A Call to Worship God

 

Psalm 111

Great Are the LORD’s Works

What is worship? If we ask Christians what worship means and why he needs to worship, it’d be as though we ask a person what breathing means and why he needs to breathe. Though he might do it consistently, he could not really understand it nor fully comprehend it.

Most Christians know that worship is what every believer should do after coming to believe in Jesus. However, does it mean that we can consider something as worship as long as there are ritual expressions and offerings performed, and certain category of ceremonial requirements, like festive dates, methods or sacrifices, etc., met accordingly?

Let’s hear the warning that prophet Isaiah issued to the people in the southern Kingdom of Judah, how he reproached the worshippers because their actions did not align with their worship rituals.

Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah! “The multitude of your sacrifices—what are they to me?” says the Lord.
“I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood!” (Isaiah 1:10-15)

We realize the level of corruption of the Israelites by the way they were addressed in verse 10. Sodom and Gomorrah were two adulterous cities that were destroyed by the burning flame of God in Abraham’s time. In brief, the people of the southern Kingdom of Judah, from the top down to the bottom, were perceived by God as a people who deserved nothing, but doom!

Verses 11 to 15 inform us that the Lord was displeased with their grand worship ceremonies held in festive seasons together with the abundant sacrifices they offered to Him. Instead, He found them extremely annoying and detestable. He even perceived their worship rituals as an act that had desecrated the temple.

The Israelites ‘worship invoked nothing but God’s anger, and it caused Him to shun them and refuse to listen to all their prayers and petitions.

The second part of verse 15 points out the reasons why God detested the worship of Judah, “Your hands are full of blood!” It describes the fact that the Israelites did not consecrate themselves to worship God. We can see from here that God is intolerant of any unholy and false worship with mere religious forms.

Both prophets Micah and Amos issued similar warning to the people in relation to their issue of worship.

With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. （Micah 6:6-8）

“I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! （Amos 5:21-24）

God also told Cain who later killed his brother Abel. “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” （Genesis 4:7）

But Samuel replied king Saul: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.” (1 Samuel 15：22-23）

In the New Testament, the Lord Jesus rebuked the Jews then who merely had deeds with religious forms. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.” （Matthew 23:23）

What is worship? Why do we need to worship? Let’s discuss it from Psalm 111.

What is worship?

Praise the Lord. I will extol the Lord with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly. Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them. …The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise. (Psalm 111:1,2,10)

Worship is man’s response towards God’s deeds which translates to praises and thanksgiving. “In the council of the upright and in the assembly” means that those people were pleased with God, and they worshiped God in unity with one another in their fellowship and gatherings.

Therefore, worship is giving glory to God collectively as a means of serving Him by those who please Him. All these responses of praise and thanksgiving are not mere hollow words, but expressions of their objective probing and reflective thoughts. “Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them.”

Therefore, Christians will surely have a desire to know God if they believe in God’s deeds and love God’s Word genuinely. Moreover, we can come to understand and experience God’s deeds if we learn objectively from His Word and lead subjectively a lifestyle of devotion. True worship births forth from our fear of God, and the fear of God comes naturally by observing God’s commandments.

Why Must We Worship God?

The Psalmist describes God’s multiple acts in such a few short verses, and these are the reasons why people worship Him.

Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever. … He has shown his people the power of his works, giving them the lands of other nations. (Psalm 111:3, 6）

God acts justly and powerfully, and He controls all things in accordance with His eternal and righteous attributes. Hence, both His punishment and reward are absolutely fair.

He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant forever….; He provided redemption for his people; he ordained his covenant forever—    holy and awesome is his name. （Psalm 111:5,9）

God does not merely provide our daily needs on earth, but He is the Savior of the world. Moreover, God is a Covenant Keeper, and He would never forget the covenant He made for He has ordained His own covenant. Therefore, God is worthy of the worship of the world because of His faithful saving grace.

The psalmist issued a sovereign and glorious address to God after his delicate study of God’s acts, and said, “holy and awesome is His name.” …; all his precepts are trustworthy. They are established for ever and ever, enacted in faithfulness and uprightness. (Psalm 111:7,8)

The Psalmist said God’s word is trustworthy, and it is eternally established because God is faithful Himself. Would not the God of faithfulness deserve all our worship?

He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate. (Psalm 111:4)

God has performed unique miracles in the human history, especially among the Israelites, His elect, that many signs and wonders were performed for them. He did these out of His mercy and love for them. What has been described here might refer to those events that took place during the times when the Israelites were in Egypt and the wilderness.

God did not merely perform His wonderful and unique acts in the lives of the Israelites, but He would also perform His amazing deeds in the midst of those who fear Him now.

God has performed many memorial acts throughout the church history through the redemptive works of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. For example, He moved the hearts of those who had committed towering sins and they repented and became His servants. He enabled many broken families, marriages and relationships to be restored because of the salvation of Christ.

Conclusion

True worship is about whether there is a true repentance from the worshipper, and whether he truly knows God himself. God prioritizes the attitude and character of a worshipper and holds these as the upmost traits over all kinds of worship customs and traditions.

A sincere worshipper, though not a perfect man, is a man who will seek to align his life with what he believes. In other words, he is someone who would love God and men genuinely. Only those who are willing to learn to love God and men sincerely are able to have genuine and truthful worship.

Be A Faithful Royal Priesthood

 

Exodus 14:1-31

The Israelites Crossing the Red Sea

Exodus 14 records yet another amazing miracle that the Lord did for the people of Israel after they had come out from Egypt, their place of slavery, when He led them through the Red Sea on foot!

We may easily have mistaken the significance of the Red Sea crossing as just another miracle which God delivered the Israelites from the hand of Pharoah. If we were to pay attention to the records found in Exodus 14, we would come to discover that God had a specific purpose for performing the miracle.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon. (v1-2）

The Israelites had just been delivered from the hands of Pharaoh, and they should leave Egypt and go as far as possible by all means after surviving the pursuit. Yet the Lord instructed Moses to ask the Israelites to turn back and it is something puzzling to us. However, we would come to understand His intention as we read on.

“Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’ And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them.⁾ But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” So the Israelites did this. （Exodus 14:3-4）

“I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.” （Exodus 14:17-18）

The Lord wanted to be glorified in the case of Pharaoh and his army, so that they would know that He was God!  The Egyptians were people of pantheism. The ten plagues that the Lord sent upon the land of Egypt had targeted all the Egyptian revered deities. “So that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is no other.” (1 Kings 8:60)

It is natural for the Lord God to have a desire to be glorified among all nations, for this is what the world has fallen short of. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” （Romans 3:23）

God created all things to reveal His glory, especially mankind who bear His image and likeness. But unfortunately, the one who is supposed to glorify Him turns out to be the first creature that falls short of His glory.

The Lord God has a higher demand from His own people. The two sons of Aaron were killed by Him because they offered unauthorized fire. Moses said to Aaron who was grieving, “This is what the Lord spoke of when he said: “Among those who approach me, I will be proved holy; in the sight of all the people, I will be honored.” Aaron remained silent. (Leviticus 10:3）

The Lord God had His certain demand from His people, and hence, He had a long-term plan drawn up for the people of Israelites who had been residing in Egypt and who were influenced by the Egyptian culture for 430 years. God’s purpose for the Israelites was for His people to know that there is no other God like Him. He wanted his people to be set apart for Him and enabled Him to be glorified.

Pharaoh and his whole army were destroyed in the Red Sea. “And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.” （v31）

Did the Red Sea miracle really cause the Israelites to fear God wholeheartedly and be obedient under the leadership of Moses forever? The reality tells us that their fear and obedience were but, a temporal passion.

Subsequent to this, the Israelites grumbled to Moses because they could not get water to drink (Exodus 15：22-25). Then they came to the Desert of Sin. The whole assembly of Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron because there was no food for them to eat.

“If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” (Exodus 16:3)

In the journey later, the Israelites sinned against God and grumbled against and even attacked their leaders Moses and Aaron again and again because of their unbelief. Though they also were judged and punished by the Lord God many times, they were still too stubborn to be changed.

The Lord God had performed many miracles among the Israelites forty years in the wilderness. For example, the leading of the pillar of fire and cloud, and raining down of manna and quails on time, turning the bitter water to become sweet water, and gushing of water from the rock, etc.

However, all these miracles were not able to make the Israelites trust and submit to God wholeheartedly and genuinely for long. This fact reminds us again that we do not merely rely on miracles to make sinners have true repentance. The miracles in the wilderness were God’s means for the Israelites to know His grace, to know that he is only true and mighty God, and to allow them opportunities to repent, in order to learn and observe His commandments.

Moses cried out to the Israelites in Deuteronomy: “Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.” (Deuteronomy 8:2-5)

The Word of God is the very basis of man’s existence. Man will have no meaning for existence if there is no Word of God, and they will fall short of God’s grace.

The Kohelet also concluded his exploration in life and said, “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)

The apostle Paul also emphasized the effectiveness of God’s Word by saying, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” （2 Timothy 3：16-17）

Nevertheless, merely by impartation and teaching of biblical knowledge in an objective manner will not bring others to conversion. The Lord God oversaw and led the Israelites personally for 40 years, like a father who disciplined his children.

The author of Hebrews in the New Testament also issues a similar reminder to the Christians, “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?  If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all.” （Hebrews 12：7-8）

Conclusion

The Lord purposely allowed Moses and the Israelites to experience many trials and challenges like the crossing of the Red Sea, during their 40 years of journey in the wilderness, in order for them to learn many spiritual lessons from trials and battles. The Israelites were to glory God as his chosen holy people on earth, and remain faithful to him always.

The Israelites failed in their priestly function terribly, that’s why Christ, as a true Israelite, came later to accomplish God’s plan. Christ remained faithful to God until the end by giving up his life on the cross. What Christ had accomplished on the cross, being obedient to God’s will, are also our accomplishment as we put our trust in him.

The Israelites’ experiences and Christ’s work on the cross, both reveal that God is the Creator and redeemer, and also a Trainer! His purpose is to gather us together as his royal priests through Christ’ salvation, allowing us to know Him personally and declare His glory among the nations! 

May the love of Christ touch our hearts today. And may the Spirit empower us today, as we determine to follow Christ, setting our heart to be faithful to God until the end and learn to train ourselves to be useful servants of God.

May the well-known words of the apostle, Paul, become our encouragement and goal, for he said, “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service.” (1 Tim 1:12); “Which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.” (2 Tim 1:12)