Worship Realignment
Notes
Transcript
Teach me to Worship
Teach me to Worship
Read Genesis 22:1–9
1 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”
And he said, “Here I am.”
2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. 5 And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”
6 So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. 7 But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!”
And he said, “Here I am, my son.”
Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
8 And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.
9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.
Ever so often in the lifecycle of any body of people, one has to return to some fundamentals of belief and practice. One such fundamental is Worship. Worship is critical and therefore must be understood from God’s perspective as much as we can. For the next few weeks:
Sunday Mornings
Worship Realignment - (Oct 1st 2023)
Heart of a Worshipper - (Oct 15th 2023)
Mind of a Worshipper - (Oct 22nd 2023)
Wednesday Bible Studies
Temple Worship: Its Origins - (Oct 11th 2023)
Temple Worship : Modern Construct, A look at Music - (Oct 18th 2023)
Worship & Prayer: The Believer’s Battery Pack - (Oct 25th 2023)
Worship of God in today’s world is seen as and concentrated on songs and music, even as a career and art form. These songs and musical arrangements are written and produced by anybody, Christian and non-christian and gain much popularity.
Therefore it is felt that anyone can worship God anyhow because its their worship and they can choose who to give it to and more so it is only given in song. We as the Church globally and even here at ALA, must be reminded that, there is ONLY ONE who is worthy of the worship - Yahweh.
Believers have the attitude and mindset I just briefly described because we have received and embraced the world’s definition of worship. The oxford dictionary defines worship as “the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity.”
And that is the problem right there - the emphasis of the understanding of worship in today’s post modern society is based on feeling and the expressions that result from that feeling. COVID-19 has contributed significantly to increase of us as human beings “getting into our feelings.”
The central focus is on the feeling and not the One we are worshipping. Therefore we approach Him anyhow and live anyhow and sing anything and play anything and anyhow because God receiving our worship depends on how we feel; after all its our worship. So even in many cases, what we sing and play as expressions of worship are designed to make us feel good.
BUT worship defined by the Only One who is to be worshipped, speaks of bowing down; to submit and make one’s self low in the paying of homage and respect to One who is Greater. It is the praise, adoration and reverence of God, both in public and private. It is a celebration of the worthiness of God and glorification and honour of his name; and this takes us way beyond music.
Manser, M. H. (2009). Dictionary of Bible Themes: The Accessible and Comprehensive Tool for Topical Studies. Martin
To begin to truly get the breath of this we have to go back.
Creation: To be in His presence. Sin - separated and changed access of mankind both to and being/dwelling in His presence . God removed Himself from the presence of sin and removed man from the experience of dwelling in the presence of God. We occupied God’s presence because we were made in His image and likeness and so mankind was holy and without blemish. Sin distorted the image and likeness such that we no longer looked like God either in spirit or communicated/shared attributes.
19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 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. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”
26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
In the Garden after the fall God “looked for the fallen man who hid from God”; because of Christ, the Father now seeks out worshippers.
Because redeemed man is now remade as a Worshipper and called to be a Witness. BECAUSE OF CHRIST.
True Worshippers Witness! Witnesses make Disciples! Disciples go everywhere in and with Jesus!
Worship is really about living in the presence of God! The end of the Church age shows us that ultimately it is about dwelling in God’s presence - Rev 21:22-27
22 But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. 24 And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. 25 Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). 26 And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. 27 But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
For life flows from the presence of God. Rev 22: 1-5
1 And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. 4 They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. 5 There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.
Man was created to live in the presence of God. God wants us back in His presence but man must now be able to : 1) access or enter into God’s presence and 2) dwell in His presence . Both of these must now be built on a few principles . What are these principles :
1) Access to God’s presence requires permission to enter based on God revealing Himself - burning bush; mountain; tabernacle; temple. These all speak to God disclosing Himself to us and we learn Him: Jireh, Rophe, Rohi, etc
But only a representative could come into the presence of God - eg Moses; High Priest on Day of Atonement. But God always wanted to be near His people (eg taberncale and temple). Note we can be near the presence of God but not in it!
God sacrificed His Son (Himself) so that we can access His presence - John 10:7 “7 Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.”
Ephesians 2:18 “18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.”
Hebrews 10:19 “19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,”
So true worship can and must start with the acceptance by faith in who Jesus Christ is and what He has done in showing us our sin and need of cleansing from it. We can come into the temple and praise but we cannot worship unless we accept the truth of Christ for He is who unlocks the door to the presence of the Father.
2) We dwell in His presence by living a life of sacrifice.
Man chose his desire over obedience to God’s Word so now man must demonstrate a desire to sacrifice himself (all that’s dear to him as well) so as to glorify God through his living.
The understanding that true unhindered being in and living in God’s presence continuously requires a sacrifice that we are unable to make - that while we may be able to sacrifice our only son (like Abraham) that son and sacrifice is not able to grant access ; so God provided the Son. In sacrificing his son, Abraham was sacrificing himself.
The real place of worship was therefore the altar. An altar is a place of sacrifice.
Sacrifice in the Old Testament - The manipulation of an animal, vegetal, or liquid as religious devotion. This can include ritual slaughter, division, reconfiguration, cooking, consuming, and/or complete burning.
Starbuck, S. R. A. (2016). Sacrifice in the Old Testament. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair Wolcott, L. Wentz, E. Ritzema, & W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Lexham Press.
To the modern reader, the term often suggests the surrendering of something precious or indicating a loss for the sake of a cause or other people. Such sacrificial acts might be considered heroic AND this is dangerous. The original notion of sacrifice is about and for us but does not originate from us and therefore we are the beneficiaries of the sacrificial act and the “heroes of the sacrifice.”
God in Gen 3 originated the sacrifice where He established because He so loved us, the innocent will die to cover us the wicked that we might live.
God is therefore looking for those who worship Him in spirit and in truth not in the rituals set out by God until the Son came to execute them once and for all; not in the rituals created by man but those who worship Him as led daily by the Spirit living in us (His presence ) and the truth of the Son.
This requires us to keep offering our dead flesh to Him; our dead to selfishness and self-centredness and being driven by our desires. This is how we live in place of worship -
Romans 12:1–2 “1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service (act of worship). 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Continuous self-sacrifice to God opens the door to transformation. Sin corrupted man and disrupted worship; Christ’s sacrifice redeems man and in turn man’s life of sacrifice as worship unto God creates the pathway for sinful man to be fully transformed into redeemed man both in declaration and function. This is true sanctification on the foundation of true submission.
What I have just outlined briefly is what I call worship living and not to be confused with the gathering of the Church/the called out ones/Believers in Christ to pay homage and adoration to God in a worship service . That is temple worship where we come together to adore God (offering, songs, music, dance); to pray ; to read and hear His Word.
If temple worship is not driven by worship living it become a performance and a noose around our necks that is driven more by men’s opinions than the Spirit-living of God’s people.
So worship living then influences the music, the dance, the song, how we give the offering, respect shown to the reading of His Word :
Influences the songs : They should speak of who He is, right theology; speaks of what He has done; can speak of what He will do; encourages us in the Lord; establishes Him as high and foremost in our lives
We now come into the temple different- enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise …
We coming in washed and in Him
Because of Christ - the mountain doesn’t matter, the heart and mind does. So in essence back to Abraham where in the midst of the rituals of worship, what mattered to God were Abraham’s heart and mind.
The coming together of God’s people, from Jewish historical practice, to the practices of the early Church illustrates for us that the Worship service includes the following elements/practices and attitudes:
Praise and thankfulness are important elements of worship, which also includes confession of sin, the reading of Scripture and music.
Praise Him is to be all embracing and full - read PS 150 (Tanya).
So the Church gathered or what I call the Temple worship service includes the following attitudes and acts:
Worship with awe
Dt 10:12 See also Lev 10:1-3; 2Ch 7:3; Ps 2:11; 68:35; 96:9; Ecc 5:1
Worship includes trust
Ps 4:5 See also Ps 37:7; Heb 11:6
Worship includes praise
Ps 22:22; 107:32; Heb 13:15 See also 2Ch 31:2; Ne 9:5-6; Ps 150:1-6; Heb 2:12; Rev 7:11-12
Worship includes thanksgiving
Ps 100:4; Rev 11:16-17 See also 2Ch 7:3; Ps 50:14,23; Eph 5:19-20; Php 4:6; Rev 7:11-12
Worship with joy
Ps 95:1 See also Ps 27:6; 43:4; 100:2; Lk 24:52-53; Ac 2:46-47
Worship includes the confession of Jesus Christ as Lord
Heb 13:15
Worship includes confession of sin
Hos 14:2 See also Lev 16:21; Ne 9:2; Ps 66:18
Worship includes the reading of God’s word
Col 3:16; 1Ti 4:13 See also Ne 8:5-6; 9:3
Worship includes music and song
Ps 95:2-3 See also 2Sa 6:5; Ps 100:2; Eph 5:19-20
Worship includes dance
Ps 149:3 See also Ex 15:20; Ps 30:11
Examples of spontaneous worship
In response to an awareness of the closeness of God Ex 34:8; Jdg 7:15
In response to the experience of God’s mercy Ex 4:29-31 See also 1Sa 1:19-28
In response to the presence and power of Jesus Christ Mt 28:8-9 See also Mt 14:33; Lk 24:52
Worship should not be dependent on circumstances
Php 4:6 See also Job 1:20-21; Da 6:10; Ac 16:25; 1Th 5:16-18
The continuous worship of God in heaven
Rev 4:10-11; 5:14; 7:11; 11:1; 19:4