Worship Is What We Are
Categories: Church of Christ Bulletin Articles Tags: Bible Lessons on WorshipToday’s Montana Street selected article, is by an unknown author. The author emphasizes our need to have the right attitude of heart before we offer our worship to God. The only thing I‘ve added, is appropriate Scriptures to enhance the author’s thoughts presented in the article:
Worship is the chain that links us to God, and that chain has two links. The first link concerns what we do, the second link concerns what we are. Both links are essential to reach the Father. As God’s covenants with man have changed (Hebrews 7:11-12 NKJV; Hebrews 8:7-13 NKJV), so have man’s external acts of worship (what we do), but the other link (what we are) has remained the same in all ages and through all covenants. While specific elements in worship have changed with the covenants, God’s demand for holy and ethical lives has never changed (Leviticus 11:44-45 NKJV; 1 Peter 1:13-16 NKJV). What we do in worship is important (John 4:23-24 NKJV), but no less important is what we are (Gal. 5:22-26 NKJV; Colossians 3:1-14 NKJV).
The Israelites in Amos’ day forgot this important concept. They held onto the odd notion that if an individual went through the right acts, then it didn’t matter what their life was like. Their thinking was, “We worship the true God in the true manner, not like our ignorant, heathen neighbors” (cf. Luke 18:9-14 NKJV). They strained to do everything “just right” (Amos 4:4-5 NKJV; cf. Matthew 23:23-24 NKJV).
But there was a problem. Their daily living was blasphemous. They perverted justice (Amos 5:7 NKJV; Amos 6:12 NKJV), shut the mouths of the prophets (Amos 7:10-13 NKJV), stole from the poor (Amos 5:12 NKJV), and wallowed in luxury (Amos 3:15 NKJV; cf. Jeremiah 36:22 NKJV; Judges 3:20 NKJV; 1 Kings 22:39 NKJV) — and these were only a few of their infractions! It took Amos, the farm boy turned preacher, to make them know and understand God’s feelings.
God was offended to the point of nausea when He exclaimed:
“I hate, I despise your feast days, And I do not savor your sacred assemblies. Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, Nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings, For I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments. But let justice run down like water, And righteousness like a mighty stream” (Amos 5:21-24 NKJV).
Brethren and friends, there is for us a sober message recorded by Amos, and that message is that God not only expects us to do the right thing in worship, but He also demands that we be “right” in our heart and behavior, in thought and in ethics. Amos asserts that “being right” is a necessary element and prerequisite to “doing right.”
If the Christian acts like the devil throughout the week, being bitter, malignant, rude, arrogant, and unforgiving toward his fellowman, and then comes to offer his worship without a repentant heart, God will not accept that Christian’s worship.
The solution to this problem is found in Matthew 5:21-24 NKJV. We are to reconcile our differences with our fellowman before we come to offer our worship to God, remembering that our worship consists of not only what we do, but also what we are.