Participants:
Series Code: LGS
Program Code: LGS200407S
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00:01 Hello, I'm Blair Lemke, welcome to Let God Speak.
00:04 Worship is a part of humanity 00:06 and essential to the Christian experience. 00:09 Whether we realize it or not, we all worship something. 00:12 God has given clear instructions 00:14 on how to worship. 00:15 Our Bible study today will reveal this. 00:43 On our panel today, 00:44 we have Abel Iorgulescu and Steven Groom. 00:47 Welcome, gentlemen. 00:48 All right. 00:49 As we always do, let's begin our program 00:51 with a word of prayer. 00:53 Heavenly Father, we want to thank You today 00:55 for the opportunity we have to study Your Word, 00:57 we pray that You would send Your Holy Spirit 00:59 to lead and to guide us 01:00 as we study the topic of worship. 01:02 We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. 01:05 Amen. 01:06 Well, gentlemen, we're looking at the topic of worship 01:08 in our quarterly series, and particularly worship 01:10 and how it relates to education. 01:12 And whenever we consider this topic of worship, 01:16 we need to think broadly of, you know, what is worship, 01:18 why do we do it, how do we do it, 01:20 all of these sorts of questions. 01:22 And so I thought a great place to start off with our viewers 01:25 is what is, what exactly is worship? 01:28 So, Abel, do you want to share? Good question, Blair. 01:31 And since this is Let God Speak, 01:32 let's allow God to speak to us through His Word. 01:35 So we're looking at 1 Chronicles Chapter 16. 01:38 And I'll be reading verse 29. 01:40 And I think this verse is one of the many verses 01:42 in the Bible that helps us understand 01:44 what worship is all about. 01:45 And it says here in verse 29 of 1 Chronicles Chapter 16, 01:49 "Give to the Lord the glory due His name, 01:53 bring an offering, and come before Him. 01:55 Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of His holiness!" 01:59 I believe, first of all, 02:00 worship is our response to God 02:03 for the love He bestows upon us. 02:04 He deserves a reverence, 02:06 attitude of gratitude and acknowledging Him 02:09 that He's the giver of all the good gifts we have. 02:12 I think that's such a great description 02:14 of what worship is in the Bible. 02:16 And as you point out, God's Word is clear. 02:19 But often, when we think about this idea of worship, 02:21 a lot of people limit it just to say, 02:24 for example, corporate worship 02:26 is where singing at church or something like this, 02:28 this is the thing that 02:29 automatically comes to a lot of people's minds 02:31 when they think of worship. 02:32 But when we look at worship in the Bible, 02:35 and as that text you've shed, it's much more far reaching 02:38 than this and includes things like life worship, 02:41 includes things like private worship in our lives. 02:44 And so I wonder 02:45 if you can tell, Steve, a little bit about 02:47 what the Bible describes about this idea 02:50 of this broader view of worship, 02:51 this idea of life worship? 02:52 Sure. 02:54 Let's go to Paul's writings, he had much to say. 02:56 In Romans 12:1 and 2, 02:59 he says, "I plead with you therefore, brethren, 03:02 by the mercies of God, 03:04 that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, 03:07 acceptable unto God, 03:09 which is your reasonable service. 03:12 And do not be conformed to this world, 03:14 but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, 03:17 so that you may know what is the good 03:20 and acceptable and perfect will of God." 03:23 So these texts speak for themselves, don't they? 03:26 And life worship basically 03:27 is giving God the glory He deserves, 03:30 through a life of consecration to Him. 03:34 Yeah, and that's it's just such a powerful texts 03:36 that it does give us an insight into the broader description 03:40 of what the Bible describes as worship. 03:42 And I think of that text in 1 Corinthians 10:31, 03:45 where it says, "Whether you eat, 03:46 whether you drink, whatever you do, 03:48 do it all to the glory of God." 03:50 And this is just such a holistic, 03:53 all encompassing view of worship 03:55 that I think is well for us 03:56 to remember as we think about it. 03:58 Do you want to add a point? Definitely. 03:59 God sets a very high standard, and He gives us a life to, 04:03 you know, get our life into order. 04:05 And so we should always be striving to improve, I believe. 04:08 Yeah, you know, sadly, 04:09 sometimes we limit worship to maybe one day a week 04:13 or to a couple of minutes a day. 04:15 But worship, as you have rightly pointed out, 04:17 is about the very things we do 04:19 throughout every day of our lives. 04:22 Now, you know, we've looked at this idea 04:25 in Scripture of life worship, but what about these other two, 04:29 I guess, facets of worship with when the Scripture 04:32 talks about private worship, and also corporate worship, 04:35 which we most commonly think of? 04:37 What does the Bible have to say about this aspect of worship? 04:39 So, Blair, in, for example, in Gospel of Matthew Chapter 6, 04:43 and I'm looking at verse 6, 04:45 here we have Jesus Christ addressing people around Him 04:48 and talks about this, 04:50 this element of private worship 04:51 and corporate worship and it says, 04:53 Gospel of Matthew 6:6, "But you, when you pray, 04:57 go into your room, and when have shut your door, 05:01 pray to your Father who is in the secret place, 05:04 and your Father who sees in secret 05:06 will reward you openly." 05:08 You know, so we've got a number of elements here. 05:10 First of all is, you know, Jesus is encouraging us. 05:13 You know, there is a time and a place for everything, 05:16 and there is a time and a place for you to connect with God 05:19 on a personal level, 05:20 where you can pour out your heart before Him, 05:23 your sufferings, your pain, your sins, 05:26 that no one else needs to know about. 05:28 But God needs and you confess that, 05:29 you asking for, you know, for help in life. 05:32 And sometimes God chooses to answer your prayers 05:37 in a public manner. 05:39 So you ask Him in privately, 05:40 but He rewards you openly before everyone else, 05:43 because by doing that, 05:45 He allows you to testify 05:47 about His goodness in front of everyone. 05:49 Yeah, you know, I really love that that point 05:51 about private worship. 05:52 And I think, you know, as we consider 05:54 these different aspects, or I guess facets of worship, 05:58 you really can't have effective worship 06:01 in one facet or one kind of area of worship 06:04 without that flowing over into the others. 06:06 You can't have effective corporate worship 06:08 without private worship... 06:10 And the other way around. 06:11 And the other way around 06:12 and without effective life worship. 06:14 And so they all just work together 06:16 to give a holistic view of what worship is. 06:19 And look, we see that present in the life of Jesus Christ. 06:21 You know, all of the gospels 06:22 mentioned that very early in the morning, 06:25 Jesus would retreat by Himself and spend time in prayer. 06:27 So there'll be the private worship. 06:29 But then the Bible tells us in Luke Chapter 4, 06:32 on the Sabbath day, He would go to the synagogue 06:34 and worship corporately with everyone else. 06:36 And by the same token, 06:38 if our life isn't in harmony with God, 06:39 if we're willfully sinning, 06:41 then anything we do on a Saturday or Sunday 06:44 is not going to be acceptable to God. 06:45 Yeah. 06:47 And that following on from that point you made, 06:48 they're able to bet 06:49 all of those aspects in Jesus' life. 06:52 Life worship is a big one in there, too, isn't it, 06:54 just the way that He lived His life to the glory of God. 06:56 So this is a very great place for us to start 07:00 our deep dive into Scripture here 07:02 on the topic of worship. 07:04 So I want to take us to a passage of Scripture, 07:06 we're gonna turn to Daniel Chapter 3. 07:08 And I want to look here at a story in Scripture 07:12 that really touches on this idea of worship 07:14 and how, you know, 07:15 how it's important and how to do it. 07:17 So we're looking here at Daniel Chapter 3, 07:19 we're gonna read verses 4 through to 7. 07:22 And we have here the scenario of Shadrach, 07:25 Meshach, and Abednego, 07:27 where they, the King Nebuchadnezzar 07:29 has set up an image for them to worship 07:31 and we're gonna read about how that all plays out. 07:34 So here we find in Daniel 3:4 here, 07:40 it says, "Then a herald cried aloud, 07:43 to you it is commanded 07:45 our peoples nations and languages, 07:47 that at the time that you hear the sound of the horn, 07:50 the flute, the harp, the lair 07:52 and sultry in symphony with all kinds of music, 07:55 you shall fall down and worship the gold image 07:58 that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up, 08:01 and whoever does not fall down, 08:02 and worship shall be cast 08:04 immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. 08:08 So at that time, when all the people 08:09 heard the sound of the horn, the flute, the harp, the lair, 08:12 and simply with all kinds of music, 08:14 and all the people, nations and language 08:16 fell down and worship the golden image 08:17 which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up." 08:20 And so you have the scenario here 08:21 of people falling down and worshipping at this image. 08:25 And then, but then 08:26 there's a twist in the story in verse 12, 08:28 which makes this a 08:30 very interesting passage of Scripture. 08:31 It says, but there are... 08:33 There's three boys that don't bow down here. 08:35 That's right. 08:37 And then the king's commanders, his rulers 08:40 come along to him in verse 12, they says, 08:42 "There are certain Jews whom you have set over 08:45 the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, 08:47 Meshach, and Abednego. 08:49 These men, O King, have not paid you regard to you, 08:52 they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image 08:54 which you have set up. 08:55 Then Nebuchadnezzar in raging fury gave 08:57 the command to bring Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. 08:59 So they brought these men before the king." 09:02 This is a very interesting passage of Scripture. 09:05 The end result of this story is that these three boys 09:08 get an opportunity to witness 09:10 of the goodness of God to the king, 09:12 the most powerful king in the known world, 09:15 and they stay faithful to God, despite whatever happens. 09:19 And I want to ask the question, 09:20 I want to throw this one to you, Steven, 09:22 what does this passage teach us about this idea of worship? 09:25 Well, first of all, the three Hebrew boys, 09:29 Michael, Azariah and Hananiah, 09:32 they were faithful in their private worship. 09:34 We read in Chapter 2 09:35 how that their prayer life was sustained 09:38 when they came in trouble. 09:39 In Chapter 1, they were faithful even 09:42 in as far as their diet was concerned. 09:44 They wouldn't eat anything unclean. 09:46 So God brought them to a stronger test, 09:48 which involved, you know, their lives were in danger, 09:52 but they took the second commandment, 09:54 Exodus 24:6 seriously. 09:57 True worship is conducted 09:59 in this fear of the Ten Commandments. 10:02 And so it involves total commitment to Jesus. 10:06 And even in this case, 10:07 even if it means standing against the majority, 10:11 in this case, the whole of the nation of Babylon 10:14 was bowing down to this image. 10:16 And most of all the rest of Israel were doing the same 10:19 to save their lives. 10:20 But here, we have three people 10:22 who are worshiping God in truth. 10:26 Yeah, I think that's so powerful. 10:28 And it's, as you rightly point out, 10:30 they set the context of appropriate worship, 10:33 by the commandments that God have given them, 10:36 how God had asked them to worship? 10:38 And also what I like, you know, what are you saying, 10:40 Steve, is that they chose to be faithful in probably, 10:43 let's say, smaller things. 10:44 And when the greater test came along, 10:46 they were prepared to stand for what is right 10:49 when the test came. 10:50 And we all come to at least one test in our life, 10:53 because we can all be Christians 10:55 when times are easy. 10:56 But when the testing time comes it, 11:00 it separates the weak from the strong, doesn't it? 11:03 The wheat from the tares. 11:04 And I just love again, 11:06 how we can see these different aspects of worship 11:09 coming through our private worship leading 11:11 into life worship, and corporate worship, 11:14 and all working together. 11:15 Now, this is not something that's unique 11:17 or isolated to the Old Testament account of Scripture, 11:20 but we find even in the New Testament, 11:22 similarly, God's faithful people, 11:24 at the end of time, 11:25 are found worshiping God 11:27 in the context of the commandments, 11:28 just like these Hebrew boys. 11:29 And I want to read this passage of Scripture here. 11:31 We're going to read Revelation 14:6-12. 11:36 And it says here in God's Word, it says, 11:38 "Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, 11:41 having the everlasting gospel to preach 11:43 to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation, 11:45 tribe, tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, 11:49 'Fear God and give glory to Him, 11:51 for the hour of His judgment has come, 11:53 and worship Him who made heaven and earth, 11:55 the sea and springs of water." 11:58 And another angel followed, saying, 11:59 "Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, 12:01 because she has made all nations drink of the wine 12:04 of the wrath of her fornication." 12:06 Then a third angel followed them, 12:08 saying with a loud voice, 12:09 "If anyone worships the beast and his image, 12:12 and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, 12:15 he himself also shall drink 12:17 of the wine of the wrath of God, 12:19 which is poured out full strength 12:21 into the cup of His indignation. 12:23 He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone 12:25 in the presence of the holy angels 12:27 and in the presence of the Lamb. 12:28 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever, 12:31 and they have no rest day or night, 12:33 who worship the beast and his image, 12:35 and whoever receives the mark of his name. 12:38 Here is the patience of the saints, 12:40 here are those who keep the commandments of God 12:43 and the faith of Jesus." 12:45 And so we see here 12:47 another interesting passage of Scripture. 12:49 What does this passage of Scripture teach us 12:51 about the question of worship and what will be, 12:54 you know, how this ties in 12:56 with an end time scenario, Abel? 12:58 I mean, you know, one of the main ideas would be 13:00 how we worship God will become 13:02 a test of loyalty at the end of time. 13:05 And I like the way, in verse 7, it says, 13:08 "Fear God and give glory to Him, 13:12 for the hour of His judgment has come, and worship Him." 13:14 You know, John could've wrote and worship God 13:17 and move on to the next idea, 13:19 but he goes on explaining, "And worship Him 13:21 who created the heavens and earth, 13:22 the sea and springs of water." 13:23 Worship the Creator, you know, which is a direct correlation 13:26 with the fourth commandment, 13:28 so how we worship God will become a test of loyalty. 13:33 So you pull that idea there of a particular commandment 13:37 kind of relating to this crisis at the end times. 13:41 Steven, do you want to comment 13:43 on that and share with us a bit about? 13:45 Yes, Abel reached into my question there, 13:47 but that's all right. 13:49 The test of loyalty to God includes all the commands, 13:52 but the end of time, 13:54 those particular focus on one commandment, 13:57 and that's the fourth commandment. 13:58 And the first part of verse 7, if we like to look at it, 14:02 it says, "And worship Him who made heaven and earth, 14:07 the sea and the fountains of waters." 14:10 Well the first part worship Him 14:11 who made heaven and earth and the sea 14:13 is from the fourth commandment. 14:14 So it's a direct quotation from there. 14:17 So it's a call to worship the Creator, 14:19 the one who created everything. 14:21 But the second part, the fountains of water 14:24 is an illusion. 14:27 I believe that and many commentators 14:28 do to the flood account, in Genesis 7:11, and 8:2, 14:35 where God caused the water come 14:37 from the subterranean water holes, 14:41 and it helped to flood the earth 14:42 as well as the water from above. 14:44 And so here we have both, a call to be faithful 14:48 and a warning 14:49 to those who will still refuse to keep His commandments 14:53 that God will judge the wicked. 14:56 Yes, it's very interesting that we see here again, 14:59 the scenario where God's people are called to worship 15:02 in the context of the commandments. 15:04 Yes. 15:05 And in this end time scenario, 15:07 there's a particular commandment 15:08 that becomes of certain focus. 15:11 I think that's important because the fourth commandment 15:14 is not just a rule of what to do, 15:16 but it's a call to have 15:18 close communion with our Creator. 15:20 He says, "I will spend a day with you a week." 15:23 And we don't believe we're saved by doing works. 15:25 But by having communion with Jesus, 15:27 He gives you strength to be good. 15:31 Well, that was... 15:32 That's certainly so much we could unpack 15:34 in this passage of Scripture. 15:35 But I want to take us to another place in Scripture 15:38 where we actually find Jesus 15:39 giving one of the most explicit and clear definitions 15:44 in all of Scripture about what worship, 15:46 or the kind of worship that God requires. 15:49 So let's turn in our Bibles to John Chapter 4. 15:51 We're going to read here, we find an account 15:53 where Jesus is describing to the woman here at the well, 15:59 what worship He requires, what worship God requires. 16:03 And in verse 23, it reads this. 16:05 It says, "But the hour is coming 16:08 and now is when true worshipers 16:10 will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. 16:14 For the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 16:17 God is spirit, and those who worship Him 16:20 must worship in spirit and in truth." 16:24 There's an interesting description here of worship. 16:28 There's two parts to it, 16:29 and we want to look at both of them. 16:31 But firstly, Abel, 16:32 what does it mean to worship God in spirit? 16:35 Look, I think the context 16:37 of what's happening here is very important, 16:39 because the Samaritan woman said to Jesus, 16:41 you know, we Samaritans worshiped on this mountain 16:44 and you Jews worship in Jerusalem. 16:47 And she was going about places and Jesus says to worship God, 16:50 you're not tied to a place, you're not tied to a venue, 16:53 you're not tied to an object. 16:54 Because when you worship Him, you worship Him 16:56 in spirit and in truth. 16:58 And spirit is, it's the core of your being, 17:01 you're worshiping with who you are. 17:03 It's not a ritual, it's not about formalism. 17:06 It's not something dry, but meaningful and authentic. 17:10 And in truth, you know, it's not just about 17:12 being sincere in your worship, 17:14 but being anchored in the Word of God. 17:17 Yeah, that's powerful. 17:18 And so many places throughout Scripture, 17:20 we see God distancing Himself from dry formalism 17:24 and worship that is just inform only, 17:27 and worship in spirit stands in contrast to that idea 17:30 with earnest, sincere, passionate, 17:32 grounded worship, that's very powerful. 17:34 Now, building on that 17:36 the second part of the definition 17:37 that Jesus gave their worship is worship in truth. 17:40 Now what does it mean to worship in truth, Steven? 17:43 Well, it's the opposite of worshipping in error, 17:44 isn't it? 17:46 It occurs in response to in harmony 17:49 with God's revelation of Himself in God's Word. 17:52 True worship cannot occur apart from an understanding of God, 17:59 who in every aspect of worship 18:01 must conform to the truth of God. 18:04 So this is truth, I believe. Yes. 18:06 It's this idea of responding 18:08 to who God claims to be in Scripture. 18:11 So Jesus puts these two together, 18:15 how important, 18:16 why is it so important that this, 18:19 to maintain this balance in worship, Abel? 18:23 Well, if you are to focus, 18:25 you know, sometimes for us, as human beings, 18:27 it's hard to stay on the middle path. 18:29 You know, we like the extremes. 18:31 And Jesus wants us to experience both worshiping 18:34 with an inner being, 18:36 but also to be anchored in truth. 18:38 It doesn't matter if you're really honest, 18:39 if you what He believe is an error, 18:42 that worship is not accepted by God. 18:44 Great, if you want to add something, Steve? 18:46 Just something that 18:47 we must remember that we're not omniscient, 18:49 we don't know everything. 18:51 And so our faith is growing. 18:52 And I believe that 18:55 this is a call to study the Word continually 18:58 so that we can learn more, 19:00 and grow in the truth and worship God better, 19:04 I believe, as we get older. 19:06 That's so true. 19:07 And, you know, I want to ask a follow up question to that. 19:10 Because when, you know, 19:11 it is important to maintain that balance. 19:13 We see Jesus gives that description, 19:15 and we've shared with a little bit about why. 19:19 But when this balance is maintained, 19:21 this balance of worshiping in spirit and truth, 19:24 is it a difficult thing to give worship to God 19:26 according, in the context of the commandments? 19:28 Is this something that is onerous or harder 19:30 or it's a burden to do? 19:32 Steve, how would you comment on that? 19:35 I'd like to answer that from the Scripture. 19:37 So if we go to 1 John 5:3, John answers this so well. 19:41 He says, "For this is the love of God 19:44 that we keep His commandments 19:45 and His commandments are not grievous. 19:48 So therefore, he says that 19:51 true worship is motivated by true love to God." 19:54 And this comes about by having a cognizant 19:58 understanding of what God has done for us 20:01 through Jesus Christ, 20:02 both in the incarnation of Jesus, 20:04 we read Philippians Chapter 2 to 5, what Jesus did for us, 20:09 and also His passion, His death on the cross. 20:14 By understanding this, by meditating it, 20:16 one author said, we should go through 20:18 the closing scenes of Christ's death every day. 20:22 And from this foundation in our life, 20:24 it will spring forth faithfulness to God 20:28 that is acceptable to Him. 20:29 I believe this is the only thing that will work. 20:32 Yeah. 20:33 Now, you know, in light of this definition of worship 20:37 that Jesus gives, 20:39 you know, worshiping in spirit and in truth. 20:41 I've heard it shared that, 20:42 you know, this idea that as long as worship is sincere, 20:45 as long as someone is well intentioned 20:47 that any worship is acceptable to God. 20:50 Is this, is any worship as long as it's sincere, 20:53 acceptable to God, Abel? 20:56 Well, unfortunately, no, 20:57 because sometimes it can be very sincere 20:59 when you drink a bottle of poison. 21:02 You're thinking, you're saying to yourself, 21:03 " I'm going to get well from this, 21:05 you know, it's going to benefit me." 21:08 You know, God knows, everyone knows their hearts, 21:10 they know their circumstances, 21:11 but He's also calling us to live up to the light 21:13 that has been revealed to us. 21:14 And in the Scripture, you know, when we say, let God speak, 21:17 we want to worship Him according to the guidelines. 21:20 Because the whole great controversy 21:23 is about worship, who do we worship? 21:25 How do we worship Him? 21:27 I just like to add something there. 21:29 There is a way we can be wrong and still be acceptable to God. 21:33 Acts 17:30 says that he winks at our ignorance. 21:37 So as we shouldn't judge others, I mean, 21:39 we could be doing things ignorantly wrong, 21:42 but we should do things 21:44 everything that we know to be right, 21:46 we should be doing. 21:48 According to the light that has been revealed to us. 21:50 Yes. That's beautiful. 21:51 And I think, you know, we see in Scripture 21:54 examples that God gives us in His Word, 21:57 to guide us into correct worship, 21:58 so that we don't have to fall into the trap 22:01 of worshiping 22:03 outside of how God has asked us to worship Him. 22:05 And I can think of several examples. 22:07 I want to take us to a place in Scripture 22:09 where worship is given, but it's not acceptable to God. 22:14 So let's go to Genesis Chapter 2, 22:16 sorry, Genesis Chapter 4. 22:17 And we're going to read in Genesis Chapter 4, 22:19 the account of Abel and Cain, here in verse 2 and 4. 22:23 And it says here in verse 2 it says of Chapter 4, 22:27 "Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. 22:30 Now Abel was a keeper of the sheep, 22:34 but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 22:36 And in the process of time 22:37 it came to pass that Cain brought an offering 22:40 of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. 22:43 Abel also brought the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. 22:46 And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, 22:50 but He did not respect Cain and his offering. 22:53 And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell." 22:56 What lessons can we learn in this passage 22:58 about worshiping God, Steven? 23:00 This is very important because it connects 23:02 to the three angels' messages in Revelation 14, 23:05 the mark of the beast. 23:07 So what this tells me that God is very precise, 23:10 you know, He makes instructions, 23:12 and Abel's offering was accepted 23:15 because he did it according to God's requirements 23:18 whereas Cain broke the rules. 23:19 And we know, because they were, right at the beginning of time 23:23 that God's specified, 23:25 the sacrifice had to be a lamb without spot and blemish. 23:28 So we knew that Cain knew better, 23:30 but he didn't do it according to God's will 23:33 as revealed in the Word and it wasn't accepted. 23:35 That's a very valuable lesson for us today. 23:37 God will not accept anything, 23:39 but only according to what He has instructed them. 23:42 And He doesn't just put us 23:44 in a scenario trying to trick us 23:45 or trying to trap us out. 23:46 But He provides ample guidance, 23:49 instruction in His Word to lead us into truth, 23:52 gives His Spirit to lead us into truth 23:53 so that we can experience 23:54 the fullness of true worship to God. 23:56 I want to take us to one more passage here 23:59 in regards to this idea. 24:00 In Mark Chapter 7, we find Jesus describing again, 24:04 an example of worship that is not accepted by Him. 24:07 And in Mark Chapter 7, 24:09 we find Pharisees 24:11 who have fallen into formalism man-made traditions. 24:14 And we find in verse 5 here, it says, 24:17 "The Pharisees and the Scribes asked Him, 24:19 'Why do your disciples not walk 24:20 according to the tradition of the elders, 24:22 but eat with their bread with unwashed hands?" 24:25 Jesus answered and said to them, 24:27 'Well did Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites, 24:29 as it is written, these people honor me with their lips, 24:33 but their heart is far from me. 24:35 And in vain they worship Me, 24:37 teaching as doctrines the commandments of men." 24:40 What, you know, here we have, again, 24:43 a scenario where this is taking place. 24:45 What can we learn about worshiping God 24:47 from this passage, Abel? 24:49 Well, look, I believe, 24:50 you know, God is looking for authenticity. 24:53 You know, when we, you know, just think of your own life, 24:55 you know, have you ever been in a church 24:57 and you sang songs of praise, 24:59 but you never really meant the words that you sung. 25:03 And we prayed, 25:04 do we really think through the words that we say, 25:06 do we really mean? 25:08 We will love you, Lord, we want to praise You, 25:09 we want to give You glory, please forgive me. 25:12 It's about really connecting with what you're saying, 25:15 it's not formalism, I've done this, 25:17 and I tick the box and I can go on, 25:20 but rather to be a worship that springs from the heart. 25:23 And secondly, we've emphasized this point, 25:25 you know, teaching as doctrines the commandments of man, 25:28 you know, emphasizing things that people have built up 25:31 and brought into our rituals is very important. 25:35 But that's not what really matters. 25:37 And we also should be studying the Word to make sure 25:40 that what we're doing is not a tradition of men, 25:42 because there's so many traditions out there 25:44 that Christians are doing, aren't they? 25:46 And it's so easy for us to fall into these man-made traditions. 25:49 And I mean, it probably be, 25:51 you know, as we think of some of these man-made traditions 25:54 that we can so easily fall into. 25:56 What are some of these things? 25:58 There's eternally burning hellfire, 26:01 Sunday sacredness, immortality of the soul, 26:05 image worship, 26:06 there's a whole host of other things 26:08 that be lest left unnamed. 26:12 But the main point is that we should study the Word 26:15 continually to see that 26:16 to get these traditions out of our lives. 26:19 And I think, you know, we've seen in God's Word, 26:22 just so many descriptions of how to do that. 26:25 God's guiding us as we do that. 26:27 You know, as we think of the take home message, 26:29 that you know, what can we take home from our study today 26:33 that sums up our discussion of Scripture? 26:35 Just one point I'd like to make, 26:36 and that is that 26:38 the God's instructions are there for our own good 26:40 because I know people who are rebelling against 26:42 God will, Word 26:43 that He wants us to live eternally in heaven with Him. 26:46 And so, it's best that we obey Him. 26:49 The words of Jesus, worship Him in spirit and in truth, 26:53 you know, our worship is a response 26:55 of the love that God has bestowed upon us. 26:57 And what a privilege it is 26:59 to be able to worship God in spirit and truth. 27:01 Thank you for joining us, gentlemen. 27:03 God calls us to worship Him in spirit and in truth. 27:07 True worship of God is a lifestyle 27:09 and not only a moment in time. 27:11 God is looking for believers, 27:13 who are motivated by love for God 27:15 will strive to give God glory 27:17 He deserves in their lives, both privately and corporately. 27:21 We're glad that you joined us today on Let God Speak. 27:23 You can watch this or any past program 27:26 on our website 3abnaustralia.org.au. 27:30 Teacher's notes can be downloaded there. 27:32 You can send us an email on lgs@3abnaustralia.org.au. 27:37 Please join us again next time. 27:39 We're glad that you could be with us. 27:40 God bless. |
Revised 2021-01-27