Old Testament in a Year: 2 Chronicles 2-8; 1 Kings 7-9

If I haven't gotten a chance to meet you, my name's Trent. I'm the worship pastor here at The Refuge. I've been here almost nine years, which is just crazy to think about. I was so honored when they asked me to speak on this weekend but then I realized when I look at the calendar that Scott Volk was speaking last week and now I have to follow Scott Volk, which I feel like I've been framed. No, I'm just kidding. I love that guy. Today, we're gonna be talking about true worship and we're gonna be looking at 2 Chronicles 2-8. We've been going through the Old Testament as a church this year, which has been really amazing. So we're just gonna continue that today. 1 Kings 7-9 also references this story so you can read it there. But I wanna give us a little context before we jump into our main teaching text of the morning. These passages that we're looking at take place during one of the most important and pivotal times in Israel's history. It covers the building and the dedication of the temple in Jerusalem. So King David had this desire to build this temple but God told him that his son Solomon was gonna be the one to actually complete the work, which right there, isn't that beautiful to think about? There are things that we desire

but the generation coming up under us is gonna be the one to actually do it. That's why it's so important, things like Kids Camp, MSC. We gotta be investing in the next generation. So Solomon would be the one to complete the work. David spent his final years preparing the materials and making plans and then when Solomon became king, Israel went through a time of extreme peace and prosperity and so Solomon began the great work of building the temple. The temple's purpose was to be a place where God's people could gather, where they could offer sacrifices, where they could worship, seek forgiveness, right? It required great preparation. I think we have a picture of the temple. There were a lot of materials gathered. The best craftsmen put this thing together. It was no joke, it was beautiful. The Ark of the Covenant was brought into the temple and it was dedicated through prayer and sacrifice and then something happened. This is epic, incredible moment happened. As the priest and as the musicians worshiped, the glory of the Lord filled the temple. Fire came down from heaven. It consumed all the sacrifices and the people fell on their faces worshiping the Lord but after this happened and this is what we're getting at today. After this happened, God comes to Solomon with a message.

Saying basically that true worship is not measured by the beauty of the building or the greatness of the gathering or just the emotion of the moment or the high that we get, right, in worship but true worship is revealed in the heart and life of his people and that's what we're going for today. So would you stand with me as we read our main text this morning? Coming from 2 Chronicles 7, 11 through 16. This is probably some of the most famous scripture in this whole book. The Lord appears to Solomon. When Solomon had finished the temple of the Lord and the royal palace and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the Lord and in his own palace, the Lord appeared to him. It's important when you read the Lord appeared, pay attention to that, right? The Lord appeared to him at night and said, I have heard your prayer and I've chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices. When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people. Listen to this. If my people who were called by my name

will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. Come on, can we make the declarations that we always make together? You guys ready? Let's do it. I will hide this word in my heart that I might not sin against God. This word is life and health. I will be a doer of the word and not a hearer only. And I am confident of this, that he who has begun a good work in me will complete it. In Jesus' name, amen. You guys may be seated. As we read this passage, I want you to notice something important here. God does not point Solomon back to the beauty of the temple. And he doesn't point him back to the size of the gathering or what had just happened. He points him back to the heart of his people. The heart of his people. If my people who are called by my name

will humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways. So true worship, according to God, is not simply the outward expression. Which I love the outward expression of worship. We do that super well as a church. And we need it. We need to sing. We need to lift our hands. We need to bow before the Lord. That's the outer expression. But what God is getting at here is the inward posture. The inward expression. Surrender. A posture that produces an obedient life. And so today I wanna give us what I'm calling four pillars to building a life of true worship. I'm sticking with the architecture theme here. Four pillars to building a life of worship. I wanna go through them real quick, all four, and then we'll dive into them individually. The first pillar to building a life of true worship is this, intentional preparation. Intentional preparation. Before there was a moment of worship in the temple, there was a season of preparation, right? In 2 Chronicles, the second chapter, we read that Solomon carefully planned and he gathered resources. He committed himself to the work.

So we need to remember today that true worship begins with a heart that is prepared and is intentionally preparing to meet God. So just ask you that question today. Have you come into this place with a heart that is prepared to meet with God? Like the living God is in our midst. The second pillar to building a life of true worship is this, it's seeking God's presence. Chapter five, we read that the temple was completed, the Ark of the Covenant was brought in, the priests, the musicians, everybody's playing worship, but the greatest moment was not that. It was that the glory of the Lord came and filled the temple. True worship is not about what we bring to God or what we do, but it is about encountering God himself, the presence. The third pillar is this, humility and repentance. We'll look at Solomon's prayer of dedication where he reveals that he has a deep understanding that God's people are dependent on his mercy. Come on, we have to be people dependent on the mercy of God. He knew they would fail, he knew they would sin, and that they would need forgiveness. True worship requires that, it requires a humble heart that is willing to seek God for repentance. The fourth pillar is this, daily obedience, daily obedience. God reminds Solomon that the true test of worship

would not be what happened at the temple dedication, but it was gonna be what happened when he left, his daily life. So as we walk through these verses today, I wanna just give you a question to ponder on. Is my worship simply something I do or is it becoming the way I live? Is my worship simply something I do or is it becoming the way I live? Point one, the first pillar to building a life of true worship is this, intentional preparation. Let's look at 2 Chronicles 2, two through seven here. So Solomon gave orders to build a temple for the name of the Lord and a royal palace for himself. He conscripted 70,000 men as carriers and 80,000 as stone cutters in the hills and 3,600 as foremen over them. Do we have any project managers in the room today? Could you imagine being the project manager over that? It sounds like a nightmare. Solomon sent this message to Hiram, king of Ty. He says, send me cedar logs as you did for my father David when you sent him cedar to build a palace to live in. Now I am about to build a temple for the name of the Lord my God and to dedicate it to him for burning fragrant incense before him, for setting out the consecrated bread regularly and for making burnt offerings every morning and evening on the Sabbaths and at the new moons

and at the appointed festivals of the Lord our God. This is a lasting ordinance for Israel. The temple I am going to build will be great because our God is greater than all other gods. But who is able to build a temple for him since the heavens, even the highest heavens cannot contain him? Who then am I to build a temple for him except as a place to burn sacrifices before him? Send me therefore a man skilled to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron, and in purple crimson. and blue yarn, and experienced in the art of engraving to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers whom my father, David, provided. Preparation. Before worship was offered in the temple, we see that preparation was made for the presence of God to be welcomed. Worship begins, we gotta remember, before we enter this gathering. We see that in the intentionality. Solomon didn't just wake up one day and decide to do this. This was something that he desired. We think about those words there. Now Solomon gave orders to build a temple for the name of the Lord. That word shows intentionality, it shows determination. This wasn't casual or an accident. It was a commitment that he was carrying through. There was intentionality behind it.

He formed the materials, he got workers, he got plans, the resources. Everything was done for purpose. It wasn't with intentionality. We can often think that, that music starts and then worship begins, but that's just not how it works. When you woke up this morning, you were preparing your heart to worship God. Your preparation will reveal your priority. So ask yourself this question, do I prepare my heart to actually meet with God? There was a season of my life, like we have to get up pretty early to be here on Sunday mornings. And I used to try to squeeze in as much sleep as I could, right? And I already have, like I don't have hair, so I don't have to do that. That's working in my favor, so that gives me a little extra time in the morning. But I would try to squeeze in as much time as I could to sleep. And I just felt so convicted because God was like, you're not preparing yourself. You're not preparing yourself. So I felt led to do at least two hours every morning before I would have to be here to just pray, to seek God, to prepare myself, to help me to remember I'm coming into the Lord's presence. John Tyson has this quote that says this.

God comes where he is wanted. Are you preparing your heart in such a way that God knows that you want him? Worship requires giving God our best. Chapter three, verses four through seven says this. He overlaid the inside with pure gold. He paneled the main hall with juniper and covered it with fine gold and decorated it with a palm tree, with palm tree and chain designs. He adored the temple with precious stones and the gold he used was gold of Ravim. He overlaid the ceiling beams, door frames, walls and doors of the temple with gold. And he carved cherubim on the walls. Why did he do this? Why did he do this? There's a lot of gold involved in this. He did this because he wanted to form a place that was worthy of God's presence. They understood the worthiness of God. God is not looking for our perfection, but he is worthy of our excellence, right? They had a high view of God and they wanted to create a place that was worthy of his presence. True worship, when we think about intentionality, it involves things like our time. How are we spending our time? How are we spending our attention?

I wanna tell you a story, see if anybody relates to this. I'll paint a picture for you. It's like six o'clock in the morning, I wake up. You know, I go make my excellent crafted coffee in the Keurig machine. I start to do this, I'm getting my heart prepared, I wanna sit with the Lord, right? Then I remember that Duke had a game the night before and I went to bed before it was over. So I'm like, I gotta look up the score. So look up the score, I see that they won, that's great. Then I also see another headline, I'm like, let me check that out. Then I see another headline, I read that. Then I remember I gotta respond to a text message and somehow, and I don't even know how this happens, but somehow I find myself watching a YouTube video on how cheese crackers are made. Can anyone else relate to that? It was pretty interesting, honestly. I'm not, I maybe not wanna eat them, but. But what happens in this moment is like, I could have been intentional to prepare my heart to be a dwelling place for God as I go throughout my day. But instead, what do I do? I scroll on my phone. Our time, our attention, it's all in our preparation. Ephesians 5, 15 through 16 says this, be very careful then how you live, not as unwise, but as wise,

making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. Be careful how you live. Are you living with intentional preparation, preparing your heart to be a dwelling place for God? That is part of being a true worshiper. Your preparation communicates value. But it's not just in our preparation, right? They were doing this for a purpose, and that was for the presence of God to come, right? So it takes us to our second point, which is this. The second pillar to building a life of true worship is seeking God's presence. Seeking God's presence. Chapter five here, it says, the priest then brought the ark of the Lord's covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the most holy place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim. Skipping to verse 11, it says, the priest then withdrew from the holy place. All the priests who were there had consecrated themselves regardless of their divisions. All the Levites who were musicians, Asaph, Heman, and then however you say that guy's name, I'm never gonna try it. And their sons and relatives stood on the east side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps, and lairs.

They were accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets. We're working on that for next week. We're gonna have 120 priests up here sounding trumpets. The trumpeteers and musicians joined in unison to give praise and thanks to the Lord, accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments. The singers raised their voices in praise to the Lord and sang, he is good. His love endures forever. Then listen to this. The temple of the Lord was filled with the cloud, and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God. This is showing us the goal of worship is not simply for us to just do something, but it's for God to come and to be in our midst. The Ark of the Covenant had been brought into the temple, and that represented God's covenant presence among his people. And then the presence came. The glory of the Lord filled the temple. The greatest moment was not the temple itself or the beauty, right? It was God filling it. The architecture was amazing. The gold was amazing. Solomon's leadership and his vision, amazing, but that was not the moment. The greatest moment was when God's presence came

and the Lord filled the temple. But notice this, what happens when that happens. God's presence changes everything. The priests could not, what, continue ministering. They had to stop, because when God's glory came, everything else had become secondary. That was the most important thing that mattered. The people stopped looking at what they had built, what they had done, and they began focusing on who had come. God was in their midst. We can have amazing resources, and we are so blessed here, right? We have an amazing building. We have an amazing children's ministry. We have a great worship team. We have great preaching. Like, we are blessed. But without God's presence, it's nothing. We have to be people who are seeking God's presence. In the American church today, it's kind of alarming because we can be wildly successful. You can have huge numbers, amazing systems. You can be doing it right, but be spiritually bankrupt because there is no presence there. A.W. Tozer writes this. He says, the greatest need of our time is for Christians to discover the presence of God. Worship is not about coming and just feeling something and coming into an environment to admire something.

It is about encountering the presence of God. Brother Lawrence, who was a 17th century monk, had this quote. He says, the presence of God is the finest of all blessings. It's not what he can do for us. It's just his presence. When we truly encounter God's presence and his holiness, it provokes something in us. It requires a response. We saw with the priests. They fell. They could no longer perform what they were doing. And the same is true for us. When we see God's holiness, we recognize our need for him. And that takes us to point three, which is this, the third pillar to building a life of true worship, this humility and repentance. We have to be people who are humble. This is one of the things that blocks us from being true worshipers because it's really hard for us to truly worship God when there's a part of us that kind of thinks that we are God. We have to be humble. Chapter six, this is Solomon's prayer of dedication. He says, then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands. Now he had made a bronze platform, five cubits long,

five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had placed it at the center of the outer court. He stood on the platform and then knelt down before the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven and said, Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth. You who keep your covenant love with your servants, who continue wholeheartedly in your way. You have kept your promise to your servant, David, my father. With your mouth, you have promised, and with your hand, you have fulfilled it as it is today. Skipping to verse 18, it says the heavens, even the highest heavens cannot contain you, how much less this temple I have built. Yet, Lord, my God, give attention to your servant's prayer and his plea for mercy. When's the last time you pleaded for the mercy of God? Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence. May your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, this place of which you said you would put your name there. May you hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. Hear the supplications 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. Skipping to verse 29, and when a prayer or plea

is made by anyone among your people Israel, being aware of their afflictions and pains and spreading out their hands toward the temple, then hear from heaven your dwelling place. Forgive and deal with everyone according to all they do, since you know their hearts, for you alone know the human heart, so that they will fear you and walk in obedience to you all the time they live in the land you gave our ancestors. Notice this in Solomon's prayer. He recognizes that these people are going to sin. He recognizes that these people are going to fell. I have something very encouraging to tell you this morning. You are going to fell. You are going to fell. I fell. We all do, but what's important is that we throw ourselves on the mercy of God. The temple did not mean that Israel would struggle, would never struggle, right? It meant that they would still need forgiveness. They would still need God's mercy. They would still need restoration and healing. We need that today. God's response here reveals the posture that he desires, and this was our main teaching text. If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven

and I will forgive their sin and heal their land. Notice the progression here. Humble themselves. We need God. And can I just tell you this morning, you need him more than you think you need him. I need him more than I think I need him. Jesus said this, apart from me, you can do nothing. Apart from me, you can do nothing. We need the mercy of God. He says, pray, depend on me. There's a source outside of ourselves where we find healing. He says, seek my face. We gotta pursue God, not for what he can do for us, but just simply because of who he is. Turn from wicked ways. Repent, right? We gotta repent. Humility is recognizing God for who he is and responding to him rightly. That's what humility is. It's saying, you are God and I am not. Responding to him rightly. Pride says this, that I can handle life without him. I can do this on my own. Tim Keller has this quote. He says, pride is the carbon monoxide of sin. It silently and slowly kills you without you even knowing it. Pride would destroy the heart of a true worshiper.

It would destroy the heart of a worshiper. Many years ago, when I had been on staff for a while, but was still relatively new, I had gone back, I had led worship and I had gone back to the event room because I needed to get something. And the safety team wouldn't let me through the doors because I did not have a tag. Now, I love that Paul's laughing at this. They knew who I was. One of them knew who I was and the other one kind of knew who I was. I was like, I just led worship over here in the auditorium about seven minutes ago, right? Nope. to have a tag. Now I wanna be transparent and just confess before you, I took my master key and went to a different door and just went through that. Just wanna be honest. But God spoke to me later and really convicted me because he was speaking to me like, Trent, you think now that you have a platform, that means you have privilege. That is not it. If anything, you need to go lower. Humility. Henry Nouwen writes this, he says, the way of the Christian leader is not the way of upward mobility

in which our world has invested so much, but the way of downward mobility, ending on a cross. Now he says Christian leader, but that's just Christian in general. Jesus never said, come and follow me, I'll give you a platform, I'll give you all these things. People will admire you, they would love you. No, he said, come and follow me and take up your cross. Humility is at the heart of a true worshiper. Philippians 2, verses one through 11, says, therefore, if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy your joy. Then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vacancy. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interest, but each of you to the interest of the others. Verse five, in your relationships, notice he doesn't say in certain relationships, in your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus. This is some of the most profound scripture

I feel like in the Bible, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing. By taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Humility is at the core of a true worshiper. Jesus, that is our model and that is who we follow. He was the most humble person to ever walk the earth. Humility. Humility leads us to this, and this is our fourth point. The fourth pillar to building a life of true worship is daily obedience. My wife and I have a three-year-old who will be four in September, who's very strong-willed. And she's gonna be a leader one day, for sure. The other week, my wife and I were trying to make some decisions.

We couldn't come to a conclusion. We were sitting on a river, he goes, guys, here's the plan. We go to Target, we go to Chick-fil-A, we come home and we play in the backyard. And we were like, that's actually great, let's do it. She's gonna be a leader one day, for sure. But I say all that to learn that daily obedience, we're learning a lot about that, teaching her, right? But that's us, too, man, daily obedience. Chapter seven here, 17 through 22. As for you, if you walk before me faithfully as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne as I covenanted with David your father when I said, you shall never fail to have a successor to rule over Israel. But if you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you, and go off to serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple. Kind of shows that God's not too worried about the structure, he's worried about the people. I will reject this temple I've consecrated for my name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. This temple will become a heap of rubble.

Again, don't think he was too impressed. All who pass by will be appalled and say, why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple? People will answer, because they have forsaken the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them. That is why he brought all this disaster on them. The obedience, God is after your heart. The evidence of genuine worship, it's not just what happens in this room, but it's what happens when we leave. A.W. Tozer, again, he says, "'If you're not worshiping God on Monday "'the way you did the day before, "'perhaps you're not worshiping Him at all.'" Richard Foster says this, "'If worship does not propel us into greater obedience, "'it has not been worship.'" God is after your heart. Solomon was warned, right? This came after the celebration, after the dedication of the temple. God comes to him and warns him with this because He wanted to make sure he knew, I care about your daily walk. Our obedience reveals our worship. It reveals our love for God. John 14, Jesus, "'If you love me, you will keep my commands.'"

God does not just want our temporary emotion. He wants a life that is fully devoted to Him. So when we think about daily obedience, I think about this, what is happening in your home? Like, is your home full of worship? And I don't mean everyone just sitting in a circle singing. That's cool if you do that. But I mean, what is that kind of the ambient hum in your home? Does it honor God, your home, your relationships? Are there people that you need to forgive and you're just not doing it? Are there people that you need to be serving and you're not doing it? Our work, do we honor God with integrity? It all matters. Our private lives, are we walking in a daily obedience in our private lives? We all know this line, but who we are when nobody sees us, that is who we really are. That is who we really are. Psalm 86 11, it's become like a daily verse for me. It just says, teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness. Give me an undivided heart, that I would fear your name. An undivided heart, that is true worship. That is what God is after.

So the question would be, are you wholeheartedly worshiping the Lord? Dallas Willard has this quote that says, the most important thing in your life is not what you do, it's who you become. That's what you will take into eternity. That's what you take into eternity. Can I just say this? Daily obedience determines who you will become. Daily obedience determines who you will become. God is after wholehearted worshipers. The temple was impressive, it was beautiful, but it also was destroyed. It didn't last, right? But God's desire has always been the same, and that is he wants people who are wholeheartedly devoted to him, and he wants to come and he wants to dwell in our midst. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit, right? God's presence is no longer confined to a building. We are the temple. So are you building a life of worship? Are you building a life where God wants to come and wants to dwell? When we have these kind of messages, we can kind of get hard on ourselves sometimes. I just wanna remind us, like, this is not about striving. It's not about just doing more for God. Like, the reason he wants us to be wholehearted worshipers is because he loves us.

It's because he loves us. It's not that we do it to get to God, but it's a response because he came to us, right? That is the gospel. John Wesley says this, that always remember the essence of Christian holiness is simplicity and purity. It's not complicated. One design, one desire, entire devotion to God. That is true worship, entire devotion to God. Intentional preparation, seeking God's presence, practicing humility and repentance, and committing ourselves to daily obedience. That is it. That is what true worship looks like. May our lives be a temple where God comes to dwell. Amen.