Spiritual Worship
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 10086 |
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December 20, 2009 |
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 "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:24).
Worship is the act of praising God and giving Him glory. Worship is a time of having a heart of gratitude and love and showing respect to the God who creates and cultivates man. When we worship God in spirit and truth, we can restore the lost image of God and our will prosper, which is accompanied with a blessing where everything else in our lives prospers as well and we are in good health. So exactly how do we give "spiritual worship"?
1. Spiritual Worship Brings Us the Desires of Our Hearts
If you look at Genesis 4:3-5, God accepted Abel's blood sacrifice of the first-born lamb and oil, but He did not accept Cain's sacrifice of crops from the field. God did not discriminate the two offerings because of the different types of the offering. God did not accept Cain's offering because God does not accept offering that is offered in the wrong way, or that is offered according to man's own thoughts, methods, or ways.
On the contrary, when you offer up to God spiritual worship—the kind of worship that God is pleased with—He will not only accept the worship, but He will bless you, and even answer the desires of your heart. When David's son, Solomon, became king, he had his people gather together, and offered a thousand burnt offerings before God. This pleased God's heart, and He answered Solomon by giving him not only knowledge and wisdom that he had asked for, but also riches and honor he had not asked for so that there was no one like Solomon before, and none like him after (1 Kings 3:3~15; 2 Chronicles 1:1~13).
Worship is an expression of how much we love God, so depending on how sincerely and earnestly we prepare for worship, how zealously we desire to hear God's word, and with how much love we praise Him, the aroma of our worship is different, and this determines the measure of how much God accepts our worship. When we have a sincere heart for worship, our actions will reflect that sincerity. God is not pleased when someone lives Monday through Saturday according to his own will and ways, and then just shows up to worship God once on Sundays. Coming to church for Sunday worship is a continuation of our life of worshipping God; therefore we must act according to God's Word on a daily basis and then come out to worship God with faith.
That is why Romans 12:1 says, "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship." So we must strive with all our hearts and minds to live a life that reflects our love for God on a daily basis. This is what pleases God.
2. The Attitude That Reflects Worshipping in Spirit and Truth
"Worshiping in spirit" means to worship God from the center of our hearts while taking in the words of the 66 books of the Bible as nourishment for the heart, with guidance and fullness of the Holy Spirit. "Worshipping in truth" means to worship God first with the correct understanding of God, and out of our love for Him, to worship Him sincerely with all of our hearts and bodies with joy and thanksgiving, prayer and praise, with our actions and material offerings. So someone who worships in spirit and truth will not behave in a rude or impolite manner before God during worship. And I will share with you several things to take caution in order to give true, spiritual worship before God.
1) You must never be late for worship.
Worship is an act of acknowledging God's spiritual authority, even though we cannot see God with our eyes. Therefore when we act according to His laws and regulations, we are showing our acknowledgment in our hearts. So being late for worship—for no matter what reason—is being disrespectful toward God. Worship time is a time we promised to come before God, so we should arrive in time to calm and prepare our hearts for worship with prayer.
2) During worship, we should strive to focus on listening to the Word of God.
The person standing on God's holy altar to deliver God's Word is like a guide that leads His sheep toward Heaven. So daydreaming, or gazing at other things, or whispering with the person sitting next to you, or worrying about your family or work while the sermon is being preached, then that is also an act of disrespect before God as well. Being drowsy or sleeping during worship time falls under the same category.
3) We should never participate in worship after drinking or smoking.
God will not reprimand a new believer because he isn't able to quit drinking or smoking right away. However, one must never participate in worship after drinking or smoking. Even when we go to meet the President, we would never meet him while red in the face from drinking, would we? Then we should all the more worship the almighty God without partaking in drinking or smoking.
4) We should refrain from deterring the worship atmosphere.
If a baby cries or a child is very noisy during worship, and we leave them alone, then we are hindering the worship. Therefore this is an act of disrespect toward God. It is the same case if we chew gum or get up and walk out during worship. Even if someone doesn't believe in God and joins in the worship, he or she should respectfully show his etiquette in the least. Wearing a hat or t-shirt, workout attire, or slippers to worship is a form of being discourteous to God, so if at all possible, we should dress formally for worship. However, there are exceptional cases where people need to come to church straight from work, or they are in a circumstance where they must wear a hat, so we must not judge anyone in cases like these.
So when we humbly try to keep these things in mind as we worship God in spirit and in truth, God will bless us with His answers and blessings. With the fire pillar of the Holy Spirit, and angels and heavenly hosts, God will watch over us and bless us to be prosperous in whatever we do for the rest of the week.
To read this sermon in more detail, visit our website (www. manmin. org) and click on "sermon."
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