Deuteronomy 8:11-18 The Message
11-16 Make sure you don’t forget God, your God, by not keeping his commandments, his rules and regulations that I command you today. Make sure that when you eat and are satisfied, build pleasant houses and settle in, see your herds and flocks flourish and more and more money come in, watch your standard of living going up and up—make sure you don’t become so full of yourself and your things that you forget God, your God,
the God who delivered you from Egyptian slavery;
the God who led you through that huge and fearsome wilderness, those desolate, arid badlands crawling with fiery snakes and scorpions;
the God who gave you water gushing from hard rock;
the God who gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never heard of, in order to give you a taste of the hard life, to test you so that you would be prepared to live well in the days ahead of you.
17-18 If you start thinking to yourselves, “I did all this. And all by myself. I’m rich. It’s all mine!”—well, think again. Remember that God, your God, gave you the strength to produce all this wealth so as to confirm the covenant that he promised to your ancestors—as it is today.
Word of God for the Children of God
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
We all proclaim we are worshipers who are worshiping someone or something, whether that is God, ourselves, hero’s, food, money, sex, or something else.
But what is Christian worship?
Many scholarly writers will define, envision, worship as “our response to God.”
How do we see Him, and likewise see ourselves in relation to Him?
How do we make Him the truest center of our lives in and through Christ?
If the sacrifices and rituals of the Old Testament are no longer expected, or seem out of touch with the times does that mean there are no expectations?
The Bible tells us that there is, in fact, such a thing as appropriate worship.
In fact, Christ worshiped the Father and taught us how to do so in ways which please him.
Worship in Spirit and Truth
“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when all of the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him” (John 4:23).
Our worship must originate from within, from our hearts; it must be sincere, motivated by our love for God and highest gratitude for all He is and has done.
This is the spirit of worship.
But also, the Holy Spirit orchestrates our services and leads us in corporate praise of God. Along with the “S/spirit” of worship, Scholars points out that worship which pleases God “must never be mindless or based in ignorance.”
We worship intelligently based on what God has revealed in Scripture, not based on what simply “feels right.”
Yet, we must allow ourselves to be moved by what has been revealed to us, and moved by our personal relationship with Christ through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Either one without the other leads to incomplete worship.
Besides this, we genuinely need the help of the Holy Spirit to keep the flow of worship directed in the only right direction there is- 100% God, 0% ourselves.
Without the Lord’s help in this way, we will naturally break towards idolatry.
John 3:27-30 Amplified Bible
27 John replied, “A man can receive nothing [he can claim nothing at all] unless it has been granted to him from heaven [for there is no other source than the sovereign will of God]. 28 You yourselves are my witnesses that I stated, ‘I am not the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed),’ but, ‘I have [only] been sent ahead of Him [as His appointed forerunner and messenger to announce and proclaim His coming].’ 29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands by and listens to him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this pleasure and joy of mine is now complete. 30 He must increase [in prominence], but I must decrease.
Worship Reverently
Psalm 95 Complete Jewish Bible
95 Come, let’s sing to Adonai!
Let’s shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation!
2 Let’s come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let’s shout for joy to him with songs of praise.
3 For Adonai is a great God,
a great king greater than all gods.
4 He holds the depths of the earth in his hands;
the mountain peaks too belong to him.
5 The sea is his — he made it —
and his hands shaped the dry land.
6 Come, let’s bow down and worship;
let’s kneel before Adonai who made us.
7 For he is our God, and we are the people
in his pasture, the sheep in his care.
If only today you would listen to his voice:
8 “Don’t harden your hearts, as you did at M’rivah,
as you did on that day at Massah in the desert,
9 when your fathers put me to the test;
they challenged me, even though they saw my work.
10 For forty years I loathed that generation;
I said, ‘This is a people whose hearts go astray,
they don’t understand how I do things.’
11 Therefore I swore in my anger
that they would not enter my rest.”
God is not our buddy.
He is not our co-pilot.
He is our Lord.
Jesus is King.
While he invites us into friendship (John 15:15), we must not treat him the way we treat many of our so-called friends – those people we only interact with on social media by “liking” them, or whom we will stay in touch with erratically.
To love Christ as our friend is to honor him and make much of him, expecting to recede into the shadows and to let everyone to see exactly how Jesus has been our friend to the point of death on a cross.
Friendship as defined by Christ is sacrificial, but with a joy that comes from profound love for God.
As our friend, he gave his life for us in order to obey and honor the Father.
This kind of friendship drives us to our knees in reverence and awe.
Although we are Christ’s friends, this friendship is designed to lead us into a proper, redeemed connectional relationship with a holy God who demands our maximum attention and our utmost submission throughout the day, every day.
When we behave selflessly, with joy, towards our neighbors, acting as their friends to the glory of God, we demonstrate a trusting reverence.
We recognize the Father’s power (over our own), which is terrible and beautiful at the same time. We humbly rejoice in it and do not take it minimally or lightly.
When we are giving the Lord proper reverence, it begins with a recognition of who he is. “Our Father, who is in Heaven, hallowed be your name” (Matthew 6:9).
“Hallowed” (the Greek hagiazó) means “to make holy, i.e. (ceremonially) purify or consecrate; (mentally) to venerate – hallow, be holy, sanctify.”
When we take time to understand who he is and what we owe him (our lives), we tend not to be so hasty and thoughtless about worship.
“The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant” (Psalm 25:14).
God alone is to be honored and glorified by our worship.
We Exalt God
Psalm 30 Complete Jewish Bible
30 (0) A psalm. A song for the dedication of the house. By David:
2 (1) I will exalt you, Adonai, because you drew me up;
you didn’t let my enemies rejoice over me.
3 (2) Adonai my God, I cried out to you,
and you provided healing for me.
4 (3) Adonai, you lifted me up from Sh’ol;
you kept me alive when I was sinking into a pit.
5 (4) Sing praise to Adonai, you faithful of his;
and give thanks on recalling his holiness.
6 (5) For his anger is momentary,
but his favor lasts a lifetime.
Tears may linger for the night,
but with dawn come cries of joy.
7 (6) Once I was prosperous and used to say,
that nothing could ever shake me —
8 (7) when you showed me favor, Adonai,
I was firm as a mighty mountain.
But when you hid your face,
I was struck with terror.
9 (8) I called to you, Adonai;
to Adonai I pleaded for mercy:
10 (9) “What advantage is there in my death,
in my going down to the pit?
Can the dust praise you?
Can it proclaim your truth?
11 (10) Hear me, Adonai, and show me your favor!
Adonai, be my helper!”
12 (11) You turned my mourning into dancing!
You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
13 (12) so that my well-being can praise you and not be silent;
Adonai my God, I will thank you forever!
Raman or “exalt” means to “lift up.”
When we appropriately worship God, we raise His name above all other names.
We speak about Him to others and we declare that Jesus is better than any other “god” the world worships: money, power, love, sex, etc.
How can we lift up God when he is already exalted?
Job 36:22 says “God is exalted in his power.” He does not need us to lift him up further, yet the heart that worships him wants all other hearts to do the same.
Worship that pleases God seeks to make his name known among those who do not know him.
There can be a private sort of worship, by which we emulate the quiet prayer time Jesus prioritized with the Father. But the believer who longs to see and know Jesus knows also that he deserves loud praise, above every other name.
Paul wrote “God has highly exalted [Jesus] and bestowed on him the name that is above every name” (Philippians 2:9).
No other name deserves such fame, devotion, attention, and effort.
We strive to make him famous where he is unknown.
“Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name” (Hebrews 13:15).
We Serve God
Romans 12:1-2 The Message
Place Your Life Before God
12 1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
When we say to the Lord “you alone are worthy” and submit to him, we are entrusting him with our lives.
We admit there is no King besides him to whom we can safely surrender, but also that we must submit, because he called Christ to serve and we follow Christ, even unto death.
Paul says as much, and Christ showed us the way by giving his body as a living sacrifice to the glory of God and for our salvation.
We serve God by giving him our lives and saying “do with me what you will.”
As we worship in spirit and truth, this helps us to properly hear God’s direction for our lives. We are not merely following a feeling, we are reading Scriptures, asking God for the revealed truth about what he has said and what he wants.
Some people are led abroad into missionary work.
Some become missionaries at home.
Some work to help pay for these missions.
Some stay home and minister in other ways.
Yet, in everything, we can give thanks, praise, and credit to God by receding as he comes forward.
If we have dreams, we ask God to make them his dreams so we can serve him lovingly and with joy.
1 Peter 5:1-7 The Message
He’ll Promote You at the Right Time
5 1-3 I have a special concern for you church leaders. I know what it’s like to be a leader, in on Christ’s sufferings as well as the coming glory. Here’s my concern: that you care for God’s flock with all the diligence of a shepherd. Not because you have to, but because you want to please God. Not calculating what you can get out of it, but acting spontaneously. Not bossily telling others what to do, but tenderly showing them the way.
4-5 When God, who is the best shepherd of all, comes out in the open with his rule, he’ll see that you’ve done it right and commend you lavishly. And you who are younger must follow your leaders. But all of you, leaders and followers alike, are to be down to earth with each other, for—
God has had it with the proud,
But takes delight in just plain people.
6-7 So be content with who you are, and don’t put on airs. God’s strong hand is on you; he’ll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you.
We freely give Him the entirety our hearts and our whole minds for Kingdom purposes, to share the gospel and stir up our fellow Christians.
Sometimes this is painful. The New Testament tells us about the pain we will experience, but also how God will exalt the faithful who suffer for his sake.
What Goes in Comes Out
Colossians 3:15-17 The Message
15-17 Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.
He knows what goes on in our heads; there is no hiding.
“Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether” (Psalm 139:4).
But it is also a choice we make, to let Him fill us up with the goodness that is true about him, best for the development of our spirits – for our fruitfulness.
Isaiah 55:8-11 The Message
8-11 “I don’t think the way you think.
The way you work isn’t the way I work.”
God’s Decree.
“For as the sky soars high above earth,
so the way I work surpasses the way you work,
and the way I think is beyond the way you think.
Just as rain and snow descend from the skies
and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth,
Doing their work of making things grow and blossom,
producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry,
So will the words that come out of my mouth
not come back empty-handed.
They’ll do the work I sent them to do,
they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.
What we fill up on will also pour out of us, returning to God as worship if we have consumed things that please him.
Paul wrote we should be hungry for “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, is commendable” (Philippians 4:8).
Philippians 4:4-9 The Message
4-5 Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you’re on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute!
6-7 Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.
8-9 Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.
An extension of that truth is the way we use our money and time to honor what God has given us.
When we joyfully give back to him by giving to others, this is part of our worship.
We worship when we happily tithe; we worship when we volunteer gratefully.
Grateful giving acknowledges we know both in spirit and truth we are saved by the grace and mercy of our Savior that everything good comes from Him.
Whatever we give, it was his to start with.
We acknowledge that he is our sufficiency.
As one writer puts it,
“the biblical call to focus on worship rather than wealth […] encourages a lifestyle of stewardship, where material resources are viewed as tools for advancing God’s kingdom rather than personal gain. Generosity, contentment, and trust in God’s provision are hallmarks of a life oriented towards worship.”
The Trouble with Worship
God has given us the tools to worship him appropriately in the name of his Son Jesus Christ.
While we know how, putting this knowledge into practice is sometimes harder than we would like to admit.
This is why we need the Holy Spirit’s help when it comes to choosing whom to worship and how.
We can offer our worship as much as we like, but if our hearts are full of unacknowledged, unrepentant sin, he will not accept it (Hosea 8:13).
Therefore, we also need to understand the value of confession and repentance to our worship. These are essential elements, because when they sink in and we authentically, truly repent, pleading with God for a heart more in the image of his Son’s heart, the obstacles to true, wholehearted worship are falling away.
In the name of God, the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit,
Praying …
Psalm 84 The Message
84 1-2 What a beautiful home, God-of-the-Angel-Armies!
I’ve always longed to live in a place like this,
Always dreamed of a room in your house,
where I could sing for joy to God-alive!
3-4 Birds find nooks and crannies in your house,
sparrows and swallows make nests there.
They lay their eggs and raise their young,
singing their songs in the place where we worship.
God-of-the-Angel-Armies! King! God!
How blessed they are to live and sing there!
5-7 And how blessed all those in whom you live,
whose lives become roads you travel;
They wind through lonesome valleys, come upon brooks,
discover cool springs and pools brimming with rain!
God-traveled, these roads curve up the mountain, and
at the last turn—Zion! God in full view!
8-9 God-of-the-Angel-Armies, listen:
O God of Jacob, open your ears—I’m praying!
Look at our shields, glistening in the sun,
our faces, shining with your gracious anointing.
10-12 One day spent in your house, this beautiful place of worship,
beats thousands spent on Greek island beaches.
I’d rather scrub floors in the house of my God
than be honored as a guest in the palace of sin.
All sunshine and sovereign is God,
generous in gifts and glory.
He doesn’t scrimp with his traveling companions.
It’s smooth sailing all the way with God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 