WORSHIP

WORSHIP

The first time the word “worship” is found in the Bible is Gen. 22:5. Abraham said to his servants: “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you”.

GOD CALLED ABRAHAM TO WORSHIP IN A SPECIAL PLACE

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First God directed Abraham to “go to the region of Moriah” to one of the mountains God would tell him about (Gen. 22:2).

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It was a three day journey to this “place” (Gen. 22:4).

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When they drew near to the “place” Abraham told his servants to wait there while he and the boy went “over there” to worship (Gen. 22:5).

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Abraham was not to worship “anywhere”, but only at the special “place” God directed him to.

WORSHIP WAS ALSO IN A SPECIAL PLACE DURING THE AGE OF THE MOSES

God told Moses: “You must not worship the Lord your God in their way. But you are to seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go; there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you.” (Deut. 12:4-7).

“Then to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name—there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice possessions you have vowed to the Lord. And there rejoice before the Lord your God—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites from your towns who have no allotment or inheritance of their own. Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please. Offer them only at the place the Lord will choose in one of your tribes, and there observe everything I command you.” (Deut. 12:11-14).

GOD ALSO DIRECTED DAVID TO SPECIAL “PLACE” TO WORSHIP

“Then the angel of the Lord ordered Gad to tell David to go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” (1 Chron. 21:18).

THIS WAS ALSO AT THIS SAME “PLACE” THAT SOLOMON BUILT THE TEMPLE

“Then Solomon began to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David. It was on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, the place provided by David.” (2 Chron. 3:1).

The location of the Jewish Temple was, in all probability, the same “place” where Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac many years before.

MANDATORY FEASTS

There were three annual feasts that all Israelites were required to attend. Note! “Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me. Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread; for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Abib for in that month you came out of Egypt. No one is to appear before me empty- handed. Celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the first fruits of the crops you sow in your field. Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field. “Three times a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord.” (Ex. 23:14- 17).

THESE FEASTS WERE CELEBRATED IN JERUSALEM

As we have pointed out, the Jews were required to worship only in the “place” what God chose to put His name (Deut. 12:13-14). God chose to put his name in Jerusalem where Solomon built the temple. That’s why when the church began there were Jews in Jerusalem from every nation under heaven to observe the Feast of Pentecost. “Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven” (Acts 2:5).

THE OLD TEMPLE WAS DESTROYED

The temple in Jerusalem was the “place” where the Jews went to worship. Jesus, however, predicted that the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed. Note: “Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. ‘Do you see all these things?’ he asked. ‘Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.’” (Matt. 24:1-2). This literally happened in A.D. 70 when the Jewish Temple was completely destroyed by the Roman army. Nobody could worship there any longer.

As you know, the temple contained the ark of the covenant. It was at the ark of the covenant where God met with his people: “There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the covenant law, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites” (Ex. 25:22).

Today God has instituted a revolutionary new concept of worship. He did away with the old temple and gave us a new one. He also did away with the Old Covenant and replaced it with a New Covenant. As you know, the Old Covenant that was located in the old temple. It is logical, therefore, that the New Covenant would be located in the new temple. Our bodies are the new temples! God has written His New Covenant in the minds and hearts of believers. “This is the covenant that I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws into their hearts and I will write them on their minds” Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more” (Heb. 10:16-17). The New Covenant is now located in body of all believers! That’s where we worship and that’s where God has chosen to meet with His people!

OUR BODIES ARE NOW TEMPLES OF THE HOLY SPIRT

“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” (1 Cor. 3:18).

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body” (1 Cor. 6:19-20).

A NEW CONCEPT IN WORSHIP

For thousands of years people had to journey to a special “place” in order to worship, but now worship can take place anywhere as long as it is in “Spirit and I truth”.

The Samaritan woman said to Jesus: “Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem. ‘Woman’, Jesus replied, ‘believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is Spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth’” (John 4:20-24).

AS WE HAVE SAID, CHRISTIANS CAN NOW WORSHIP GOD AT ANY TIME AND IN ANY PLACE AS LONG AS THEIR WORSHIP IS IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH.

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There is also a sense in which everything we do is worship for “whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Col. 3:17).

• You do not have to “go” to a temple to worship because you are a “temple” (1 Cor. 6:19-20).

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You do not have to “go” to a “priest” to worship because “you are a priest”. In fact, you are “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Pet. 2:9).

• God’s new covenant is not in a “building”, it is in your “body” (Heb. 8:7-13).

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You do not have to “go” somewhere to meet God and Jesus, for they have chosen to make their home in your heart (Jn. 14:23). Furthermore, Jesus has promised that He will never leave you or forsake you (Heb. 13:5).

WHY SHOULD WE ASSEMBLE TOGETHER TO WORSHIP?

If we can worship God at any time and in any place, why is it necessary to assemble together to worship?

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First and foremost, we assemble together because God commands us to do so. “Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Heb. 10:25).

• Here, however, are some additional thoughts for you to consider.
• If you only worship by yourself you cannot “encourage one another”.

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While God is with us as individuals, He has promised to be with us in a special way when we assemble together: “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” (Matt. 18:20).

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Solomon said, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” (Eccl. 4:9-12).

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The church is a “Body” that is made up of many parts: “Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.” (1 Cor. 12:14-20). If the whole body does not assemble the church is, to a certain extent, handicapped.

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The church in Jerusalem set a good example for us: “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (Acts 46-47)

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At least four thing happened in their meetings: “They devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.”(Acts 2:42).

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper when He ate the Passover with His disciples in the upper room. “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying,“Take and eat; this is my body.”Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” (Matt. 26:26-30)

The church observed the Lord’s Supper when they came together to worship.

It was said of the church at Troaz that they came together on the first day of the week to “break bread” (Acs 20:7). While they also did other things in their meeting, the reason they came together involved “breaking bread”. This, as you know, celebrates the miracle of the incarnation. No fact is more significant that the fact that the babe in the manger at Bethlehem was actually the “Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Is. 9:6). This fact was the principle focus of their worship. Truly “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ” (2 Cor. 5:19) and the Lord’s Supper is the way that Jesus said we were to remember that fact.

To partake of the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner is to bring condemnation upon yourself. Please consider: “For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world.” (1 Cor. 11:223-32)

CONCLUSION

“Sing to the Lord, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his dwelling place. Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him. Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness. Tremble before him, all the earth! The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved. Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!” (1 Chron. 16:23-31).