WORSHIPPING GOD BIBLICALLY

A synopsis of sermon delivered at the Dedication Service of the Vietnamese BPC
in Brisbane, 16 March 2014

“God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24).

God is Creator. He made us in His image and since He is Spirit, His image in us is spiritual not physical. But man has corrupted the image of God and made God to look like human beings or like the animals, making gods and idols after their own likeness or in the likeness of animals. By so doing, man has sinned against God very grievously. “Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.” (Rom 1:19-23).

God had already commanded in His Ten Commandments, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.” (Exod 20:3-6).

Worship Him in Spirit

Thus, if we want to worship God in an acceptable manner, we must reject and cast away our own forms of worship, and repent of our idolatry and turn to the living and true God who is our Creator and worship Him who is Spirit and invisible. God is a spiritual being and is holy. In order to worship God, we must also be holy. God says, “Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy. …Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the LORD your God.” (Lev 19:2, 4).

For us to do in spirit and in holiness, we must be born again. At Jacob’s well, Jesus told the Samaritan woman, “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:14). She superstitiously thought that Jesus had magical water and asked for this water so that she could save herself the trouble of drawing water from the well again. She did not understand Jesus’ words and her real need. So the Lord told her to call her husband. She lied by saying that she had none. Jesus displaying His omniscience revealed that she had not one but five husbands. She was sleeping with four other men besides her husband, and the one she was with at that time was not her husband. After Jesus exposed her sin, she realised that He was no ordinary person, and said, “Sir I perceive that thou art a prophet.” (John 4:19). She went on to say, “I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.” (John 4:25). Like the Jews, the Samaritans were expecting a Messiah to come based on Moses’ prophecy in Deuteronomy 18:15. Jesus revealed His identity and told her, “I that speak unto thee am he.” (John 4:26).

The Samaritans were waiting for their Messiah to come, who would teach them what true worship is. Jesus did just that when He told her, “Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:21-24). God demands worship that is “in spirit and in truth.” Biblically acceptable worship requires (1) the Spirit: True worshippers must be spiritually reborn and indwelt by the Holy Spirit—“be born of water and of the Spirit” (John 3:5); and (2) the Truth.

The truth is this: Jesus is the only Saviour of the world. “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12). The sinner cannot save himself for he is already condemned in his sins and can only wait for the judgement to come which is eternal torment in the lake of fire. But if the sinner will cry out to Jesus and cry out for salvation, Jesus will save, and will give to him His Holy Spirit who will live within him and make him alive in Christ.

It is only when we are born again spiritually, and indwelt by the Spirit, that we can worship God as our heavenly Father. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (Rom 8:14-16).

But to worship God rightly, there is one more requirement besides our need to be born again and indwelt by the Spirit. We must worship God not only in spirit but also in truth.

Worship Him in Truth

True worshippers must worship God in accordance to God’s way as taught in His Truth which is the Holy Scriptures (John 17:17). The Samaritans were not worshipping God in Truth. Although they were partly Jewish, they had developed a false worship system by combining Jewish worship with pagan worship. When a fly lands in your soup, does it make the fly tastier? No, it spoils the soup. Not only did they have a corrupted form of worship, they also did not believe the whole Old Testament. They believed only in a part of the Bible, just the first five books and not the whole Bible. This led them to adopt a corrupt form of worship. Instead of Jerusalem which was God’s ordained venue for worship, they set up Mt Gerizim as their centre of worship. That was why Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, “Ye worship ye know not what.” (John 4:22).

In order to worship God in Truth, the worship must be Bible-centred. It must be based on the whole Bible and not just part of the Bible. It is imperative that we know what God requires in true worship lest we worship Him wrongly and incur His displeasure or wrath. This was what happened to Nadab and Abihu when they offered “strange fire” to God. “And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.” (Lev 10:1, 2).

Today, church worship is characterised by a whole lot of worldliness. Contemporary Christian music and dancing accompanied by the drum set and electric guitars are the order of the day. Worship is no longer sober and solemn, calm and peaceful, but full of ecstatic shouting and screaming, jumping, running and rolling on the floor, chaos and confusion. This ought not to be. “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.” (1 Cor 14:33). The worshippers may be praising God and using the name of Jesus in their singing and in their songs, but Jesus says, “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” (Matt 15:8, 9).

If we want God to accept our worship of Him, we must worship in the way He wants us to worship Him. It must be according to His Word and not the world. Romans 12:1, 2 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Let us worship God God’s Way, according to His Word, and He will bless us. JK

 

IDOLS ARE NOTHING, GOD IS OUR EVERYTHING

This is what Psalm 115 tells us. The idols are nothing, “the work of men’s hands” (v 4). The living and true God, even our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, He should be our all in all. Know that God is sovereign and does whatsoever pleases Him, “But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased” (v 3). He is the only one worthy of our trust for “he is their help and their shield.” (vv 9-11).

As followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, we must not only cleanse our heart of all sin, we must also cleanse our house of all idols. I am glad that Dr Chan Kay Heem’s father and stepmother—Mr & Mrs Chan Poh Low—having believed on the Lord Jesus requested for idols (ancestral tablet and kitchen god) in their house to be removed. When I asked Mr Chan whether he is blessed with peace after believing in Jesus, he replied with a hearty “yes, yes.” The name of Jesus brings a smile to his face. Both Mr & Mrs Chan were baptised in September last year. Praise the Lord! JK