Extravagant Worship

October 2007
I want to share just a little about extravagant worship. I’ve held onto this particular idea for several months now, because I wanted to use it the month we are moving into The Crossing.
2 Chronicles 5:1 So all the work Solomon did for the LORD’s temple was completed. Then Solomon brought the consecrated things of his father David—the silver, the gold, and all the utensils—and put them in the treasuries of God's temple. 2 At that time Solomon assembled at Jerusalem the elders of Israel—all the tribal heads, the ancestral chiefs of the Israelites—in order to bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD up from the city of David, that is, Zion. 3 So all the men of Israel were assembled in the king's presence at the festival; this was in the seventh month. [a] 4 All the elders of Israel came, and the Levites picked up the ark. 5 They brought up the ark, the tent of meeting, and the holy utensils that were in the tent. The priests and the Levites brought them up. 6 King Solomon and the entire congregation of Israel who had gathered around him were in front of the ark sacrificing sheep and cattle that could not be counted or numbered because there were so many. 7 The priests brought the ark of the LORD’s covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the most holy place, beneath the wings of the cherubim. 8 And the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark so that the cherubim formed a cover above the ark and its poles. 9 The poles were so long that their ends were seen from the holy place [b] in front of the inner sanctuary, but they were not seen from outside; they are there to this very day. 10 Nothing was in the ark except the two tablets that Moses had put [in it] at Horeb, [c] where the LORD had made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of Egypt. 11 When the priests came out of the holy place—for all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves regardless of their tour of duty [d] — 12 the Levitical singers of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, and of their sons and their relatives, dressed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps and lyres, were standing east of the altar, and with them were 120 priests blowing trumpets. 13 The trumpeters and singers joined together to praise and thank the LORD with one voice. They raised [their] voices, accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and musical instruments, in praise to the LORD: For He is good; His faithful love endures forever; the temple, the LORD’s temple, was filled with a cloud. 14 And because of the cloud, the priests were not able to continue ministering, for the glory of the LORD filled God's temple.
Footnotes: a. 2 Chronicles 5:3 = September-October b. 2 Chronicles 5:9 Some Hb mss, LXX; other Hb mss read the ark; [1 Kg 8:8] c. 2 Chronicles 5:10 = Sinai d. 2 Chronicles 5:11 Lit themselves; there was no maintaining of divisions

First of all, check out footnote a. It’s the season for a temple dedication. Next, look at verse 6. They sacrificed so many animals they couldn’t be counted. That’s extravagance! In fact this whole event is a story of extravagance. Notice in verse 12 the singers and musicians were dressed in “fine linen.” After the singers and musicians ministered, the Lord answered extravagantly. He filled the temple with the cloud of His glory… the Shekinah. The Bible is a long book, but it is seasoned throughout with stories of extravagant worshippers. Abel brought his best. Abraham built altars all along his journey… perhaps most extravagantly; he laid his own son on one of them as a sacrifice. Moses, a man over 80 years old, climbed Mt. Sinai day after day just to sit in God’s presence. David stopped every six steps to sacrifice as he brought the ark back to Jerusalem. In the New Testament, a woman poured her life’s savings out of an alabaster box onto Jesus’ feet. Paul and Silas sang in prison, in the middle of the night, and finally, John, an old man… exiled onto a rocky Mediterranean island “was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.” How did God respond to these extravagant offerings? Over and over He exceeded their extravagance. He responded to Abraham by calling Him “God’s friend” and establishing an eternal bloodline that would produce the Messiah. He responded to Moses by parting seas, leading with a pillar of fire, and giving the first covenant. He promised to establish David’s throne forever, and the Messiah will rule on that throne. He responded to the woman with the alabaster box by wearing that fragrance on Himself as He climbed Golgotha’s craggy slope. He answered Paul and Silas’ singing with an earthquake to keep the beat (and open a jail cell). He answered John’s undying devotion by giving him the great revelation of the end of days and eternity. I want us to be extravagant in our worship in these temple dedication days. I’ll guarantee you God will respond far beyond our level of extravagance. Bring the Shekinah, Lord!

Stay tuned!
Danny