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Saturday, January 9, 2021

How prevalent is vain worship (part three)

 

1.      True worship is to worship God in spirit

The third distinctive part of vain worship is that true worship must be in spirit, signifying that, no physical object should be associated with the worship of God which would be tantamount to committing idolatry, for thus says the Lord; “Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth. And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the LORD your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage” (Deuteronomy 4:15-19).

Worshiping God in spirit also denotes having the intent, and precise objective for observing the day that is set aside for worship and applying the protocol that is associated with all forms of true worship as we have been duly admonished saying; “These are the feasts of the LORD which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to the LORD, a burnt offering and a grain offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, everything on its day ---besides the Sabbaths of the LORD, besides your gifts, besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings which you give to the LORD” (Leviticus 23:37-38).

The heart and core of all true worship is to offer the Lord the food for His offerings as we have been duly instructed saying; “Command the children of Israel, and say to them, 'My offering, My food for My offerings made by fire as a sweet aroma to Me, you shall be careful to offer to Me at their appointed time” (Numbers 28:2).

To anyone who is skeptical or doubtful of the appointed times should consider the fact that, in the Old Testament the people were observing and celebrating the copy and shadow of the reality, but we now have the reality, therefore, our focus must be centered on Jesus Christ and how these appointed times are applicable to Him

For example:

·         The daily regular offerings

The spirit and intent for this time of worship is to express gratitude and thankfulness to the Lord for His loving kindness and faithfulness as alluded to by the Psalmist David saying; “It is good to give thanks to the LORD, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; To declare Your loving-kindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness every night” (Numbers 28:4, Psalms 92:2, 1Chronicles 23:30-31).

One main goal of a true believer is to fulfill the Lord’s desire which states; “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

The way one becomes perfect is to abide in the word as we have been admonished saying; “He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him: He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked” (1John 2:4-6).

This state of perfection is attainable through the regular daily offering which is the mechanism by which sins are cleansed daily, for we have been instructed saying; “And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.” It is also stated that; “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God” (1John 3: 5, 6, 9).

But how could this be possible when the scriptures clearly states that, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”  And, “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1John 1:8, 10).

This is made possible only If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and it is the blood of Christ represented by the cup of the New Covenant that cleanses us from all sins: Hence the reason why the daily regular offering is so vitally important to keep us always in fellowship with the Father and the Son.

·         The Weekly Sabbath

The intent and rationale for worshiping the Lord on the seventh day weekly Sabbath is to express our gratitude and appreciation for His creation. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

Let me emphasize this point again by saying;, the main objective for appearing before God is to offer to Him the food for His offerings as we have been duly instructed saying; “These are the feasts of the LORD which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to the LORD, a burnt offering and a grain offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, everything on its day ---besides the Sabbaths of the LORD, besides your gifts, besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings which you give to the LORD” (Leviticus 23: 37-38).

The reality of this burnt offering is the body and blood of Jesus Christ represented by the bread and wine and Jesus Christ the High Priest offering it to the Father as the redemption price for our sins.

This is also the means by which one has fellowship with the Father and the Son and with one another, for we have been admonished saying; "Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men; judge for your-selves what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of ChristFor we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread." (1 Corinthians 10: 14-17).

To be continued

With brotherly love

Lucius Joseph



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