Worshiping God - Part IV

Last Monday, we had our fourth lesson in our series about "Worshiping God."  We talked about the need to give God our best, not our leftovers, not our average worship, but the best effort we can offer Him.  We also spent some time discussing the need to worship God alone and no other human being or thing.  God it the only one who has created us, who has saved us and the only one who expects and deserves our worship.

Enjoy the notes from our discussion.

March 19, 2012

Worshiping God – Part IV

Opening Question: Has there ever been a time when you have been unprepared for an event, a supper, an exam, a visit?  How have you felt about it?

We should do our best in order to achieve our goals.  We know that we must study hard in order to get good grades in our studies.  We need to keep our houses clean, so that if a friend drops by we will not be embarrassed at them seeing our place a mess.

The same sentiment rings true when it comes to worshiping God.

1.         We need to give God our best

In Malachi 1:8, we read: When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the LORD Almighty.

The Hebrews were commanded to give to God their best, to bring animals for sacrifices that were flawless, not something that they could not use.  If such a thing was not acceptable to human, important officials, like the governor, God of course would not be please by this gesture.

What were the Hebrews doing here?

They did not want to bear the cost of giving to God.  They were offering as sacrifices things that were useless to them.  A lame or a sick animal had no value.  It could not be sold in the market, it could not be used for food by the owner.  It had no worth.  But the whole concept of the sacrifice is that it should be a cost for us.  It means that when we give to God, it should not be our leftover effort, it should not be the time that we cannot use for anything else, it should not be a half-hearted effort.  God deserves and expects our best and we should give that to Him.

Why does God deserved our best?  What has He done for us?

God has given us everything we have and the ultimate sacrifice He did was giving us His son.  Jesus was perfect, in the sense that He had no sin.  He was not an evil man, a man that had no value to God.  He was His own son, so He had tremendous value to God.  But if God was able and willing to give up His own son for us, how much more should be give up our own time and effort to serve Him and to worship Him.

In Matthew 22:34-27, Jesus tells us: 34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

God expects us to love him with all our heart, soul and mind, not with just a fraction of our heart, but with no soul or the other way around.  God wants us entire being and we should give ourselves to Him.

Today, God expects no human sacrifices from us.  Instead, He wants us to offer our own bodies as a living sacrifice to Him.  In Romans 12:1, we read:  1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

What does this mean?

It means that our lives should reflect our efforts to please God, to give our best to Him, to try our best to live in a pure and holy way and to please God in everything we do.

2.         We need to worship God alone

Jesus tells us in Matthew 4:10: 10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”  Then, in Matthew 6:24, he says: 24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

One of the greatest faults of the Hebrews was that they strayed from worshiping God alone.  They forgot the commandment and added idols to God.  They worshiped images made of wood and metal, instead of the true and only living God.

Today, we can fall into the same trap.  We may not worship images, but we may create in our lives certain things that gain a lot of importance, things that take away our attention and our dedication from God.  These things could be work, school, husband, wife, sports, money, etc.  Anything that rules our lives, that takes away our attention, is an idol in a sense.  And we should never allow anything to take the place of God and to receive our best worship instead of God and God alone.

Conclusions

When we come to worship God we should give our best to Him.  We cannot do our worship service with barely the minimum effort, or with half the heart, or only half the time.  God deserves our best and He has give us His best.  Our worship should go to God and God alone and no other real or created being.