EXHORTATION
28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire. (Heb. 12:8)
We are called to give God worship that is both acceptable and reverential.
Acceptable worship addresses the external, visible form the worship is taking. To offer acceptable worship means that we are to worship God in the forms that God has commanded. We don’t get to decide what worship looks like. God’s Word commands us to preach the Scriptures, sing songs, hymns, and spiritual songs, pray fervently, baptize new converts, and observe the Lord’s Supper. These are forms of worship that God has authorized as acceptable to him.
Reverential worship addresses the internal, unseen, heart posture of the worshippers. It means we cannot worship properly if we are not considering the true nature of him with whom we have to do. God is a consuming fire. How do you approach a fire: cautiously; careful that you give the fire the respect that it deserves. The same fire that refines gold consumes dross. And so, it is with God. If we come before him flippantly in our pride and hubris, our worship is utterly refused. But if we come to him humbly, acknowledging our neediness, our worship is received.
Note that this does not mean we come browbeating ourselves, frowning and miserable. We are to come before him in joy, but it is a joy without superficiality. It is a joy sourced in the deep mines of our heavenly Father’s unending love and mercy.
When the true God is at the center of our worship we worship with gratitude. We have received a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Rather it is a kingdom that shakes all else. It topples the idols of self-sufficiency, arrogance, bitterness, and envy, and it establishes the throne of Jesus Christ at the center of our lives.
All of this reminds us of our need to confess our sins, so let us pray.
CONFESSION
Almighty God,
When we consider who you are, your holiness, glory, and power:
We confess with the Psalmist: You have not been in all our thoughts. (Psalm 10:4) With Jeremiah we cry out, “We have forgotten you days without number.” (Jeremiah 2:32) Our hearts have gone after worthlessness. (Jeremiah 2:5)
We have said to our souls, “We have plenty stored up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, and be merry.” And we have forgotten that this very night, our soul may be required of us. (Luke 12:19-21)
Father, we confess the grave sin of forgetting you, the fountain of living water. We confess the sin of trusting in our own devices, talents, and resources as if they have more power to secure and save us than you. (Jeremiah 2:13)
Father we know that you might justly swear in your wrath that we would never enter your rest (Psalm 95:11), that you might justly take from us all that we have put before you (Hosea 2:9).
Yet we also know that you delight in mercy. We know that the sacrifices you desire are a broken spirit; and a contrite heart you will not reject. (Psalm 51:17)
We know that if we say “Amen” to this prayer, yet intend to go on forgetting you, this prayer will have no effect in our lives. So, hear us now, as we silently confess our individual sins to you.
Lord God,
You have given us time to repent and make our peace with you. (Revelation 2:21) And we believe that peace can only come because Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, was sacrificed in our place, bearing our guilt, so that we might receive your pardon and welcome.
We praise you for the cross of Christ. We praise you for the resurrection of Jesus. Truly the Lord is our righteousness. (Jeremiah 23:6)
In Jesus name we pray, AMEN!
ASSURANCE OF PARDON – Micah 7:18-19
18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
and passing over transgression
for the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not retain his anger forever,
because he delights in steadfast love.
19 He will again have compassion on us;
he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast all our sins
into the depths of the sea.