2 Chronicles 7:11-22     OT p. 393 or 545

[11] Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king's house; all that Solomon had planned to do in the house of the Lord and in his own house he successfully accomplished.

[12] Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: "I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.

[13] When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people,

[14] if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

[15] Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.

[16] For now I have chosen and consecrated this house so that my name may be there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there for all time.

[17] As for you, if you walk before me, as your father David walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my ordinances,

[18] then I will establish your royal throne, as I made covenant with your father David saying, 'You shall never lack a successor to rule over Israel.'

[19] "But if you turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,

[20] then I will pluck you up from the land that I have given you; and this house, which I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

[21] And regarding this house, now exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished, and say, 'Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this house?'

[22] Then they will say, 'Because they abandoned the Lord the God of their ancestors who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore he has brought all this calamity upon them.' " [NRSV]

INTRODUCTION:

One Sunday morning, the Preacher noticed a young boy staring up at the large plaque in the foyer of the church. The boy had been staring at the plaque for some time, so the pastor walked up, and said quietly, "Good morning, Alex." "Good morning, Pastor," replied the boy, focused on the plaque and then asked. "Pastor, what is this?"

"Well, son, these are all the people who have died in the service," replied the pastor. Somberly they both stood together, staring at the large plaque.

Little Alex's voice barely broke the silence when he asked quietly and reverently, "Which one, the 8:30 or the 11:00 service?" (1)

Here it is Memorial Day weekend, a weekend to remember all those who died in Service to their country. But it's also a time of worship. A time to remember that we are in Service to The Lord our God.

A little boy attended church with his father one Sunday morning, and that night before getting into bed he knelt to say his prayers and prayed, "Dear God, we had a good time at church today, but I wish you had been there." (2)

I know that some people feel like that when they come to church or when they attend a different style of worship than they’re used to. Or even if they attend a style of worship that doesn’t touch their spiritual type or need. You see we all have different needs and just as we all have different personalities, we all have different spiritual personalities as well. So, what does that have to do with today’s readings from 2 Chronicles?

With the building and dedication of the Temple, Israel’s whole concept of worship radically changed. Just as it did with the building of the tabernacle. Before the Tabernacle, the Israelites worshipped at the places of importance, the places where God had made Himself known or an Angel of the Lord had visited. They would mark these places by building an altar of stone or simply by building a large pile of stones to commemorate the spot.

But with the Tabernacle, worship began to be associated with a place but it was a Nomadic place. And then with the completion of the Temple it became totally entrenched in a particular place. But it was worship unlike any we know or have experienced today.

We worship in a lot of different ways. Some folks think that the only true worship is done in silence. Others think it has to be done in song and praise. Some think it should be filled with a lot of pomp and long liturgies. Some folks raise their hands, others sit quietly with heads bowed and eyes closed. Some do a combination of all, sort of like us. But what is worship?

Worship is basically our response to the sense of the presence of God in our lives. Personal and corporate worship is simply stepping into the presence of God. The purpose? Simply to please God. To please God.

I. FRAGRANT OFFERING:

A. I'll bet you noticed the smell as you came in the Sanctuary this morning, didn't you? I love the smell of fresh popped popcorn. I love popcorn, it's the perfect snack. I can't go to the movies without getting a big old tub of popcorn. And I don't want any butter either, just popcorn. The only two things that can compare to the smell of popcorn is bread baking in the oven or a steak grilling on the grill. Those are all odors and smells that delight my sense of smell.

If you remember from our readings, time again we find out that the Israelites burned incense as part of their worship. And not those little sticks of incense you can buy at Pier 1 or the candle store. No this was a constant burning of mounds of incense, strong, sweet incense like Frankincense and Myrrh. The incense and the smoke of the offering would rise to heaven where God could smell it just like we smelled the popcorn. It was a "Fragrant Offering.".

Actually, I can't imagine the odor of the Temple, especially on the high holy days like Passover. And the day of dedication had to have been horrible. Solomon had 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep sacrificed to God as they dedicated the Temple. That was some kind of Texas-sized barbecue.

Really, that's a lot of meat. That's a lot of hamburgers and mutton chops. That's a lot of steaks and souvlaki. And I don't care how much you like to barbecue or how much you like the smell of barbecue, after awhile the odor of the meat and the butchering and the blood would get to you. And so they burned the incense. The incense made the offering of the meat sweeter to God. The offerings became "Fragrant Offerings." as Paul called them in Philippians 4:18.

B. That's what our worship should be to God, a "Fragrant Offering."" to God. Our songs, our prayers, our words, everything we do ought to be as pleasing to God as the smell of popcorn or baked bread is to us. Worship is not entertainment. It's not a sports event. It's not like Sunday afternoon golf that's soothing and quiet and lulls you to sleep. Well, not for some. It's not the "Preacher's Show."

Worship is a full contact event. It's a place where we meet God, the Creator of the Universe face to face. It's a place where we come to sing praises to the one who created us. It's a time when we come to please God. And offer who and what we are and what have in God's service.

That's why it's called a Worship Service. We're not being served. We come to offer our service to God through our worship. And when we come unselfishly to God and offer ourselves then we become a "Fragrant Offering." too.

II. MAKING THAT OFFERING:

A. THANKSGIVING: Part of Making that offering is giving thanks. We do that every time we share in the moment of our Worship Service called "Prayers of the People." It's here that we individualize our prayers of thanksgiving and prayers of intercession. They are no longer those blanket prayers of simply "thank you Lord or help the needy and sick," But rather we lift up people and events by name and we rejoice together with the individuals and their accomplishments while saying "Thanks" to God at the same time. We pray for intercession and say "Thank You, Lord" all in the same breath.

Our giving thanks reminds us and helps us discover who we are and why God has placed us here on the earth. It reminds us of the Created order. It reminds us that God comes first because everything comes from God and it's just on loan to us. And it's only when we bow in God's presence with thanksgiving through worship that we are made complete.

Now we know that's there's really nothing we can say or do that even comes close to being an adequate thanksgiving to God. But not to give thanks, is unthinkable.

There's ancient Talmudic hymn, titled "If" that I think sort of sums this up.

If my lips could sing as many songs
    as there are waves in the sea:
if my tongue could sing as many hymns
    as there are ocean billows:
if my mouth
    filled the whole firmament with praise:
if my face
    shone like the sun and moon together:
if my hands
    were to hover in the sky like powerful eagles
and my feet
    ran across mountains as swiftly as the deer;
all that would not be enough
    to pay you fitting tribute,
O Lord my God. (3)

What are you Thankful For? I give thanks for this Church and our staff. For the ministry we share. For Carmen's opportunity to serve as a chaplain. For the fact that I get to serve with you one more year. For God leading Leslie to us at just the right time. For my family. For Joshua's job. For my future grand baby. What are you Thankful For? (GIVE TIME FOR RESPONSES.)

B. LISTENING: Another way to make a "Fragrant Offering." to God through worship is simply to listen. One of my favorite times of the Worship Service is the time of Silent Prayer. We've spent time voicing our joy, concerns, needs and desires. And now we get to sit and simply listen to God. And some of us don't do that very often.

Most of us don't like silence, it makes us uncomfortable. We feel like it needs to be filled with something. So, we turn on the TV or the radio or the stereo and fill the silence. But the truth is that God is in that silence if we'll just take the time to listen.

Mother Teresa wrote: "We need to find God and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grow in silence; see the stars, the moon, the sun, how they move in silence. Is not our mission to give God to the poor in the slums? Not a dead God, but a living, loving God. The more we receive in silent prayer, the more we can give in our active life. We need silence to be able to touch souls. The essential thing is not what we say, but what God says to us and through us. All our words will be useless unless they come from within - words which do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness." (4)

We need silence. You see, in that silence, we can listen. And in that listening we meet God.

One of my favorite stories about listening comes from the depression years. A young man saw an ad in the newspaper for a telegraph operator. He hurried to the address listed in the ad. When he got there, the place was jammed with applicants. The young man was discouraged and ready to leave.

As he stood there wondering what to do, he heard a steady flow of dots and dashes over the heavy drone of conversation. Suddenly, the young man's eyes lit up. He dashed over to a door marked "Private," turned the door knob, and went inside. In a few minutes he came out smiling. He had the job. The employer told the rest of the applicants that they could go home.

Well, as you can imagine, there was an angry outcry from the group. "We demand an explanation," someone shouted. "This young man comes in late, butts in the line, and you hire him?"

The employer paused a moment, and then said: "You've got your explanation. All you have to do is listen." So, everyone stopped and listened. They couldn't believe what they heard. Over and over the dots and dashes repeated the same message they had been repeating for an hour: "If you hear this, come in. The job is yours. If you hear this, come in. The job is yours." (5)

Someone wrote: "True silence is to the spirit what sleep is to the body: nourishment and refreshment." (6) We need our times of silence. We need to make a "Fragrant Offering." even with our silence. Not the silence of inattention, but intentional silence where we listen to God. Let's do that now. Let's take a moment for silence. (OBSERVE A TIME OF SILENCE) Amen.

C. CONFESSION AND REPENTANCE: And then of course there is the "Fragrant Offering." of Confession and Repentance. Here in our passage, God outlines for Solomon all the blessings that will come as a result of Solomon building the Temple. It will become God's residence. And then God's very straight forward with how God operates. God tells Solomon: "When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." (13-14)

God reminds Solomon and us of the necessity of keeping covenant with God. But God also provides a way for us to be put back in right relationship with God, when we break covenant. It's called confession and repentance.

And that forgiveness is offered to all of us.

A large prosperous downtown church had three mission churches under its care that it had started. On the first Sunday of the New Year all the members of the mission churches came to the city church for a combined communion service. In those mission churches, which were located in the slums of the city were some outstanding cases of conversions -- thieves, burglars and so on -- but they all knelt side by side at the Communion rail.

On one such occasion the pastor saw a former burglar kneeling beside a judge of the Supreme Court of England, the very judge who had sent him to jail where he had served seven years. After his release this burglar had been converted and become a Christian worker. Yet, as they knelt there, the judge and the former convict, neither one seemed to be aware of the other.

After the service, the judge was walking home with the pastor and said to the pastor, "Did you notice who was kneeling beside me at the communion rail this morning?"

The pastor replied, "Yes, but I didn't know that you noticed."

They walked along in silence for a few moments, and then the judge said "What a miracle of grace."

The pastor nodded in agreement "Yes, what a marvelous miracle of grace."

Then the judge said "But to whom do you refer?"

And the pastor said, "Why, to the conversion of that convict."

The judge said, "But I was not referring to him. I was thinking of myself."

The pastor was surprised, replied: "You were thinking of yourself? I don't understand."

"Yes," the judge replied, "it did not cost that burglar much to get converted when he came out of jail. He had nothing but a history of crime behind him and when he saw Jesus as his Savior he knew there was salvation and hope and joy for him. And he knew how much he needed that help. But look at me. I was taught from earliest infancy to live as a gentleman; that my word was to be my bond; that I was to say my prayers, go to church, take communion and so on. I went through Oxford, took my degrees, was called to the bar and eventually became a judge. Pastor, nothing but the grace of God could have caused me to admit that I was a sinner on a level with that burglar. It took much more grace to forgive me for all my pride and self-deception, to get me to admit that I was no better in the eyes of God than that convict that I had sent to prison." (7)

The point is that grace and forgiveness are offered to all. And our Confession and Repentance is a "Fragrant Offering."" to God.

CONCLUSION:

That's why Jesus came. He came to offer Himself as that "Fragrant Offering." to God for us. He came to be the final sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin.

All we have to do is accept the gift of Grace and forgiveness which Christ offers.

God gave us His very best, His only son. How can we expect God to accept anything but our very best? That's why we come to offer up our "Fragrant Offerings" as we worship the Lord.

Don't limit yourself to worship on Sunday mornings. Establish a time to listen and offer yourself to God each day. Be filled and be fed through Worship. Be a "Fragrant Offering." to God.

1. 2001 TLN Daily Uplink

2. Parables, Etc. (Platteville, Colorado: Saratoga Press), October 1990

3. Hymn probably composed in theTalmudic period, 3rd-5th century A.D., in Praying with the Jewish Tradition (comp. Elias Kopciowski) Christianity Today-Vol.41, #9.

4. Source unknown

5 Parables, Etc. (Platteville, Colorado: Saratoga Press), Decemeber 1987

6. Parables, Etc. (Platteville, Colorado: Saratoga Press), August 1991 From Pulpit Helps, submitted by Malcolm MacPhail, Santa Rosa, CA+

7. Parables, Etc. (Platteville, Colorado: Saratoga Press), July 1982