Jesus was intimately acquainted with and have a daily relationship with his Father exhibited through obedience.
We have sought to establish for the past weeks that there is a distinction between the state of being a worshiper and the acts of expression of worship. A worshiper is one who is acquainted with and has a daily relationship with God exhibited through obedience. We have concluded that worship is not about doing, rather it is about being. It is from the state of being that all acts of worship must flow. We can look at many who worshiped God, but there is only one who offered a perfect worship to God: Jesus! He is the model we must follow! It was out of his life of intimacy and daily relationship with the Father that Jesus destroyed the works of the devil. It was his obedience unto death - the ultimate sacrifice - that allows us to be his family of worshipers. How Jesus offered a perfect worship to the Father? 1. Jesus sought to do the will of the Father There is very little said in the scripture about Jesus' childhood. But it tell us, "Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people." (Luke 2:52) Even as a child, Jesus was focused on pleasing his Father, doing His will, and walking out the purpose for which He had been born. As a young boy he sought to do the will of the Father. He declared to his earthly parents, "I must be in my Father's house" or more accurately translated, "I must be about the things of my Father" (Luke 2:40-52) This is important because while it is his death on the cross that paid for our sins, it is the way he lived his entire life that qualified him to be the perfect worshiper and the perfect sacrifice! We see Jesus focused always on the purposes of God, totally consumed by the will of the Father. He said: "My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing His work." (John 4:34) "...I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will." (John 5:30) "For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will." (John 6:38) Jesus maintained a place of discipline as he walked the earth and remained focused on his ultimate goal: Jesus listened for and listened to one voice only - the voice of the Father. He did not seek to do anything outside the will of God. 2. The Father's delight in His Son When Jesus was being baptized, the Father spoke from heaven declaring his delight in His Son (Luke 3:21-23). This is the beginning of Jesus' public ministry. The scripture does not tell us that Jesus had done anything necessarily spectacular up to this point. We have no record of a miracle... He has not done anything yet, but the Father declared that He was well pleased with His Son. "You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy!" God's pleasure did not stem from what Jesus did but who he was! It stemmed from the relationship Jesus had with his Father which was an act of worship! 3. Jesus was intimately acquainted with the Father Jesus showed us that the life of a worshiper is a life of continual communion and communication with the Father. It was this type of daily communion with God that Adam (he was created as a worshiper) had once experienced in the Garden until he fell. Jesus exemplified this aspect of worshiper's life through a life of prayer! "But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer..." (Luke 5:16) "One day Jesus left the crowds to pray alone..." (Luke 9:18) "Once Jesus was in a certain place praying..." (Luke 11:1) Every decision Jesus made was in direct alignment with his Father. Jesus regularly stole away to be alone with God, to spend time in His presence, to hear His heart and to know His mind. He emerged from those times of prayer empowered to carry out, by faith, the will of God. "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does." (John 5:19) 4. Jesus' victory over Satan Following his baptism, Jesus was "led" into the wilderness and there he was tested by the devil (Luke 4:1-13). It was Satan's attempt to stop Jesus as he stopped Adam. It was the enemy's attempt to sever the relation between God and His worshiper. Jesus was tempted in the same areas in which every person is tempted. He was tempted in the same way that Adam had been: through the lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, and the pride of life as found in 1 John 2:15-17. The enemy knew if he could get Jesus to do one thing outside of the will of the Father, it would be over! All would be forfeited! Thank God, Jesus knew what Satan was trying to do. Jesus gained victory over Satan by speaking the Word of God and keeping his focus on the Father! By defeating the enemy at every turn, Jesus demonstrated the life of a worshiper. We don't often think of it that way. Each time Jesus used the authority given him, each time he took dominion was an act of worship. Each time he came up against sickness and disease, each time he came up against false religion, lies and deception. He demonstrated the power and authority man was to have from the very beginning. Even calming the sea and the wind by simply speaking to them was an act of worship. He came to destroy that which hindered us from being the worshipers God had designed us to be; He came to return authority and dominion to man. Jesus modeled for us that as a worshiper we can withstand the attacks of the enemy and victorious! He eventually gave his life so that his victory would become ours! 5. Jesus' obedience that leads to sacrifice Jesus showed us that the life of a worshiper is life of obedience to the Father. Obedience even unto death! Paul writes in the book of Philippians, reminding us that if we are truly follow in the footsteps of our Lord, we must be obedient even as he is obedient! "...When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross..." (Philippians 2:5-11) Jesus' obedience led to sacrifice, the sacrifice of his very life so that we might live as worshipers. The writer of Hebrews tells us that even though He was a Son, he learned obedience from the things that he suffered. He set before us the example of one totally surrendered to the will of the Father, able to endure even the cross so that would be glorified. The end result was that he also was glorified. As we learn to walk in obedience, we shall be glorified together with Him. Our worship will reflect His glory for all to see. Jesus Christ became the first of many sons, the first of many worshipers, and He set before us the perfect model of worship - doing the will of the Father. Beyond the songs, beyond a dance, beyond the words of love and adoration that we offer up to the Father. Our worship is a life that perfectly reflects the love, light and life of the Father. It is a life lived by walking in the authority and dominion God has given us. It is a life of kingdom influence, kingdom purposes, establishing God's kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven; it is a life of kingdom influence, kingdom impact with kingdom results. It is a life lived from Faith, Obedience, and Sacrifice. It is a deep, intimate relationship with the Father that allows us to know His heart and mind. It is a life that allows others to see God every time they look at us. It is a life lived in confidence of knowing who we are called to be - worshipers!
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Pastor John W. Stevenson in his book defines a worshiper as the one who is intimately acquainted with, and has a daily relationship with God exhibited through obedience. He said, "You were not created to do. You were created to be".
The first time you find "worship" in Scripture is in Genesis 22:5 It reads: "Stay here with the donkey, Abraham told the servants. The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back". It is important to note that Abraham was not going up with musical instruments to sing a song with Isaac. He was going up there to put the most treasured possession in his life to death. Simply because Gos ask him to do it! So as you can see worship involves Faith, Sacrifice and Obedience. These three elements set the foundation for all Christian Worshipers. God never intended for worship to be "synonymous" with music and arts. Christians tend to "compartmentalize" worship. For example worship seminar tends to focus on the "doing" rather than Christian living. Why do worship workshops attract only musicians, singers and worship leaders? The reason is that Christians have drawn a line of demarcation between worship and Christian living. True worship is a life of obedience and out of that life will flow songs of worship, which will delight the heart of God, rather than repulse Him as in the following Scriptures: "Away with your noisy hymns of praise! I will not listen to the music of your harps. Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, and an endless river of righteous living". - Amos 5:23-24 You see, there really is no difference in singing a song out of a hymnbook or singing a song that is projected on a screen. The real difference is in the heart of the person singing. Singing "worship" songs does not make you a worshiper! Having a worship team does not make you a worshiping church! All of that can become a religious exercise if we are not intentional to keep our hearts engaged in the exchange and remain in passionate pursuit of the ONE we are worshiping - JESUS! it is our daily relationship with Jesus that makes our worship to God genuine and authentic. I believe the church has entered a season in which the Holy Spirit is confronting us about the things we have taught in many ways have moved us away from a worship relationship and a worship life to a place more focused on worship activity. If we are going to help bring about change in the Body of Christ, it must start changing our own models, our vocabulary, and our teaching on worship. Worship is not about doing! It is a lifestyle that flows from dwelling in the very presence of the Lord. The worship life of the believer is living with the awareness that we are daily in that Presence. It is living in the reality that we are in Him and He is in us. When we worship Him, we are not trying to work our way into His presence. We are acknowledging that we are already in His Presence and our worship of Him is what gives us access to relate to Him. "If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you, says the LORD". - Jeremiah 29:13-14 What does it take to be a worshiper of God? Considering our definition of a worshiper, we realize that to focus on the elements of music and the arts reduce worship to something less than God intended and something far less than He deserves. If a worshiper is one who is intimately acquainted with and has a daily relationship with God exhibited through a life of obedience, we must move beyond songs, instruments, banners and art to something deeper and grander; we must move to something encompasses all of life and it involves faith, sacrifice and obedience! |
AuthorWarren Jhun Ocampo Archives
September 2017
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