Scriptures: 1 Samuel 2: 29-32, Hebrews 12: 18-29, Isaiah 6:1-8

Theme of the sermon: Our holy God deserves reverence

Nowadays it seems the fear of God is missing or is becoming rare among some so-called Christians and so it’s important that we go back to look at what the fear of God is, and how we exhibit that in our lives, for as believers without the fear of God we cannot experience the presence of God.

When we talk about reverence, it is having a feeling or attitude of deep respect for somebody or something. 

As we read in Isaiah, when Isaiah saw the presence of God, he said “woe is me, I am unclean”, so he realized his limitation as a human being, and he realized God’s holiness, God’s justice, and God’s mercy.  So, let’s take note of this that, it is a privilege to be in the presence of God. In the Old Testament, the Bible says His presence (thus the presence of God), was so terrified that people were afraid to approach meanwhile God said come close to me. Even though the presence of God is terrifying, yet He invites us to come close to him. 

And in this Old Testament, the bible tells us, there was a curtain that divides the holy place from the regular place and so on, but thank God that through Jesus Christ that curtain has been torn and now we have access to go before the presence of God. Psalm 100

We can give reverence to God through the following:

1. Through honoring the people, he called to lead us. For anyone or anything that has been set apart for God or that has been dedicated to God has been sanctified and should therefore be reverenced.
2.  Honoring our body in reverence to God, 1Peter 2:8-9. The Bible says we are a holy people, we are a royal priesthood, and we are a people set aside for God.  The blood of Jesus has sanctified us from our sins and so our body and our spirit are God’s, and so because we have been set aside by God, we are God’s property, and anything set aside for God is to be pure and holy, hence God requires we live to glorify Him. May God help us that apart from our bodies we should give Him reverence in our approach to the Lord’s supper, so that 1corinthians 11 will not be our portion.
3. Again, God wants us to give reverence to him by how we conduct ourselves in the House of God. 1Timothy 3:14-15. Whenever we come to the house of the Lord, let’s show some respect and some reverence for him. We shouldn’t come to the temple of God with the mindset that we are coming to socialize. We should know that we are coming before the presence of the living God, and not a place to be on WhatsApp or Facebook or do all sort of things, but rather respect His presence and give reverence to Him.
4. We can also give reverence to God through our giving Malachi 16:8. Let us not offer polluted or lame or leftover offerings before the Lord. Let’s give God our best offering in reverence to Him, for He deserves it, proverbs 3:9 -10.