Summary:
Lessons from the Service at Mt Gerizim and Ebal:
1. Worship/service requires us to put in effort to be present: The Israelites had to travel ~48km to the service. Are we willing to travel to church while we have the opportunity instead of just streaming in? Let us not forsake the assembling of ourselves together so we can stir up love and good works in each other! (Heb 10:24-25).
2. Service should involve offerings from the members: Not just $, but the offering of praise with our lips! Let us esteem prayer and hymn singing during service.
3. Service must always be centred around the word of God: In service, we must respond to the word of God; we cannot be passive or asleep. Listen to discern. Listen to accept. If it’s truly God’s word, we say ‘amen’ and act it out in our lives.

The speaker deliberated between using ‘service’ or ‘worship’ for this sermon’s title. We come to service to worship. He decided on the word ‘service’ as he wanted to focus on the attitude we should have during service. This sermon will cover a special worship experience in the Bible so we can learn the correct form of worship we should take in services.

Joshua 8:30-35
Now Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “an altar of whole stones over which no man has wielded an iron tool.” And they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings. And there, in the presence of the children of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written. Then all Israel, with their elders and officers and judges, stood on either side of the ark before the priests, the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, the stranger as well as he who was born among them. Half of them were in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel. And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, with the women, the little ones, and the strangers who were living among them.

What was the period this service occurred? If the book of Joshua was written in a chronological order, this form of worship happened after the people defeated the city of Ai. The worship where there was a mountain of cursing and blessing is a good reflection of the battle at Jericho and Ai. Because when they obeyed God and attacked Jericho, the city walls fell down miraculously. But when the people disobeyed God - Achan kept their accursed thing - this incited the curse of God which resulted in deaths. But when the sin was removed from them, they had victory again.

This passage refers to Mt Gerizim and Mt Ebal. They are 48km away from Ai, in the northward direction. Mt Gerizim and Mt Ebal are somewhere central in the land of Canaan. In between the 2 mountains is a place called Shechem. Mt Ebal is in the north, Mt Gerizim is in the south. Mt Gerizim is one of the highest peaks in the south. But Mt Ebal, the mount of cursing, is even higher. Some scholars have been trying to postulate why Mt Gerizim and Mt Ebal were chosen to be the mount of blessing and cursing respectively. It’s said Mt Gerizim was luscious while Mt Ebal was bare. These mountains also created a good amphitheatre. We later read what the people had to do there.

Who were the people who gathered and went to Mt Gerizim and Mt Ebal?
v35 all the assembly of Israel, with the women, the little ones, and the strangers who were living among them

Lessons we can learn:

1. Worship or services require us to put in effort to be present

Sometimes God’s people have to go through inconveniences, even danger, to attend a service. It would’ve been a difficult journey for the Israelites. Remember that at this moment in time, they had only conquered 2 cities - Jericho and Ai. The rest of the land of Canaan was not attacked yet. Now the people, including the women and children, had to head north. The men who had battled in Ai would have had to travel 48km. But the women and children who didn’t battle probably were in the land of Gilgal. How difficult it must’ve been for them to make the longer journey, especially with young children, all the while with the possible threat of enemies attacking. All this was to keep the service according to the word of God.

Consider if we were one of these women or children, or one of the men who battled.

During the circuit breaker, because we could not go back to church, livestreaming of sermons was the only way we could worship and attend services. But since phase 2 where the churches have been gradually more open and restrictions loosened (100 can come back), rarely do the numbers reach full capacity.

Have we started to become so used to tuning in for service that it has become our norm?

We must understand why livestreaming must still continue at this juncture. There will continue to be a limit as to how many people can come back at any one time (due to the need for safe distancing). But just because there’s streaming shouldn’t mean we should excuse ourselves from attending service in church. In phase 3, we do not know what the restrictions will be, but likely there will still be a limit. Phase 3 is postulated to last more than a year. Does that mean we won’t step into church for that whole year?

We are likely familiar with what the Bible says to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. Let us think about the inconveniences the Israelites had to surmount to keep the command of God to attend that service; this was despite the danger of enemies.

Service requires the effort of members to attend it.

2. Service should involve offerings from the members

Joshua 8:30-31
Now Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “an altar of whole stones over which no man has wielded an iron tool.” And they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings.

While we offer money, there’s another kind of offering we should offer - the offering of praise.

The burnt offering is for atonement. A peace offering is different; it’s done when an individual wants to offer willingly/voluntarily or when an individual has finished his vow. Additionally, the peace offering allows the individual to eat of it after that (the other offerings are for the priests to eat or totally burnt). The peace offering is voluntary.

Hebrews talks about how the sacrifice of our lips is something we can offer up. We may not be able to sing aloud in church. But if we sing from our hearts, it will still be a sweet aroma to God.

Today we may wonder what we should praise or thank God for. The opening hymn 438 says to praise Him for His creation, for His salvation - sacrificing Himself and dying for us.

Think about the imagery of Mt Gerizim and Mt Ebal. Mt Ebal was the mountain of cursing. Why was the altar erected there? While the sin of men is great, and Mt Ebal being taller than Jerusalem makes it seem we cannot remove the problem of sin, but the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, like the burnt offering on the altar, brought us restoration. It’s truly a grace that’s greater than all our sins. This is truly something we should give thanks for as we come for service.

Let’s remember during our service that a key part of the service, besides the exhortation, is prayer and hymn singing, because that’s when we offer sacrifices to God.

3. Service must always be centred around the word of God

Joshua 8:32-35
And there, in the presence of the children of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written. Then all Israel, with their elders and officers and judges, stood on either side of the ark before the priests, the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, the stranger as well as he who was born among them. Half of them were in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel. And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, with the women, the little ones, and the strangers who were living among them.

We read the phrase “as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses” repeatedly. Moses copied the law of God onto stones. He read it out to the people. Service must be centred around the word of God.

But to obey God’s word, we must first know God’s words.

Mt Gerizim is the mount of blessing and Mt Ebal the mount of cursing. But in this passage we don’t see them being referred to the mount of blessing or cursing. It is in Deut 11:28-30 where this is pointed out. To get a fuller picture of what the people had to do when gathered on the mountain, we have to read Deut 27. To obey the word of God, we have to know what’s written in the Bible.

Joshua knew what was written in Deuteronomy and God’s command, that’s why they did according to the law.

We read Deut 27 more carefully so that we can see Joshua and the people following the law accurately.

Deut 27:4-6
Therefore it shall be, when you have crossed over the Jordan, that on Mount Ebal you shall set up these stones, which I command you today, and you shall whitewash them with lime. And there you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones; you shall not use an iron tool on them. You shall build with whole stones the altar of the Lord your God, and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God.

It is on Mt Ebal the altar must be built. The stones must be whitewashed so it’s possible to write on them. The stones cannot have an iron tool used on them. This is exactly what Joshua and the people did.

Deut 27:11-13
And Moses commanded the people on the same day, saying, “These shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you have crossed over the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin; and these shall stand on Mount Ebal to curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

These verses detail the specific tribes that need to stand on Mt Gerizim and Mt Ebal. In Joshua, it just records the people are divided in two to stand on each mount. We can be certain that how the people were split was according to what God commanded.

What lesson can we learn here? A big component of our worship is the command and word of God. We have to set our hearts to know the word of God in totality; what God’s command is.

A single passage/book is not enough for us to know the word of God completely. We must be willing to read the entire Bible in its entirety. Then we can understand God’s words.

Deut 27:14-17
“And the Levites shall speak with a loud voice and say to all the men of Israel: Cursed is the one who makes a carved or molded image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ “And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen!’ Cursed is the one who treats his father or his mother with contempt.’ “And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’ Cursed is the one who moves his neighbor’s landmark.’

If we continue to read v18-26, this ‘formula’ repeats. If someone does a certain thing, he is cursed and the people would say, “Amen.”

Mt Gerizim and Mt Ebal was a natural amphitheatre and voices could carry far distances. That’s why when the Levites read out “cursed be….”, the people could answer “amen”.

What did the people saying “amen” mean? ‘Amen’ means ‘truly truly’ or ‘let it be so’. In our services, we don’t openly say ‘amen’ like some western churches. But more importantly, do we say ‘amen’ in our hearts?

As members, we must respond to God’s words. The word of God is often an instruction, command, or warning. We must respond in time. We cannot be passive, or worse, have fallen asleep. The word of God demands a response from us. Whether it’s a call for action or being warned that we have committed sin and need to repent. Are our hearts tender and willing to say, “Amen. This is true.”? Do we respond accordingly to God’s words?

If we truly can say ‘amen’, it says we accept what’s been said as true. There’s a requirement for us to discern what we’re hearing even during sermons, since ‘amen’ means ‘truly truly’/‘this is true’. We can only agree when it’s the truth.

We must learn from the Bereans who were more fair minded than the Thessalonians because they searched the scripture to see if what was preached to them was true or not (Acts 17). We cannot just accept everything that’s spoken. We must compare it to what’s written in the Bible, especially in the last days where many false prophets will arise.

In service, we must respond to the word of God. We cannot be passive or asleep. We must listen to discern. We must also listen to accept - if it’s truly God’s word, then we accept and act it out in our lives.

Conclusion

The service at Mt Gerizim and Mt Ebal must’ve been a very special event, etched in the people’s minds. Can you imagine how loudly the ‘amen’ would’ve been as the law was read out?

For us in the New Testament, what is our attitude when we come for service? In the New Testament, Jesus is in a place that’s very close to Shechem. When He talked about what true worship is during a service, He was in Sychar (near Shechem based on Joshua 24:32, John 4:5).

John 4:21-24
Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

When Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman, the mountain He referred to was Mt Gerizim. To the Samaritans, Mt Gerizim was a holy place.

Importantly, Jesus wanted to point out what true worship was, which is: God is spirit. Those who worship Him must hence worship Him in spirit and truth.

While Jesus says true worship is in spirit and in truth, it is still important to return to church so that we can stir up love and good works, and exhort each other (Heb 10:24-25). We shouldn’t use this to say we shouldn’t return to church. Rather, If we are truly worshipping God in the spirit, let us put in the effort required.

Worshipping God in the spirit means putting in our heart to pray and sing the hymns. Worshipping God in truth means to centre our services on the word of God. It is a reminder for us to know the word of God and to respond to the word of God.