Eighth Sunday after Pentecost – A Review of the Third Commandment – July 26, 2009

 

27 “But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! 28 Yet give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy, O Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day. 29 May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. 30 Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive. (1 Kings 8:27-30)

 

Dedicated to Worship

 

This was an exciting day!  Seven years in the making and decades in the planning, the temple of the LORD was finally complete!  And what a magnificent building it was! Sitting atop Mount Zion, it was the highest point in the city and could be seen from anywhere. Though it was only 2,700 square feet, it had enough gold to add up to five and a half billion dollars worth in today’s economy.  And yet, that wasn’t the really impressive part.  The most exciting part of that day was the promise that God had made to his people; that he would dwell right there among them in that temple.  So, when Solomon offered his prayer of dedication before the people, you can imagine the excitement in the air.  It is from that prayer of dedication that the words of our text are taken.

No doubt there are many of you who can remember the building and dedication of our school, its addition, or even this church.  And can you remember the excitement and joy you felt that day?  I imagine it was thrilling!  That which had been planned for so long, and seemed so far away, had finally come!  And even if you have never been part of such an experience, it isn’t hard to imagine the giddy anticipation and happiness of such a day.  But tell me, why should we have to wait for a dedication of a physical structure to get excited?!  Just look at what we have right here, right now.  We have a place to worship!  We have a place where God himself promises: “Where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” (Matthew 18:20).   Here God comes to us to be with us, to hear our prayers, to give us forgiveness of sins, to receive our praise!  Hard to believe, isn’t it?  Especially when we realize the truth of the statement, “The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain [God].”  How much less this church!

It is true that we are not completing a building this morning, or even breaking ground, but we can celebrate a dedication.  We dedicate ourselves, or re-dedicate ourselves, to worshipping Jesus our Savior, to remembering the Sabbath day, and to gladly hearing and learning his Word!  So how do we “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy”?  We go to church, right, and we go often?  Yes, that’s certainly part of it.  But is that all God asks in the third commandment?  Is he just interested in having your warm body in the pew one hour a week?  Or is there more?  What can we learn of the third commandment from Solomon and his prayer of dedication?

As I re-read this portion of his prayer, notice the emotions that Solomon expresses… 27 “But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! 28 Yet give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy, O Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day. 29 May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. 30 Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.

Does that sound like Solomon was just doing his duty?  Does it sound like he was just worried about showing up?  No way!  This was exciting!  God himself was present!  His Name, everything he’d revealed about himself and his saving work, was there!  Though heaven itself cannot contain God, he promised to be present in that temple!  How excited Solomon was to be there!

How about us?  How dedicated are we to worship?  Sure, we may be dedicated to showing up, but are we always that excited to come to the place where God himself dwells?  Sure, we can break the third commandment by skipping out on worship altogether, but God is interested in far more than you physically being here.  This commandment is not about your physical presence in worship, but in your attitude toward worship.

Do you sometimes come out of habit, rather than excitement to be in the presence of God?  Do you sometimes come to church, but mentally check out after the first hymn, or as you think about all you need to do this week?  Are you more preoccupied by seeing who isn’t here?  Do you stay out too late on Saturday so you have a difficult time staying awake and paying attention on Sunday morning?  It is precisely because God is concerned about our attitude that Martin Luther was right in saying, “[It is not only those] who neglect God’s Word because of greed…or laze about in taprooms, drinking and stuffing themselves like swine…that violate this commandment.  It is transgressed also by that other crowd who listens to God’s Word as to some entertainment and come to the preaching service merely by the force of habit and leave again with as little understanding of the Word at the end of the year as at the beginning.” (Luther’s Large Catechism – page 28)

And the third commandment isn’t just about this one hour each week!  What is your attitude toward home devotions? Is that a chore to you?  How do you feel about Bible study?  Do you think, “I put my time in at worship, why do I need two hours?”  What is your attitude?  Which excites you more?  When it’s time to watch your weekly TV show – or when it’s time for weekly worship?  Which excites you more?  Reading an email from an old friend – or reading an e-mail devotion?  Which are you more eager to do?  Tear open the package that just arrived in the mail – or tear open your Bible and see what exciting blessings God delivers to your doorstep?

I have to admit that all too often I’m more excited about what’s on TV, what a friend has to write, or what’s on my doorstep, than I am about hearing and reading, studying and learning the Word of God.  And wouldn’t you have to agree with me?  How messed up our priorities are when we get more excited about the petty stuff that really doesn’t matter at all, when the most exciting stuff is right here, right in front of us, every day!

You and I may not openly despise preaching and the Word, saying, “I hate being here this morning!  I’d much rather be in bed or anywhere but here.”  But do we gladly hear and learn the Word?  Not always.  And that in spite of the fact that God himself comes to us in that Word, promising to be with us, hear us, and strengthen us through it.  In the Old Testament, those who failed to observe the Sabbath were worthy of death, and so too, for our negligence, our apathy, and our pitiful attitudes toward preaching and the Word, for our lack of dedication to worship, we deserve to have God turn his back on us. We too deserve death—physically and eternally in the fires of hell, where there is no rest from our suffering.

That is what we deserve, and that is why we must thank God, dear friends, for Jesus.  Because what we deserve Jesus suffered.  We must thank God for Jesus, who perfectly kept the third commandment in every way.  He is the one who perfectly was dedicated to worship, who was always eager and excited to be where his Father dwelled! Remember the 12 year old who went to Jerusalem for the Passover and stayed behind in the temple when everyone else went home because he just had to be in his Father’s house?  Remember the one who went to the synagogue regularly as was his custom?  Remember the one who entered the temple and drove out the animals and peddlers and money changers in a rage, because zeal for the Lord’s house consumed him?

And we must thank Jesus for not only being so dedicated to keeping the third and every commandment, but thank him for being so dedicated to us.  He was so dedicated that he gave his perfect keeping of every law to us and took our every apathy, neglect, bad attitude, and mistake—our every sin—on himself.  He was so dedicated that he took God’s wrath over our sin upon himself, so that we could be forgiven.  He was so dedicated to that he died in our place. 

But he is alive.  Death could not hold him; the grave could not control him.  The barrier of sin is removed through Jesus and the empty tomb is the proof.  Now, instead of turning his back on us, God gives his attention to us, literally.  He turns his face to us.  Every week we are reminded of that awesome truth in the blessing: “The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you…”  With God, through Jesus, you always have his full, undivided attention.  He is totally dedicated to you.  Not just for one hour a week, but every hour of every day!  He hears your prayers night and day and never needs to take a rest.  “He who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over [you] will neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:3b-4).  And finally, when he hears your prayers, you can be certain that he will forgive, because Jesus shed his blood for you.

You know what the word Sabbath literally means?  It means rest.  Because of Jesus perfect life in your place and innocent death in your place, you are forgiven of every sin!  Now you have rest from your sin and your guilt. You have rest from worry and anxiety because you know that one day soon you’ll have perfect rest from every suffering and pain, when he takes you to glory to be with him face to face where his face will shine on you for eternity!

How will we respond to such grace?  We can’t help but re-dedicate ourselves to worshipping him!  We long to hear this Word of grace repeated to us over and over again!  We desire to not just show up on time, but to arrive early and prepare ourselves to be fed by him!  We’re not satisfied with just worship, but come to Bible class as often as we can because we just can’t get enough of God’s Word in one hour!  And when we can’t make it to worship, our attitude toward worship remains the same, we’re eager to be there, sorry we have to miss, and long for the next opportunity.

And finally, since heaven itself can’t contain God, since he is present with us, not just here at church, but everywhere we go, we know we can worship him anywhere.  So, we will carry with us into the week the excitement to hear more about God’s grace! We will rejoice in it so much we just have to hear more!  It never gets old!  We will long to read of Jesus work for us in devotions.  We will long to listen to his Word.  After all, what could possibly be more exciting than this rest that we have in Jesus?  Another hour of sleep?!  Forget it!  We want to hear of his grace!  A TV show?  How boring!  At least compared to God's awesome love for us that leaves us exhilarated!  

Dear Christian friends, loved children of God, faithful followers of Jesus, dedicate yourselves to God’s Word, eagerly and regularly find rest in Jesus.  Amen!