Did God
Feel Worshiped?
(1-16-05)
Rev.5:9-14
"To him who sits on the throne and
to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!" The four living creatures said, "Amen," and the elders
fell down and worshiped”. (verses 13b-14 NIV)
When I see passages
in the bible like this it makes me wonder, does God our Lord Jesus, who is setting on the throne of the Father, feel like
He has been worshiped? Do you think that what we have done here today has accomplished that?
Jesus is worthy of our praise!
We call this hour
the worship service. We gather together with the intention of worshiping but does that truly get accomplished? Do we make
it our practice to enter into His presence with praise and thanks giving in our hearts and on our lips? (see Mk.7:6-8 for
undesirable worship)
“..let us continually offer
to God a sacrifice of praise--the fruit of lips that confess his name.” (Heb.13:15b)
Jesus, you are, therefore I bow before your holy throne for you are my Lord and my God
and it is you whom I seek to serve with my whole life. (is that your hearts plea too?)
“a time is coming and has now come when the true
worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24
God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."(Jesus) [Jn.4:23-24]
Do we accomplish the
kind of worship that when we have finished worshiping Jesus responds – “thanks, that felt so good, bless you my
children.” I suspect we each know we are just a little short of measuring up to what Jesus deserves and rightfully expects.
Now I know that we believe ourselves to be technically correct but does that equal worship in spirit and truth. Does that
equal the “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." part of Jesus’ explanation
of worshipers who are true worshipers?
I find Jesus’
words in Mark 7:6-8 to be unacceptable for us and for me personally. I desire to do better than that. How about you? What
can we do collectively as a church body to improve our presence before the Lord? Remember God is not impressed with our holding
rigidly to a form of worship, he desires something else. I understand that Paul’s words to the church are for order
but not at the expense of true worship. (“But
everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.” See 1Cor.14:40
for entire context)
What does a stranger
think when they enter our presence and worships with us? I wish they were so impressed that they would want to come back again
and again and again and forever because they new that they entered into the very presence of the Lord because we had. I wish
that was true don’t you? So how my brothers and sisters and can we do a better job of worshiping?
Where must the improvement begin?
The answer: _ _!
The only way for the
worship to God to be found by Him to be acceptable is for the worshiper to be found acceptable. There are many things to be
considered here but for today only this will be given for your thought and meditation – “practice what you preach!” in thought, in word, and in deed.”
(See Mat.23) If
you truly want your worship to Jesus to be found acceptable by Him, then what you do the six days before you come here make
all the difference. Walk the talk!
