Chapter
3
GOING
UP TO WORSHIP
'...I went up to Jerusalem for to worship.'
(Acts 24:11)
We
must always go up to worship
It is a characteristic of worship
that if anyone desires to meet with God he or she must always go up to worship. In the Old Testament the Israelites had to
go up to the temple in Jerusalem to worship.
The height of Jerusalem is about 800 metres above sea level and
scripture always speaks about going up to Jerusalem. In contrast the Dead Sea, which is the lowest
point on the surface of the earth, is about 400 metres below sea level. A person
must always go down to the Dead Sea.
God is the great illustrator. It
is not a coincidence that Jerusalem, the place God ordained for worship in the
Old Testament, is near to the Dead Sea. There is nowhere on the surface of the
earth that is lower than the Dead Sea.
The
Dead Sea Experience
When my wife and I were in London
we were walking through a shopping area when a lady stopped my wife and asked
her if she would like to try some nail products. She said ‘yes’ and after sampling the
products she bought some of them. When
the lady put the products in a bag we saw the words ‘Dead Sea products’ on
it. My wife was delighted when she saw
the products were from Israel, and then I realised the importance of the Dead
Sea. There is no life in the Dead Sea but there are an abundance of minerals
that can beautify the body.
The Dead Sea experience is when
we come to the lowest place, often it is the place of despair, but this is the
place where we are able to find an abundance of spiritual minerals that beautify
the believer for worship. It is not good
for us to remain at the place where our sorrow is foremost in our minds.
Nothing can live in the Dead Sea. Once we have found the spiritual minerals for
worship in our Dead Sea experience then we must go up from there to the great
heights of worship.
For some the Dead Sea experience
is the place of deepest sorrow but the most wonderful expressions of worship
have been inspired through the hardest trials. ‘That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold
that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and
honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet
believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:’ (1 Peter
1:7-8).
Hymn
Story: ‘It is well with my
soul’
Horatio G Spafford
wrote the hymn ‘When peace, like a river’ after experiencing two major
disasters in his life.
(1) He was financially ruined by
the Chicago fire in October 1871.
(2) But the greatest tragedy was when
his four daughters drowned after their ship collided crossing the Atlantic
Ocean.
His wife Anna sent a telegram
following the disaster with the words, “Saved alone.”
Spafford
visited the place where his daughters drowned and then wrote the words of this
hymn.
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
You
tube Gaither clip
Bill Gaither tells the story of
‘It is well with my soul’
Guy Penrod
and David Phelps sing ‘When peace like a river’
Horatio Spafford’s
hymn testifies to his faith that despite personal tragedy the word of the Lord
is certain ‘it shall be well with you’.
Horatio Spafford’s
hymn testifies to his faith that despite personal tragedy the word of the Lord
is certain ‘it shall be well with you’.
Psalm 128:2 ‘Blessed is every one that fears the LORD; that walks in his ways. For you
shall eat the labour of your hands: happy shall you be,
and it shall be well with you.’
He was able to worship the Lord
because of his trust in the word of the Lord.
The
Book of Psalms mentions many trials.
The book of Psalms is the great
book of worship in the Bible but the Psalms mention many times of difficulty
and trials. When I first thought about this it seemed strange why so much
sorrow should be mixed with the worship of the Psalms. But it is out of the experience of being in the
lowest place, the Dead Sea experience, that we can see the beauty of Jesus.
Many have been lifted by the Lord from the lowest place to the heights of
worship.
Psalm 40 is a Messianic Psalm and
in it we can see our own experience of being lifted from the depths of sin to
the heights of worship. ‘I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me,
and heard my cry. He brought me up also
out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he has
put a new song in my mouth, even
praise unto our God: many shall see it,
and fear, and shall trust in the LORD’
(Psalm 40:1-3). The Psalmist David says he waited patiently for the Lord
to deliver him, literally ‘with waiting he waited’. He was in a horrible pit for a long time
until the Lord lifted him and put him in a secure place. He rejoiced with a new
song. The new
song came after waiting in the trial.
David is brought from the depths of a horrible pit to the heights of
worship.
Worship even when our circumstances do not change.
It is wonderful to
rejoice when we are lifted out of a terrible situation, but we can go up to
worship from hardship and trials even though our situation doesn’t change, and
probably will not change in this life.
Paul told the Corinthians that the churches of Macedonia faced the
pressure of many trials, but in all their difficulties they had an abundance of
joy. ‘How
that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep
poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.’ (2 Corinthians 8:2). The trials did not produce worry and anxiety; they were filled
with the love of Christ and the joy of the Holy Spirit. Their poverty was intense but in their
poverty they were able to bring a gift to Paul. The joy of a giving heart rose
above the hardships of poverty, and the churches of Macedonia expressed their
love for the Lord and for the gospel by presenting Paul with a gift together.
The life of worship brought an abundance of joy in times of great difficulty;
and an abundance of generosity in a time of great financial hardship (2
Corinthians 8:1-2).
The poor widow woman (Luke
21:1-4).
In the gospels we see how Jesus took
notice of a poor widow woman as she gave two of the smallest coins at the
temple. Her heart was filled with the desire to give to the Lord. The amount
she gave was not important to Jesus, She had almost nothing to give but she
expressed her love with all that she had.
Jesus told His disciples that the poor widow woman had given more than
those who put large amounts of money into the treasury at the temple.
Comparison
between the giving of the rich and the giving of the widow woman
When we compare the widow woman
with those who gave huge amounts of money in the temple, it is evident that the
widow woman worshipped with all she had but rich gave out of religious duty.
The widow woman, in her poverty
brought worship that is of great value.
The rich gave huge amounts of
money out of their abundance but worship was lacking.
The widow’s small gift was a
sweet smelling fragrance; an act of worship.
The rich received satisfaction in
fulfilling a religious duty by giving.
For the widow woman, the hard
experiences of life had removed all the obstacles to worship.
For the rich, the love of money
and the love of the world had removed worship and replaced it with moral
responsibility.
Worship made the widow woman’s
small gift of immensely higher value than the great wealth of the rich. People
are honoured in life because of their value to society but in God’s kingdom
those who are honoured are worshippers. This puts everything into a different
context. It is not how great we are or how rich we are that is important. From
the lowest place we can go up and worship the Lord with a heart of love and
thankfulness.
The Dead Sea Experience is when
we come to the lowest place in our Christian experience. All the resources are available here to
beautify the believer for worship. We must make a definite decision to go up to
worship.
The deepest sorrow is able to
lift the believer to great heights of worship. The hardest trials are able to
beautify the believer for worship. The deepest poverty is able to bring out of
us the worship that is of great value.
The greatest worshippers are
those who realise from what depths they have been lifted. We can be enthralled by testimonies of
salvation telling how people have been lifted out of sin, but we can fail to
realise that there is a higher calling.
They arose to become worshippers.
The prodigal son said, 'I will arise and go to my father, and
will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before You', (Luke 15:18). This was not
worship, but it is always the first step towards becoming a worshipper. The prodigal was lifted from the depths of
sin to the heights of being united with his father. The Psalmist wrote about
all who like the prodigal son have been lifted from the depths of sin, 'He raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts the needy out of the
dunghill; That he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his
people.' (Psalm 113:7-8). The princes of the Lord’s people are
worshippers.
We have been lifted from our sin
to be set with the mighty worshippers of the people of God. But in our worship there are higher levels to
reach. Worshippers should continuously
be seeking to go up to greater heights in the life of worship. The height of our worship is dependent upon
the depth of our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.