Unhindered worship

Years ago, John MacArthur did a sermon series on glorifying God. He used biblical examples with those words and brought out eight ways that we can glorify God. The one that surprised me came from Joshua.

The people of God were entering the land God promised to them. They took Jericho and soon attacked a city called Ai, but without success. Joshua fell before the Lord wondering why He had not given the enemy over to them. God said it was because of sin in their midst; someone had kept the spoils of war that were supposed to be destroyed. Joshua was told how to find the guilty party and when he had the culprit before him . . . 

“Then Joshua said to Achan, ‘My son, give glory to the Lord God of Israel and give praise to him. And tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.’ And Achan answered Joshua, ‘Truly I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I did . . .’” (Joshua 7:19–20)

One way to glorify God is by honest confession of sin!

There are other examples. I think often of the one by King David. He said:

“For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.” (Psalm 51:3–4)

The justness and mercy of God are glorified when we bow before Him in full recognition of sin. I say this to comment on today’s devotional. Tozer says, “If I live like a worldly and carnal tramp all day and then find myself in a time of crisis at midnight, how do I pray to a God who is holy? How do I address the One who has asked me to worship Him in spirit and in truth? Do I get on my knees and call on the name of Jesus because I believe there is some magic in that name?  . . . I have come to believe that no worship is wholly pleasing to God until there is nothing in us displeasing to God.”

The context suggests that I cannot worship God with sin in my life. Instead, I must be pure. While God wants purity, some might interpret this as a ‘works-righteousness’ salvation — one that bases our ability to please God on our perfection instead of the perfections of Jesus Christ. He is my righteousness, my holiness. If I am pleasing to God, it is because of Christ, not because I am utterly without sin.

That said, worship, like glorifying God, is not out of reach for those who come to Him in a crisis. Every believer knows that talking to God is difficult, even impossible with unconfessed sin messing up our relationship with Him. I cannot be totally pure, but I can come with sin in hand, knowing I’m not worthy to speak to Him, not worthy that He should listen. Only because of Jesus can I come to His throne finding grace in time of need.

Today’s verse suggests the attitude of one who worships rightly:

Exalt the Lord our God; worship at his footstool! Holy is he! (Psalm 99:5)

Purity cannot put me on my face at the feet of God. Only humility can do that. If I am bowed at His footstool, it is because I realize His holiness and how far short I fall. Sin is more than being ‘worldly and a carnal tramp all day’ but a condition of all humanity apart from Christ. Sin is a solemn truth about who I am without His grace, without His Son. While God does want me to come to Him with a pure heart and holy hands, the only way that can be done is realize this is in Christ, not in my ability to act like Christ nor in any godliness seen in me.  

I worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness — His holiness, not mine. If I am too dualistic about this, I’d rather err on the side of exalting Christ than err on the side of exalting any progress I might make as a Christian.

^^^^^^^^^

Lord Jesus, Achan did admit his sin and this glorified You. However, the outcome was not mercy but wrath. God instructed the people to stone him to death even though Your holiness was magnified in his confession of sin. Today, I can worship You because of amazing grace that put that wrath I deserve on You. You exchanged my sin for Your righteousness and died for me. This is good news — a ‘face in the ground’ wonder, a reason to worship and exalt You and the only way that I can honestly do it — at Your feet!