Unshakable Kingdom Worship

You woke up at 540 in the morning. I think so. Oh boy. You must be tired Yeah, tired tired tired. Oh Well, good morning. Good morning. Welcome to coffee and devotions. It's not 540 in the morning. I woke up at This morning we are at the very end of Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. We're going to be talking about Jesus and the covenant now, how it compares to the old covenant then and what does worship look like? How do we come to God now?
So let's have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into God's word. I think Daniel needs coffee. He needs to wake up. Oh, yes. Somebody gave me a new coffee mug. Wasn't that nice? I don't know. Hmm. No, it's not very hot anymore at all, but it's a very nice mug. Somebody thought of me when they were on vacation and they gave, they went to the Naval Academy and they brought back a mug for me. That's always fun.
All right, let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for your word. Thank you for the blessing of getting to read your word. Lord, we know that this is a unique thing in history. So Father, we thank you that we have your word in a language we can understand. And we pray that your spirit would please help us to, Lord, help us to actually take these words and have them applied to our lives. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, so we are at Hebrews. Hebrews. Chapter 12. Chapter 12. Verses 26 through, 25 through 28. 25 through 29, I'm sorry, 25 through 29. You ready?
29. Yep, 25 through 29, yep.
See that you do not refuse him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth. But now he has promised, saying, yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven. Now this, yet once more, indicates removal of those things that are being shaken. As of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire. So, we need to ask ourselves three questions. A, what is this? It's about B, what's the festival? It's December. It's in A, what are we called to do? Oh, A, what are we called to do? C, what are we called to do?
Okay, so in the previous section, God had said there was a mountain on this part, right? Mount Sinai. Do you remember what happened on Mount Sinai? Yeah. What happened there? Well, Moses didn't die there, neither did Aaron, but that's where God gave them the Ten Commandments. That's right. But then he compared it to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem. That's way higher than that one. Yeah. Well, the point is, right, one was better than the other. Right. It was Mount Zion that was better than Mount Sinai.
And they trembled and they feared at Mount Sinai. So much so that Moses even said, I am exceedingly afraid and trembling. But we haven't been called there. We've been called the Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. And so he says, see that you do not refuse him who speaks. Did God speak at Mount Zion? Yep. No. Yes. Mount Sinai. And when He spoke at Mount Sinai, what happened to the mountain? Yeah, it shook. But now, now He speaks from Mount Zion. And will the world shake again? Yep. Yeah. But did all the people at Mount Sinai listen to God? No, no, they didn't.
Even though they saw with their eyes and the mountain shook, and they said they were so afraid, please God, let Moses be our intermediary, right? Don't talk to us directly or we're gonna die. They heard God's voice and yet they disobeyed. And they died in the wilderness. That is scary. Yeah, and God punished them for their disobedience.
Two later, here when he says, yet once more, I shake not only the earth, but also heavens. He's talking, and this is what the prophet Haggai said. Yeah, Haggai chapter 2 is what this is talking about. And there it was talking about how God was even punishing the Israelites for their sins during Babylon's captivity.
But someday God is going to judge the world again, isn't he? Right? Where the whole, not just heavens, not just the earth, but the heavens will be shaken. When Jesus returns, all of it will be shaken. And so if God is speaking to us in the gospel, if his son is speaking to us in the good news, what should we do? Listen, listen, listen. Yeah, that's right. We listen. We listen. Right? So we need to listen. We need to recognize that God, Jesus is going to come to judge. But there's something else, right?
Since all of this is true, verse 28, this is the fun part. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, where is Jesus' kingdom? Up and away. Well, I thought Jesus said that the kingdom of God was at hand. That's up in a way. So is his kingdom here of this world? No. But I thought Jesus was the king over kings. Yeah. Isn't he the king of kings and the Lord of lords? Yeah. So is his kingdom up there or down here? Up there. Will heaven ever meet earth? Sometimes. Yeah, right. Someday Jesus is going to come back. The king is going to come to earth. But will his kingdom be shaken? No, no, no. His kingdom will not be shaken so we can we can have grace.
So the word here, I think, is actually better translated thankfulness. The world might always be in chaos, Daniel. There might be kings who are always wanting to go to war, people who are always fighting against God, always news, always fighting, always wrong, always, always, always constant anxiety and fear. Okay, so that's Donald Trump. But, yeah, we just came out of an election cycle where people felt that way, right?
But, How can Christians give thanks even when all those things are going nuts? When there's wars and rumors of wars and kings and kingdom being thrown up and raised up and thrown down? God could come down. Yeah, we know that God's going to come someday, but His kingdom? Will it be shaken? No. Even if somebody tried to fly a plane all the way up there or the rocket all the way up there. Yeah, there's no shaking Jesus's kingdom. That's right. And so since that's true, we can give thanks by which we may serve God. That word for serve is also used for worship. And so we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. Godly fear. What do you think that fear means if you're a Christian?
Does that mean you're like, Oh no, he's going to, is it like ancient pagans? Oh no, Jesus is going to throw a lightning bolt at me and zap me. Yep. So much. You think that's what it is for Christians? No. I mean, it just said that we're not going to be able to escape his judgment. We'll be like, I've done a bunch of things wrong, but will you please forgive me?
All right. Yeah. So if we believe in his son, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of all of our unrighteousness. Yep. So does that mean that we just treat God willy nilly? Nope. Does that mean that when we come to worship, we can just do whatever we want? Not just, you can't go like this.
Oh, look! I'm reading a book! Wow! I'm playing video games! Woohoo! Yeah, is the worship of God something small? Is the worship of God something to be played with? Nope. Is the worship of God just a concert? Nope. Is it a TED Talk? Like, just an encouraging lecture? Nope. Is it... Just do whatever feels good for people? Nope. What is it then? It's God basically speaking to you, to somebody. He's trying to tell you his word. Okay, God speaking to us through his word. Right? Yeah.
So in the preaching, the reading and the preaching of the word, right? But also we serve him, not just in the preaching. How else do we serve God in worship? What else do we do in worship? Is it all about God speaking to us? What else are we doing as we serve Him, worship?
He's worthy of being served. We're praying to Him. Good. We give thanks to Him. Good. Can you think of anything else that we do? Do we sing His praises? Yeah, right. So we offer up the sacrifice of praise and prayer. We serve Him and we hear from Him. And we do that with reverence and awe. Because our God is a consuming fire.
Well, no, it's not ah. It's wow. He's holy. And he's worthy. Yeah, it's not, ah, run away. It's, wow, I get to serve Him. I get to sing His praises. I get to have His face shine upon me and be gracious to me. But not hell. Yeah, and I don't have to fear the flames of hell. Because Jesus has paid for my sins. He's made me perfect. There's light in heaven and fire in hell. Yeah. Light and fire.
So what do you think this is calling you to do? Don't just be like, oh, I'm not going to church today. I just have like my foot aches. I don't want to come. I stepped my toe yesterday. Okay. So don't treat, don't treat church like it's optional or when you do come, don't treat it like it's just an entertainment show. Like it's just time to play. And just don't go like this. Oh, I'm looking at church.
Oh, let's sit here and take a nap. Yeah, it's not nap time either, is it? But sometimes when you don't get any sleep, sometimes you have to. Yeah, maybe you need to sleep early, go to bed earlier on Saturday night. So that's a good point. You know, one of my pastors gave me that advice. He said, try not to stay up late on Saturday night so you can not be so tired on Sunday morning. And you can worship God with more awakeness. But on Sunday, you can stay up.
Well, that's fine. That's our night, right? That's the night that Daddy spends with you guys. OK, but the point being here, right, we can serve the Lord. Yeah, we can treat God's worship as a serious thing and listen to Him. You're right. You ready to pray?
Father, we thank you so much that you have spoken to us by Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank you that you have given us your Son. And Father, we thank you that in your presence there is fullness of joy. Thank you for inviting us to a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Lord, we pray that we would worship you. We pray that we would have the reverence and awe, as well as joy and confidence that you have given us in your Son. In his name we pray. Amen. May God bless you as you worship Him in spirit and in truth. I'll see you next time. Bye bye! How are you doing?