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.