Man’s Highest Privilege And Practice

“Get thee behind Me Satan: for it is written: Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.” Luke 4:8

Dear Ones:

The importance of the worship of God, as mentioned in the Scriptures, cannot be neglected, or denied, without great peril to the soul and heart of the believer.  When Jesus was in the wilderness, just prior to the beginning of his ministry, he was tempted by Satan. One of Satan’s specific attacks, that he made on the Lord Jesus, concerned the issue of worship.  Why? It is because true worship means ascribing to the object worshiped, all worth and power.  The consequence of such an act and attitude is the submission of the will to the object worshiped, whether man or idol.  After showing the Lord Jesus “…all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time,” he said:  “All this power will I give you, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.” (Luke 4:6) It is at this time that Satan will add:  “IF you therefore will WORSHIP me, all shall be yours.” (v.7)  In looking at, and studying this encounter, we need to ask ourselves:  “Why is this matter of worship so very important, even imperative?”  Central to a right relationship with God, is the essential of attributing to Him the worth and honor that belongs to Him by creation and redemption. Also, true worship aligns our hearts and minds, according to the truth, with the Person and work of Christ.  God is NEVER known according to a lie, or distortion of the truth.  Faith is only given according to the truth. The Lord Jesus told the Samaritan woman that God seeks those who will worship Him in “Spirit and in truth.” (Jn. 4:23)  It is as the believer worships God according to the truth, by the Spirit, that true communion with God becomes blessedly possible, and real.  Satan’s attack on Christ was a frontal attack on His communion with His Father, a communion that had its basis and realization, by true worship “…in Spirit and in truth.”

In an effort to grasp something of the importance of worship, we look again at the history of Israel.  Through Jeremiah the prophet, God had very specifically warned Israel that she would be taken away captive for seventy years, because of her idolatry, the embracing of false religions and practices of those nations around her.  There is a fundamental reason for this period of seventy years.  We discover it in the book of 2 Chronicles:36:21.  “To fulfill the word of the Lord by Jeremiah the prophet, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years.” Israel ended up very far away from God, having embraced the “ideas” and practices of unbelieving nations, incurring the wrath of God.  Israel chose to neglect the true worship of God.  In the neglect of the Sabbath, established by God, she embarked on a path where she forgot the truth, the testimony of God.  In forgetting the truth, she embraced the lie.  She became idolatrous herself, for she exchanged the truth of God for the lie.  She eventually put herself in a position where she could not, because she would not, return to God. The declaration by Jeremiah concerning the 70 years of the coming deportation, essentially was because she chose NOT to stop and worship on the Sabbath day.  Her judgment was the equivalent of her rejection of her sabbaths.  So, how important is true worship to God?

When Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman, He spoke of the gift of God, “living water,”  and “a well of water, springing up unto everlasting life.” (Jn. 4:10,14)  At the same time, He spoke of true worship, its universality and practice. The experience of drinking living water from a well that will never go dry, is tied to the practice of worshiping God, by the Spirit and in truth.

Dear Father, Strengthen us by Thy Spirit to set ourselves to worship Thee, and the Lord Jesus, IN SPIRIT and IN TRUTH.  We thank and praise Thee, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Love, Dad