Skip to main content

Worship God loves!

The Bible is full of a richness that never fails to capture the imagination and fill up our minds with pure wisdom. It is fascinating! Many, even many aged Christians, wonder why some Christians can be so thrilled with the richness of Scripture. Could it be a lack of Bible Study themselves? Could it be that they are satisfied with a weekly service and nothing more? A love for the Scripture can only be realized when one decides to apply themselves to know more - better everything they can know - of Jehovah the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit who guides and illuminates us. Knowing a little is helpful but can leave your vision of Him skewed and your relationship humdrum. But to know Him deeper each day is to soar like an eagle and alight upon the golden meadows of bounty. For instance there was a time before the Northern Kingdom of Israel had fully been scattered to the nations that they were given a chance to know more about the goodness of God and how in turning to Him, He could heal their lands, their activities could prosper, and their children could be blessed. The choice was before them to either take up his words or walk away. For years their worship was lax and their repetitious actions without true meaning. Isaiah tells us they had taken a simple act of fasting and turned it into a duty - something done without heart - and then wondered why God had not turned His ear to their prayers.

Isaiah 58
58:2 They seek Me day after day and delight to know My ways, like a nation that does what is right and does not abandon the justice of their God. They ask Me for righteous judgments; they delight in the nearness of God.”
58:3 “Why have we fasted, but You have not seen? We have denied ourselves, but You haven’t noticed! ” “Look, you do as you please on the day of your fast, and oppress all your workers.
58:4 You fast with contention and strife to strike viciously with your fist. You cannot fast as you do today, hoping to make your voice heard on high.
58:5 Will the fast I choose be like this: A day for a person to deny himself, to bow his head like a reed, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the LORD? (Is. 58:2-5 HCSB)

In the passage the prophet tells us that God is aware of their effort to want to serve Him but their desires are not backed up by their actions. They want God to issue Righteous Judgments in the land, something He will cause to come about if the people of the land are walking with Him, but He cannot because when they are holding a fast they fight, argue, and oppress others. Fasting involves not only denying oneself of certain pleasures but also treating all people with equity no matter their circumstance. From this alone we can surmise that God loves all people everywhere equally and without favoritism and condescension. In vs. 5 God sees their efforts as merely rituals and meaningless. Denying oneself for the sake of ritual will profit no one a thing; certainly God will know your motive. What is missing is what should come alongside the efforts to worship, fast, and pray. Isaiah does not leave us in the dark. He tells us in the verse's that follow what God's desire is - that is what is missing and why their prayers go unanswered.

58:6 ​​​​​​​No, this is the kind of fast I want. ​​​​​​I want you to remove the sinful chains, ​​​​​​to tear away the ropes of the burdensome yoke, ​​​​​​to set free the oppressed, ​​​​​​and to break every burdensome yoke.
58:7 ​​​​​​​I want you to share your food with the hungry ​​​​​​and to provide shelter for homeless, oppressed people. ​​​​​​When you see someone naked, clothe him! ​​​​​​Don’t turn your back on your own flesh and blood!
58:8 ​​​​​​​Then your light will shine like the sunrise; ​​​​​​your restoration will quickly arrive; ​​​​​​your godly behavior will go before you, ​​​​​​and the LORD’s splendor will be your rear guard.
58:9 ​​​​​​​Then you will call out, and the LORD will respond; ​​​​​​you will cry out, and he will reply, ‘Here I am.’ ​​​​​​You must remove the burdensome yoke from among you ​​​​​​and stop pointing fingers and speaking sinfully.
58:10 ​​​​​​​You must actively help the hungry ​​​​​​and feed the oppressed. ​​​​​​Then your light will dispel the darkness, ​​​​​​and your darkness will be transformed into noonday.
58:11 ​​​​​​​The LORD will continually lead you; ​​​​​​he will feed you even in parched regions. ​​​​​​He will give you renewed strength, ​​​​​​and you will be like a well-watered garden, ​​​​​​like a spring that continually produces water. (Is. 58:6-11 HCSB)

Broken down, here is what the Lord desires when we are actively worshiping, fasting, and serving Him daily:

vs. 6 - ​​​​​​I want you to remove the sinful chains - (The temptations that hold us back)
​​​​​​           To tear away the ropes of the burdensome yoke           
           To set free the oppressed
           To break every burdensome yoke
vs. 7 ​​​​​​​  To share your food with the hungry
 ​​​​​​          To provide shelter for homeless, oppressed people
​​​​​​           To clothe the naked
           To care for your own flesh and blood - (Family and Church Family see, Gal. 6:10; 1 Tim. 5:8)

If we do so then...

vs. 8 ​​​​​​​  Your light will shine like the sunrise
           Your restoration will quickly arrive
           Your godly behavior will go before you
           The LORD’s splendor will be your rear guard
vs. 9  ​​​​​​​ You will call out, and the LORD will respond
​​​​​​           You will cry out, and he will reply, ‘Here I am.’ ​​​​​​
           You must remove the burdensome yoke from among you
           You must stop pointing fingers
           You must stop speaking sinfully
vs. 10 You must actively help the hungry
           You must feed the oppressed
           Then your light will dispel the darkness
           Then your darkness will be transformed into noonday
vs. 11 ​​​​​​​Then LORD will continually lead you
​​​​​​           Then He will feed you even in parched regions
​​​​​​           Then He will give you renewed strength
           Then you will be like a well-watered garden
​​​​​​           Then you will be like a spring that continually produces water

Superficial worship that does not work itself out in daily acts of worship through justice, equity, and service to all people cannot truly be called worship at all. So what can we learn? What must we do? Having heard the words of the prophet as God moved Him to speak we are given a little insight into the nature of God and the worship He loves. So what is God's will? To worship in Spirit and in truth, John. 4:24. To act out our devotion to God in worship by devoting ourselves to others in action. To allow God to change us day by day (sanctification). Sadly in America it often too far one way or the other. When we practice faithful attendance in church we often lack faithful daily service. Why is that? When we live to help out others we often do it because it is what we want to do rather than springing from faithful hearts built up in God through faithful attendance in worship. This type of service is most often rife with our picking and choosing when, where, and how we will serve instead of relying on God's nudging and leading and we call it service to God. It is the foundation of a self-styled and planned out works religion. It never takes us out of our comfort zone. Again why? God's desire is that we all look inwardly at our hearts. The true formula of Godly worship that catches God's eye is worship from a pure heart that gives daily in service no matter the sacrifice and springs forth toward all of God's created people. Worship is a daily matter. It is one of the reasons Jesus stated, "Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me, Luke 9:23 (NKJV).

God did not accept Israel's fasting and worship because it was not from the heart. It was ritual, something they were told they needed to do. There was no real heart change in them and they lived toward others differently than He had lived toward them - loving and forgiving their sin even though they did not deserve it.

Let us go forth from the church house and into God's mission field to worship serve Him in the way He alone leads. Then when we regather let us share in the good things God has done the past week! That is worship that is pleasing to God!

God Bless
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

25 Reasons to Believe - In Jesus FREE EBOOK

FREE EBOOK click to download - When book comes up click down arrow on Upper Right to save a copy . A while back the Barna Group released a report titled, "Six Reasons Young Christians Leave Church." 1  Under reason two, " Teens’ and twenty-somethings’ experience of Christianity is shallow" they write:  "A second reason that young people depart church as young adults is that something is lacking in their experience of church. One-third said “church is boring” (31%). One-quarter of these young adults said that “faith is not relevant to my career or interests” (24%) or that “the Bible is not taught clearly or often enough” (23%). Sadly, one-fifth of these young adults who attended a church as a teenager said that “God seems missing from my experience of church” (20%)."  If one takes a look at the modern church-scape I can see why. The gap between those pastors and teachers that are fired up about Jesus and those that do not preach all of th
4 comments
Read more

Fornication - The Acceptable Sin?

In the Bible there are several sexual sins that are categorized under the term,"Sexual Immorality." Not the least of these is, "Fornication." However fornication has become an outdated, and in many places, the acceptable sin in the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries. As a matter of fact, many do not even know what the term "fornication" means. Since the advent of the modern Bible translation, many have never heard of it. This article focuses on what the Scripture says about this out-of-control acceptable sin. Fornication is mentioned thirty-six times in the Bible (MT), thirty-two times in the New Testament. In almost all modern translations the word has been substituted with, "sexual immorality" and has come to mean any number of sexual sins. However, sin (missing the mark) is still sin and sin still separates a person from God. So why has this sin become so acceptable even in modern churches???? UPDATE : Here is a testimony of life
5 comments
Read more

The Bride of Christ Has Made Herself Ready!!

The Bible teaches of an upcoming Wedding Day that the Church should be on cloud nine over!! Rev. 19:7-9 states: Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come , and His wife has made herself ready." And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!' " And he said to me, "These are the true sayings of God." The passage above speaks of two distinct events, the Marriage of the Lamb and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Both of these events are reminiscent of the ancient Jewish wedding ceremony where the Bride would become betrothed to her Groom and he would go away to build her a home. In the meantime she would wait anxiously for his return with shouts from his wedding party of "The Bridegroom Comes!" When the shouts were he
2 comments
Read more

Understanding Grace…without it no one can be saved!

Years ago as a pastor, I faced an issue concerning the topic of “Grace.” I had noticed some congregants who were taking Grace to the extreme and beginning to teach that since our sins were bought and paid for at the cross—all of them, past, present, and future—there was no need to strive against sin. Thanks to our Lord, this was noticed and the He quickly allowed it to be curbed. This heresy occasionally rears its head in Christian circles and indeed must be stopped before it becomes out-of-control. The good thing is that a proper understanding of Grace can arrest the heresy in its steps. Because this false perception thrives in loose living, many well-meaning Christians go completely to the opposite extreme and throw the Biblical teaching of “Grace” out altogether. That too is heresy. How should we approach it? Grace, as a doctrine, should always be presented in its entirety. By that I mean, a starting definition, followed by why it is important, and concluding with keeping it scri
15 comments
Read more

Cardboard Signs and Saying Yes to God

Perhaps you have seen the story of "Daniel's Gloves". It has been floating around the internet since 2001 according to snopes.com. They also tell us the original author is Richard Ryan the assistant Pastor of a Church in Indiana.  I refer to this story—which you will find posted below mine—because of the effect that helping one in need can actually have on a believer’s life. One of the things I have done in the past is monitor just how many people there are who simply pass on by those who are holding a sign stating “Will work for food” or “Need Help for me and my children.” If you ask the hurting they will tell you there are literally hundreds and hundreds who just will not help. Truly it is a sad testimony that “one or a few bad apple(s) can spoil a whole bushel.” It is definitely something I also have observed. For some reason we either fear them, fear confrontation or fear being deceived. Whatever the reason, I often wonder how God feels about it. Just a fe
Post a Comment
Read more