Week 1 – Review
In light of our cursory look at redemptive worship history, what does God desire from His creation? (Commune, Holiness, Sacrifice, Mission) See week one [Here]
What typically shapes our opinion on that which is “good” worship and that which is not good?
QUESTION: At what point do our affections, desire to be pleased, receive, or be satiated by God transition from opinion to idolatry? (Are we consumers or contributors?)
The Profile of a Worshiper (Q & A)
So we have examined that God desires us to commune with Him in the way that he has proposed. We see that God demands purity and sacrificial love from His people and has provided a way for us to be/do that. We see that Scripture has demonstrates God’s mission for us to be His wholeheartedly.
VIEW THE 6 CHARACTERISTICS OF A WORSHIPER
What is the first act of worship to the true and living God?
A man may have been to a place of worship from his youth up, and he may have fallen into a habit of repeating a sacred form every morning and every evening, he may even have been a tolerably diligent reader of the Word of God, and yet though this may have been continued for sixty years and more, he may never once have worshipped God after the fashion prescribed in the text. But see him! the Father seeks him, truth comes home to his soul, and in the light of that truth he feels himself a sinner, and feeling himself so, he cries, “Father, I have sinned.” That is his first true worship. – True Spiritual Worship CH Spurgeon
A true worshiper will see worship as an identity more than an activity.
(Deut. 6:4-9, Ez. 33:29, Ps. 9:1,Ps. 138:1)
“Worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of the conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of mind with His truth; the purifying of the imagination by His beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose - and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable, and therefore the chief remedy of that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin.” (William Temple, 1881 – 1944)
In what ways have we compartmentalized worship in our lives?
There is no doubt that our lives are built to be compartmentalized. We wrestle and struggle balance in all areas of life. It is no wonder that we gravitate toward doing the same in worship. Fundamentally, our worship life is “life”. “I have come that they may have life and that life more abundantly.” John 10:10.
“But it is doubtless true, and evident from [the] Scriptures, that the essence of all true religion lies in holy love; and that in this divine affection, and an habitual disposition to it, and that light which is the foundation of it, and those things which are the fruits of it, consists the whole of religion.” ― Jonathan Edwards, Religious Affections
This holy love Edwards speaks of is not merely a human love but one of divine love instigated by God and built within our hearts. Religion is but a shell without the adoration and sincere love for God that drives us to daily worship.
One of my favorite things about the Bible is how dramatically raw it is. The people are real, the sin is ugly and redemption is beautiful. Our lives are just as filthy, dramatic, and sinful.
Bad Examples Worthy of Note
- Nadab and Abihu Lev 10:1-2 – Example of God’s grace and mercy even in the death of two of His servants. God will not share glory or honor.
- King Uzziah 2 Chr. 26:16 – Sad end to a king who reigned 52 years and near the end just blew it with pride.
- Ananias and Saphira Acts 5:1 – Two who lied to the Holy Spirit and the church in the sale of some land. Petty gain for a great loss. God will not be mocked.
Good Examples Worthy of Note
- Elijah @ Mt. Carmel (1 Kings 18)
To look at the details of this encounter visit this post [Here]
How does the reality that God does not seem to strike us down in the same way we see in Scripture effect your view of His Grace?
What consequence should we expect for approaching Him wrongly?
– Earthly Consequence (Moses, Saul, Jacob, Uzziah)
– Death (Nadab & Abihu, Uzzah, Annanias & Saphira)
– Separation (Cain, Esau, Saul)
- Woman @ Well (John 4)
– What is Jesus saying about how God is worshiped?
– What is Jesus tearing down in his instruction about where worship takes place?
– What is the response of the Woman?
– How does this impact us?