1 Chronicles 29:11 “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty; For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and You are exalted as head over all.”
Pastor Herk continues that in this life, we don’t want to be that “all for me” living sacrifice, so instead we give God our seconds or lasts, our leftovers or our unwanted blemishes. Sacrifices to God have to of our “first fruits”, being holy and pleasing to Him. Isn’t that what worship is supposed to be? Both in prayer and singing praises of adoration in awesome worship to Almighty God, it is to be in the spiritual, experiential and actual presence of our sovereign Creator Father in heaven, holy and pleasing to Him. What were us Sinners saved from, by who and why? Remember, “worship” is defined chiefly and eminently as the act of paying divine honors to the Supreme Being; or the reverence and homage paid to Him in religious exercises, consisting in adoration, confession, prayer, thanksgiving and the like.
Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three are gathered in My name[meeting together as My followers], I am there among them.”
Far too many attend church services and go through the motions with no spiritual connection or experiential face-to-face relationship in one-on-one presence with the Lord. Worship is not singing words to a trendy tune, mindless rememorized repetition, a nightclub atmosphere, with pleasurable visual effects, exciting emotional motivation, funny jokes, or lively entertainment; that would be giving to ourselves on a experiential mental level, not to God on a spiritual level. We cannot give God our dregs. We are supposed to be giving Him our very best, hand-to-hand in worship. When we think of worship and that term comes into our heads, we have to remember that our worship should be in view of God’s mercy. We are all Sinners, and by God’s grace which flows out of God’s mercy, He has forgiven us repentant, born-again Believers through faith in the finished work on the Cross by Jesus Christ alone. God is merciful and we need to offer ourselves as living sacrifices.
Revelation 4:11 “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”
Thirdly, this is a spiritual act of worship. Worship is an existential lifestyle, not simple a praise service. Some come to church like a check-off item on their “Things to Do on Sunday” list and mentally leave God in the Sanctuary. But, God created the Earth, life and is Omnipresent. Psalm 139:7-8 tells us, “I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there.” This experiential spiritual presence in the living sacrifice of worship in the assembly of fellow Believers on Sunday should the same thinking, the same thoughts and the same sacrifice that we are giving God every single day of our lives in our walk with the Lord. See the Creator in His Creation and know that He is there with you every second of your life.
Luke 6:46 “Now why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?
The unbelieving world that walks in darkness is watching. They are seeking the reality and genuine presence of God, so they look at professing Christians for God demonstrated in their holy [set away from secular humanism] and righteous godly lives. When they see lifestyles no different than their own godless lives, worship the same “things” that they worship, then they do not see how there could possibly be a God. Our lifestyle reflects our worship. Who do we blame? We all are. Obedience to God’s Word in holy Scripture [the Bible] is an act of worship. Do you realize that the work that you do is an act of worship to God? Colossians 3:23-24 says, “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord and not for people, knowing that it is from the Lord that you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.” The Hebrew word “avodah” jointly means work, worship, and service. God sees our attitude towards our work as worship, because our very attitude is a form of worship.
We can either be a sweet fragrance to the Lord or we can be a stench. We have to be careful in our walk and in our worship. We have to walk in the Spirit, abandon the sin nature of the flesh desires, and think of “worship” as a lifestyle; not just a church service on Sunday morning. God wants His children to put their lives on display for al the world to see, but He wants that display to glorify Him. As our lives are played for all the world to see, what exactly do they see and hear? An instrument of the Lord in tune or a clanging cymbal? Let it be a sweet, sweet sound in His ear. It's what we were created for.
In Christ, Brian
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