Victory In Worship (I)

My husband and I developed this sermon for his ministration at the RCCG The King's Court Parish on 18.11.12. I have edited it to speak to the needs of mature singles. I have no doubt that God will minister to you through this revealing study.

God made humans to fellowship with Him. It was because of this that God made us in His own image. Man’s existence is solely to worship God. In the Israelite’s camp The Tabernacle was in the center of the camp, which means, worship of God was central to every day life.

Is it the solemn songs we sing in a service or the process of being closer to God? There is none that does not make adequate preparation for an outing they deem very important; how would you prepare if the outing is with President Obama or if Queen Elizabeth is coming to your home for dinner? 

The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery says, “Worship is first and foremost a verb, an action” (p.970). This is revealing because so many equate worship with either a place (usually a building) or a feeling. The underlying concept of worship in Scripture is that of service and homage consisting of both an attitude of deep respect and adoration to the one revered. Worship includes and involves highly regarding and then serving the one revered.

God commanded us to worship Him as a way to give Him reverence for creating us in His image and saving us from the enemies. Before going into the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20, God said something a lot of us may have forgotten, “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage”. Then God went on to say, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”. Luke 4:8 say, “And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” Exodus 34:14 say, “For you shall worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. Isaiah 42:8 say, I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. When God created humans, He put in our hearts a desire for worship, which explains why humans are always seeking God through religion. Religion is man, seeking God but Christianity is God seeking man; searching us out so we can worship Him.

Now how do we worship God and what should worship entail?

People worship God in different ways; while soem do so publicly, others do so privately. Since worship includes the activity and feeling of profound love, devotion and admiration, many things can be included as part of worship (kneel, bow, postrate, gift, music, repentance, keeping the holy days) the underlying factor must be love and reverence. John 15:1-7 talks about the true vine. We can only worship God through Jesus Christ because God (the Father, Son and Holy Ghost) is a Spirit and they that must worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).

Before Moses, worship had very little structure but in the days of Moses, worship became very specific and detailed in structure as God specified when worship (or sacrifices) were to be made, what, how, where and by who. Let's look at the historical perspective from when the first place of worship was built. The Tabernacle was 150 ft. by 75 ft. There was the outer court and the inner court. The inner court consists of the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, which was separated by a thick veil. The priest could only enter the Holy of Holies once a year and that was on the Day of Atonement, which the Jews celebrate as Yom Kippur. The Holy of Holies contained the Ark of the Covenant with a cover on which sat the cherubim, which is referred to as the Mercy Seat. But inside the Ark of Covenant, there were three articles namely Manna, Aaron’s Rod that budded and Tablets of the Law.

The specific details of how The Tabernacle (Exodus 25) was to be built was given by God and followed to the letter, this shows how serious the act of worship was taken by the Israelites. The Ark of the Covenant was made of acacia wood overlaid within and without with pure gold. The Tablets of the Law were commandments handed down by Moses (Exodus 20), the pot of manna was God’s provision to the Israelites in the wilderness (Exodus 16) and the staff or rod of Aaron that budded was a symbol of God’s selection of a leader (Numbers 17).  These three articles were preserved in the ark throughout Israel’s history as an unpleasant symbol of man’s sins and shortcomings, a reminder of how they disobeyed God’s law, rejected God’s provision and rebelled against God’s authority. It pointed to man as a helpless sinner. But the Mercy Seat, which covered these things in the Ark, was a pointer to the fact that God will have mercy when we approach him rightly and reverently.

God saw that man was hopelessly needy and decided to offer himself through the blood of Jesus Christ. God graciously extended mercy to man and changed the mode of worship from indirect through a priest to directly. These three items that served as a sore reminder of man’s shortcomings took on a different meaning since God as man sacrificed himself to redeem us from our sins (Leviticus 17:11). When Jesus said it is finished on the cross, the veil separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of The Tabernacle split into two symbolizing the fact that we could now approach God directly since he paid the price with his own life Matthew 27:51. His blood replaced the sacrificial offering of lambs in The Tabernacle and the priest did not need to approach the Holy of Holies once in a year to atone for everyone’s sin, Jesus did that.

What are the impediments to worshipping God? The impediments to worship are the things that negatively impact the answering of our prayers. And we can look back at the content of the Ark of Covenant for answers:

Disobedience against God’s law which the 10 Commandment signifies

Rejection of God’s provision which Manna signifies and

Rebellion against God’s leadership which Aaron’s budded staff signifies

Now let’s look at it this way; if your child disobey you or your partner reject what you have provided or your subordinate rebel against your authority what will you make an inner vow to do? You will resolve not to forgive! God did not forgive or forget man’s sin of disobedience, rejection and rebellion hence keeping the symbols of disobedience, rejection and rebellion in the Ark of Covenant. What is the symbol of disobedience (10 Commandments)? What is the symbol of rejection (Manna)? What is the symbol of rebellion (Aaron’s rod that budded)?

Please continue to the second part of this in-depth sermon.