Reverence
If your family had a vase made by Moses when he was a boy in Pharaoh’s palace that had made its way down from generation to generation over the past 3500 years to you, with the pedigree of previous owners including people like David and Solomon, Isaiah, and the Apostle Paul, what would you do with it? Would you leave it on the front step of your house with fake Geraniums in it? Would you keep it under the kitchen sink with your vegetable scrubbing brushes in it? Would you keep it on a reachable shelf somewhere in the house…where short little uncivilized people in diapers could reach it? Would you treat it like a vase you bought at the dollar store…or would it receive special treatment?
Well, considering that even if you used Moses’ vase to keep gold coins in, it would be worth far more than all of them, and considering that that vase would be worth more than your house—no matter how nice it is, I have a hunch that you’d give that vase special treatment. In fact, I think it would be fair to say that you would treat it…with reverence. Do I have it right?
Reverence is a high level of deferential respect. By deferential I mean that we change what we would normally do out of respect for the things that we value highly. And this respect doesn’t just revolve around things. It also extends to people. We recognize that the people and things that we value highly are due special and honorable recognition, and we signify this by our behavioral choices in relationship to them. And the more highly we value someone or something, the more honorable we treat them or it.
By the way, if someone offered you $22 million for your vase, would you say that it’s fair to say they had some reverence in them for that vase, too? From special treatment to a high price offered, in both cases, respect is revealed. And with respect comes reverence. So, the better the treatment or the higher the price, the greater the reverence revealed.
Examples of Reverence
Consider some examples of reverence in our world:
- We stand for the National Anthem—because our nation is greater than we are.
- We stand when a judge enters his courtroom—because his authority is above ours.
- Men take their hats off in the Alamo—because men laid down their lives there.
- Bike riding isn’t permitted through the Beverly, NJ National Cemetery—because many of the men buried there fought for our freedom, while others of them gave their lives for us.
Reverence Is Formal—Not Casual
So, in light of these examples of reverence, is reverence casual…or formal?
It’s formal, isn’t it?
But what is the nature of our culture? Is it formal or casual?
It’s casual.
Why does the nature of our culture matter?
Because our casual culture is affecting everything, and there are some things that our culture has no right to affect.
As an aside, someone once wrote: “When quarrels and factions are carried openly, it is a sign that the reverence of government is lost.”
In our present-day casual culture, I’d day that the reverence of government has been lost, wouldn’t you? When this happened in 18th century France, by the way, the Reign of Terror followed. So, this loss of reverence for government in our land doesn’t look too good for our future…does it?
The Church: the Seat of Reverence
Well, turning from the loss of reverence for our government, in Leviticus 19:30 the Lord says to us:
“Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I [am] the LORD.”
Reverence for God’s house is not something that He ever wants to be lost.
Reverence is both an acknowledgement of superiority and an offering of respect that we give to God. Reverence is how we acknowledge God’s superiority and show our respect for who He is as our Creator, for His authority as the Architect of life and all things real, and for what He’s done for us in saving us from sin.
Let’s look at a dictionary definition of reverence:
"REVERENCE, n. [L. reverentia.]
"1. Fear mingled with respect and esteem; veneration.
"The fear acceptable to God, is a filial fear, an awful reverence of the divine nature, proceeding from a just esteem of his perfections, which produces in us an inclination to his service and an unwillingness to offend him."
(From Webster’s 1828 Dictionary)
Reverence in Practice in a Casual Culture
Now, before we proceed, let me ask you something. When you were considering whether to invite us to come out and pastor your church, I told you that I would preach ALL of God’s Word, not just part of it, and you applauded that statement. Do you remember that? I hope that’s what you still want. Is it?
I hope so.
The house of God is set apart as the most important place on earth and in our lives.
Because God is superior to us and everyone else…we openly and purposely acknowledge His superiority by our behavior when we enter His house/presence. Our behavioral acknowledgement of who God is and what He means to us reveals itself in multiple ways. Let’s consider six of these ways.
1. We dress our best when we come into God’s presence—Exodus 19:14
“And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes.”
I don’t imagine that this nation of recently liberated slaves had formal attire. However, they were to make the best of their appearance with what they presently possessed. And by the way, when they finally arrived in the Promised Land and got themselves established, and they had money for more than just food, they would be able to acquire formal attire—i.e., Sabbath-going-to-church clothes.
God’s definition of best and our definitions of best can be quite different. And before we turn to what God considers best, we need to take an honest look at what our culture deems acceptable in places that really demand of us our best.
From “Schlub Nation,” by Faran Krentcil, in the New York Post of August 30, 2009, we read:
“At Ted Kennedy’s public memorial on Friday, there were many sad things: Victoria Kennedy’s hopeful smile. Signs in the crowd saying THANK YOU TEDDY. A mother with a son in Iraq clutching an American flag.
“But just as sad? The flip-flops.
“Mourners also sported short-shorts, undershirts, dirty tees, and many pairs of infamous Crocs. It was a Casual Friday gone horribly wrong, as if everyone’s destination was Fenway Park, not a public casket viewing at the Kennedy Library.
“’Dressing down’ is nothing new — fine diners have long complained about the slow erosion of appropriate attire. But what has happened to the dignity of a nation when you can’t even dress properly for a wake?”
https://nypost.com/author/faran-krentcil/
And it doesn’t stop with wakes. Multitudes dress down for worship. If anything is deserving of a never ceasing atmosphere of reverence, it’s coming into God’s presence in the place that He has formally set aside for His people—the Church. We need to dress our best, not merely in what is culturally acceptable, for Jesus.
Back to the children of Israel washing their clothes in the desert.
Do you suppose that it was convenient to wash their clothes…in the desert? No. And would you say that doing this inconvenient task was comfortable?...No again. And the lesson is this: there is something far more important and beneficial for us personally than personal comfort and convenience when it comes to our relationship with God; and that something is to acknowledge the supremacy of our God by means of materially expressing respect and reverence for Him. And our dress when we come into His presence expresses is one of the first ways we do so. It is one of the ways that we express our personal quotient of esteem for God the Father and God the Son—and for that matter, for God the Holy Spirit, too.
- 2. Another way that God’s definition of best differs from ours is seen in Genesis 35:1-4.
“And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that [were] with him, Put away the strange gods that [are] among you, and be clean, and change your garments: And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which [were] in their hand, and [all their] earrings which [were] in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which [was] by Shechem.”
When God invites us to come into His presence, He’s not looking for us to come wearing jewelry. Why? Because God’s principal concern for beauty in our lives is not our bodies. It is our characters. He knows that if our characters are beautiful, if His principles are what we live by, every part of our lives will be more attractive to those we come in contact with as His representative than any amount of jewelry can bestow…..and distract them from seeing.
And speaking of the humble decision to not wear ornamentation, humility is one of the most beautiful characteristics that any human being can possess. Humility never makes a man or woman a competitor with others. So, keeping up the with Jones had no impact on the humble man’s finances. It keeps power struggles in the home and the office and the church from happening, and keeps gossip from escaping the lips—which makes a person safe for others to confide in and trust; and who doesn’t need a safe person in their life?
- 3. We come with an offering, because we acknowledge that all we have is gifted to us by the Lord Jesus Christ—Psalms 96:8.
“Give unto the LORD the glory [due unto] his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts.”
How appropriate that we should bring an offering when we come into God’s presence. After all, everything that we have and enjoy He gave to us! So, giving to Him is just an expression of gratitude for all He’s done for us. And by the way, giving keeps us from becoming selfish. After all, what is someone that keeps everything that he receives for himself? Selfish. And is he spiritual or materialistic? The answer is obvious; and the Lord has better things in mind for us than that we be self-centered materialists!
The offerings the Lord wants of us are very specific in nature—Exodus 25:2.
“Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering.”
He wants our free-will offerings. He offered up His life for us because He loves us. He only wants offerings from us that rise out of our love for Him.
As they say, and truly so, we can give without loving, but we can’t love without giving. Loving gratitude takes tangible form. If it doesn’t…it isn’t real.
- 4. We enter God’s house with our undivided attention on Him. We see this in Psalms 100.
“Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD he [is] God: [it is] he [that] hath made us, and not we ourselves; [we are] his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, [and] into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, [and] bless his name. For the LORD [is] good; his mercy [is] everlasting; and his truth [endureth] to all generations.”
Men, do you remember when you first fell in love with your wife—how obsessed you were with her? When you woke up in the morning, she was on your mind; and you just wanted to go be with her, but you had to go to school or work instead? Well, when you finally got to her house in the evening of the day, and all you wanted to do was go out on a date with her, how much time did you spent talking with her dad about the price of corn on the Chicago Board of Trade—or politics or work or school? AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE, RIGHT? Not even her relatives did you allow to distract you from giving your focused attention to being in her presence, focused on her, right?
Well, that’s how it’s supposed to work between us and God in church. His undivided attention is on us. And, O, how He longs to have our undivided attention on Him! But, then, that’s how love works—and what it hopes for. And maybe that’s the way it used to be with us, but like modern connected couples who search the web and send text messages the world over via their smart phones while they’re out on a dinner date together, maybe other things entering in between us have led us to not be so focused on Jesus as we once were. Like the church of Ephesus in Revelation 2:4 & 5, maybe we too have left our first love. We’re not as “on fire” for Jesus as we used to be…..But we can regain that loving fire. Jesus Himself tells us how:
“Nevertheless I have [somewhat] against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.”
And one of those first works to return to is the awe-inspired, wonder-filled reverence we felt for and expressed to the Lord after we received His forgiveness of our sins.
- 5. We come not to hear, but to listen to God’s Word…because His Word is life-giving and life changing. Psalms 119:130 tells us:
“The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.”
There are a lot of words in a Sabbath School class as we discuss God’s Word. There are a lot of words in a sermon as the speaker preaches God’s Word. And sometimes a select few of those word contain the exact, life-giving, life-changing message that we individually need.
For example, a pastor friend of mine was telling a story from the Bible in a seminar that we taught together. As he recounted this story that I’d heard and read I don’t know how many times before, he came to a certain point in the story at which he added one sentence of explanation—just one sentence. But that one sentence pointed out the significance about a detail of the story that I had never seen before, that had never occurred to me before, and it was exactly what I needed! His one sentence had the grace of God and the power of new life in it for me. And friends, if I hadn’t heard his one, lone sentence that evening, I still wouldn’t have seen what he pointed out about the reality of the grace of God so forcefully—and fortunately—in that story, because I’ve never since heard anyone else express the thought he shared.
I knew that what Pearo said was right the moment I heard it, because I was well acquainted with the story he was relating. And so it wasn’t Pearo’s words, but a truth in the Word of God that I had overlooked and not seen before that had such a positive impact on my walk with Christ. It’s just that that truth from God’s Word was made clear to me through Pearo’s words.
That seminar we taught is approaching two decades ago. I’ve never forgotten that one sentence that my friend preached. And my spiritual life has been richer and stronger every day since then because of that one sentence!.....So, can you imagine the loss I would have sustained had I been distracted—or if someone else had distracted me—at the moment he spoke that one short word of life that God intended for me?
When we come into God’s house, we need to do nothing and say nothing that can in any way distract ourselves or others from God’s Word. Silence from the moment we enter the sanctuary to the moment we leave it—Sabbath School discussions of God’s Word excepted, of course—does not seem unreasonable in light of the loss we can sustain should we or others miss even one short word of life sent by God to us or them in an otherwise undistracted focus on the words of God.
His words are life…Our words can wait. And we see this in Isaiah 58:13.
- 6. We don’t speak our own words—Isaiah 58:13
“If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, [from] doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking [thine own] words.”
This passage refers to our time across the entire Sabbath. Church attendance occurs during the Sabbath. So, the principle here applies in church.
Conclusion and Appeal
The fear of God and reverence for God are really synonymous. They are inseparable. And what is the ultimate motive for the true fear of God—for real reverence for Him. Is it the fear of death, the fear of punishment, the fear of the lake of fire? No…it’s none of these. The real motive for reverence for God is revealed in Psalms 130.
“Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O LORD. Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But [there is] forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul [waiteth] for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: [I say, more than] they that watch for the morning. Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD [there is] mercy, and with him [is] plenteous redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.”
The fear of God and reverence for Him in our hearts rise out of gratitude for His mercy. Our behavior in the house of God is one of the premier ways that we give expression to our gratitude to Jesus for what He did for us on His cross. That gratitude take the form of reverence, which inspires everything from what we wear, to how we behave, to what we talk about, to when we keep silence, to what we allow our children to do in the sanctuary.
God would have us to reverence His house. He wants us to treat it with special care.…but really, it’s not about His house. Psalms 89:7 reveals what’s really behind why God wants us to reverence His sanctuary. It says,
“God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all [them that are] about him.”
It’s about Him. How we behave in God’s house really reveals how much we appreciate Him. And, friends, this is not an unreasonable desire on God’s part. You see, God Himself has reverence…for you and me…for all of us. Sound strange? Do you remember how respect and reverence were shown to your ancient vase at the beginning? They were shown by special treatment given, and a high price offered.
Well, Jesus has given us some incredible special treatment! Long ago, we were but a dream in His heart.…but He had the power to give His dream life, and He did. So, here we are. But He didn’t want us to be like dogs or cattle. His dream of us was that we could think and act for ourselves—freely. It would be risky business to give life to His dream, because if He gave us a place in life, we might go the wrong way. But He took the chance and created you and me anyway! Talk about special treatment!
And then things did go wrong. We took off with God’s enemy. We dropped Jesus like a hot rock, lovingly following a lying new leader. But Jesus knew that we’d been deceived, and that if we learned the truth about Himself and our new leader, we might return to Him. So, the Lord did two things. He fully committed Himself to our freedom by not forcing us to turn back from Satan…and by not allowing our despotic new leader to violate our moral freedom and prevent us from returning to Him should we desire to! If moral freedom isn’t special treatment, nothing is!
The second thing God did…was to pay a price to get us back. But it was like no other price ever paid before. When we go to the store to buy, say, some clothing, we don’t pay the money until the clothes are in our hands. We ourselves carry the clothes to the check out, pay the price, and take our purchase with us. But when Jesus paid the price required to save us, He did so in full submission to the freedom that He Himself has given. In other words, He knew that He wouldn’t be paying for us and buying us, because we’re not a things. By God’s own choice, we are people with free will, and we could choose to keep walking away from Him in spite of the price He not only offered, but actually paid for us—and that price was His own life!
Is it even possible for the Lord to show greater special treatment to us or to pay a higher price for us than He already has? No. And do you realize what this means? It means that God reverences YOU. He loves YOU. That’s what reverence is. It’s love in action. And the reverence He asks of us is simply one Lover hoping and longing for His love to find a reciprocal response in the hearts of you and me.
Some churches dress well for the Lord. The Catholics keep silence before Him. A few churches, like ours, come to God’s house on God’s true day of worship. In others yet, the children are as well behaved in the house of God as their parents. Many churches do well at practicing certain elements of reverence for God. May we as Seventh-day Adventists rise to the point that we show loving reverence for Jesus in His house (and in all of our lives) in every way.
Let all of God’s people say……Amen.