In Search of the Lord's Way
by Phil Sanders
"The Nature of Worship"
When
churches assemble to worship God, you remember that God is very much present with
His people. The Lord Jesus said in
Matthew 18 and verse 20,
Matt. 18:20 For where two or three are gathered in My name [meeting together as My followers], I am there among them."
Now,
ask yourself this question: What do you think about being in the presence of
God? What if right now, you found
yourself in the very presence of God? Perhaps
it's frightening. You remember John
fell at the Lord's feet "as though
dead" (Revelation 1, verse 17).
Perhaps
it's exciting. Perhaps it alarms
your conscience to be in God's presence. You may be thinking like Isaiah of the sins in
your life and realize that God knows all about them. Perhaps God's presence is comforting to you,
or reassuring to you in the midst of your storms. Perhaps being with God makes you want to
say "thank you."
Worship
is a spiritual matter; and true worship exhibits a sense of awe and reverence
in the presence of the Divine. The word
"worship" (in Greek proskuneo) means "throwing oneself on the
ground to show respect and awe."
Many
Christians today have little sense of the difference between what is holy and
what is common. God has always expected
to be treated as holy in worship.
Some
people think God ought to be happy and thankful that He received any worship
from us at all. People who act like that
forget the grandeur and the majesty of our great God who created us. God isn't obligated to us; we are completely
dependent on Him for life, for salvation, and for our future.
Our
reading from God's Holy Word comes from Psalm 103, verses 1 through 5.
Ps.103:1 Bless and affectionately praise the Lord, O my soul,And all that is [deep] within me, bless His holy name. 2 Bless and affectionately praise the Lord, O my soul, And do not forget any of His benefits; 3 Who forgives all your sins, Who heals all your diseases; 4 Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you [lavishly] with loving kindness and tender mercy; 5 Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the [soaring] eagle.
That's a reading from God's Word.
We
must take the holiness of God seriously. To be holy means that one is separate from others. To be holy means to be set apart for a
special and a higher purpose. Something that
is holy is special in that it has no contamination. We must never treat what is holy as if it
were something that was common.
God
is not just holy; He is utterly
holy. He is worthy of reverence,
of awe, and adoration. For instance,
the Lord's name is so holy that one must never take it in vain. Holiness requires the absence of evil and the presence of
righteousness. God's holiness means that He is absolutely
pure in being and in nature. He also is
completely pure and righteous in His will and in His acts.
Holiness,
on the one hand, implies entire freedom from moral evil; and, upon the other, absolute moral perfection. The God of the Scriptures, both Old and New
Testament is utterly holy—He sets the standard for morality. And unlike the Roman and Greek gods, He is
not warlike, or adulterous, or spiteful.
Unlike
the gods of the pagan cults, that were popular in the first century, He is not
bloodthirsty or promiscuous. He is the
one and only God of mercy and justice who cares personally for each of His
followers.
The
Bible says in 1st John 1, verse 5 that,
I John 1:5 This is the message [of God's promised revelation] which we have heard from Him and now announce to you, that God is Light [He is holy, His message is truthful, He is perfect in righteousness], and in Him there is no darkness at all [no sin, no wickedness, no imperfection]. There's nothing impure or common about God.
Habakkuk
1:13 says about God that,
Habakkuk 1:13 Your eyes are too pure to approve evil,And You cannot look favorably on wickedness. Why then do You look favorably On those who act treacherously?...
Our
God, whom we worship and serve, is holy. He is sacred, not common; He is pure and clean; and we can
never treat Him as if He were human, or weak, or flawed. He is holy and perfect, far above us!
Isaiah
describes what it's like to come into the presence of a holy and awesome God in
the book of Isaiah chapter 6, verses 1 to 5. The Bible says,
Isa. 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw [in a vision] the Lord sitting on a throne, high and exalted, with the train of His royal robe filling the [most holy part of the] temple. 2 Above Him seraphim (heavenly beings) stood; each one had six wings: with two wings he covered his face, with two wings he covered his feet, and with two wings he flew. 6:3 And one called out to another, saying "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is filled with His glory." 4 And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, and the temple was filling with smoke. 5 Then I said, "Woe is me! For I am ruined, Because I am a man of [ceremonially] unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts."
Now, how we approach God in worship matters greatly. We should not presume that God will accept
whatever we have to offer. God has
always distinguished between what He desires and what man dreams up.
Just
because someone calls something an act of worship doesn't mean that God accepts
it. What men think is worship may not be
what God regards as worship.
To
worship God acceptably we must ask God what He requires for worship. True worship always thinks of pleasing the
One whom we worship, and only God can determine what acceptable worship
is. After all, He is God and He is the
One that we're worshiping. Shouldn't He
have a say in how we worship?
The
Bible says in Leviticus chapter 10, verses 1 to 3:
Lev. 10:1 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective [ceremonial] censers, put fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange (unauthorized, unacceptable) fire before the Lord, [an act] which He had not commanded them to do. 2 And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. 3 Then Moses said to Aaron, "This is what the Lord said: 'I will be treated as holy by those who approach Me, And before all the people I will be honored.'"...
This event in the scriptures is there so that we
might learn from it.
Now,
Nadab and Abihu were the sons of Aaron, the high priest. They were nephews of
Moses. For several days before this
incident they had participated in their own consecration and the consecration of the tabernacle
with many sacrifices. Leviticus chapters
eight and nine tell of this beginning of Israel's worship in the tabernacle. And ten times Moses had given them
instructions, telling them what the Lord commanded them to do.
They
did just as the Lord commanded until they decided to act on their own authority. Carelessness did not excuse Nadab and
Ahibu. Hearts wanting to praise the Lord
didn't excuse them from going beyond the authorized commands. You see, they acted on their own authority and they paid a dear
price.
They
presumptuously took their firepans and placed incense in them. Then they went to an unauthorized place to get
"strange" fire for their
incense. It was "unauthorized fire." It was
illegitimate fire.
They
offered up something different than what God instructed. They offered it spontaneously in response to
the glory of the Lord coming down. Well,
the Lord didn't command them to do this and didn't give them permission to use
"strange" fire. And so, God punished them for acting on their own authority.
God
has never accepted worship that ignores what He instructs and He never has
accepted what's invented by man. People
are not always interested in what God desires. They think they have something better than
what God wants. They think they need to
do something to tickle the ears or to draw a crowd.
The
Lord Jesus, you remember, in Matthew 15 and in Mark 7 clearly condemned using
the traditions of men. The Lord said
that when people follow the traditions of men, they transgress the commandments
of God.
In
those days, they were taking money that should have been used to support their
elderly parents and declaring it "Corban," or devoted to God. By pronouncing this money Corban, the
Pharisees could use it selfishly in their worship so they would look good.
In
Matthew 15, verses 6 to 9, the Lord said,
Matt. 15:6 "... So by this you have invalidated the word of God [depriving it of force and authority and making it of no effect] for the sake of your tradition [handed down by the elders]. 7 You hypocrites (play-actors, pretenders), rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said, 8 'This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me. 9 'But in vain do they worship Me, For they teach as doctrines the precepts of men.'
When
people act on their own initiative they show that their hearts are not right
with God, because they have not listened to Him. Listening to men rather than to God makes our worship vain. Why? Because in listening to the teachings of men, we stop listening to
God. We treat God as less than men. We haven't given Him the holy place in our
hearts that He deserves.
In
Colossians chapter 2, verses 20 to 23 the Bible says,
Col. 2:20 If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were still living in the world, do you submit to rules and regulations, such as, 21 "Do not handle [this], do not taste [that], do not [even] touch!"? 22 (these things all perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men. 23 These practices indeed have the appearance [that popularly passes as that] of wisdom in self-made religion and mock humility and severe treatment of the body (asceticism), but are of no value against sinful indulgence [because they do not honor God].
"Self-made" religion or "will
worship" is when people act on their own
authority and do not regard what God teaches. God doesn't permit "self-made"
religion, because it fails to show Him the reverence that He deserves. Now, they may appear to have value to people, but they have no value to
God.
People
may enjoy what they call worship. They may think it draws a great crowd;
but forms of worship that ignore God's teaching and originates in the mind of
men violate God's will. True worship to
God always comes from listening to the teaching of God.
God
wants all His people to worship Him and to praise His name. He seeks for true worshipers. True worshipers worship Him in spirit and in
truth. The New Testament has no special
class of worshipers such as the Levites under the old covenant.
According
to 1st Peter 2 and verse 5 all Christians are members of a holy priesthood and their place is
I Pet. 2:5 You [believers], like living stones, are being built up into a spiritual house for a holy and dedicated priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices [that are] acceptable and pleasing to God through Jesus Christ.
The
churches in the New Testament did not have choirs or special music. You see,
they all sang from their hearts as a congregation. To worship means, to adore or pay divine
honors to a deity; to reverence with supreme respect and veneration.
They
didn't fall prey to the notion that worship was for them. Worship
was how they gave of themselves to God rather than what they received from the
people around them. They didn't think of
themselves as an audience or spectators. They came to worship, not
to see a performance.
Early
churches didn't have theatrical performances, light shows, or bands. They didn't hire professional musicians to
perform for them. There's a difference
between worship that comes from the hearts and lips of everyone in the pews and
a performance that comes from professionals on the stage.
The
Bible says in Hebrews 13, verse 15,
Heb. 13:15 Through Him (that is through Jesus), therefore, let us at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name.
God doesn't choose the musically
talented and then exclude everyone else.
To
worship is to revere God; but to entertain means "to engage the attention with anything
that causes the time to pass pleasantly; or to amuse." Entertainment may be interesting, it may be
fun, it may be diverting, it may be amusing; it may be a wonderful show or
performance.
Now,
entertainment in and of itself is not sinful. But God never intended for a form of entertainment or a performance to
replace the worship of the church. The purpose of worship is to glorify God. In many places, what some call worship
focuses not on God but on the performer or performers.
Some
assemblies today contain very little worship of God and a great deal of show. Performers become religious
"stars." We now have an entire
entertainment industry devoted to Christian praise music.
Why
have Christians made a commercial enterprise out of worship? Why have we focused on the talent of the
performer, glorifying people rather than glorifying God? Worship is an expression of reverence and adoration
toward God. Worship is our response to a gracious and
holy God, and it needs to be placed in this context if it's to be properly understood.
It's
right to remind ourselves in church that we're not the audience. God is! He is there to receive our praise and adoration. We have met there to honor Him, and our task
is to "please Him." And this
is why we can never cheapen our worship by turning it into entertainment. We must glorify God and Him alone.
Some
folks don't find any value in Biblical worship; they prefer something more
exciting or appealing so that they can have an "experience." They
think worship is supposed to be for theirbenefit; and they come to worship to "get" rather than to
"give."
There
are certainly many things in church that bless our lives; but we get out of
worship what we put into it. One man
endures worship and leaves bored and empty, while another leaves blessed and
refreshed by the experience. Why?
Well,
the man who leaves empty has his mind on himself, while the man who leaves
blessed has concentrated on God. He's
taken time to count his blessings, to remember the cross, to meditate on what
God has done, and to be thankful. He can
see the value of singing songs of praise, and he values speaking to God in
prayer.
He
grows spiritually by remembering Christ's death in the Lord's Supper. And he cheerfully gives of his means! He loves to hear God's counsel in the Word,
because he loves God; and love makes the difference. Worship is
declaring our love, our praise, our adoration, our thanksgiving, and our
commitment to our gracious God in heaven.
Before
we worship, let's prepare our hearts and spirits to praise God and glorify our
God. Let's enter worship with praise and
thanksgiving. And in worship let's
devote ourselves to God with loving hearts. When we leave worship, let's show
Him that we love Him by living holy lives.
The
Bible says in Hebrews 12, verses 28 to 29,
Heb. 12:28 Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, and offer to God pleasing service and acceptable worship with reverence and awe; 29 for our God is [indeed] a consuming fire.
God
seeks people who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. God is seeking for you to make your heart
right with Him. We truly worship when we
revere the right Person, doing the right thing with the right heart. Does the worship where we assemble please
God? Is that worship according to the
teaching of Scripture or does it involve the traditions of men?
Is
your heart right with God? To get your
heart right, you must approach God in faith and love. You must be willing to obey Him in all
things. You must be willing to
repent. This is to give up what is sinful and human and to
embrace what is Divine and what is true to God's will.
With
your faith, and love, and repentance, you must be willing to confess Christ as
the Son of God and to be baptized. Baptism is the time when the blood of Jesus Christ washes away your sins
according to Acts 22 and verse 16.
When you are baptized, the Lord causes you to be born again into the family of God. He forgives you, adds you to His church, and gives you eternal life. Such blessing ought to make you want to worship and praise Him all the days of your life.
