Greetings to you, my friend. The word "worship" may appear in a sentence as a noun or as a verb. Verbs, as you know are "action" words. Therefore, we make no apologies when we talk about the acts or the actions of our worship. God seeks the worship of man; not because He needs it to fill a sagging ego, but because man needs to humble himself and draw near to God, his Creator and the Father of his spirit. We invite you to join in our study today of man's worship of God.
Friend, it is a privilege I have to welcome you to our program of Bible study In Search of the Lord's Way. The premise of these lessons is that the Lord's way of salvation, His way to live, His way to worship and His way to serve Him are the best that we have ever known. They are far superior to the ways of men. The Lord's way for anything is found, not in the creeds of men-- written or unwritten-- but in the Bible itself. You see, the Bible is God's word! And, aren't we blessed that we live in a country where we can own a copy of the Bible and read it at our own pleasure. We are so very happy you have joined us today. It is our sincerest prayer that we will both be blessed.
In recent weeks we have been trying to get better acquainted with God. We talked about Him as the Designer and Creator of the world. We have studied about His Holiness, and that we should be holy as He is holy. We studied about His discipline and His love. But no such study would be complete without at least one study about how we must worship Him. You noticed, didn't you, that I didn't say how we like to worship Him, but how we must worship Him.
For your free copy, or CD, or audio cassette tape, or a copy in printed form, send your request to In Search of the Lord's' Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. Or our e-mail address is searchtv@searchtv.org. And our toll-free telephone number for your use is 1-800-321-8633. Ken Helterbrand leads our singing. He does a great work for the Lord and we appreciate him. He is going to lead us now as we sing.
Our Bible reading today is from the book of Hebrews, chapter 12, beginning at verse 25. “See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven. Now this, Yet once more, indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of those things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.” We read through verse 29. Now let us go to God in prayer. Our Father in heaven, we reverently bow before You and offer to You our thanksgiving that we can own a copy of the Bible and read your word and hear You speak through it. We pray, Father, that our hearts will be open to an understanding of it always and that we may have the courage and the willingness and the desire to do your will in all things. In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.
From the very earliest recordings of man's history-- in only the second generation-- in the case of Adam's sons, Cain and Able in Genesis, chapter 4, verses 1 to 15, and through every subsequent generation, man has been a worshiper. And God has shown His deep interest in what they did in their worship, too. Because God is deeply involved in our worship, worship is a very sacred thing. And for the worshiper to minimize its importance or to be careless or casual about it, is but to trivialize God Himself.
In the case of Cain and Abel, what was unacceptable with Cain's offering was that Cain had no respect for the blood sacrifice to the Lord, so he substituted an offering of his grain from his fields. It is possible that he was like many in our own day who consider things about Divinely prescribed worship, "non-salvation issues," meaning they aren't really all that important, you know. Well, you may do as you please. Or as some of you have written to me, maybe you offer your sacrifices or worship with your gifts or your money or your talents from the Lord. Cain's brother Abel offered the blood sacrifice and God had respect for it, but He found no pleasure at all in Cain's. Well, you know the rest of the story. Romans 15:4 says it was recorded in Scripture for our learning.
The important thing generally overlooked in this situation is that Genesis 3, in Genesis 3:15 I should say, God had already planned for sending His Son to die as a Redeemer of the lost race. And the blood of animal sacrifices which men were required to offer throughout the Old Testament, pointed to by faith that event at Calvary. Therefore, with God Abel's animal sacrifice was not a matter of choice. It was not a "non-salvation-issue." It was an expression of his faith in God's coming Savior, His Son, and His death on the cross. Neither Cain or Abel may have understood all that as you and I do, but they didn't have to. They were to act on faith. Doing God's expressed will does make a difference, whether or not we understand it or every "why" and every "wherefore" that God has in commanding it. It doesn't take great faith to do what God says when we can see the reason or the purpose in it; but it does take great faith to do the things that He commands when we can't see His reason or His purpose.
There are six words, biblical words, or word families that translate into our English words "worship," "worshiped," and "worshiping." Now, each of these casts a little different light on the subject of worship. The most commonly used word in the Bible defines worship as an act of homage or reverence; to make obeisance, to do reverence to, or to kiss. Another word means to "revere" and emphasizes the emotions of awe and devotion. Another means to bow the knee before the object of worship. Still another conveys the idea of sacrificial offerings. And one of them implies a pattern of religious service, such as in the passage we read awhile ago. But there is no Bible word for worship that means "celebration,"-- or "festivity" or joviality, on the one hand-- or "ceremony" and "formalism" on the other. None of that is what worship is all about in the Bible. And to make it so, is to pervert true worship in spirit and in truth, as Jesus defined it in John 4:24.
Let's look at some of the passages where we have these words and see what took place in the worship of God in reverence and awe. First, in Genesis chapter 24 it is said that when the patriarch Abraham was old and well-stricken in age, he sent his servant back to Mesopotamia to find a wife for his son Isaac from among his own people. And the servant prayed as he began that journey that God would give success to his journey and as God answered, verse 26 says, "The man bowed down his head and worshiped." When he rehearsed all these things to Laban, Rebekah’s father, he said, "And I bowed down my head, and worshiped the Lord." And when Rebekah's father gave Rebekah to Isaac for marriage, verse 52 says, "When Abraham's servant heard their words (the words of consent, that is) he worshiped the Lord, bowing himself down to the earth."
In Exodus, chapter 4, when Moses and Aaron told the elders of the children of Israel of God's plan to deliver them from Egyptian bondage, verse 31 says, "The people believed: and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped."
Before King David died he told the people of Israel how he had carefully prepared the materials for the building of the temple in Jerusalem. He ended his speech with a prayer, after which it is said in 1 Chronicles chapter 29, verse 20, "All the congregation blessed the Lord, blessed God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads, and worshipped the Lord."
Solomon succeeded his father to the throne and built the temple according to God's plan. And after his long dedicatory speech which ended with a prayer, "When the children of Israel saw...the glory of the Lord upon the house, they bowed their heads with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshiped, and praised the Lord, saying, For He is good; and his mercy endureth forever" (2 Chronicles chapter 7, verses 1 to 3).
Upon their return from the captivity, when the city of Jerusalem had been rebuilt, all the people were gathered together (the Scripture says, "As one man") in the street before the water gate. Ezra, the scribe was chosen to read from the book of the Law of Moses (the law of God). When he opened the book, "All the people stood up," and he read from early morning until midday and the people were attentive to the book of the law. "And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground."
When the messenger came running to Job with the bad news of the loss of all his children, and another to tell of the loss of his oxen and asses, and another with the same news about the sheep and the servants, and another with the same news of the camels, the Scripture says, "Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshiped" (Job 1:20).
In Revelation 5:14 "the four and twenty elders fell down and worshiped Him that liveth forever and ever." "And the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces and worshiped God" (Revelation 7:12). "And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshiped God" (Revelation 11:16).
So now, what have we learned from the Scriptures about worship? These are not isolated cases. A person needs only to know that, to know it all they have to do is read the Bible. Always, when people or angels are seen worshiping God, it is an act of humble obeisance with reverence and fear-- bowing themselves to the ground; never, not even once in their worship is it characterized by shouting and holy laughter and dancing and frivolity and celebration-- or even casualness.
What we read in the Bible about worshiping God is a far cry from what we'll find when we enter most assemblies of worshipers today. We must agree with Dr. Donald W. McCullough who says, "When the true story gets told, whether in the partial light of historical perspective or in the perfect light of eternity, it may be revealed that the worst sin of the church at the end of the 20th century has been the trivialization of God." That is from his book by that title on page 13. Psalm 2:11 says, "Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling."
Worship of God is the lowest human posture of humility and submission. Hear what the Scripture says: "Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool; for He is holy" (Psalm 99 and 5). Worship at His footstool! That isn't a modern perception of worship. A young Christian friend and I visited a really old church building one time. As we passed down the center aisle, he noticed what he called the "foot-rests;" they were padded. I said, "No, those are not foot-rests; they are kneeling rails." He laughed. He thought that was funny. He didn't believe me. I should say, he doesn't believe me yet, I don’t believe. A few congregations still have those foot-rests and those kneeling rails.
Worshiping God with reverence and Godly fear is extremely important, my friend, because God is great! And our worship of Him in spirit and in truth affects every other aspect of our lives, our morals, our character, our concern for the salvation of other people, how we treat other people, how we get along with other Christians, family members and others, yes and even how we transact business. Our lack of reverence and genuine awe of God in our worshiping assemblies is at the very heart, I must say, of the many social ills from which we suffer so much today. Virtually every religious group that calls itself Christian is concerning itself with what is being done in their worshiping assemblies. Many wild and weird worship patterns are tearing churches asunder, and traditions are being defended on the other hand, but very little attention is being focused on worshiping God in reverence and awe, or reverence and fear. I say that without fear of denial, successful contradiction as we sometimes hear, because of what I'm reading in published books and periodicals, and what I am observing first hand in the electronic media. In all honesty, I must say that much of the "strange fire" (Leviticus 10 and 1) that people are offering to God as worship today is being marketed in religious programming on radio and television.
Worshiping God with reverence and Godly fear is extremely important because our Bible text says, "Our God is a consuming fire." "Oh," someone's bound to say, "That isn't my God you are talking about; the God I worship is not a consuming fire." I'm sorry about that, but the God of the Bible is a "consuming fire." The Bible says so. Oh, I wish He were your God, too, friend. You see, I'm simply telling you something about the true and living God that you are not hearing, unless of course, you are reading and studying your Bible. Why not bow down with your face to the ground in humility and submit to doing His will completely. Begin by turning from your sinful lifestyle in repentance, and by being baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sinful past as you read, you ought to do, in Acts chapter 2, verse 38, and you will be reconciled to God. Why not? Why not do it now? Oh, I hope you will do it today. Let us pray. Thank You, God, for the privilege of talking to so many people about something that is so important to us. Bless this message to your honor and glory. We pray, You, through Jesus, your Son. Amen.
Our society is seeking answers to many questions. Why do our youth, some of whom are regular church-going boys, take guns to school and kill or attempt to kill their classmates? Why is the divorce rate the highest in some states in the Bible belt, where it is but natural to assume that religious faith is the strongest? Why is it that in a nation where 92 to 96 percent of the citizens profess to be believers in God, that that nation is without a moral standard and moral anarchy reigns? Oh, the list could go on and on, but our time doesn't.
I have been doing some serious thinking and praying about all this. I'm sure you have, too. How could these things be in an environment where most of the people say they believe in God? I don't have the answers; I'm asking, like you are. But, I am wondering if it could be that in spite of all of our beautifully steepled church facilities about on every street intersection, and in spite of all of our church-going and Bible-waving, and all our feelings-oriented worship, we have forsaken God? I wonder if it isn't because we have made our own gods to meet our personal needs and likes. I'm wondering if we are really not offering God anything in worship; we're only there for the "experience"-- or the "show,"-- or what we get can out of it. I wonder if it isn't that our perception of God is that He is an automatic grace dispenser who makes no demands on our lives, no commitment to faith founded on His word as He says in Romans 10:17, no obedience to His commands, no claims on our lives, a God who doesn't hold us accountable for our words and our deeds? I wonder. I wonder if our worship has become worthless in His sight. I wonder if He may be saying about our worship what He said to Israel in Malachi, chapter 1, "A son honors his father, and a servant his master: If then I am your father, where is my honor? And if I be a master, where is my fear...I have no pleasure in you..., neither will I accept an offering at your hand...You said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! You have snuffed at it...should I accept this of your hand, says the Lord? ...Go offer it to your governor; will he be pleased with it, or accept thy person? saith the Lord of hosts?"
Well, let us think and pray more about it. If you would like a free copy of this little book containing all the messages this month, simply write us: In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. Or by e-mail it is searchtv@searchtv.org. Our toll-free telephone number is 1-800-321-8633. If you prefer you may have an audio cassette tape of today's message titled Worshiping God in Reverence and Awe. We are presented here by concerned Christians in churches of Christ all across the land who would love to have you pay them a visit real soon. I hope you will do that. Please do. We plan to be back here next week at this time with another message from God’s word. I hope you will be with us then. God bless you. We love you.
|