Many times, we have the mindset that worship is solely being part of a team that leads people into the presence of God with songs, and playing in the band at a local church or even being a part of the congregation that sings these songs. But the reality of it, is that this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to true worship and what God expects of us.
Its interesting that, the Weymouth New Testament, gives us a different take on a famous scripture of what worship is and how we should be worshiping God.
John 4:24:” God is Spirit; and those who worship Him must bring Him true spiritual worship.”.
This verse speaks about true spiritual worship, not something that is fake, something that is based on emotion and what mood we are in, but something that can only come from a heart that has been fully surrendered to the will of God.
Many times, we worship God and we think that God is pleased with our worship, but sometimes this is far from reality.
2 Corinthians 2:15 – For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.
As believers those who truly follow Christ and are living their lives according to the will of God, are a fragrant and pleasing aroma of Christ. But this is only possible when we worship him in spirit and in truth. That means that when we allow Christ to live within us and we live in him, we give off a fragrance that becomes a pleasing and acceptable aroma unto God.
In the book of Genesis 22:5, this is the first mention of the word worship in the bible. when Abraham is taking Isaac to sacrifice him to God. Abraham instructs his servants to stay there with the donkey, while he and Isaac went and worshiped God. At this point neither Isaac nor the servants knew what was going to happen. But when Abraham told the servants that he was going to worship God, I believe that there are three aspects on this account of Abraham and Isaac that give us a clearer picture of what true spiritual worship is.
- True Spiritual Worship is fully trusting in God – Abraham understood something about God, God had promised him a son, a son that would be a fulfilment of the promise of God, and the only way he could do this was to fully surrender to the will of God. That means that even when we don’t understand, even when we think, God why this? why now? In reality what we need to be assured of is that God’s word shall never return void. And in order to do this Abraham had to give God true spiritual worship. What that means is total surrender even when we don’t understand. We fall into the rut sometimes of not trusting God fully, but in order to worship God fully and give him true spiritual worship we need to fully trust him.
2. True Spiritual Worship is being prepared – When Abraham went with Isaac to sacrifice him, he went prepared. He knew that in order for this sacrifice to pleasing and acceptable unto God, it6 had to be done right and he needed certain things to make this sacrifice possible.
Genesis 22:3 – Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.
Genesis 22:6 – Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together,
In order for our worship to true we must be deliberate about what we do for God, we cannot haphazardly stroll into what we do fir God, there needs to be a determined effort to do what we do to the best of our ability, that means we need to be prepared. If you are a musician you do not stroll into church to play an instrument and leave it at home. When we worship God in our offering and tithes, do we come to church and hope that there is something in our wallets. No, we need to be prepared.
- Thirdly, True Spiritual Worship is about having faith – In order to serve God, we need to have faith. The bibles say’s that we are saved through faith, not of your own works.
When asked where the sacrifice is, Abrahams response is one of faith and belief that God will come through.
Genesis 22: 7-8 – Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
Abraham is one example of many that shows us that we need to worship God in spirit and in truth. True worship is about offering up your Isaac when God says give him up.
True worship goes beyond just what we do with our lips. No where in this text is there any mention of music or instruments or singing.
While these have a part in the bigger picture of worship just as:
- Tithes & offering
- Prayer
- Reading Gods word does,
True worship is about the heart and the way we live our live. We ought to live our lives as please sacrifice unto God. What in your heart and mine when we sing is it just lip service or are, we in total surrender to God?
Romans 12: 1-2 – Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Abraham was prepared to sacrifice what was dear to him, in worship unto God. Are we willing to do that today?
Feel free to comment or ask a question.
Have a blessed day
Trevor Naidoo
17.02.2020
The Potter's House Church 