(Gen 22:5 KJV) And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.
The original purpose of worship was some kind of reverent offering to God in thanksgiving. This is a common theme in the Old Testament where such worship and praise are usually offered following some kind of divine intervention or at least in recognition and response to the grace of God.
(Exo 15:1 KJV) Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.
The verse above is the first reference recorded in the Bible of anyone singing any kind of song and it was an unsolicited ‘gift’ by Moses to God. So… do we sing for our own benefit or for God’s… And do we sing to express our feelings or do we sing to hide them? It seems we do both. Yet singing is not worship and worship is not singing. Singing is just tuneful vocal noise that reflects our thoughts at the time…While worship is heart felt reverence and thankfulness to God, for whatever we are grateful for at the time… not necessarily the sincerest when echoed from someone else’s words or a song sheet.... So what purpose does ‘music and song’ play in the realm of worship and does God really give a damn about the noises we make any more than the food we cram in our mouths?
It is easy to imagine a DJ at a radio station, chewing ‘roast beef’ with his mouth open saying and this ‘flavour’ goes out for God…. Amen…. "and this is my body you eat”.
Many Buddhists believe the monotone of “Om” is all powerful… is it? And how does it rate in God’s top 10 with “Amazing Grace”? Isn’t it all just noise, some undulating and tuneful, while some just plain mind numbing?
Since Jesus never had a number one hit, it is foolish to think that God sits in Heaven listening to our songs with an ear to say - “play it again Sam” or “oooo I like that one”.
According to some texts - the angels spend all day and night worshipping God in song and Lucifer was supposedly one of the worship leaders, turned ugly and consequently thrown down to earth as Satan to lead men… astray…
Like the Sabbath day, worship exists purely for man’s sake not for God’s. Without worship humanity has no space inside to reach out to God and without the Sabbath day humanity has no time put aside to reach out to God…. And if we don’t reach out to our maker and our true purpose, then we remain stunted and imperfect… like a caterpillar that never transforms into a butterfly or worse still… we fall victim to evil and die in our sin.
In humility and reverent worship we open our hearts (spirit) in love and our mouths in words (of truth), such that our worship takes us out of our small selves into that place of union with each other as ONE family in that greater spirit and truth, that is our God.
(John 4:23-24 KJV) 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.
WORSHIP
SIN
DELUGE
SCRIPTURE
SERVING GOD
SACRIFICE
BAPTISM
LAW V LOVE
THE FLOCK
WORSHIP
MAMMON V GOD
PORNOGRAPHY
THE WAY
WAY TO PARADISE
DELUGE
SCRIPTURE
SERVING GOD
SACRIFICE
BAPTISM
LAW V LOVE
THE FLOCK
WORSHIP
MAMMON V GOD
PORNOGRAPHY
THE WAY
WAY TO PARADISE
Continued