Heart of Worship Pt. 4 // Thrones and Altars

Can we all welcome our Pastor Piper Captain?

Worship Pastor Piper Cappen.

She's gonna be sharing with us today.

Welcome, Piper.

We love you.

Good morning.

Thank you, Larry.

I love Larry.

We're a very mild church here at the locomo just teasing and I love it.

Good morning.

How is everybody?

Yeah.

Is everybody feeling a little bit gems up by their coffee and by the worship and all the announcements?

And we're like, let's go! Anybody?

I get that way.

I get like, oh my gosh, let's do all the things.

Let's move.

This sounds so fun.

And then we come into the word and I'm like, okay, okay, listen, listen, focus, right?

So we're gonna take just a second.

We're gonna start before I launch into the word for this morning.

We're just gonna do a little moment of centering ourselves in prayer.

Okay.

And we'll leave a little silence.

And as we do, just get in touch with your own heart.

Try to locate where you are internally.

Breathe deep.

We bow our hearts before you right now.

Lord, you have full permission to lead, to speak, to orchestrate these moments that we've brought before you this morning.

Have your way here.

Thank you for the body of Christ.

Thank you for your word.

And Jesus, thank you for your presence, for your unfailing love.

The love that endures forever.

We love you, Jesus.

Amen.

Awesome.

So it's so great to be back.

For those of you who do not know me, my name's Piper Keppen.

I'm the worship and arts pastor here at The Lookout.

And if you've been around for a little a couple of months and you're like, um, I have never seen you here, let me explain.

For the last few months, I've actually been away on a sabbatical.

And it has been such a sweet, very beautiful, very enriching time for myself and for my family.

Uh, we've been in ministry for 20 years.

So, and I know I don't look like I could be here 20 years.

Right?

Yes, yes.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Uh we've been in ministry for 20 years and have not taken any significant break.

And because we want to honor the work of God within us and not just what he moves through us, it was time to take some time to spend being attentive to the work of God in our own lives and in our family.

And it was beautiful.

So thank you, church.

Thank you for giving us permission to do that.

Thank you, leadership, for giving us permission to do that.

Thank you for all of your words of encouragement, your letters, and your text messages, and your prayers and hugs, and when I would pop in being like, Why are you here?

You're not supposed to be here, you know.

Thank you for loving us so well through that time.

And we missed you.

I missed you.

And I'm so thankful to be back.

Um, oh, thanks, Mark.

So you may have noticed that Pastor Luke, our lead teaching pastor, is not here this morning.

That's because he's actually guest speaking at another community today.

And because he knew that was coming up a couple of weeks ago, he reached out and he said, Hey Piper, what would you think about straight out of sabbatical just jumping up on the stage and preaching a sermon?

And I was like, What are we talking about?

He said, We're talking about worship, and I said, Done, I'm in.

Because as a worship pastor, one of my favorite things to do is talk about worship.

So it made sense.

And I said yes, of course, after prayer, I said yes.

So we're gonna jump in.

We've been in a series the last several weeks called The Heart of Worship.

Have you guys been enjoying that series?

I have too.

We've been diving into the book of First Chronicles, particularly chapters 13 through 17, and we've been exploring the story of David when he first became king, and his desire, his conviction rather, to go find the Ark of the Covenant, which was the manifest presence of God that had been given to the people of Israel during that time.

He was sent to go find the Ark of, or he's sent out to go find the Ark of the Covenant that had been discarded on the outskirts of Israel and to restore it back to the heart of the Israelites, which was, which physically was in the city of Jerusalem.

He said, as king, one of my first things that I must do, the conviction is I don't want to be king without the high king.

So let's go get that ark and let's bring it back to the center of our daily lives, right?

And Pastor Luke did a great job speaking about that that first week.

And then we spoke the next week about alignment, how when we worship, God aligns us, it aligns us back with who God is and who we are, right?

And then last week, Pastor Luke went into a message about kings and priests, and how we as a people are called to be a royal priesthood, meaning we're quite literally called to be kings and priests on earth, facilitating the work of heaven to earth, partnering with the Lord.

The way that Luke said it, I loved.

He said, We're here to extend the influence of the kingdom of heaven over the earth and live in a relationship of first hand encounters with Jesus that requires no mediators.

Come on, right?

I'm like, sign me up.

That should have been on a track somewhere someday, right?

So this week I want to build a little bit more on that conversation because it's a beautiful thing, and it is right to know that we are to be called kings and priests serving alongside of Jesus.

But there is one thing that we must keep in mind: that the efficacy, our ability to walk that out in the power of the Holy Spirit is completely dependent on our ability to hold the right posture before the Lord.

So I want to talk a little bit this morning about the posture that we bring into our calling as kings and priests.

Okay?

So we're gonna jump in to 1 Chronicles.

You guys should, it should be like worn out in your Bibles by now.

1 Chronicles 13.

And as you're turning there, yesterday um I was I just spent a couple of days in Tulsa and I was driving back because I'm I'm strange.

I love road trips.

So I was driving for 10 hours, just spending time with the Lord and listening to books and podcasts.

And as I was doing that, one of during a portion of my trip, I was praying over this message, and I just said, Lord, what else do you want to say?

And he said, I just want to remind you that being a king is not easy.

See, the call on us to be kings and priests, it may be simple, but it is not easy.

It is not easy to walk in our calling according to the posture of heaven.

So let's let's read this.

Um actually, sorry, before I go there, let me tell you one thing.

It wasn't easy for David either.

David, we read about him, we talk about him.

He was a king, he was known as the man after God's own heart.

And even for David, it wasn't easy to operate as a king and a priest before the Lord.

He messed it up a lot, you guys.

And God was so gracious to him in it.

So he had this tendency to try to go about the right thing, but to do it the wrong way.

Right?

Anybody been there?

You're like, I could have sworn this was gonna work, right?

Uh but David found himself doing that quite a bit, and he got himself in a lot of trouble because of it.

But we'll see how that works out.

All right, so 1 Chronicles 13, 7 through 14.

Forgive me, I'm gonna read off of my paper because it's easier for my very young eyes to see.

All right, so starting in verse 7.

And they carried the ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab, and Uzzah and Ahio were driving the cart, and David and all Israel were celebrating before God with all their might, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourins and cymbals and trumpets.

And when they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzzah put out his hand to take hold of the ark, for the oxen stumbled, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down because he put his hand to the ark, and he died there before God.

And David was angry, because the Lord had broken out against Uzzah, and that place is called Perez Uzzah to this day.

And David was afraid of God that day, and he said, How can I bring the Ark of God home to me?

So David did not take the ark home into the city of David, but took it aside to the house of Obed Edom, the Gittite, where it stayed for three months.

So on first glance, we read this passage, and it's it's okay to admit this, guys.

It's a little offensive, right?

You read it and you're like, uh, that's a little harsh.

That's a little like, wow, Lord, wow, he was just trying to help out.

I mean, come on, give guy a break, right?

In fact, you read this and it feels a little daunting, like, well, now, should I be afraid of God too?

David was.

But what we need to know, and what David already knew, is that there's some context that was going on that we don't read directly from this passage.

You have to know a little bit more about the ark.

So if you go back into Numbers chapter four, you find out that when God first commissioned the ark to be made, he gave very, very specific instructions, not only about how the ark was to be made, but also about who was to tend to it, how it was to be cared for, and how it was to be transported.

He very specifically said the Levites are the only ones that are going to be commissioned, they're going to be set apart unto the work of tending to my tabernacle.

And within the Levites, there's a certain bloodline called the Choathites.

And the Choathites are the only ones that will be consecrated to tend to the holy things, specifically including the ark.

And he gives the warning do not even look upon it, lest you may die.

God wasn't joking around about his presence.

His presence is a holy thing, and it still is a holy thing.

And I'm so thankful for the work that Jesus did on our behalf that we don't have to come like the Kohoathites or like Uzzah, afraid that if we touch the holy things of God, the holy places of God, that we will then die because Jesus has become our mediator there, right?

But at this time, this was the standard that was set by the Lord Himself.

Okay?

So David, in his zeal, in the right desire, the conviction was right.

I want God to be in the center of the heart of Israel.

I want God to be at the center of all that we do.

The heart was right, but the way was misguided.

See, David, in all of his zeal, he moved ahead of the Lord and he applied his own best intentions, or he applied his own best thoughts and his greatest intentions to the purposes of God without seeking the Lord's face first.

If you read back just a few verses, you see that he gathered all of Israel.

He gathered, it says that he went and he asked, uh he sought conference with the leaders of hundreds and thousands, the commanders of hundreds and thousands, and all of the leaders of Israel.

And he called all the Israelites together.

Again, his heart was right.

He wanted unity among the people to be surrounded, to be, to put God at the center and to surround God and let him be the center of their lives.

But he didn't go and say, So, God, how do you want to do this?

He missed it.

He said, This is the heart of God.

Here I go, I'm gonna do it my way.

Ever been there?

A few times.

Ever worked out for you?

Not usually.

All right.

So a couple, about a week ago, I was sitting at coffee with my husband Graham, very handsome gentleman back there.

And we were talking, and I was telling him, because he gets to be my sounding board and he gets to hear all seven versions of my sermon before you guys hear this one.

And as we were talking, I said, babe, I'm just gonna I'm gonna talk about this story of Uzza, and I'm gonna talk about these things, and blah, blah, blah.

And he was like, hmm.

I was like, what's up?

And he was like, I have always struggled with that passage.

And I was like, you have, really?

Why?

And he was like, oh yeah, it doesn't feel fair.

He's like, it just it bothers me.

I really want your my intentions to matter.

I really want it to be enough.

And I was like, ooh.

And being the loving, slightly annoying wife I am.

I said, so honey, what do you think God's telling you about that?

And with wisdom and tears in his eyes, he said, I'm realizing that I have a tendency to want to elevate my intentions above my obedience.

And then he broke down crying because that's the tender-hearted man he is.

It is God does know our heart.

But you guys, if we use phrases like, well, God knew my heart to justify disobedience, we're missing it.

Okay?

It's not that God can't meet you where you are in a moment of ignorance, in a moment of confusion, in a moment of any of that.

He will, he always does.

He's so kind.

But we must be careful not to elevate our intentions above our obedience.

Because when we do, oftentimes the result is offense toward God, and it will rob us of our worship, just like it did David here.

See, David's response to God's reaction to Uzzah, who did know better, by the way, David's response was to become angry and then to become afraid and then to depart from the presence.

When we allow our intentions to be elevated above our obedience, we become offended with God.

And then we become removed from his presence.

I find it interesting in this story that the name Uzza actually means strength.

Because when you look at this, David says, he's he like gets angry and he says, That's it, this place is called Perez Uzza, which on the surface means the breach of Uzzah.

Like, God killed Uzzah.

That's what that means.

Okay.

But when you recognize the translation of what it means word for word, it actually means the breach of my strength.

How often do we find ourselves in a situation where we believe we have the right conviction, we believe we have the right desire, we believe that we're in step with the Holy Spirit, and so we're like, I'm gonna go and I'm gonna do this thing.

And the Lord goes, hey, wait, that's not the way I want you to move this out.

And when he brings us back into discipline, we end up shaking our fist at God, angry because it didn't turn out the way we wanted, because he breached our own strength.

And we didn't humble ourselves before him.

David didn't respond with, Lord, forgive me.

Forgive us for treating your presence so casually.

He didn't respond with that.

He responded with anger and fear and then distanced himself.

When you find yourself in a space where you feel a distance from the Lord, it isn't always this, but it's wise to wonder: is there a place, Lord, that I've become offended or judged you?

Because that is the fruit of offense and judgment toward the Lord.

When we attempt to accomplish the purposes of God within our own strength, the consequence is often the mishandling of his presence.

When we attempt to accomplish the purposes of God within our own strength, the consequence is often the mishandling of his presence.

See, Uzzah is not just any guy that was walking with David.

Uzzah was the son of the household where the presence of God had been stored for the last 20 years.

He was familiar with the presence of God.

And I have to wonder, we don't know because the Lord doesn't tell us, the word doesn't tell us what Uzzah's intentions were, but I have to wonder, did he become so familiar with the presence of God that he started treating it as something less than holy?

And Lord, how often do we do that too?

How often do I come in on a Sunday morning and we're four songs in, and your presence is here, Lord, because you are a present God and I haven't even yet become aware of you?

How often am I at home and I have the opportunity to lean in in my time of prayer and I just check the box and walk away instead of attending his presence?

How often do I forget Lord because because you are kind and gracious and because you've given us your presence?

How often do I forget how holy of a thing that is?

Lord, forgive us for the ways that we treat you as something less than who you are.

So the great news is we do know, and if you were here a couple weeks ago and heard Pastor Luke share the service, the sermon two weeks ago, you will have heard that David does actually come back.

He repents, he gets his heart right before the Lord, and he actually does restore the ark to the center of the people of Israel.

Okay?

And we know that he did it the right way, not only because you can read through the whole thing, but also because verse 15, or sorry, chapter 15, verse 26, it says, and because God helped the Levites, right people this time, who were carrying the Ark of the Covenant, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams.

You see, when our obedience is aligned with his ways, we build altars of worship instead of seeking thrones to our own pride.

When we align with him, it draws us into worship.

When we are stepping outside of him, building our own thrones, we fall into pride.

Right?

Okay.

So worship reminds us of the goodness, the greatness, and the sovereignty of God, keeping our hearts aligned with his purposes and his ways, and becoming available to his discipline.

So, 1 Chronicles 17, we're gonna jump into another moment that David had the right idea and was tempted to go about it in the wrong way.

But this time he sought the Lord.

And thank you, Jesus, he followed the direction.

All right.

So 1 Chronicles 17, 1 through 14.

It says, Now when David lived in his house, David said to Nathan the prophet, Behold, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under a tent.

And Nathan said to David, Do all that is in your heart to do, for God is with you.

But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan.

And he said, Go and tell my servant David, Thus says the Lord, it is not you who will build me a house to dwell in.

For I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up Israel to this day.

I have gone from tent to tent and from dwelling to dwelling in all the places where I have moved with all of Israel.

Did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel whom I commanded to shepherd my people, saying, Why have you not built me a house of cedar?

Now therefore, thus thus shall you say to my servant David, Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be prince over my people Israel, and have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you, and I will make for you a name, like the name of the great ones of the earth, and I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more, and violent men shall waste them no more, as formerly from the time that I appointed judges over my people, and I will subdue all your enemies.

Moreover, I declare to you that the Lord will build you a house.

When your days are fulfilled to walk with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own souls, sons, and I will establish his kingdom.

He shall build a house for me, I will establish his throne forever, I will be with him, be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.

I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from him who was before you, but I will confirm him in my house and in my kingdom, and his throne shall be established forever.

This is the word of the Lord.

Praise be to God.

This promise that we're reading here, we now call the messianic promise to the line of David.

This is the moment that God says, Listen, David, I know that your heart is that you want to honor my presence, but you're not seeing my bigger picture.

I have a different way.

I'm going to go about this a bit differently than what you have in mind.

And I appreciate your heart, David, but I got this, right?

He's like, and not only do I have this, but I'm actually going to establish my kingdom not only within your family, but for all of eternity through your family line.

And we know that David then goes and responds with really beautiful prayer and worship to the Lord.

God's response to him was, it's not for you to build me a home.

See, God, from the very beginning of time, from walking in the in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, to the Ark of the Covenant, his presence among his people, to Jesus, the living God, walking on earth in our skin, to the Holy Spirit being released to us to be able to be in partnership and relationship with us to this day.

God has always, always, always intended that his presence would be carried by his consecrated people.

He has never wanted to be in a box, he has never wanted to be on the outskirts, he's always wanted to be in the center, he's always wanted to be right here within us, and he has always intended that we then would become the Ark of the Covenant, living and walking his presence out on earth.

Right?

David had no grid for that, of course, can't blame the guy.

But he was trying to accomplish something that was born of his heart, and the Lord was like, wait, I have another way.

And we're so thankful that he bowed his knee to the way that God gave him in that.

If we want to be effective in our calling as kings and priests, we must understand that it is for God to build thrones and for us to build altars.

Okay?

I'm gonna say that again because it can be a little paradigm shift.

If we want to be effective in our calling as kings and priests, moving out, extending the presence of God on earth, moving in partnership with the purposes of God on earth, we must, we must, we must remember that it is for God to establish thrones and for us to build altars.

Right?

The last thing that this world needs is more people building themselves thrones.

Amen.

Everywhere you look, you open up social media and there's somebody else building themselves a throne.

There's somebody else coming and saying, I've got the reigning authority on this topic.

I am the one that you should listen to.

Turn to me.

I have the answers, I am the way.

Everywhere we look, the world does not need anybody else establishing a throne among their midst.

But the world does need a consecrated people who build altars before the Lord and say, High King of Heaven, have your way.

Right?

And can I just push on something a little bit?

I'm not gonna go here, but I just want to just maybe push a little bit.

It's not our place to build somebody else's throne either.

So be careful what you say.

Be careful whose thrones you're building.

Be sure that your knee has been bowed to the throne of the king of heaven and that his is the throne you align with.

Okay?

That's all I'm saying.

All right.

Jesus didn't come building his own throne either.

He didn't come announcing power.

He came moving in power.

He didn't come overthrowing power like they wanted him to.

He came empowering people.

Jesus had every right to build his throne, and yet the decision he made was to build an altar and to literally climb upon it and become the sacrifice.

Even Jesus was building altars.

It said, Paul says, I appeal to you, brothers, by the mercies of God.

Present your bodies as living sacrifices holy and acceptable to God.

This is your spiritual act of worship.

And we know from that first week that word bodies actually means your whole self, your entire being.

Paul is pleading to us, please, please present your whole self as a sacrifice to the Lord.

Every part of our lives has the opportunity to be an altar.

Every interaction with another person has the opportunity to be an altar.

Every moment has the potential to be an altar of incense before the Lord.

But we have to recognize the places that we have enthroned ourselves, and we have to take those thrones and turn them into altars for the Lord to be able to move.

Right?

When we build our own thrones, we attempt to accomplish his purposes in our ways.

We are prone to offense and judgment toward God.

We elevate our own intentions above our obedience.

We forget the holiness of his presence.

And we lose sight of the importance of worship.

When we build our own thrones, it's costly.

Right?

Let's not let the cost be our worship.

Let's let the cost be our own throne.

Right?

Let's offer our throne.

I don't have a throne to give anybody except for my own throne.

So Lord, here it is and have your way.

Be high king.

Some of the areas of our lives that we build thrones to ourselves are things like within relationships, within our work, within our finances, within our time, within our decisions of what we will and will not do in any given time of worship.

Some of the ways that we can build altars is within our relationships that come with humility and love.

In our strength in our own strategies, in our workplaces, we take Sabbath fast and build an altar.

In our finances, tithe as obedience.

Give and generosity.

It's an altar.

In our physical health, we choose healthy living.

In our good ideas and best intentions, search out a life of prayer and obedience and waiting upon the Lord.

Don't rush ahead of him.

In our emotions, worship when you don't feel like it.

Right?

There are so many others that I could go into, but there are so many thrones we can give ourselves.

And this morning, as we worship team, you can come on up.

As we move into this last time of worship, I just want to take a few minutes of reflection with the Lord.

I want to invite you to bring your heart before the Lord and to ask him, Lord, are there any places that I have seated myself on the throne and that I need to remove myself from that throne and turn it into an altar?

Are there any places, Lord, that you would want to speak to me about how I have treated your presence as something less than holy?

See, we live on the other side of the cross here.

We don't have to be afraid like David and Uzzah.

We get to come boldly before the throne of Christ.

And when we get there, then we get to bow our knee, and that's a privilege for us.

Even giving him your throne is a privilege.

Uzzah didn't get that chance, but we do.

So let's not neglect it.

And as we take this time of just waiting before the Lord, Byron, you can go ahead and play when you're ready.

And as we take this time before the Lord, I just want to invite you to ask him a couple of things.

One, is there a throne that I need to surrender?

Or an altar I need to build?

Two, Lord, is there a place I've treated your presence as something less than holy?

And three, Lord, is there any place of offense or judgment within me toward you that we need to make right?

And we're just gonna let Byron play for a few minutes and we're just gonna sit before the Lord.

And I just invite you to offer that space to Him.

Lord, search me and know me.

Let my life be an altar to you.

Thank you, Lord.

Jesus.

We bow ourselves before you right now.

High King.

And the lamp show us line.

We bow before you.

And Lord, we present our lives before you.

Lord, would you make would you make your name great?

We bring ourselves here, Lord, and we ask you, make an altar of my living, make an altar of my life, Lord.

I give you my whole self.

My whole self, Lord.

There is no place, I confess, there is no place that I know better than you.

Lord, forgive me for the times that I thought I did.

Forgive me for my offenses and my judgments of you when you did things your way and I didn't understand it.

Forgive me, Lord, for coming into your presence and teaching treating it like a casual thing.

Treating it as commonplace.

Forgetting how holy it is.

Search my heart, God.

Show me the places that I need to surrender my thrones, that I need to lay down my crown.

Above me, above my best intentions, above my greatest thoughts, and all of my efforts.

Be exalted, Jesus.

Lord, we love you.

Lord, we love you.

Lord, we love you.

As we go back into worship, feel free to stay in this place and to move into worship, to sing, to not sing, to take communion, to kneel, whatever you need to do, to do some work between you and the Lord.

We're gonna go back into worship and we're just gonna exalt his name.

Thank you, Lord.

Feel free to stand if you would like to.

Thank you, Father.

You are holy.

Praise you, God.

Praise you.

We exalt you, Father.

We exalt you.

Father, as we go this week, would you help us to be in tune with you, with your spirit, what you're doing in our lives?

Would you help us to be sensitive to the areas where we take back control and we start building our own kingdoms, we start building our own thrones?

Father, would you keep this truth near to us?

That we can remember to put you first.

That your glory would be more important than ours.

Be with us as we go today, Lord.

Be with us as we go this week.

Would you be exalted?

Would you be known?

Would your love shine through us and overflow out of us?

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Well, we want to release you guys to go get the kiddos if you've got those back there.

Do remember, we've got a great luncheon about to happen.

If you want to stick around and hear more about Pastor Willie and everything that's going on with the missions, please go back into the theater.

That's where that'll be.

And um, we just pray that you guys have a blessed day and a blessed rest of your week.

If you need to continue and get prayer, that's fine.

We're not shutting that down.

Feel free to come on up and get prayer if you need.

Um bless you guys.

We love you.