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Sept. 20, 2008

Good Sabbath,

This week we are going to begin looking at formal worship. Webster defines worship as “reverence offered to a divine being or supernatural power; also an act of expressing such reverence.”

The scriptures are rich in examples of how people showed reverence for God and, also, how they completely turned their backs on him and did not revere him at all. Much of the history of Israel is an example of the consequences for not holding God and his Word in reverence.

Moses told Israel “Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse” (Deut. 11:26). We see short periods of time in Israel’s history when God blessed them beyond all manner of men. But the larger percentage of Israel’s history we see that they have earned the curse.

The same thing can be said for the gospel age. The early Apostolic Church, while under persecution from both the Jews and the Romans, was about the only time when one could say they were under the blessing. It was not the material blessing that ancient Israel had enjoyed and that God promised, but it was a time of great blessings in spiritual power and bringing many souls to hear and receive God’s truth.

But most of the Christian era of the church shows the curse. After the apostasy and the rise of the Roman church, we see the history of the Western world falling into the dark ages, followed by the reformation and the rise of the Protestant movement. That resulted in a church still lost in confusion and still looking a lot like the Roman church. The blessings Moses was speaking of are still waiting to be bestowed on mankind.

From the very beginning God taught man to worship him. We don’t have any details of it. We only see the result in the very first generation when Cain and Abel brought offerings to the Lord. It isn’t until later, when Moses spelled out the rituals and the offerings to the nation of Israel that we can look with new understanding on what is recorded throughout the book of Genesis. We see abundant examples of the Patriarchs building altars and making offerings before God. We can know that a worship system of some kind had been established by God from the very beginning of mankind. No doubt that worship was different before Adam and Eve sinned. The offerings and sacrifices became necessary because of sin.

Today, we have the benefit of 6,000 years of history at our disposal. We are able to see and understand the reasons for a sacrificial offering system and what it all means. At various times throughout history, God gave the knowledge and understanding of it to select men and women, who acted on that knowledge. It is through their stories recorded in the scriptures that we can fully grasp it today. But, it is likely that most of mankind never knew or understood the real reasons for what God required them to do. If they had, they would never have gone astray, chasing after other gods and other worship systems.

The rituals and sacrifices through which the ancient Israelites worshiped God were given to them as a way that they could come to the knowledge and understanding of God and what he required of mankind. While the offerings all had a purpose and a reason for why they were done, the entire system pointed to a time when God himself would make the ultimate offering of the sacrifice of his son to pay the death penalty for all mankind. Before that happened, the people brought their offerings before God so that their sins could be set aside — not forgiven and not for salvation purposes, for the blood of bulls and goats could never wash away sin (Heb. 10:4). It could only allow the sin to be set aside.

Why was the setting aside of sin necessary? God wanted and required his people to commune with him. He wanted them to come to him in worship. At that time, God’s presence resided with the people in the tabernacle and later in the temple. He actually placed his presence over the mercy seat in the holy of holies and dwelt among his people. But to approach God, one had to be in a holy state. Unholiness and sin could not exist in God’s presence. Scripture shows that whenever unholiness of any kind came in close proximity of the spirit presence, the spirit presence destroyed the unholiness. This appears to be a natural consequence of holiness and not a malicious or intentional act on the part of God.

The wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). Mankind earned the death penalty continuously, so in order for them to come close to the spirit presence of God, a death had to occur — either theirs or something else. God devised the plan that allowed them to offer up a substitute for their own lives. Goats, sheep, bulls and other innocent animals were offered to pay the price of sin (death) for God’s people. Through the substitution, God would set aside the people’s sin so they could come close to commune and worship him. This had to happen every time they came close to God, every day and all day long — every single time they wanted to approach God. If they came too close to the spirit presence without the offerings or with profane offerings they were automatically killed by the spirit presence. This is also what was meant when it says that one could not look upon the face of God and live.

(The Day of Atonement is coming soon. The service being prepared, and the study that accompanies it, will go into all of this in greater depth. The author of the study explores the rituals of the Day of Atonement under the old covenant and compares it to the requirements of the atonement under the new covenant. The service booklet will be available online soon.)

God’s plan to offer his son as the final and last sacrifice to pay the death penalty was known to him from long before the physical creation was even begun. But it all had its own time frame and the sacrificial worship system was set in place to provide a way God’s people could approach him until the son came.

So the whole purpose of it all was to allow people to draw close and commune with and worship God. God requires his people to worship him, so he had to provide a way they could do that.

We all have stumbled at one time or another over the word “fear” so often used in the scriptures with reference to God and what our attitude with God should be. Understanding that his holy presence could and would destroy all unholiness that came too close, certainly gives that word “fear” far more meaning. When Paul said that we need to work out our own salvation with “fear and trembling,” (Phil. 2:12) that indicates that we still must always remember that unholiness cannot exist in close proximity to the spirit presence.

Christ’s atoning death took away the need for man to bring his own substitute with him when he desired to approach God. God has provided the substitute and there is no greater — there is nothing we could possibly bring in heaven or earth that would be greater than what has already been done. Christ has paid the death penalty and our sins have all been forgiven. It is necessary, however, to declare our current sins before God and ask forgiveness continually because it is impossible for physical human beings to remain in a holy state for very long — even with the Holy Spirit residing within. It is through Christ’s work that we can ask forgiveness and know that it is immediately given. All that is required of us is a repentant attitude, confession of our sins and the asking of forgiveness. That is the promise that Christ left to mankind.

God no longer resides as a spirit presence in a tabernacle or temple made of stone. He now resides within the heart and mind of his chosen people. We no longer need to offer a sacrifice of blood in order to approach God, but we do need to ever be mindful of our sins. If we come to God in unholiness for too long, the spirit presence of God will move out … because it cannot remain in close proximity with unholiness.

So what is the purpose of worship and why does God require it of us?

To understand that we need to understand that God’s purpose in creating mankind was, and is, to create spirit sons (1 John 3:2) who will have the same character traits and quality of life that he possesses. God intends to share all that he has created or will create throughout eternity with his spirit sons. This includes his daughters also, as once we are changed to spirit beings, gender will no longer exist. Gender is an issue only in the physical realm. Both male and female will be transformed to spirit sons of God in eternity.

The worship and praise that God wants to instill in us can be understood in the context of the father-son relationship. Worship and praise of the Father is part of the process of spiritual growth in the family of God.

1 John 3:1-2 ESV See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

2 Corinthians 6:18 ESV and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.

Romans 8:14 ESV For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Romans 8:19 ESV For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.

It is clear that the Father loves us, but it is difficult for us to love the Father in the same way that he loves us. The Father requires worship and praise from his children in order to help us develop a strong loving relationship with him. Without this act on our part we would only continue to grow away from God, not toward him.

Formal worship, offering words of praise, raising our voices in song, and studying God’s Word on a regular basis all serve to bring us closer in love to the Father who loves us and wants to give us so much. It helps to build a strong, unbreakable bond in the family relationship. It is like the building of a close, loving father-son relationship in much the same way as the child-parent relationship grows. We begin childlike in that all our efforts come from innocence and trust, and we grow to maturity and full knowledge and understanding in obedience to our loving parent.

The worship services offered on this website are at best in the childlike stage. In the beginning for many they may feel stilted and unnatural — a feeble effort to offer praise and worship — however, it is a beginning place to start. The goal is to learn how to approach God in praise and worship as we grow in maturity and it becomes more and more natural for us to not only feel praise for God, but for words of praise to flow freely from our lips.

A key element of proper praise and worship is to establish and maintain a relationship with God — to please him, just as a child wants to please their father. Under the temple system of worship and daily sacrifices, all was carefully planned and executed in order to properly worship and praise God. We should do no less today. The freedom in Christ that is spoken of in the New Testament is NOT freedom from worship. Nor does it mean that we can worship God is just any way we want to. It only means that now we no longer need to bring a substitute to pay the death penalty for our sins when we come before God. It is still necessary to plan and come to God in an orderly fashion and on a regular basis.

A second key element to worshiping God correctly understands that all worship and praise of God is to be projected toward him. It is to be God-centered, not self-centered. It is not about us, or about any church leaders — it is all about drawing close to the presence of God. Most worship services in the Church of God today fall very far from the mark. While perhaps well-intentioned, the services contain very little in the way of worship of God. As I stated in a previous message, at best they are little more than bible studies with a little singing thrown in to give the feel of a worship service.

Next week I’ll continue the discussion about formal worship. I’ve only begun to scratch the surface. In whatever way you choose to celebrate the Sabbath this week, have a great day.

Sincerely,
B.J. Lord
www.soundatrumpet.com