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.

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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!

Unity is from the Holy Spirit and begins in our thinking . . .

The verse for today’s devotional reading connects worship and obedience to the ear of God . . .

We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. (John 9:31)

Yesterday I didn’t feel particularly obedient but was focused on worship. Our church service, particularly the sermon, pointed to unity. God is the source of unity — and as members of His Body, we need to remember our part in maintaining it. As we sang the last couple of songs, I thought, “We should be holding hands." Our attendance is around 500 people and I didn’t think all of them would have that idea. However, as our youth pastor came to the front to close in prayer, he said, “This may seem strange, but I want you to do something different as we end this remarkable service; I want you to join hands.”

For me, that was an ‘amen’ on the service. God’s Spirit provides the unity; we just need to listen to Him and do what He says. He spoke to me, and maybe others, and certainly to the youth pastor to demonstrate this simple show of unity, something God has given to our church yet we must never take for granted. What a blessing!

Tozer reminds me again that our worship must be in the Spirit and in truth. We cannot leave either out of it for that makes worship impossible, heat with no light or doctrinally correct but cold. That lovely day would have been spoiled if the truth had been spoken and sang by people who did not care.

Tozer adds that when a person is yielded to God, believes the truth of God, and is filled with the Spirit of God, even his faintest whisper will be worship. However, if I harbor elements in my life that displease to Him, I cannot truly worship God on Sunday or Monday, or any other time. My life needs to be kept on short accounts with Him, every day of the week.

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Lord Jesus, You have given me the Holy Spirit. He does the work of unifying my heart with Your heart and with the hearts of Your people. I cannot enjoy the latter if the first unity is not in place. Yesterday, You put the same thought in my head as You put in the youth pastor’s mind. That gave me a strong sense of unity with him, not that we need to think the same to be united, but in this situation, it worked that way. I also noted that listening to and sharing with others afterwards seemed to be easier — because we are all part of the same Body and have the same care and love for one another. It was a good day. Thank You.

Why is more significant than how . . .

Worship takes many forms such as, fasting, prayer, praise, gratitude, singing, lifting hands, service, and silent reverence. However, Jesus stated it most succinctly when He said, “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24)

Tozer writes, “Worship means to express in some appropriate manner what you feel.” He adds that this means we do not always express it in the same way all the time or in the same manner, just that it will happen.

I like what Jesus said because He clarifies that worship is from the heart and according to truth. I like what Tozer says because he clarifies that worship is expressed from an inner attitude and cannot be faked.

“For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his place. Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength! Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him! Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.” (1 Chronicles 16:25–29)

To worship in truth means giving homage to God according to His revelation of Himself. These verses say He is great and I should be in awe of Him, turning my back on worthless idols because God created all things, even the stuff that people use to fashion their idols. He is magnificent, strong, and a God of joy. He is worthy to receive all the honor I can give Him — and He wants me to worship Him in holiness.

As Tozer says, we are not told to worship Him in the same way, as if we are cookie-cutter Christians. I learned that at Bible school. Each day the student body attended chapel where we sang and worshiped God. I saw many different expressions of worship. At first some of it made me feel uncomfortable, yet I soon realized that these students loved the Lord, whether they stood in awe or were almost dancing in the aisles. Their expressions of what they felt about Him were as varied as their denominational labels, but all of it was in spirit and in truth.

Not only that, these variations brought us together. The hands-in-the-air people did not stand in one corner, nor the serious-faced types in another. We rejoiced in God together because those chapels were not about us but about our Lord and Savior — and God loves variety!

Part of the reason for this conclusion is simple: look at the world, even just the flowers in the world. Their faces are turned toward heaven yet even those with the same shape and name come in different colors. Also, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” (Psalm 19:1) Of the billions of stars and heavenly bodies, each has its own distinctives, like snowflakes, blades of grass, and grains of sand. When I consider the handiwork of God, I must worship.

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Jesus, what a delight to look at what You have made and marvel at the variety and intricacy of it all. What a joy to realize that I am part of that and You do not ask me to be like everyone else, just to be like me. You do desire that my worship be in spirit and from the heart, and that it be in truth and according to who You really are. You also ask that I worship You in holiness which is the most amazing thing because holiness is a gift of grace, a status bestowed on me because of Your sacrifice on the cross, Your death to give me life. It is because of You that I know who You are and because of You that worship is possible.