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Worship – Part 1, What is Worship?

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Worship – Part 1, What Is Worship?

Introduction

God is a spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24)

[Study Aired September 16,  2023]

In the late 1950s, as a youngster of about four to five, I increasingly became aware of God. I never liked ‘going to church’ on Sunday mornings in our neighbor’s Holden station wagon (Australian version of a Chevrolet) driven by a chain-smoking woman; her high heels kicked off and stockinged foot on the ‘go pedal’ flat to the boards as she cackled and talked non-stop. The car jiggled and danced sideways on the dusty corrugated gravel road like a middle-aged Shakira performing “Hips Don’t Lie” (conjectural). Well, the twitchy backside of that old car didn’t lie with the stench of cigarette smoke, lean-fuel exhaust and dust. It always made me feel ill ~ a wonderful prelude for a dreary Presbyterian church service. 

My dad had been getting the Plain Truth and broadcasts from the Radio Church of God at about the same time. I clearly heard the seductive broadcasts at 11 p.m. from my bed. Unaware to me, this predatory ‘woman’ (church) on the airwaves was the Lord’s way of arousing my spirit at such a tender age. Her etched ‘abuse’ was captivating and dreadfully alarming for several years until, at age 13, I was fully taken by her. I was unwittingly seduced.

Ecc 7:26  And I find more bitter than death the woman [Babylonian church], whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.

For the interim at the Presbyterian church, with the congregation, heads cocked this way and that, looking suitably ‘holy’ and pretending to look entranced, the minister would raise his chin, look at the back wall, and theatrically say, “Let us worship.” I feared not knowing God, yet I hated this form of ‘worship’ (the only one I knew) with a passion! I couldn’t wait for the same rally car-driving woman to frantically pump the bellows of the old manual wind-driven organ with the other stockinged foot, signalling I could go home. What a wasted last day of a precious weekend before being tortured at school!

Thankfully, the Lord gave me a way of escape from worshiping her and me (1Co 10:13).

What is Worship?

The term “worship” existed in God, who became the Father before the fowls of the air as a shadow of angelic beings, including Elohim, were created. God’s creation of our Lord Christ made Him a Son, and what the Son sees His Father do, He amplifies to glorify (worship) the Father. The Son subsequently created the heavens and the Earth to worship the Father in what They had agreed. Lord willing, we will see that worship is all-encompassing, as God is intrinsically in every detail of whatever existed in spirit before and after the physical creation. He is the epitome of perfection and purity Himself without any outside influence. He is omnipresent in His seeming unfathomable worship of purity that he is.

God the Father is the ultimate ‘word.’ The creation of His Son, Christ epitomised the Word – God’s purity – expressed as “worship.”

When the Lord swore His guarantee to save the world through Abraham, He effectively worshiped the purity intrinsic to God by His actions.

Heb 6:13  For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,
Heb 6:14  Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.
Heb 6:15  And so, after he had patiently endured, he [Christ, Abraham and mankind] obtained the promise.

The Lord swearing by himself is the same manner of God being “I am” in which all things are Is, Was and Will Be. He is the personification of worshiping himself by the purity of being him – “I AM” – the omnipresence of him without a beginning.

Exo 3:14  And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

In the purity of “I AM”, our Lord did all that the Father had told him by the vow He, as God, alone could carry out. He thus worshiped the Godhead and, most notably, the Father.

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word [Elohim/Christ/Word], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

“In the beginning” of what? Creation, of course, since God, who became the Father, incomprehensibly pre-existed in ‘God-purity’ without a beginning.

Joh 1:2  The same [The Word/Christ] was in the beginning with God.
Joh 1:3  All things were made by him [Christ]; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Joh 1:4  In him was life; and the life was [slowly became] the light of men.
Joh 1:5  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

The rest of the world not chosen by God to be the Elect comprehended not since they were and still remain in darkness.

Col 1:12  Giving thanks [worship] unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 
Col 1:13  Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness [of the abussos, the deep], and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: 
Col 1:14  In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: 
Col 1:15  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 
Col 1:16  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in Earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities [spirit angelic beings], or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17  And he [existed as the first of creation] is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Gen 1:26  And God said, Let us [the Father and Elohim, the “Word”; two, not three] make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the Earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the Earth. 
Gen 1:27  So God created [began the slow and detailed process of spiritually creating mankind; man wasn’t created in God’s perfect image of the heavenly] man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Man, in being created in God’s image, begins with man’s highly malleable mind for deception in preparation for truth, the age-lasting act of creating him in God’s perfect image.

Gen 1:20  And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl [the birds who shadow Christ and His heavenly angels] that may fly above the Earth in the open firmament of heaven.

Upon God creating the Son, the Son became the creator extension of His creator Father, for which all things past and present are created by Him, for which the heavenly host shouted for joy.

Job was chided by the Lord for his self-righteousness and appropriated ‘holiness’ above God’s! Our Lord said to Job,

Job 38:4  Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
Job 38:5  Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? 
Job 38:6  Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; 
Job 38:7  When the morning stars [all present angelic host and now man] sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? 

Although Job didn’t have a sustained level of the holy spirit to endure a changed heart, he was partly re-created as a representation, a shadow of us being spiritually recreated in our Lord God’s image. Upon Job seeing how loathsome his righteousness was, he worshiped God when he says,

Job 42:1  Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
Job 42:2  I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. 
Job 42:3  Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.
Job 42:4  Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. 
Job 42:5  I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. 
Job 42:6  Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

There are many expressions for the term “worship” that all with varying strengths of intensity mean worship. The Lord’s many verbalisations of His love for us evoke worship of Him without directly stating the action. Every aspect of Mark 12:30, including all the verses above, expresses worship of God without using the term “worship.” Some of those terms seen in the preceding verses are “giving thanks”, being delivered from the powers of darkness, “In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins; thou shalt love the lord thy god with all thy heart”, to name a very few evocations of “worship.”

As previously expressed, worship has many nuances that all express the act of worshiping. The first verbalisation of “worship” in scripture is in Abraham’s disquieted trust in the Lord through his profound commitment through obedience to sacrificing Isaac.

Gen 22:5  And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship [H7812], and come again to you. 

Gen 22:10  And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 
Gen 22:11  And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 
Gen 22:12  And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

By not withholding his only son even from a brutal sacrifice, Abraham expressed the epitome of having no other gods before God, thus implicitly affirming his worship of God!

Let’s now study the word “worship”, and its tense expressions worshiped and worshiping. 

All of the above expressions directly relate to bowing down before the Lord. The below expressions of worship, worshipeth, and worshiping likewise involve bowing before God. 

“Worship” profoundly means expressing our deepest honour and respect for God with every nuance of our mind and body in spirit and in truth by obedience to his commandments, intimately declared by bowing before him, particularly in spirit.

Every aspect of the physical creation points to the spiritual reality of God the Father and Christ, the Godhead. Sara wonderfully demonstrated spiritually bowing to her husband, Abraham, by calling him Lord. She characterised the Bride’s reverence (worship) for Christ, her husband.

1Pe 3:4  But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.
1Pe 3:5  For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:
1Pe 3:6  Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement. 

Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

The very first commandment is,

Mar 12:29  And Jesus answered him [one of the scribes], The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
Mar 12:30  And [being intrinsic with hearing] thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. 
Mar 12:31  And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

There you go! Intrinsically, those verses embody worship and have the same meaning as the first listed commandment: Thou shalt have no other gods before me (Exo 20:3). By those definitions, loving a thing equates to worshiping that entity. Since we are to love our spouse, we effectively worship him or her. However, we do not put them or any other created thing in heaven or Earth above God; if we do, we break the commandments of God.

Exo 20:4  Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 
Exo 20:5  Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 
Exo 20:6  And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love [H157] me, and [How? By keeping] keep my commandments.

Mat 10:37  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Loving God is keeping his commandments, which embodies every aspect of worshipping Him.

1Jn 5:2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. 
1Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

When we lawfully or unlawfully love a thing or person more than God, we have created another god more significant than the God who created us.

2Ti 3:1  This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 
2Ti 3:2  For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 
2Ti 3:3  Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 
2Ti 3:4  Traitors [to God], heady, highminded [above the word of God], lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;<

1Jn 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 
1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Jn 2:17  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will [Love of God above all things by keeping the commandments] of God abideth for ever.

The following verses graphically express Jesus’ love for our Father through keeping all of the Father’s word. That act is worship in action.

Luk 4:3  And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.
Luk 4:4  And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
Luk 4:5  And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 
Luk 4:6  And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.
Luk 4:7  If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.
Luk 4:8  And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

While growing up in those previously mentioned Babylonian Christian churches, I only knew the worship of God meant a hollowness I could never properly identify. The Worldwide Church of God appealed to me because it seemed to answer all the prophesied fearful events of the Bible with a credible correlation of the holy days. No church other than the Seventh Day Adventists and one or two others ever taught the meaning of the Lord’s festivals and holy days; not that the WCG understood it spiritually one little bit!

Lord willing, we will begin the fascinating study of how the nuances of the above verses, and substantially the rest of the Bible, relate to worship.

By the Lord’s dragging of the Body of Christ and me, we have moved from the figurative Whore of Babylon driving a smelly Chevrolet further into the abussos (the deep) to our Lord’s chariot of fire into His heavens. Elijah’s transfiguration and departure is its representation.

2Ki 2:11  And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah [The Elect of God] went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

We have laid the foundation for what it means to worship. Next week, Lord willing, and by the conveyance of His chariot, His word of fire, we will study detailed worship and how not to worship Him.

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