When you go to a good amusement park there are two parts to a ride. There is part one...the waiting in line for the ride, which can take an hour or longer. And then there is part two...the actual ride, which can only last a couple of minutes at best. One of my favorite things is part one, to wait for a ride in a really good amusement park. Now that sounds crazy, because no one likes to wait in line for a ride, they like the ride. So why do I like the waiting so much? Is it the line? No, I really hate standing in lines. Is it the waiting? Nope, I’m not a very patient person. The Holy Spirit is working on me in that area. So what makes waiting in line my favorite part of the experience? It’s the atmosphere of anticipation. You see, in a well designed theme park, the ride queue which is the place you can spend up to an hour waiting, is designed to actually put you in the environment of the theme. They are setting the atmosphere for what you are about experience. It can be totally immersive and transport you into feeling like you’re actually in another place...or it can be completely lame and make the wait extremely boring and make you feel that the ride is not worth the wait. The difference is the atmosphere that they have set and their commitment to create it. Is it an atmosphere of anticipation, of something great is about to happen. Or is it an atmosphere of utility, just keeping you organized while you are slowly plodding forward towards the end. If they want you to be excited about what’s next, they have to capture your imagination.
One of the ways they capture your imagination is through sound. The music and sound effects they design create an emotional journey that transports your mind to another place beyond the physical space. Music is the most powerful tool for ushering in an atmosphere of anticipation for what is to come next. In church the same principals apply. During a service, the music plays a huge part in setting the atmosphere. Congregations will spend millions of dollars to build a building that looks “right.” But they rarely spend anything to make sure an atmosphere of anticipation is set for a move of the Holy Spirit to come next. Most of the time music is used only as a utility device to keep the service plodding along towards the end. But that doesn’t look like what I see in scripture. What I see is something very different. 2 Chronicles 5:13-14 “13 and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord), and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the Lord, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever,” the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, 14 so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God. Have you ever been in a service like that? A service where the glory of the Lord was so present that people couldn’t even stand. In this passage, the presence of the glory of the Lord was the result of obedience to what God had instructed them to do. Is that something we are committed to seeing here at FUEL?
I want to back up to verse 6 and look at the context of these verses. It will give us a bigger picture as to what was happening. 2 Chronicles 5:6-7 “6 And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. 7 Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the Most Holy Place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. The first thing I noticed in those verses is that all of the people came together to sacrifice, so many sheep and oxen that they couldn’t be counted. It’s important for us to all join in with a sacrifice of praise to the King. Hebrews 13:15-16 “15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” We are no longer required to bring sacrifices of sheep and oxen, since the blood of Jesus removed our sin, but there is a sacrifice we are required to offer “through Him.” It is the fruit of our lips. A sacrifice of praise. The sacrifice comes from us...from our mouth. It’s all about acknowledging His name. And it doesn’t stop there, it says we also need to remember to do good and share with others what we’ve been blessed with. But here’s the thing about a sacrifice. It’s not something that comes naturally to the thing that is being sacrificed. In this situation, it’s our tongue that has to be sacrificed. It’s not going to get to offer what it does easily and naturally which is boasting, lying and cursing. It has to lay all that aside and praise His name.
Psalm 150. “1 Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. 2 Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. 3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, 4 praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe, 5 praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. 6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. If you’re breathing, you’re supposed to be praising. Have you come ready to offer a sacrifice of praise to our King? You will have an opportunity to do that tonight. We are going to spend some time praising Jesus for what He has done for us. OK, back to the scene from the Old Testament. 2 Chronicles 5:10-14 “10 There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets that Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel, when they came out of Egypt. 11 And when the priests came out of the Holy Place (for all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves, without regard to their divisions, 12 and all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, their sons and kinsmen, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, stood east of the altar with 120 priests who were trumpeters; 13 and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord), and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the Lord, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever,” the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, 14 so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.”
This was quite the scene. There were a couple hundred musicians and singers setting the atmosphere. That must have been awesome...and really loud. This was not a quiet reverent gathering. They had 120 priests playing trumpets. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard a trumpet played live, but let me tell you, it’s loud. I’m not sure I can imagine the volume of a band that has 120 trumpets plus cymbals and other instruments. Verse 13 says that it was the duty of the band and singers to make themselves heard. I don’t think that was going to be a problem. Here is what they were to sing in unison: “For He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever.” That is the base reason we have to praise Him. He is good and His love lasts forever. Psalm 100:4-5 “4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. 5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;his faithfulness continues through all generations.” That sounds very much like what we just read from 2 Chronicles. This passage starts by saying we are to be grateful as we enter His house and that gratitude should turn to praise as we move closer to His presence. We don’t just praise Him because He has blessed us. We praise Him because He is good, His love endures forever and He is faithful. We praise Him simply because He is worthy of praise. Our circumstances should never affect our praise, because God’s worthiness has not changed, even if our situation has. When things are going great or when things are going terrible, when we’re excited or when we’re sad. Nothing about what we are dealing with has any bearing on how worthy God is of our praise.
He is worthy and that should be motivation enough for us to praise Him. Praise requires effort...thats why it’s described as a sacrifice. And it’s not optional, just because maybe you don’t feel like it. Or you are in a bad mood and just don’t feel like praising...but has your mood changed God’s worthiness? Praise is active, not passive. Praise isn’t something you can do with your hands in your pockets or holding a cup of coffee. You’re not praising if all you did was attend a service and just watch while other people were praising. It’s not a spectator sport. There are no attendance trophies. If you’re still hesitant, consider this. Are you allowing your flesh to overrule the Holy Spirit? Who are you going to coming into agreement with? Does your flesh want to praise God? No, it doesn’t. It wants you to stay comfortable. It wants to make you believe that just because you showed up for the praise night at church, you’ll get special credit and God will overlook your lack of participation. Does that sound like your flesh? It sure does sound like mine. But what do you think the Holy Spirit wants you to do? The Spirit wants you to overrule your flesh and offer a sacrifice of praise to God...for He is good and his love endures forever. So I’ll ask again, who are you going to come into agreement with when it’s time to praise, your flesh or the Holy Spirit? Let me give you one last motivation for praise. Your praise will usher in your breakthrough. What is it that you are struggling with? What answer are you waiting for from God? I believe your breakthrough is waiting on the other side of your praise. Why do I believe that? Because it shows you’ve walked the path from just believing something about God, to actually trusting in God.
Remember how we’ve talked about trust? How it’s the only thing that will motivate you into action? And that your action shows that you have faith? In this scenario the action is praising God. Hebrews 11:1 “1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Your action of praise is the substance of what you have hoped for and the evidence of what you have not yet seen. Your praise shows your faith in God for what He has promised. Your breakthrough is on the other side of your praise. Now I want to be clear about what a breakthrough can look like. Does anyone remember the old koolaid commercials that showed a life sized pitcher of koolaid breaking through a wall? Whenever I heard a preacher talk about getting your breakthrough, I envisioned a dramatic wall busting event that looked like the koolaid guy. And sometimes that is exactly how it happens. One day you are addicted to drugs and the next day you aren’t. One day you are full of bitterness and the next day you are full of forgiveness. Sometimes God moves suddenly. But I’ve come to understand that more often than not a spiritual breakthrough arrives the same way that a seed has a breakthrough. When a seed breaks through the ground, it happens slowly and unless you are paying close attention, you may not even notice that it has happened. God may have already sent that oak tree you’ve been praying for. You see, it might have already shown up as the acorn that fell into your backyard last year and is just now breaking through the ground. If you’re not looking for it, you will walk right over your breakthrough, not even noticing it’s already arrived. Or even worse, you’ll mow it down because you thought it was a weed.
You see, if you’ve already decided how God is going to provide your breakthrough miracle, then you’re not looking for any other solution. And that’s the problem. We put God in the box of our understanding, and don’t expect Him to be able to work things out in any other way. But that’s wrong. Our God is not limited by having to work in a way we expect or can understand. It’s up to us to pray for eyes that can see what God is doing and ears to hear what the Holy Spirit is telling us.
Comentarios