Worshipping and celebrating have always been part of our praise to God. In today’s church, worship plays a huge part and many church services have even turned into concerts. Having a talented worship team draws a crowd and makes a big difference in the interest level of those who attend, especially in the area of our emotions. When the worship experience is high, one feels closer to God, but is that really how it is? We have been talking about changing lines from the wide gate to the narrow way. Now you may think that the narrow way would be void of worship and celebration but that is not the case. The problem is the worship and celebration that is taking place in the wide gate line is completely different from the narrow way, but this is not a matter of genre or performance differences, but whether God is listening and present.
To see the differences, we go back to David and the Ark of the Covenant. 1 Chronicles 13:3 “Let us bring the ark of our God back to us, for we did not inquire of it during the reign of Saul.” 4 The whole assembly agreed to do this, because it seemed right to all the people. 7 They moved the ark of God from Abinadab’s house on a new cart, with Uzzah and Ahio guiding it. 8 David and all the Israelites were celebrating with all their might before God, with songs and with harps, lyres, timbrels, cymbals and trumpets.” This was an amazing time of celebration, but just for a moment. 9 “When they came to the threshing floor of Kidon, Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the ark, because the oxen stumbled. 10 The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah, and he struck him down because he had put his hand on the ark. So he died there before God.” This was a shocking turn of events, so this event was put on hold. The ark was finally brought to Jerusalem but this time things were different. This time there was also celebration and music but this time the ark was carried as they were told to carry it. The new cart meant nothing to God. In fact, the new cart was disobedience, so it did not matter how much enthusiastic celebrating there was.
This time the ark would be carried correctly. 1 Chronicles 15:2 “Then David said, “No one but the Levites may carry the ark of God, because the Lord chose them to carry the ark of the Lord and to minister before him forever. 11 Then David summoned Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel and Amminadab the Levites. 12 He said to them, “You are the heads of the Levitical families; you and your fellow Levites are to consecrate yourselves and bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it. 13 It was because you, the Levites, did not bring it up the first time that the Lord our God broke out in anger against us. We did not inquire of him about how to do it in the prescribed way.” 14 So the priests and Levites consecrated themselves in order to bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel. 15 And the Levites carried the ark of God with the poles on their shoulders, as Moses had commanded in accordance with the word of the Lord. 16 David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their fellow Levites as musicians to make a joyful sound with musical instruments: lyres, harps and cymbals. 28 So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouts, with the sounding of rams’ horns and trumpets, and of cymbals, and the playing of lyres and harps. 29 As the ark of the covenant of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David dancing and celebrating, she despised him in her heart.”
There was celebration and music in both situations but one was right and the was wrong. In the wide gate line, there is celebration and music, and it feels really good but it is not pleasing to God because those in the wide gate line have rebelled against God’s words and are not following His commands, so it doesn’t matter how wonderful the celebration and worship appears to be. God said, Amos 5:21 “I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. 22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. 23 Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.” Isaiah 1:15 “When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood!”
God is not listening to the celebration of those in the wide gate line no matter how amazing it feels because they need to leave the wide gate line and be cleansed. Jeremiah 2:20 “Long ago you broke off your yoke and tore off your bonds; you said, ‘I will not serve you!’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every spreading tree you lay down as a prostitute. 21 I had planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock. How then did you turn against me into a corrupt, wild vine? 22 Although you wash yourself with soap and use an abundance of cleansing powder, the stain of your guilt is still before me,” declares the Sovereign Lord. 23 “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled; I have not run after the Baals’? See how you behaved in the valley; consider what you have done.” Isaiah 28:15 “We have made a lie our refuge and falsehood our hiding place.”
In the wide gate line, there is much celebration but very little obedience and belief in the power of God. They may say they believe God created the universe and celebrate that Jesus rose from the dead, but at the same time do not believe the same power is available to the church to heal the sick and cast out demons. Those in the wide gate line often pray to the god of their choosing/ understanding as some of the self-help prayers say because they really do not know who God is or what He expects from them. Jeremiah 4:22 “My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good.” Jeremiah 5:3 “Lord, do not your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain; you crushed them, but they refused correction. They made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.” Even in their rebellion, they think no harm will come to them while in this line. Jeremiah 5:11 “The people of Israel and the people of Judah have been utterly unfaithful to me,” declares the Lord. 12 They have lied about the Lord; they said, “He will do nothing! No harm will come to us; we will never see sword or famine.”
Waiting in the wrong line leads to death, disaster and eternal damnation. The wide gate line is filled with the lukewarm. Revelation 3:15 “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” At the time, due to deception and delusion, all will appear to be the right way until it isn’t, and they find out Proverbs 9:18 “the dead are there, that her guests are deep in the realm of the dead.” Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” Proverbs 12:15 “The way of fools seems right to them.” They will find out that the church they thought was truth, turns out be covered with whitewash and they were deceived by false teachers. Ezekiel 13:8 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because of your false words and lying visions, I am against you, declares the Sovereign Lord. 9 My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations. They will not belong to the council of my people or be listed in the records of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord. 10 “‘Because they lead my people astray, saying, “Peace,” when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash, 11 therefore tell those who cover it with whitewash that it is going to fall. Rain will come in torrents, and I will send hailstones hurtling down, and violent winds will burst forth. 12 When the wall collapses, will people not ask you, “Where is the whitewash you covered it with?” 13 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: In my wrath I will unleash a violent wind, and in my anger hailstones and torrents of rain will fall with destructive fury. 14 I will tear down the wall you have covered with whitewash and will level it to the ground so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you will be destroyed in it; and you will know that I am the Lord. 15 So I will pour out my wrath against the wall and against those who covered it with whitewash. I will say to you, “The wall is gone and so are those who whitewashed it, 16 those prophets of Israel who prophesied to Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when there was no peace, declares the Sovereign Lord.”’
As we saw with David, celebration can be pleasing to God if we stop rebelling and return to God’s word, but we must come with a sincere heart. Hebrews 10:9 “Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. In the wide gate line God was not listening and despised those gatherings, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Isaiah goes on to say, Isaiah 1:16 “Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. 17 Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. 18 “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. 19 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land; 20 but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” As we saw with Israel and Judah, they did not listen. Jeremiah 35:14 “I have spoken to you again and again, yet you have not obeyed me. 15 Again and again I sent all my servants the prophets to you. They said, “Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and reform your actions; do not follow other gods to serve them. Then you will live in the land I have given to you and your ancestors.” But you have not paid attention or listened to me.”
There is still hope for those who will return but we must listen to God’s word. No matter how bad it was when you were in the wrong line, we serve a merciful God, but we must repent and return to Him. 1 Corinthians 6:9 “Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” The wicked will not be in the narrow way line. Isaiah 35:8 “And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it.” Those, even though it doesn’t feel like it, in the wide gate line are perishing and will not see eternal life but those who have found the narrow way are in a triumphal procession. 2 Corinthians 2:14 “But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?” The narrow way is fragrant, but the wide way is a stench before God. Why the stench? Isaiah 3:8 “Jerusalem staggers, Judah is falling; their words and deeds are against the Lord, defying his glorious presence. 9 The look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! They have brought disaster upon themselves. 24 Instead of fragrance there will be a stench.”
Like the son who was lost, when the narrow way is found, we celebrate. The son went from the stench of the pigs to the aroma of a feast. Luke 15:21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. 32 We had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” Like the son, we must return. Jeremiah 3:14 “Return, faithless people,” declares the Lord, “for I am your husband. I will choose you—one from a town and two from a clan—and bring you to Zion. 15 Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding. 25 Let us lie down in our shame, and let our disgrace cover us. We have sinned against the Lord our God, both we and our ancestors; from our youth till this day we have not obeyed the Lord our God.” Jeremiah 4:1 “If you, Israel, will return, then return to me,” declares the Lord.” Then Psalm 2:11 “Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling.”
