Don't Waste Your Worship: The Writing on the Wall

There are other things we do like this in our life too. Right? For example, some of us may have one of these in our houses. What is this? It's a treadmill. Right? What is that for? Running on. What do we use it for? Our clothes. That's what we use it for. It's not what it's for. Right? But we're like, it's it's open space. Those arms, man. We could put a bunch of clothing on those. Right? How many of us have clothes all over our treadmills? [00:19:27] (28 seconds)  #TreadmillLaundry

And here in this story, we find a king named King Belshazzar making a terrible mistake. Now Belshazzar was king of Babylon, which is where most of our story in the book of Daniel is found. Babylon is the greatest kingdom that has had lived or existed to that point. It was founded by king Nebuchadnezzar who had been one of our major characters up to this point. Nebuchadnezzar had founded the kingdom. He had conquered Jerusalem. He had taken the entire population of Jerusalem into his new kingdom, Babylon. [00:23:07] (35 seconds)  #BelshazzarMistake

And Belshazzar remembers that there's some very fine and very fancy silverware and plates that are out there that his grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar, had stolen from the temple of God in Jerusalem. And he says, you know what'd be great if we took this party up a notch? Let's use the good dishes. And they bring out instruments that were used in the temple of God and begin to use them for a party. [00:26:36] (32 seconds)  #ProfaningTheSacred

Now these gold plates and cups aren't just any fine China. They were set aside by God for the worship of God. These items were so precious to the Lord that only the priests could use them. But here we find a pagan king taking them and using them in a party. And as the party continues, all of a sudden, there's an interruption. An unwelcome guest appears. There's a hand. [00:27:08] (31 seconds)  #SetApartForWorship

Now can you imagine what this would have been like? I don't know if you've ever been to a party. There's gonna be a lot of parties today, Super Bowl parties. Right? Imagine watching Seahawks, Patriots, fourth quarter. A hand shows up in your living room, Starts writing on the wall. The party would end at that point. Right? The same thing happens here. Everybody starts getting afraid. It says the king begins to tremble and he soils himself. He's that afraid. [00:27:44] (27 seconds)  #WritingOnTheWall

Mene, mene is actually the first two words are actually the same, which simply mean numbered. Numbered. Your days are numbered, king. You've run out of time. The second word that was used is the word tekel. That word means measured. It's the idea of measuring somebody on a scale. Daniel says your life has been measured and you've been found wanting. The way that you've been living your life has not measured up to God's righteous standard. [00:28:54] (31 seconds)  #DaysAreNumbered

The third generation then moves to a place where that no longer is just history. It's now a fable. We heard these things, but that's not really us. It's not our story. It's not even our parents' story. It's our grandparents' story. And if it's not recovered at that level, faith will end up becoming a fable. And finally, in the fourth generation, it will become forgotten altogether. [00:33:00] (23 seconds)  #DontLetFaithFade

Every generation has to choose to be radical in their obedience, in their humility before an almighty God. You can't simply call upon your parents' experience or your friends' experience. It has to be yours. And if you miss that, you'll make the same mistake that Belshazzar had where he takes something that was meant for the worship of God alone and uses it for foolish means and waste something that was given to him. [00:33:23] (35 seconds)  #RadicalObedience

I would just put two things in front of you. One is our worship services. God has set aside these times to worship him. But sometimes we can take them very casually, don't we? Like we just kind of like, hey, I'm just gonna be optional in my relationship with God. I'm gonna just kinda take it just kind of like as a a traditional thing to do. But we don't lean in and don't come with an expectation that the God of the universe wants to meet with us. [00:35:04] (27 seconds)  #WorshipIsNotOptional

Listen. There are so many times we can come to church and just go, hey, it's just another thing we're doing, or I'm just checking a box, I'm just gonna go see my friends, or it's just habit. But listen. We should attend church expecting that God is gonna meet with us. And I would tell you that it's the easiest thing to do, especially as like a professional Christian, as a pastor, to to make church an event rather than an encounter. You feel me on this? [00:35:31] (33 seconds)  #ComeExpectingGod

See, God wants worship leaders, not worship watchers. And so often we can watch other people worship. We watch the choir worship. We watch Kellen and the praise team worship. I look over and say pastor Mike's worshiping. I'm gonna look at people worship rather than us come with an expectation that all of us are worship leaders. You're leading somebody to the throne. [00:37:17] (24 seconds)  #BeAWorshipLeader

You see, God said that we are what? The temple of the holy spirit. Right? Which simply means that the holy spirit has come and will live within us. That God himself will create up residence within the life of a Christian. When a Christian trust God, they no longer are just neutral ground. The Holy Spirit comes and lives inside them. But many of us, instead of seeing ourselves as a temple, see our bodies as amusement barks. What are we doing? We're trying to simply amuse ourselves to death. [00:38:01] (30 seconds)  #YouAreATemple

Not just that one hour or two hours on a Sunday morning. Your entire life is about the worship of God saying, God, it's about you and not about me. It's about who you are and what you can do through me. It's not about me and how much fun I can get, or how many trophies I can win, or how safe I can be. It's about knowing the living God. And if we're not careful, we'll be just like Belshazzar, not realizing what time it is because he didn't realize that that night his life was over. [00:38:51] (31 seconds)  #LifeAsWorship

That night the city would fall. He was surrounded but put his head in the sand like an ostrich believing that the party would last forever. And the reality is none of us know how much time we have. None of us know when our last day is. None of us know when we'll hear, Mene Mene Teko Parsin. [00:39:23] (28 seconds)  #WakeUpBeforeTheFall

Are you leading your family to worship Jesus? Are you watching your spouse do it? Are your children outstripping your devotion to Jesus? Are you treating Sundays like an event instead of an encounter? What would it look like if we're the kind of people that showed up on Sunday mornings going, God, we expect you to show up. God, I'm open to whatever you want to say. God, it's all yours. [00:41:06] (42 seconds)  #LeadYourFamilyToWorship

Some of us have been wasting our worship for a long time. Today is the day that we need to trust Christ with our life. You can do that just by telling Jesus you wanna follow him. That's it. You know, some of us have come to a place where we've done the church thing so long that it's a ritual rather than a relationship. Don't let it get there. You can still return to have an encounter with Jesus. [00:42:37] (32 seconds)  #TrustChristToday