These are the decrees and laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you to possess—as long as you live in the land. Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains, on the hills and under every spreading tree, where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.
You must not worship the Lord your God in their way. But you are to seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go; there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you.
You are not to do as we do here today, everyone doing as they see fit, since you have not yet reached the resting place and the inheritance the Lord your God is giving you. But you will cross the Jordan and settle in the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and he will give you rest from all your enemies around you so that you will live in safety. Then to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name—there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice possessions you have vowed to the Lord. And there rejoice before the Lord your God—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites from your towns who have no allotment or inheritance of their own. Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please. Offer them only at the place the Lord will choose in one of your tribes, and there observe everything I command you. (Deuteronomy 12:1-14 NIV)
In your head, I want you to list off the days of the week. Can you do that? All seven days? Sunday. Monday. Tuesday. Wednesday. Thursday. Friday. Saturday. Good job! Do you know where our days of the week get their names? I had never thought about this until this past week. All seven English names for the days of the week get their names from… pagan gods. Sunday is sun-day. Monday is moon-day. Tuesday through Friday are named after ancient gods of Europe. Saturday is Saturn-day. All seven days are named after pagan gods. Did you know that?
I suppose that’s not a surprise. People have always been religious. Every culture in the history of the world has believed in lots of gods. The fancy word for that is “polytheism.” So I suppose it made a lot of sense to name each day after a different god. There was a day for worshipping the sun, and a day for worshipping the moon, and a day for worshipping Saturn and Jupiter and Mars and… They needed more days! A different god for each day. We still use their names today.
But the Bible is different. You could say it’s radical. According to the Bible, how many gods are there? Just one. One God. The fancy word for that is “monotheism.” That’s ultimately one of the most hated things about the Bible’s message. People say it’s “exclusive.” Are they right? Yes! According to the Bible, you can’t just believe in whatever you want. There aren’t a lot of different viable options. There is just one true God. He is the only God people are to worship. Can you understand how radical that was in the ancient world? Not many gods. One God.
So as the Israelites were about to enter the Promised Land of Canaan, God gave them some specific instructions: “Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains, on the hills and under every spreading tree, where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.” Can you tell where the ancient Canaanite people worshipped? Just about everywhere, especially on high places. That makes sense, because what did they worship? Lots of gods, especially gods up in the sky.
And God said, “To each his own.” No, he didn’t! He said, “All gods are the same in the end.” No, he didn’t. He said, “It doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you believe something.” No! What he said is, “Follow your heart.” No! What did God really say? “Destroy completely… Break down… Smash… Burn… Cut down… Wipe out…” How important does it sound like this was to God? Really important! God did not want his people to worship like everybody else did.
Instead, he said, “You must not worship the Lord your God in their way. But you are to seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go; there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you.” “Don’t worship God wherever you want. Worship in the one place God chooses.”
Where was that? What place? Well, Moses doesn’t mention it. Know why? God hadn’t chosen it yet! You know where it would be: Jerusalem. But Jerusalem wasn’t conquered until the time of King David about 500 years later. Even though it hadn’t been chosen yet, God wanted his people to know this: “There is one place of worship. You all need to worship me at that one place.”
Why? God didn’t want his people to be like everybody else. “You must not worship the LORD your God in their way.” It’s good for us to hear that again and again. God didn’t want his people to be like everybody else. You can imagine the danger. If the Israelites worshipped on all the mountains where there were altars to pagan gods, whom would they begin to worship? Pagan gods. It’s always tempting to add an “and.” The Lord “and” Baal “and” Asherah “and” … God didn’t want his people’s hearts to be torn away from him. He loved them too much for that!
So they were to all go to that one place of worship. God was constantly teaching the Israelites an important message: How many Gods are there? One. How many Saviors are there? One. As the Israelites traveled over and over to that one place of worship, they all heard the same message from the same priests all focused on the same one true God. Can you understand what God was saying to his people? “Don’t be like all the people around you. They are going to be destroyed. Worship the one true God at the one place of worship. Then you will have joy and salvation.”
So what are we doing here? Shouldn’t we be worshiping God in Jerusalem? No. How do we know that? Jesus tells us! A woman from Samaria once asked Jesus, “Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” “Should we worship on this mountain or in Jerusalem?” What would we expect Jesus to say? “In Jerusalem!” But that’s not what Jesus said. “Woman, believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem… A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth” (John 4:20-23). Huh. Worship isn’t about a place anymore. Instead, we are to worship the Father in the Spirit.
A different time, Jesus was at the temple in Jerusalem, and he said, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days” (John 2:19). The people were puzzled. They said, “‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?’ But the temple he had spoken of was his body” (John 2:20-21). This is important. As Jesus stood in the temple, what was the real temple? He was. Jesus is. A temple is where you meet God. A temple is where sins are forgiven. Where do we meet God? In Jesus. Where are our sins forgiven? In Jesus.
So, if we want to worship God, where do we need to go? To Jesus! That’s what we heard in our verse of the day today. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Do you understand his claim? His invitation? If you want God, what do you need? Jesus. His truth. His life and death for us. Jesus is the way. There is still one place of worship. God wants us to get rid of all the pagan altars and worship him. It’s just that the one place of worship isn’t a physical place anymore. It’s Jesus. Understand?
I don’t think we really do. I don’t think we Christians understand that Christianity is meant to be different than society. It seems like there’s an expectation that we can make Christianity cool. We need to realize something: Christianity by its very nature is always counter-cultural, because it goes against our sinful desires. Whenever Christianity becomes “cool,” it’s because somebody has changed Christianity. That’s what’s happening today. One side says, “Let’s forget about sin. Don’t worry about following God’s commands.” The other side: “Let’s cut out humility and repentance. Let’s just talk about how good we are and how wrong they are.” Sound familiar? Which side is right? Neither! Still today, we need to tear down the false altars in our lives.
So what altars do you worship at? If someone came to America from the past, they would say, “Boy, you have big temples. They can hold like 80,000 people! And you worship on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, right?” Or, “Wow, all your tallest buildings that reach up to the heavens have the same word on them: Bank. That must be your word for one of your gods, right? Bank?”
What altars do you worship at? Remember those days of the week? It’s easy to do what those pagan people did: Have a different god each day of the week: Sunday morning? That’s for the Lord, usually. But Monday-Friday? It’s easy to be a different person. And Friday night? That’s for… And Saturdays? Those are for… There are just as many altars in our world as in ancient Canaan. Would you agree? What altars do you worship at? God wants you to tear them down.
How can you tell? Here’s a clue: What gets you excited, or what leaves you discouraged? After the convention, if you are elated and filled with hope that everything is going to go well, maybe you’re worshipping at the wrong altar. After the convention, if you are discouraged and can’t see how anything is going to turn out, maybe you are worshipping at the wrong altar. Do you see the danger? What gets you excited or leaves you discouraged? That’s what you’re worshipping. And God says, “You can’t. You can’t worship Jesus and… Cut those altars out of your life!”
Because remember this: There is only one true place of worship: Jesus. A recent study found that 75% of Americans think that things are going badly. I hope that’s not you. Why? Because of Jesus! When God’s people gathered at their one place of worship, they were to focus on God’s blessings. God is blessing you. Do you realize that? With mountains of physical blessings. In the United States of America right now today we are incredibly blessed by the grace of God. You see that, right? God is blessing you. With mountains of spiritual blessings. Jesus died to forgive your sins and gives you eternal life in heaven through faith in him. God is blessing us. If you worship at the wrong altar, you’ll never find that. But if you worship Jesus, you can’t miss it.
Where? Where do we find Jesus. Not in a certain building. You find Jesus in the Means of Grace. Have you heard that phrase before? The Means of Grace. According to the Bible, Jesus is found in the gospel in Word and Sacraments. Every time you hear God’s Word, Jesus and his Spirit are working on your heart. Through the miracle of Baptism, Jesus and his Spirit wash away sin. Through the miracle of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus gives us his body and blood for the forgiveness of sins. Seek the Lord where he wants to be found—in his Word and Sacraments.
Do you know what you’ll find? Joy. I noticed a word that shows up twice in our lesson: Rejoice! “There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the LORD your God has blessed you.” When you worship our God of grace, do you know what you have? Joy. Maybe we need to make a change. Instead of Sunday, what could we say? Jesusday. Instead of Moonday, what could we say? Jesusday. Every day is Jesusday, because there is still one place to worship God. One place to find forgiveness and salvation. One place to find joy and peace. Where? In Jesus.
(To listen to this sermon on my Upside-Down Savior podcast, please click HERE. To watch this sermon on my Upside-Down Savior YouTube channel, please click on the link below.)
Cross on wood and bokeh background
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