Loyal Reverence
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Greetings…
Over the last few weeks we have been studying through the theme “Biblical Worship” wherein we have examined three, thus far, of the N.T. words translated as “worship.”
Proskuneo = “bowing down before”
Sebomai = “expressed devotion”
Sebazomai = “awe inspiring”
Today we will be looking at the Greek word “eusebeo” which is found two times in the N.T., the first being…
23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
This word for worship is only found two times in the N.T. and one time in the Septuagint.
In the LXX, in Isaiah 24:16, and in 1 Timothy 5:4.
4 But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show piety at home and to repay their parents; for this is good and acceptable before God.
In the LXX we see it translated as “piety” as well.
The word piety means, “showing loyal reverence for.”
With that in mind let’s examine our lesson for today.
Loyalty
Loyalty
Wholehearted Fidelity.
Wholehearted Fidelity.
The word loyalty should conjurer a powerful sense of belonging and solidarity, because with it delivers on the idea of wholehearted fidelity or faithfulness. One might ask, why should we be loyal or wholeheartedly faithful in our worship to God?
The answer is simple, because God’s loyalty or wholeheartedly faithfulness towards us is unquestionable.
9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,
God’s loyalty is so secure and unbreakable that Paul would declare that nothing could separate us from God’s love and loyalty toward us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This recognition of how loyal God is to us should make us aware then of how “loyal” we should be to him, specifically as it relates to our worship of him.
When we worship our God, the Ancient of Days, we should be doing so with a wholehearted faithful allegiance.
27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
There should be nothing nor anyone that should keep us from worshiping or serving our God faithfully i.e. loyally.
15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
In the same way the word loyalty delivers on the idea of wholehearted fidelity it also delivers on the idea of…
Unswerving Duty.
Unswerving Duty.
Again someone might ask why should we show an unswerving duty in our worship of God and again the answer is as simple as understanding God’s unswerving duty toward us, his creation.
God, after man’s fall, did everything he could to bring us back to him.
God providentially and sometimes miraculously did things to bring about the perfect time for Jesus to be born of woman.
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
God then allowed his “only begotten son,” to die for each persons sins.
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
If our Creator hasn’t shown an unswerving duty or loyalty to his creation, I don’t know who has.
Knowing how loyal our God is to us, by showing an unswerving duty to us it goes without saying that we should show the same in our worship to our Everlasting God.
How do we dutifully worship our God?
First, by showing up.
25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Secondly, by putting aside any distraction that keeps us from our unswerving dutiful worship of our God.
25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,
30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
Summary
Summary
The loyalty God has shown us, chief sinners, should motivate us to be loyal in our worship of our Creator.
That means we should be have wholehearted fidelity and unswerving duty in our worship of the Father, Son, and Spirit.
However, loyalty is only “part” of the equation if we are to worship our God as Paul described in Acts 17:23.
The other part is…
Reverence
Reverence
Honor & Respect
Honor & Respect
The word reverence means, “to show honor and respect.”
When it comes to our God this is exactly how we should worship him, with honor and respect.
How do we show honorable and respectful worship to our God?
First, by being prepared to worship God.
1 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.
Secondly, by being thankful we get to worship God.
4 One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.
Thirdly, by worshiping God, as mentioned earlier, wholeheartedly and unswervingly.
2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.
Summary
Summary
Honoring and respecting our God while worshiping him is more than showing up, it’s wholehearted fidelity and unswerving duty.
Conclusion
Conclusion
To worship God as Paul described to the Athenians in Acts 17:23 we must worship with a “loyal reverence.”
That means we must worship our God with a wholehearted fidelity and unswerving duty all the while showing honor and respect.
Invitation
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.
8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.