“—for you shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God—” (Ex. 34:14)
“When the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations which you are going in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, 30 beware that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?’ 31 You shall not behave thus toward the Lord your God, for every abominable act which the Lord hates they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. 32 “Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it.” (Deut. 12:29-32)
Why does God seek and demand our worship? According to an article I read on Compelling Truth website,
“Worship means to honor or praise. God is the one perfect Being in the entire universe, completely worthy of worship. Thus, He requests, seeks, and demands that His created beings honor Him. Further, we are taught to worship no other god or idol. Worship is more than singing; it is a life posture of honoring God through obedience and acknowledgment of His worth. There is no other god, person, or created thing that should receive allegiance in the place of the Lord. He is our Creator, Sustainer, and salvation. God deserves our worship, and we are wise to entrust our lives and our worship to Him,” (“Why Does God Demand Our Worship?”, https://www.compellingtruth.org/God-demand-worship.html)
God is the only perfect Being. He is the only being completely worthy of worship. He could not remain being God if He allowed other things or other beings to be worshiped. It is right to enjoy the goodness of relationships, food, travel, learning, sport, or leisure when we recognize that, “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” In fact, enjoying what is good about our life and this world is a way of loving God, honoring God, and worshipping God.
But if we ever make any created thing ultimate, we have broken God’s law, are guilty of idolatry, and have removed God from His righteous place of honor. This is why verses like Exodus 34 and Deuteronomy 12 are holy and perfect words, not the rantings of a megalomaniac.
One of the challenges we have as Christians in the modern world is that we equate worship with singing. Some people have developed the habit of calling the musical part of Sunday gatherings “the worship” and referring to the sermon as “the preaching”. We do better to think of the whole gathering as worship, so that we understand the prayers, the Scripture readings, the ordinances, the music, the offering, the delivery of the sermon, and the listening to the sermon, all as worship. We are honoring and praising God in all those activities because He has commanded us to worship Him in those ways. So, we are honoring Him by obedience and acknowledging His worth in all those activities within a “worship service”.
There is a sense in which worship is not specific activities or actions taken by Christians, but it is rather connecting all of life to worship. Romans 12:1-2 says, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
The presenting of our bodies is not just about a physical commitment of self, but a commitment of life. We are presenting all aspects of our being as a living and holy sacrifice. That is spiritual service of worship. It is a commitment of all of ourselves in all of life for our whole life. This is what it means to be devoted to worship.
By His Grace and For His Glory,
Pastor Mark
