Worship--Part I

As I've mentioned in previous posts, we are searching for a new church home. Over the five months we have been visiting churches, we have observed a distressing absence of serious thought or reverence. The services appear to be trying to entertain man rather than worship God; the Creator of the universe, the Redeemer of our souls. The majority of churches we visit seem to be saying, "Come as you are, We don't want to make you too uncomfortable, We don't want you to have to think too hard, We'll try to show you how 'hip' we are, Newer is better," etc.

I've been doing some reading about worship, and will spend some future blogs sharing what I've found. I've started looking up the verses from my Concordance entry for "Worship." Now, I know this is a pretty low-tech method of study, but even thus far, it's yielded some interesting observations.

The first time any variation of the word "worship" is used in the Bible, is in Genesis. Abraham, in obedience to God, is taking Isaac to be sacrificed as a burnt offering. Abraham has taken along two of his servants on this three day journey, and has the wood already cut for the offering.

And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”
Genesis 22:5 NKJV

No doubt, it's a miracle that Abraham is spared from sacrificing his son when God provides a ram to be offered instead. But what is just as amazing is Abraham's prompt obedience (he leaves home early the next morning after receiving God's instructions) and total reliance on God. Abraham is to sacrifice Isaac, the long-awaited son of the promise. My husband and I waited 11 long years to receive our first child; Abraham and Sarah had waited almost 25 years! I could no more take our son to be sacrificed than fly to the moon. And yet, Abraham DID take Isaac to be sacrificed.

And then, of course, as a model to us all, is Abraham's amazing faith in God's provision. Abraham either believed that God would provide another substitute for the sacrifice or that God would bring Isaac back to life. Remember that Abraham told his servants, "[We] will go over there, we will worship and then WE will come back to you." Abraham had faith that Isaac would be taking the return trip home. Alive!

So what must we learn from this? I have pencilled in my Bible margin, a quote from John MacArthur. "Aside from Christ, Abraham is our greatest role model for trusting in God. He is the epitome of submission and obedience to the will of God at any cost."

We must obey God, we must be willing to not withhold anything from Him, we must have faith that He will provide what is necessary, and we must worship Him in any circumstance! Our worship must be glorifying to the great God we serve. How can we do anything less than take worship seriously?