A HEART FOR WORSHIP

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

While the Israelites were in the desert, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day. Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly, and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him. Then the Lord said to Moses, "The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp." So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord commanded Moses."

Numbers 15:32-36

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Yesterday, we saw where the Lord didn’t favor anyone of the Israelites who chose to defiantly sin against Him. Today’s passage definitely underscores that.

To review and set the scene, the Israelites had been turned away from Canaan by God and sent back into the desert wilderness where they would journey for 40 years, one year for each day that their scouts had gone in and surveyed the Promised Land before returning and making their report. You’ll remember that ten of the twelve scouts delivered a pessimistic report regarding the people who were living in Canaan, asserting that the Israelites couldn’t overcome them. Conversely, Joshua and Caleb argued against this suggestion, believing that the people of Israel could conquer anyone because God was on their side. Unfortunately, the people listened more to the majority of the scouts than Joshua and Caleb, and received the Lord’s judgment for their lack of faith.

And so as we go to our passage for today from the fifteenth chapter of the Book of Numbers, we find the Israelites in the midst of God’s punishment and “in the desert". There, we read where "a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day", a direct violation of the following commandment that God gave to Moses at Mount Sinai:

"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days, the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." Exodus 20:8-11

There was no vagueness in what the Lord expected for He clearly expected His people to keep the Sabbath day holy. It was to be a day of worship and reverence, a day free of any labor, and all the Israelites knew this well. But as we see over and over again in the history of the people of Israel, they consistently struggled to be obedient to what God demanded.

The Israelite man at the center of this passage was a prime case in point and so the Lord made an example of Him, showing that He was ready to bring judgment on anyone who willingly and willfully disobeyed Him.

It’s obvious that some of the Israelites were sensitive to defying God because the man gathering firewood on the Sabbath was seen doing so. And in what was a positive sign in this story, those who witnessed the sinful behavior didn’t just turn and look the other way. No, they apprehended the man and "brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly” who “kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him".

It was into this scene that we find the Lord entering in and making it clear as to what needed to be done, saying:

"The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp."

God had rendered His verdict and it was up to the Israelites to carry out His willed judgment for the man had blatantly disobeyed His command. Of interest here, we need to remember that God could have easily carried out the punishment Himself. He could have sent fire from Heaven to consume the man and kill him instantly but we sense that He was trying to send an additional message to His people. For He wanted them to know that anyone who would disobey and disrespect Him would pay a heavy price. In this instance, they would be the ones doing the stoning but if they would disobey God themselves, perhaps they would be the ones getting stoned in the future. Definitely an effective deterrent, right?

And so our passage ends with the "the assembly” taking the man “outside the camp” and stoning “him to death” just as “the Lord commanded Moses." In the end, the man was executed, paying the ultimate price for His sinfulness and it all was completely preventable. All he had to do was obey God.

Through all this, the Lord drove home the point that the Sabbath day was to be centered on Him and in order for this to happen, one’s heart had to be centered and focused on Him and Him alone, not on some to-do list of chores like gathering firewood in this case. He had left no doubt that He expected His people to not labor on the Sabbath for after all, even He rested on the seventh day after He had created everything (Genesis 2:2, Exodus 20:11).

Indeed, God wanted no distractions on the Sabbath but the man in today’s story had no interest in the Lord’s desires, only His own. For on the day he should have been turning toward his living God instead he turned his attention to lifeless wood. Spiritually, his heart was as hard as the stones that eventually killed him.

Today, I get very concerned about the way people approach worship. For God’s eternal Word has endured since the Old Testament days and nothing has changed regarding His call to keep the Sabbath holy and for believers to treat it as a day of rest. The Apostle Paul speaks about this in his letter to the Hebrew believers:

"Therefore, since the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. Now we who have believed enter that rest…" Hebrews 4:1-3

Yes, God still expects us to rest and keep His Sabbath day holy which includes worshipping Him. Today, we don’t see Him coercing us to obey or devote ourselves to Him. He doesn’t strike us down or call the church to stone us when we fail to keep His commandments. No, He expects us to obey and worship Him because we want to, because we have a deep desire in our hearts to do so.

Did you know that in the Bible, there are 250 scripture passages that mention the word "worship"? Here’s one of them from Paul’s letter to the Romans:

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:1-2

Friends, God’s "good, pleasing and perfect will" is for all believers to "not conform any longer to the pattern of this world" but instead to "offer (their) bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God." They are to do this "in view of God's mercy", a mercy that turn our eyes toward the rugged cross on Calvary where His Son Jesus suffered, bled, and died for our sins, the very sins we commit when we choose to not keep God’s commands, the very sins we commit when we decide our desires are more important His and that includes obeying and worshipping Him.

Friends, Jesus had a heart for worship and a passionate love for us like no other. The act of love displayed at His crucifixion showed His willingness to offer Himself as a living sacrifice in full obedience to His Father’s will so to pay the penalty for our sins and purchase our pardon, bringing us the sure hope of salvation. He fully surrendered Himself for us; the least we can do as His disciples is return the favor in the way we live our own lives.

Let us commit ourselves to fully celebrate, revere, and adore our Lord every day but especially on the Sabbath. My prayer is that we all will never cease to refine our hearts so to better worship Him.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.