1 Kings 8:1-13; 27-30, Worthy

Theological Proposition/Focus: God is uniquely worthy of worship and hence worship must be performed in the way God desires worship.

Homiletical Proposition/Application: We need to worship God, but we also need to do it in the ways that God desires.

Introduction:

Setting the Stage:

How did Israel get to the point of having a temple?

1 Kings 6:1 states that it was 480 years from the Exodus until the building of the temple!

In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the temple of the Lord. 1 Kings 6:1

What is the significance of this passage?

The passage is framed by two events, moving the ark to the temple (8:1-13) and offering sacrifices of dedication (8:62-66).

In describing 1 Kings chapter 8, Paul House makes the following claim.

Chapter 8 is one of the most theologically significant texts in 1, 2 Kings. Here readers encounter more than the pomp, ceremony, and ritual associated with major religious building dedications. The author certainly includes these details yet also selects the aspects of the ceremony that underscore Israel’s theological heritage. Whether in describing the procession to the temple, Solomon’s prayers and speeches, or the Lord’s reaction to the scene, the writer interweaves into the story awe, theological history, warnings, and encouragements

Body

God is worthy of human effort in worship (8:1-5).

Worship is both an individual and a corporate undertaking (1-2).

The act of worship was a national act of worship.

First Kings 8 opens with an exciting and important step. The temple has been completed and furnished. The issue is that one of the most important pieces for worship is not present at the Temple. The Ark of the Covenant was housed on Mount Zion in the Southeast portion of Jerusalem called the City of David. With construction complete, the time has come for the ark to be moved. Solomon has wide support for this effort as evidenced by the three specific groups mentioned. The elders, heads, and chiefs come together to bring the ark. The date is chosen to correspond with the Feast of Tabernacles. The focus in these first two verses is on broad participation. Moving the ark will be an act of worship and while there are times to worship God individually, in this case, the act of worship is a corporate national act of worship. The entire nation is going to participate in this act of worship!

The timing of worship celebrated the end of wilderness wanderings.

The choice Solomon made to move the ark at the feast of Tabernacles was a strategic choice when the nation would all have gathered together. Likely, this dedication was 11 months after the completion of the temple (1 Kings 6:38 tells us the temple was completed in the 7th month). By waiting Solomon was able to emphasize the significance of God having a dedicated place of worship with the people. These people who had formerly been a wandering people were now a people with a land and a place in that land dedicated to God.

Worship is not intended to be a free-for-all (3-4).

In other words, in real worship, you do not call the shots. God is the one who determines what worship should look like.

God had a carefully prescribed means by which the ark and temple utensils were to be transported.

God had prescribed that the priests should be the ones who would carry the ark (remember David made a mistake in exactly this place in 2 Samuel 6). God further prescribed that the Levites were the ones to carry the other furnishings.

Each person accepted their proper role

The priests provided for spiritual needs

Solomon might have said, "I paid for this project, I am going to be the one who leads this worship." But that was not God's model! Worship is not a free-for-all, instead, we follow God's leading.

God is worthy of careful and purposeful acts of worship and remembrance (8:6-9).

Image: Hashbrowns on a pizza as a recipe change?

Many of us have a tendency to do things our own way. How many of you follow a recipe exactly as written? I know I rarely follow the recipe exactly. It is not always bad to change a recipe. However, it is bad to change a recipe without careful consideration and purpose. I still remember the time when we had purchased one of those take-and-bake pizzas. We decided it needed a little more cheese and so we went out to the freezer and grabbed a gallon-size bag of what we thought was cheese to put on our pepperoni pizza. That day we learned that hash browns don't really go on a normal pizza. On the flip side, if you have ever had a breakfast pizza, hashbrowns make a great addition. Careful and purposeful decisions matter.

Similarly, when it comes to worship. We need to be careful and purposeful. The first thing we need to realize is that worship without God is nothing short of idolatry. You see,

God's presence matters in worship and remembrance (6-8).

The placement of the Ark of the Covenant within the temple represented the very presence of God within the temple.

We know that God is everywhere, omnipresent, but the idea here is symbolic. The Ark itself was a wooden chest overlaid with gold and served as God's throne in the temple. The cherubim are winged creatures similar to or maybe even angels. The idea of the Ark sitting under the wings is the idea of God's throne being covered by His supernatural attendants. The Ark itself was not to be touched by humans and so poles were inserted into rings and the poles would be used for moving the ark.

Intentionality and purposefulness marked the treatment and use of the Ark.

Upon arriving at the temple, the poles were not removed. I have not seen any commentators speculate as to why the poles were left in the ark but my speculation is that the poles are left as a reminder of the ark's presence (they were visible from the Holy Place as well as a reminder that the ark was not to be moved by hand.

Who God is matters in worship and remembrance (9).

I am fascinated by verse 9 because I would have put a lot more in the Ark than just the two stone tablets! If I were Solomon I probably would have put in a few proverbs, maybe some worship songs my dad had written. Surely the sword of Goliath or something like that was available.

The tablets were not flashy, they were not made of gold, they did not represent the work that David or Solomon had put into the project. They were a purposeful reminder.

Something that impresses me about our God is that He seems to value purpose and intentionality over pomp. It is almost as if God is saying something like "I can get all the pomp, flash, and fireworks you can imagine, but what I really want is your heart, for you to purposefully and intentionally know me and honor me."

Image: When every pound matters what do you take? Flying a small plane to Colorado.

As many of you know I do have a small plane. And when I say small, I mean really small. With full fuel tanks the maximum I can carry is about 275 lbs including myself! Over Christmas Emily and I flew to Colorado and so I carefully calculated how much fuel I needed to carry, put in our weights, the weight of the cat and then told Emily she had 15 pounds for her baggage. Emily packed her bag and I put it on the scale, it came in at 20 pounds. She looked at me and said "close enough right?" No, I said, when I say 15lbs I really mean 15lbs. Emily carefully and purposefully pulled items out of her bag and considered how important each item is for making the trip. At the end, we got her bag down to 15lbs and loaded the airplane.

As we worship God we need to be purposeful. Our efforts should reflect the God of the universe.