WHAT GOD'S WORD TEACHES US ABOUT THE TRUE WORSHIP OF GOD

The Bible affords us several glimpses of Heaven. In each instance, the inhabitants of Heaven are shown worshiping. If, therefore, the main activity of Heaven is worship, why do we do so little of it here on earth?

The famous Westminster Confession presents us with this important question, “What is the chief end of man.” It answers the question, “To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” Contrary to the belief of most contemporary Christians, we are to be worshipers first, not workers nor witnesses. 

The word “worship” comes from the Anglo Saxon word “worthship.” It denotes giving something to someone or doing something for someone, because they are worth it. In the New Testament there are two Greek words used primarily for worship. The first is “proskuneo,” which means to prostrate oneself towards in order to kiss. The second word is “latreuo,” which means to serve. Therefore, worship, according to the New Testament, means to prostrate oneself before God, in order to kiss¹ and serve His Son, because God and His Son, Jesus Christ, are worth it. Notice, worship in Heaven, like all true worship, is based on the “worthship” of God the Father and God the Son (Revelation 4:10-11; 5:8-14).

The first mention of worship in the Bible is in Genesis 22:1-18, when Abraham was enabled to worship God, because of his willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac to God. It was Abraham’s willingness to offer to God the apple of his eye, because of his belief that God was worth it, that made Abraham’s worship of God possible. If, on the other hand, Abraham had not been willing to offer his son Issac to God, then, he could not have truly worshiped God. Neither can you truly worship God if there is anything in your life more important to you than God or that you are unwilling to sacrifice for God. 

In the Old Testament, there was no worship of God without sacrifice to God. Furthermore, all the sacrifices had to be without blemish, not only to symbolize the sinless Christ, but also to be costly to the worshipers (Leviticus 22:17-22). For worshipers to offer God anything less than the best of their flocks and herds would have been an offense rather an oblation to God.

In 2 Samuel 24:18-25, we’re told how God, through the Prophet Gad, commanded King David to go up to the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, in order to erect an altar and to offer a sacrifice to God, so that a deadly plague spreading throughout Israel would be stayed. Interestingly, the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite was located atop Mount Moriah, where Abraham was commanded by God to sacrifice his son Issac. 

When David, the great king, arrived, he immediately informed Araunah, his overwhelmed and bowing subject, about the purpose of his visit. In response, Araunah offered to give David his threshing floor, everything he needed to build an altar, and his own choice oxen for the sacrifice. However, David refused Araunah’s generosity and insisted on buying everything needed, including the oxen, at an exorbitant price. Thanks to David’s refusal to offer to God a costless sacrifice, which had cost him nothing, God accepted David’s sacrifice and the plague was stayed from Israel.

The building site of God’s temple, which was the place of worship for God’s people, was none other than the site of Araunah’s threshing floor atop Mount Moriah (2 Chronicles 3:1). By choosing to build His house on the very spot where Abraham was willing to sacrifice His son Isaac, and where David was unwilling to offer a costless or cheap sacrifice, God was clearly showing His people that true worship requires cherished and costly sacrifices. 

Unbeknownst to most contemporary Christians, Christ cleansed the temple twice during His earthly ministry. Once at the beginning of His ministry, as recorded in John 2:13-17. This initial cleansing of the temple fulfilled the prophecy of the Prophet Malachi, who predicted that once John the Baptist had prepared the way for the promised Messiah to come, the Messiah Himself would “suddenly come to His temple” (Malachi 3:1). Christ’s second cleansing of the temple came at the end of His ministry; in fact, during His Passion, the final week of His earthly ministry. It is recorded for us in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew 21:12-13; Mark 11:15-17; Luke 19:45-46). Now, the question is: “Why did Jesus throw these two temple temper tantrums?” What was it that so infuriated our Lord, with such righteous indignation, that He took up a whip, turned over tables, and ran merchandisers and money changers out of His Father’s house?

As we pointed out and penned previously, all temple worshipers were commanded to bring the absolute best of their flocks and herds to offer up to God in their worship of God at the house of God. However, in Jesus’ day, the people were no longer troubling nor inconveniencing themselves by bringing costly sacrifices all the way to the temple from their own flocks and herds. Instead, they simply waited until they arrived at the temple to conveniently shop around for the cheapest sacrifice they could find. Then, having paid a fee to the money changers, in order to convert their coinage into temple coinage, and having purchased from the merchandizers, the sellers of sacrifices, at a bargain price, the lowest priced sacrifice they could find, they turned around and offered it up to God in their worship of God. Needless to say, this convenient and cheap worship of God was absolutely infuriating to the Son of God, who indignantly cleaned house over it. 

Make no mistake about it, there is still no such thing today as convenient and cheap worship, neither is God any less offended by it nor Christ any less infuriated over it. Still, in spite of it, the contemporary church is full of churchgoers who believe they can worship God at their own convenience and at little or no cost to themselves. Little do these bargain basement worshipers know that what they offer up to God, to Heaven never goes, since it is totally unworthy of Him, who alone is worth our best and our all.

All true worship today begins with one particular sacrifice. Until it is offered to God, there can be no true worship of God. This special sacrifice, unlike the bloody sacrifices of the Old Testament, is a bloodless sacrifice. It is, as the Apostle Paul calls it, “a living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1). According to the New International Version, this required sacrifice of ourselves and of our lives to God is our “true and proper worship.” On the other hand, the King James translators translates it as our “reasonable service.” Think about it, what else can we reasonably give to Christ, who gave His all and His life for us, except our all and our life for Him? Until we do so, we will never truly worship, for as Paul taught the Corinthians, all worship of God and other offerings to God are made possible by us first giving ourselves to God, which is not only the starting point of our true and proper worship of God, but also of our reasonable service to God (2 Corinthians 8:5).

¹ This explains why those who refuse to “kiss the Son” incur the wrath of God and will “perish from the way,” while those who do so will be “blessed,” because they “trust in Him.” (Psalm 2:12)