Worship and Pizza 2

What is worship?

What does it mean to worship idols?

Presence of God – something only the high priest could be in, and only once a year. Holy of Holies.

I will use the Biblical analogy Jesus used to illustrate worship.

(God talking to Elijah at the cave entrance)

(God talking to Moses through the burning bush)

(God residing over the Tabernacle in the desert)

(High priest offering sacrifices to God outside the Holy of Holies, technically the veil should be fully covering the entrance. Note Spirit of God hovering over the Ark of the Covenant)

Before, the Israelites could only worship at a specific location and only during specific times. For this reason the tabernacle and later the temple were built. Even then, the relationship between the Israelites and God was not personal. An average Israelite could only call upon God as Elohim, which is a reverent but distance name for their God. Only those chosen by God were allowed to call Him YHWH, the covenant name for God to those who He gave promises. People could not see God, else they be blinded by His glory and vaporized by His wrath (remember Moses?). But He still revealed Himself visibly through forces of nature, like tongues or pillars of fire. The most holy and intimate of worship was only for the high priests, those who actually got to go into the Holy of Holies, and only during specific days of the year.

(Flow of Worship required by priests, something we don't need anymore as Christ already did it)

(The veil being torn when Jesus died)

Jesus came and changed all that. Worship used to be special and restricted. John 4, Jews could only worship in Jerusalem (in the temple) and the Samaritans could only worship on the mountain. During the exile, the Israelites were heartbroken because the temple was destroyed and they couldn't worship. But Jesus said to the Samaritan women that worship will be done in spirit, anytime and anywhere. He fulfills this when He died on the cross, (literally) tearing the veil (Matt 27), opening that special Holy of Holies for everyone. He has become the high priest for us (Hebrews 3, 9), and we now also get priesthood (1 Peter 2). Remember, we now are the temple (1 Cor 6:19, Romans 8:9, 1 Cor 3:16, 2 Cor 6:16, James 4:5). We have the Holy of Holies inside of us, where God’s Spirit resides.

(We have received the Holy Spirit to dwell in us, becoming the Temple)

We again have to remember that worship is not about works. We were saved by grace (Ephesians 2:9), and it was because of God’s mercy. Just like how He chose the Israelites not because they were special or numerous, they were actually the fewest (Deut 7), so in the same way He chose us to be His chosen people (1 Peter 2). That humility to God’s mercy and love for us makes worship a response. It is not of the flesh, but of the spirit (Galatians 4). We worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). It is not self-imposed aka faked or forced (Col 2:23). We also worship in awe of God (Hebrews 12:28, Revelations). That requires knowledge of God, a whole other topic but basically full revelation in Christ and translated by the Holy Spirit (Proverbs 2, Romans 1:28, 2 Cor 4:6, 1 Cor 2 = HS).

Remember, worship is to give all of our lives to God. Romans 12 offer up our bodies as a living sacrifice – proper worship. We know we are to deny/die to ourselves. We were bought and paid for, and are servants/friends/brothers of Christ (1 Cor 6:20, 1 Cor 7:23). He owns us, buying us out of sin by His blood. We call Him Lord and King (1 Tim 6:15, Rev 19:16). What does it mean to be a subject to a king? Think about what it would be like to be a subject to King David or King Solomon. It is a shame we don’t have any modern kings to look up to, only democratic bodies and tyrants.

Two people can worship, and the outer appearance can be exactly the same. But internally, one will be worshiping out a humble and sincere heart towards the Lord. The other would be worshiping either for him/herself or for the sake of worship itself or the feeling of worship. Worship is all about the state of one’s heart and where it is pointed towards. See Luke 18 about the Pharisee and the tax collector. Again a whole other topic can be teased out of that. Pharisee worships for himself, and does so with talent and skill worthy of man’s praise (John 12:43, Matt 6:1-6, Matt 23: 5-7 -> Deuteronomy 11:18, Numbers 15:38-40), but the tax collector humbles himself before God, and Jesus said the tax collector was justified before God and will be exalted.