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Fall 2024  Worship in the Covenant Community   Unit 1: Leaders Set Worship Example

“So you will be my people, and I will be your God” (Jeremiah 30:22). God’s covenant—his enduring promise of relationship and presence—is central to the worship of his people. Worship is the act of ascribing worth to and celebrating the glory of something or someone. The truth is, all people worship. For the people of God, the question is, who will receive our worship? Is the triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—the only one we will choose to direct our worship toward?
Scripture reveals a pattern to the worship of God’s people: God reveals himself, and his people respond through their worship. In the stories of Scripture, we read how they responded: they sang songs, raised their hands, played instruments, danced to music, and did good works of service.
The lessons of this quarter examine the worship that God’s people have offered. Although the ways his people worship may have changed throughout history, the reason for their worship remains the same: a faithful response to God.

For the ancient Jewish person, music and song had a great deal to do with worship. But worship was not expressed solely through those things. It was more important for the worship of the one true God to include encounters between the spiritual and physical realms. We see the importance of this in various psalms. One example is Psalm 119:105: “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” The impact of the Scriptures did not merely result in increased knowledge for the psalmist. The stress on the origin of the Scriptures had real and vital implications too.

Worship as Response
This quarter’s first unit gives examples from the Old Testament of God’s people responding to God’s revelation through worship. Abram (Abraham) built altars to mark an occasion when the Lord called him to greater faithfulness (Genesis 13:8-18, lesson 1). Solomon offered worship upon the awareness of the people’s tendency to sin (1 Kings 8:22-24, 48-50a, lesson 2). Hezekiah worshipped the Lord after being reminded that the Lord alone is God (2 Kings 19:14-20, lesson 3). Josiah demonstrated spiritual leadership by calling the people back to proper worship by adhering to the requirements of the covenant (2 Chronicles 35:1-6, 16-19, lesson 4).
These examples demonstrate how the people’s worship of God is a response to the Lord and his work. Through worship, God’s people proclaim that the Lord truly is the worthy Lamb of God!

Lesson 1  Abram Builds an Altar. Genesis 13:8-18
Since the day Adam and Eve were expelled from Eden, the fact of humanity’s sinfulness has been nothing new in any era. It was and is a persistent problem. Thus, it was left up to God to restore creation.  The divine restoration plan started in Genesis through a series of covenants and promises made to 75-year-old Abram and his wife  (Genesis 12).  Their descendants—the nation of Israel—would be the instrument through which God would send the Messiah into the world to inaugurate the new creation.  Jesus fulfilled God’s cosmic design. Through Jesus, a person can become a child of Abraham, joining the family of God by faith rather than physical birth (Galatians 3:7; compare Romans 4:16).  Abraham—known as Abram in today’s lesson —is a hero of faith (Hebrews 11:8-12). He is described that way not because he was perfect or sinless, but because by faith, he left his home when called to do so by God (Genesis 12:1). God’s covenant with Abram included promises of land, progeny, and blessing. It took centuries for all this to become a reality. The conversations between God and Abram that begin in Genesis 12 are instrumental in revealing the development of a personal relationship between the two.
But the text under consideration for today deals with a distraction detailed in Genesis 13:1-7. Abram had decided to take his nephew Lot on the journey to Canaan (Genesis 12:5), a decision that resulted in problem after problem. One such problem is the immediate context of today’s lesson:
Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. And quarreling arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s. —Genesis 13:5-7

Lesson 2  Dedicates the Temple. 1 Kings 8:22-24, 37-39, 46, 48-50a
The ceremony in 1 Kings 8 consecrated the newly built temple in Jerusalem. Temple construction had begun in 966 BC and required seven years for completion (1 Kings 6:1, 38). That completion in 959 BC marked an important transition in Israelite history, as the location of encounter with the holy God became immovable, with the temple replacing the portable tabernacle. The first half of Solomon’s 40-year reign was focused on building the temple and palace (9:10). Today’s lesson from 1 Kings 8 considers a portion of the dedication prayer at the ceremony for the finished temple, over which King Solomon presided. Several preparatory elements led up to this
prayer: the temple had been completely furnished  (1 Kings 7:13-51), the ark of the covenant had been brought into the temple (8:1-9), and the king had “turned around and blessed [the whole assembly of Israel]” (8:14). The prayer of dedication that followed (8:23-53) is the second longest prayer in the Bible—in the neighborhood of 1,000 words! (The parallel in 2 Chronicles 6:14-42 is of similar length.) Only the prayer in Nehemiah 9:5-38 is longer.
But the prayer’s outsized length doesn’t mean that King Solomon merely rambled on and on (compare Matthew 6:7). Quite the opposite: the prayer is clearly organized. We see that organization in 9 of the prayer’s 31 verses selected for today’s study.

Lesson 3  Hezekiah’s Prayer. 2 Kings 19:14-20, 29-31
The reign of godly King Hezekiah (716–687 BC) over the southern kingdom of Judah was a time of trouble. Previously, in 722 BC, the Assyrian Empire had annexed the northern kingdom of Israel along with areas to the north and east of it. In 702 BC, the Assyrian ruler Sennacherib invaded Judah, destroyed the major city of
Lachish, and besieged Jerusalem itself (the two cities being about 30 miles apart). Jerusalem survived only after Hezekiah agreed to pay tribute to the Assyrian king (2 Kings 18:13–19:13; 2 Chronicles 32:1-19; Isaiah 36:1–37:13).  The account in today’s printed text also appears in Isaiah 37, almost word for word. This double
placement reflects the close relationship between the king and the prophet, which appears in the story itself.
The text under consideration reports a conversation between Hezekiah and God, with the prophet Isaiah as the go-between. In 2 Kings 19:1-5, the king sent messengers to the prophet asking for his help communicating with God. Isaiah’s answer promised that God would create a distraction to the Assyrians (19:6-7). The blasphemous and arrogant statements by the Assyrians did not help their cause (19:8-13)!
Texts that are parallel to those in today’s lesson are Isaiah 37:14-20, 30-32, and 2 Chronicles 32:20. On the godly character of King Hezekiah, see 2 Kings 18:1-8

Lesson 4  Josiah Celebrates Passover. 2 Chronicles 35:1-6, 16-19
Today’s lesson takes us to the year 623 BC, “the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign,” king of Judah (2 Chronicles 35:19). That moves us forward some 336 years after King Solomon’s dedication of the temple in 959 BC (lesson 2) and 79 years after King Hezekiah’s prayer in 702 BC (lesson 3). The year 623 BC positions the events of today’s lesson right at 100 years since the Assyrian Empire cast Israel’s 10 northern tribesinto exile in 722 BC (2 Kings 17). Unbeknownst to the Judeans of the time, their removal fromthe land lay only 37 years in the future (that is,
586 BC).  King Josiah was shaken to his core when he heard the book read (2 Chronicles 34:19). He acted immediately, receiving both bad and good news in return (34:20-28). Even so, he continued to exercise godly leadership in both word and deed (34:29-33). His leadership included reinstituting the celebration of the Passover. This neglected feast had been instituted more than 800 years previously to mark the divine liberation from Egyptian slavery (Exodus 12; Deuteronomy 16:1-2). The feast’s revival is a focus of today’s lesson.

Lesson 5  Moses and Miriam Lead in Praise. Exodus 15:1-3, 11-13, 17-18, 20-21
Over the centuries, the Israelites witnessed significant leadership changes in Egypt. Eventually,there came a new king to whom Joseph’s reputation meant nothing (Exodus 1:8). The original favor Jacob (Israel) and his sons experienced changed into servitude and oppression. After the Israelites spent 430 years in Egypt (12:40-41), God was ready to act to fulfill the promises (2:23-25).  It was during this time that Moses was born.  It is well-known that a princess of Egypt adopted him, but he had to flee Egypt at age 40 after kill-ing an Egyptian (Exodus 2; see Acts 7:23). Forty years later, Moses encountered the Lord at Sinai. God repeated the promise given to Moses’ ancestors and called him to lead the enslaved Israelites away from Egypt (Exodus 3:8). God worked through Moses and Aaron (Moses’ brother) to bring about ten plagues that devastated Egypt.  The first song in the history of this new nation is a song of rejoicing because of the victory that the Lord has obtained for the people. We note a minor difficulty in finding an appropriate designation for this song. Some students of the song have created designations for this song. These designations include “A Song of the Sea” (compare Exodus 15:1, 4-5, 8, 10), “A Song of Moses and Miriam” (compare 15:20-21), or “A Song of Moses and Israel” (compare 15:1). Another song designated as “A Song of Moses” can be found in Deuteronomy 32 (see the introduction in Deuteronomy 31:30).

BIBLE STUDY

Youth Bible Study| Tuesdays at 6:00 p.m. on Zoom. Login information may be found here.

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July 10, 2024 – September 11, 2024

We all want a faith that won’t let us down in times of trouble or loss, uncertainty or fear. A faith that can pull us through the worst (and best) times in our lives. This is the kind of faith that James writes about. It is a faith that we must practice day by day.

This 9-week study on the teaching of James will help us grow a steadfast faith that can carry us through all the ups and downs of life.

  1. Dependable or Double-minded (James 1:1-18)         Lesson 1 Replay

  Vacation Bible School : July 17, 2024 (No Bible Study)

  2. Words, Words, Words (James 1:19-27)          Lesson 2 Replay

  3. Who’s the Judge? (James 2:1-13)     Lesson 3 Replay

  4. Just Works (James 2:14-26)       Lesson 4 Replay

  5. On Preventing Forest Fires (James 3:1-12)      Lesson 5 Replay

  6. Makers & Breakers of Peace (James 3:13 — 4:10)

  7. Getting Perspective (James 4:11-17)

  8. What Awaits (James 5:1-11)

  9. Becoming Whole (James 5:12-20)

  No Bible Study on September 18, 2024