Chapter
Four
PREREQUISITES
FOR WORSHIP
1
Chronicles 16:29 ‘Give
unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before
him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.’
There are prerequisites before we
can go up to worship. A worshipper must
leave behind the old baggage of the world; otherwise it is not possible to go
up to worship. Worship must begin with a
longing for God. We can be stopped from
going up to worship by being occupied with the affairs of everyday life. These
things are not wrong and as followers of Christ we can still be occupied with
these things, but a worshipper is more than a follower. A follower will keep the person he or she is
following within sight at all times, but it is not necessary for a follower to
seek after a close and intimate relationship. A worshipper cannot be satisfied
with just being a follower. A worshipper
has one desire and that is a close and intimate relationship with Christ. A worshipper cannot change direction. This is
the only life he or she can live. The course has been set; the bridges have all
been destroyed; and there is no going back.
The desire to worship the God who
is 'more present' in His temple must be joined with the desire to approach God
in a right manner. Music is able to move
the emotions and produce the feeling of peace in our spirits. But this does not mean we have gone up to
worship. We can be inspired by nice
singing and even feel the presence of the Holy Spirit, but worship is more than
this. We must always go up to worship
in our hearts and minds. Believers in
Christ are the dwelling place of God and our hearts and minds are the temple of
the Holy Spirit. We cannot worship if
our hearts are given to wrong desires, and our minds are filled with
worldliness. We must approach God in
obedience to His word; we must bring the fruit of His holiness with our lives;
and we must approach Him with godly fear and reverence in the knowledge that
the God we are going up to worship is the loving God who hates sin. God is a consuming fire (Hebrews
Obedience is a requirement of
worship. If we desire to go up to
worship then we must be willing to obey the Lord's commandments. Jesus told His disciples; 'If you love Me, keep my commandments' (John
When I look back on my Christian
life, I am aware that the reason I have not always walked in this love is
because I have not understood how to work this out in practice. I think there is a good reason for this. We should not blindly run and obey the orders
of the most dominant person. God has
given us brains to work things out.
Being too weak to stand against those who would try to gain advantage
over us is not godliness; it is weakness of character. God doesn't expect me to be a doormat for
everyone to walk over, but love is to be the standard by which we serve each
other '...by love serve one another' (Galatians 5:13). This means serving one another without self-interest.
One Sunday morning I visited a
church with a large congregation. The service was excellent. The preacher was very good,
and the praise and worship group was very professional, but there was no
fellowship. The only people who spoke together were the ones who came in
together. If a lonely person was in the congregation, it is certain that he or
she would have gone out just as lonely, and nobody would have known. I know
that churches like this arrange other meetings for smaller groups so that there
can be real fellowship, but many opportunities are lost because we do not know
how to reach out to the people around us.
How can we overcome these
barriers? Here is the answer. We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that
the inhibitions that stop us reaching out to others will be under the control
of the Spirit of God. The Holy
Spirit is the great blessing associated with obedience. If we are willing to
obey the Lord then the Holy Spirit will fill us with His love. Peter said that the Holy Spirit is
given to those who obey Him. 'And we are his witnesses of these things;
and so is also the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to them that obey him.' (Acts 5:32).
When we are filled with the Holy
Spirit then the love of Christ in us will make us more concerned about the
needs of others, and less concerned about our own interests. This is the only
way that we can obey the Lord’s command to love as He loved. If we would learn to be clothed with
humility; empowered by the Holy Spirit; and filled with His love, then reaching
out to others who are around us will happen naturally.
Don’t
quench the Holy Spirit
We will quench the moving of the
Holy Spirit if our love for Christ is substituted by a love for a particular
church or organisation. Many have fallen into the trap of thinking that their
church or group or denomination is the only upholder of truth. It is a trap
because we will then focus our attention on the organisation and lose sight of
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our eyes must always be on Him. He is the truth. If we love Him we will love
His word. We must always go directly to His word. The most difficult obstacles that we face in
regard to walking in obedience can come from those who are closest to us. If we are afraid to obey scripture because of
the teaching of our church then we cannot be worshippers. It takes great humility and courage to obey
scripture in the face of opposition from other believers who have been close
friends for many years.
Scripture warns us not to quench
the Spirit, 'Quench not the Spirit.
Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is
good.' (1 Thessalonians
5:19-21). The Holy Spirit will be
quenched when preconceived ideas stop us from obeying scripture. We are told not to despise prophecy, but we
are also told to 'prove all things'.
Those who accept prophecy without examining whether it is in line with
scripture are being disobedient. But
those who reject all prophecy are also disobedient. The scripture also tells us 'Wherefore, brethren, desire to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with
tongues.' (1 Corinthians 14:39). People who love the scriptures will sometimes
forbid speaking in tongues. We must be
careful not to quench the Spirit because of an interpretation of scripture that
makes disobedience appear sound doctrine.
If we desire to worship then we
must allow the Holy Spirit to lead us into higher realms of worship. If we are disobedient to the scripture in
regard to the Baptism with the Holy Spirit then the highest level that we can
reach in worship is the level of the surrendered life. The Lord wants us to move to higher realms of
anointed worship through obedience. When
our lives are under the leadership of the Holy Spirit then the fruit of the
Spirit will produce the character of Christ in us, and the anointing of the Holy
Spirit will empower us to worship on the higher levels.
We
must worship in the beauty of His holiness.
Another requirement for worship
is approaching God in holiness. It is
called the 'beauty of holiness' in scripture because it is the nature of God in
the life of the believer. Morality and
legalism can never be a substitute for holiness. We cannot worship with either of these
because self-righteousness has no place in worship. We cannot worship on the basis of who we are
or what we have done. This is never
acceptable to God. We must worship the Lord in
the beauty of His holiness; it is His life in us that brings forth the fruit of
the Holy Spirit as an offering to the Lord. 'Give unto the LORD the glory due
unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.' (Psalms 29:2).
True
worship is entirely the work of God in the life of the believer. The life of the believer cannot
be separated from the life of Christ.
The worshipper presents Christ to the Father every time he or she
worships and the Father delights in His Son.
The worshipper rejoices in the knowledge that his or her life is 'hid with Christ in God'. 'If you have then be
risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the
right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the
earth. For you are dead, and your life
is hid with Christ in God. When Christ,
who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with him in glory.' (Colossians 3:1-4).
We must set our hearts on the things that please the Lord. The heart is
the centre of our emotions and desires. Whatever we give our heart to, these are the things we will seek after. If our heart is filled with unholy
affections and desires then we cannot go up to worship because our heart will
seek after these things. We
must have pure hearts and a clean mind. The Bible says we must bring '…into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ' (2 Corinthians 10:5).
Worship is not just an outward
expression it involves the innermost part of our being. This is what Jesus meant when He spoke about
worshipping in spirit and in truth. If
our thoughts are impure then we cannot worship.
Holiness requires our
thought life to be pure. Paul
wrote: 'Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are
honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever
things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any
virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.' (Philippians 4:8).
Knowing God as our heavenly
Father should never cause us to approach Him in a casual manner. God is love, but He is also holy and He
cannot deny Himself. His love can never
deny His holiness. God cannot ignore
sin. If we desire to worship we must go
up to worship walking in obedience to the word of God, and bearing the fruit of
holiness. A true worshipper seeks to glorify the Lord
with every thought, every action, and with every word.
Whoever desires to draw near to
God must also approach Him with
godly fear and reverence. This means
recognising the nature and character of God and approaching Him in a manner
that is worthy of His name. 'Wherefore we
receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may
serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:' (Hebrews 12:28). God is
love, but He is also a God to be feared. It is not a fear of judgement because
the blood of the Lord Jesus cleanses us from all sin (1 John1:7), and we can
come boldly into His presence (Hebrews
In
the Acts of the Apostles God moved in power through the body of Christ. But God dealt severely with those who did not
approach Him with godly fear and reverence.
The fear of the Lord was upon the believers, but even those outside were
afraid because they knew the power of God was with the disciples. 'And great fear came upon all the church,
and upon as many as heard these things.
And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders done among
the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch. And of the rest dared no man join himself to
them: but the people magnified them. And
believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.)' (Acts 5:11-14). When the
power of God is manifest there will also be a manifestation of the nature and
character of God. The same power that
brought healing to the lame man, brought death to Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11).
God was ‘more present’ with the early church and hypocrisy could not be
ignored. The anointing would have been
lost if sin had been ignored. The
chastisement of the Lord is a sign of His love for the church. A worshipper will learn from it and then go
up to worship in a right manner.
When
David brought the Ark of the Covenant to
The
people were excited because the presence of God was coming to Jerusalem. They worshipped with joyfulness and with
right desires, but God was not being approached in a right manner. This tragedy teaches us that having a desire
for the anointing and drawing near to God with right motives is not
enough. We must always approach God in
obedience and reverence. God looks at
the heart, but how we approach God is more than the good intentions of the
heart. If we do not approach God on the
basis of His word then we are approaching God in an irreverent manner.
Worship involves every area of
our lives. Our desires, motives, actions
even our thoughts are all acts of worship.
We cannot worship in a casual manner.
If we desire to gain the honour and respect of the world, or to enjoy
its pleasures then we cannot go up to worship.
The worshipper must have one desire, to worship the Lord in the beauty
of holiness. Music and singing have the
power to stir up emotions, as well as to calm and refresh the soul. This is why music is a huge industry. But worship is not singing a particular style
of song; it is glorifying the Lord in a manner that is worthy of His name. Going up to worship means approaching God
with the fruit of the Holy Spirit, and in obedience to His word. We must come into His presence with reverence
in the knowledge that we are accepted in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the One of whom the Father said, 'In
Him I am well pleased'. When we worship
in the beauty of holiness then it is Christ in us who worships the Father
through the Holy Spirit. The life of the
believer is hid with Christ in God so that his or her life cannot be separated
from the life of Christ. What confidence
and joy this provides in going up to worship.