What is the highest form of worship according to your Bible? Singing praises to God? Engaging in public prayer? Offering animal sacrifices? Is the highest form of worship ‘self-denial of food & water’ through the ritual of fasting? Is it obedience to God’s laws?
The Scribes & Pharisees engaged in all of these acts of worship, yet Jesus condemned them as hypocrites, saying, '“These people draw near to Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.” (MATTHEW 15:8)
Does that describe you as a worshiper? Or would Jesus refer to you as a ‘true worshiper’? One who worships God in spirit & truth?
We all start out as ‘Babes in Christ’ according to the apostle Paul - but God doesn’t want us to stay as spiritual infants - like too many Christians today. No, our Creator wants us to advance, to grow, and to mature!
The greatest role that God has called all of us to play, is not disciple, evangelist, fellow-shiper, or servant. The greatest role God has called us to play is that of ‘worshiper’ - because God knows that if we get that right - everything He wants us to do and be will automatically follow!
According to your Bible, there are different levels of worship we need to progress through. Do you know what they are? What level of worship are you on with your Maker?
True worship begins with AWE! King David wrote: “When I consider Your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon & the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him - and the son of man that you visit him? (PSALM 8:3) Few Human Beings have been as awe-struck by the earth and cosmos as King David was during His life. And he didn’t have the telescopes and microscopes that we have - giving us an exponentially greater view of the cosmos and microscopic world.
AWE is what leads people to worship Human Beings, as they become overwhelmed by a person’s athletic prowess, an actresses’ beauty, or a musician’s ability to move them to tears of joy! But YHVH is the genius behind all Human abilities and adornment. That’s why it is so refreshing to see an athlete, after a great performance, point their finger upward - reminding us all where that ability originated!
My personal relationship with God took a giant leap forward, when I started out my prayers, focused on the glory of God our Father, and praising Him for His great attributes and accomplishments. The fact that prayer itself is a real act of telepathy, that He can hear the vibrations of our thoughts without us even moving our lips - speaks to the unequaled greatness of our Creator! Add to that, His ability to speak things into existence, His creation of mind, sentience, and a unique personality in each of us - and we should all be blown away - by the greatness, and power of Almighty God!
The book of Proverbs tells us: “Happy is the man who is always reverent (in awe of God), but he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.” (PROVERBS 28:14) A reverent heart is a worshipful heart, which keeps us searching for an even deeper relationship with our Father in heaven!
A person who is ‘always reverent’ or in awe of God - comes to ADORE Him! As we read in the book of Chronicles: “Everything in the heavens & earth is Yours, O Lord, and this is Your kingdom. We ADORE You as being in control of everything.” (I CHRONICLES 29:11 TLB) Little children adore their parents, seeing them as their protectors, providers, and comforters. Maturing Christians see God the same way! And it leads us to sing praises to Him, as the apostle Paul writes about to the Ephesians: “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation (wasteful living); but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (EPHESIANS 5:18-20)
ADORATION of God leads us to want to involve Him in all we do: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways ACKNOWLEDGE Him - and He will direct your paths.” (PROVERBS 3:5,6) Many Christians are in awe of God and adore His greatness and power. But some have not developed enough in their worship, to adore and acknowledge Him in all of their ways, like a little child who leans on his parents to direct all their steps. After all, if God is as great as you think He is - why would you ever ‘go it alone’? Going it alone, is what led to Adam & Eve’s sin, and the sin of all their progeny to this day. If we acknowledged God in everything we did, sin would become the exception in our lives and not the rule. That’s why ACKNOWLEDING GOD IN ALL WE DO - is an act of worship in itself. It says constantly to God ‘I need your glorious guidance!’
But we not only need to acknowledge God in all our ways, we need to acknowledge our detours away from Him when they happen: “I (King David) ACKNOWLEDGE my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.” (PSALM 32:5)
That’s one of the reasons God gave Israel the ‘sacrificial system’ - so that they would learn to acknowledge their sins, and be deterred in repeating that sin, by having to sacrifice one of their pets - probably one they had named! Acknowledging our sins should lead us to want to acknowledge God in all our ways - so we don’t repeat the sin.
The prophet Amos was inspired to write this rhetorical question: “Can two walk together, unless they are AGREED? The obvious answer ‘no’ - affects all relationships - marriages, friendships, parent-child relationships, business relationships, and our relationship with God. Many Christians are mostly in agreement with their Maker, but few are in total agreement: embracing all Biblical teaching and practices.
Your Bible says that Enoch & Noah ‘walked with God” (GENESIS 5 & 6). That means they were in step and in sync with God’s expectations for mankind. Moses was inspired to write: “Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.” (DEUTERONOMY 8:6) But like Adam & Eve, too many Christians want to determine their own set of rules and ways. But God says: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.” (ISAIAH 48:17 NIV) Do you AGREE that God knows best, and that His ways as outlined in His Law are the best ways to live? America is the most successful nation in history - because it was built on more agreement with God’s Judeo-Christian values & ethics than any other nation: Life, liberty, and the individual pursuit of happiness. What’s holding you back from total agreement with God?
It’s AGREEMENT with God that leads us to another act of worship: ACQUIESSENCE! The apostle Paul wrote: “We have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection (acquiessence) to the Father of Spirits and live? God holds the power of life and death in His hands, so our AWE, ADORATION, ACKNOWLEDGEMENT & AGREEMENT with His rules and guidance - should lead us to acquiessence to His Spirit, whenever we’re tempted or provoked to wrath. That’s why Paul wrote to the Galatians: “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” (GALATIANS 5:16)
Jesus said, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” (JOHN 6:38) Paul explained to the Romans that “He (Jesus) condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled is us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” (ROMANS 8:4)
ACQUIESSENCE to God’s will ultimately means that we ABIDE IN HIS WORD. Jesus said: “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” (JOHN 8:31,32) How do we ABIDE IN HIS WORD? The apostle Paul gives the answer: “…through the washing of water by the word.” (EPHESIANS 5:25) Too many Christians don’t understand the cleansing nature of God’s word! They’ll take a shower every day - but not immerse themselves in the cleansing nature of God’s word every day - an act of worship in itself! Jesus said: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep my word; and My Father will love him and We will come to him and make our home with him.” (JOHN 14:23)
Which brings us to the highest form of worship: ASSIMILATION of God’s nature and character as our own! Isn’t the highest form of admiration from our kids their ASSIMILATION of our values and ethics to the point they become ‘a chip off the old block’? The apostle Paul was inspired to write: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (ROMANS 12:1,2) This text is the very definition of ASSIMILATION: Conforming to the character & nature of another - the character and nature of God. That’s why Paul also wrote: “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.” (I CORINTHIANS 11:1)
Christians who arrive at this height of worship (ASSIMILATION OF GOD’S NATURE) - do so because they daily train themselves to think like God: “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” (PHILIPPIANS 4:8)
In Jesus’ final prayer before being arrested, He said to His Father: “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them (My disciples), that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be perfect in one.” (JOHN 17:22)
May God help you to arrive at this highest form of worship: ASSIMILATION OF GOD’S NATURE & CHARACTER - so that you can be ‘one’ with your Creator, and “may be partakers of the Divine nature - having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” (II PETER 1:4)