of putting off the old man and putting on the new. Paul writes in Ephesians 4:17–24:

I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk... that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

When Christ comes into the territory of your life, all the old places of devotion need to be removed. This removal process—which the Bible calls sanctification—takes time. It's a process, not something that happens overnight. God is not honored by our addictions, our misplaced priorities, or our passions. Those are like former idols we devoted our energy, assets, and time to. God cannot be worshiped with these old idols.

If sanctification is not a priority, we will easily slide back into the bondage of idolatry—exactly what we witnessed with Israel again and again. They didn't remove all the high places and groves, and those things became a snare that dragged them back into idol worship.

Sanctified by His Spirit and Word

This sanctification is not something we do on our own. We have a Helper. The Bible calls it the sanctification of the Spirit—God working in us both to will and to do His good pleasure. And God uses His Word: in John 17:17 Jesus prayed, "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth." He cleanses us by the washing of the water of His Word, by His Spirit, and by our engagement within the body of Christ.

You might object, "There are no places of divided devotion in my life." I wish that were true for all of us, but the fact is we are easily distracted by idols. You can assess your own life with some simple questions: What am I devoting or sacrificing my energy to? What am I devoting or sacrificing my assets—my money—to? What am I devoting or sacrificing my time to?

The things we dedicate our might, our money, and our minutes to are the things that occupy the place of worship in our lives. Whatever you give your time, money, and energy to will grow to be supreme and dominant—it will become your god, your idol. Last time I spoke of two pitfalls Israel faced: forgetfulness, where we forget the Lord, His way, and His word; and unfaithfulness, where we turn from the Lord to idolatry. We face both. Even as a pastor, I am in constant danger of forgetfulness by not spending time with the Lord, and of misplaced priorities and devotion.

Your work can become an idol when you give it all your energy, time, and mind. Your children can become an idol; so can your pets, amassing wealth, accumulating possessions, or gaining power. Idolatry always robs us of God's blessing and removes us from the place of His promises. So we must be careful to allow nothing to distract us from worshiping God in His rightful place.

How then should we respond? This passage says we must utterly destroy all the places where idols are served, tear down the altars, break the sacred pillars, burn the wooden images, cut down the carved images, and destroy their names. There must be a complete removal of the old things that distract us. As Peter writes, we need to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts. He becomes the One who sits on the throne, in the place of our lives.

The Pattern of Israel's Worship

Second, the pattern of their worship. Moses says in verses 5–14 that they were to bring their burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, heave offerings, vowed offerings, free will offerings, and firstborn of their herds and flocks to the place the Lord chooses, and there rejoice before Him. And critically, in verse 8:

You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes.

The ancient Canaanites worshiped on every high hill and under every green tree, and within their own homes, performing rituals in virtually every place. But God's people were to worship in the one place, in the proper and prescribed way. I won't go in depth on each offering—you can read Leviticus for the details—but each had a specific pattern, both how to offer and how not to offer.

God was not to be worshiped however the people wanted, because apart from His prescribed way, their worship would quickly devolve into immoral idolatry, which the Old Testament shows happened constantly. When God is your Lord, He is to be honored after the pattern He prescribes. We are to do God's work in God's way.

So when someone tells me, "When I smoke pot I feel close to God"—no, that's not how it works. Or, "God is love, so He must be fine when I'm loving my girlfriend"—again, that is not what Scripture prescribes. I do not get to do whatever is right in my own eyes or determine the proper pattern for serving God. Doing God's work in God's way requires that we discover in the Scriptures what that looks like—what offerings God desires, what sacrifices He requires, what He has called us to do. If I go out into the world and decide to worship God however I want, I will always descend toward idolatry. The only way to know what God desires and requires is to know Him through His Word.

The Purity of Israel's Worship

Third, the purity of their worship. In verses 15–27 God permits them to slaughter and eat meat as they desire, but commands:

Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life; you may not eat the life with the meat... You shall pour it on the earth like water. (Deuteronomy 12:23–24)

When they sacrificed an offering, they would give a portion to the Lord and feast on the rest, but all the blood was to be drained, because the life is in the blood. And verse 26: "Only the holy things which you have, and your vowed offerings, you shall take and go to the place which the LORD chooses."

This section may seem like a long list of strange regulations, but it all points to one truth: their worship was to be holy and pure, offered only to the Lord, in the right place, after the right pattern. In the New Testament, though we don't have these particular issues outlined, we are likewise called to holiness. Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:13–16:

Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober... as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy."

Holiness is the consecration and separation of a thing—or of ourselves—to God. When the Lord is my God, He calls me to be set apart and holy. This may not mean eating meat without blood, but it means that, by God's grace and enabling power, I seek to live in a way that honors and glorifies Him.

The Purpose of Israel's Worship

Finally, the purpose. Why should Israel worship in the right place, in the pure and right way? First, because it fulfills the commandments of God. Look back to Deuteronomy 5:7–11—the first three of the Ten Commandments all deal with worship: you shall have no other gods before Me; you shall not make for yourself a carved image or bow down to them, for the Lord your God is a jealous God; you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

But beyond keeping the commandments, Moses says in verse 28:

Observe and obey all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the LORD your God.

A life dedicated to proper worship is a life that secures eternal good. We saw this in Deuteronomy 10:12, where God requires Israel to fear Him, walk in all His ways, love Him, serve Him, and keep His commandments "for your good." Israel's worship in the right place, after the right pattern, in a pure and righteous way, would result in fellowship with God and the enjoyment of His blessings.

So Moses wraps up the section in verses 29–32:

When the LORD your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess... take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them... and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, "How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise." You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way; for every abomination to the LORD which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.

Christ, the Place We Go To

Though we do not live in ancient Israel or follow these ceremonial laws, the principle holds. When God comes into our lives, He sanctifies us by the presence of His Spirit, removing all the old dead things we have bowed down to—things that distract and ultimately lead to judgment. We exalt God over our lives.

We don't have the place we go to; we have the Person we go to—Jesus Christ. He is to be exalted in my life, taking the place of supremacy and primacy. He is the One I give proper worship to, offering myself and all that I have to Him. As I do these things, enabled by the Spirit of God, I experience the fullness of His presence and His blessing.

Closing Prayer

God, I pray You would do a work in our lives, in every single person who hears these words, that by Your Spirit You would remove from us anything that is a distraction, anything taking the place of devotion in our lives, and that we would exalt You to that place and worship You in the right way. As Peter said, may we sanctify You in our hearts. Do a work of total transformation, that we would experience Your presence and Your blessing—the fruit of the Spirit overflowing from us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control. Make that abundant in us, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.