Worship (The Priority Of Believers Pt.2)

I) Worship in the Old Testament

            Worship - The Hebrew word for worship used in Genesis 22 is the word shachah.  In scripture, it pictures someone bowing, kneeling, stooping or prostrating on the ground before God. It depends, however, on the attitude of our heart.

            Love – There is a story in Genesis 22:1 - 12 where Abraham is tested.  As great as Abraham’s love was for his son, Isaac, his love for God was greater.  Is it love for God that motivates your worship? 

            Obedience -  Obedience is central to worship.

            The Place - On the heels of His giving the Israelites guidelines for worship, He instructed the Hebrew people to build a place for worship, a place where He would dwell.  In Exodus 29:45, He said, “I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God.”  This place would be where they would relate in worship.  The tabernacle was to be the meeting place, the place that was set apart for God and His people.  There is no true worship without a relationship between the One being worshiped and the worshiper himself.  Worship is a place of meeting, a time of interaction between God’s people and the object of their worship, God Himself.

            The People - God also set standards for the people themselves On Mt. Sinai He gave them the Ten Commandments.  The first four dealt specifically with their relationship to God in worship.  Ex.20:3 “You shall have no other gods before me. You are free to worship and love Me with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.  That is why, when Jesus was asked which was the greatest commandment, He quoted this one. 

This may be the one we most often break. 

            How does this apply to us today?  How committed are we to worshiping God alone?  The lifestyles we choose reflect the god(s) we worship.  When we worship the one true God, Yahweh, our way of living will be consistent with who He is and what He represents.  We will find ourselves running counter to the gods and culture of our society.

II) Worship in the New Testament

            The first reference to worship in the New Testament is recorded in Matthew 2:2, where the Magi sought the place where the Messiah had been born.  Their purpose in searching for Him was to worship Him.  The word used here is the Greek word proskuneo, meaning “to bow, crouch, stoop or kneel,” with the added picture of kissing the hand of the one you are worshiping.  This is the same word used in Matthew 4, when Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness.  Satan knew that the issue of worship was at the heart of the battle between God and himself.  He knew that if the Son of God could be persuaded to worship him the victory would be his.  Of course, Satan failed.  Jesus’ response? “Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” (Matthew 4:10) 

            The word Jesus used here is the same word He used when He later spoke to the Samaritan woman about the Father seeking for those who would worship Him “in spirit and in truth.”  Worship now is a response to the nature of God and His self-revelation through His Son.  New Testament worship is a response to who God is in Christ.

            In the Old Testament the only access God’s people had to the holy of holies, where God’s presence dwelt and where the highest form of worship took place, was through the high priest.  He was instructed by God to enter this most holy place once a year, on the Day of Atonement, with a blood sacrifice on behalf of the nation.  But in Hebrews 9:11 - 14, we read, “But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;   Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.    For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:   How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve (worship) the living God?”

            These verses describe the confidence New Covenant believers have in approaching God in worship and prayer. We no longer go through an earthly high priest, nor do we have to make blood sacrifices anymore.  The attitude of heart that God looks for has not changed, only the method.  There is no longer a man-made tabernacle on earth where God dwells.  God’s dwelling on earth is now in His people. Jesus is our High Priest, who tore the veil separating us from our Heavenly Father.  We no longer struggle with the Law; it is written on our hearts. 

---