| Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire. |
| —Hebrews 12:28-29 |
Have you ever wondered why we go to church on Sunday morning, or in some cases, on Saturday evening? If I were to ask each one of you why you are here today, most of you would probably answer, “Because it seemed like a good idea, for this week anyway.”
But, if we look out over this group of people here with us in the sanctuary or auditorium, we might wonder, “Why are all these other people here today?” I mean look at them. We have some little children, we have some young people, we have some older students in high school, we have some college students, we have some young adults, we have some people in middle age, and we have some so-called senior citizens. We have a whole room full of people who for some reason decided to come together in this place for worship today.
Thinking about why we come to church cuts right to the heart of what church and worship is all about. It gets right to the very most basic truth of all that the Bible has to say. It sets aside all of the frills and fancy stuff, and deals with the complete and unadorned truth.
And, do you know what that truth is? The whole reason why every one of us is gathered here in worship today, the whole reason why we even have a church, why we even have a time devoted to worship, is that “Jesus loves us, this we know, for the Bible tells us so!” That simple truth is what drives the whole of the Christian faith. Our response to this simple, yet very important, truth is why we gather for worship.
The writer of the Book of Hebrews expresses this important truth in a slightly different way, as recorded in Hebrews 12:28-29:
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.”
God has given us His Kingdom. It is a glorious Kingdom that exceeds our fondest ability to imagine how truly magnificent it is. It is so far beyond anything we might conjure up in our minds that the only reasonable response we can make to the God who has given us this gift of forgiving our sins and granting us eternal life is to fall on our faces before Him and worship Him.
The fact is that in the Garden of Eden, Adam broke the relationship he had with God by disobeying God’s one and only commandment. As a result, the curse of that sin has fallen on all of us down through the ages, right to this present day. But, the wonderful part of the story is that God, in His mercy and grace, through the sacrifice of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, on the cross of Calvary, has paid the penalty for our sin and restored us to fellowship with Him. This wonderful love of Jesus has brought us back into fellowship with God, both now and for all eternity.
So, when we gather in our churches to worship God, we do so as a people who have been given a magnificent gift: the gift of new life through Jesus Christ. And that, dear ones, is truly a reason to celebrate with the utmost worship for the God who loves us with His unfailing, undying love.
