Worship
Course: The Higher Calling to Worship
Lesson Thirteen:
Lesson
Title: Rejoicing in the Wisdom and Power of God: United with joy in His eternal plan and
purpose
Text: 'Christ
the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of
God is stronger than men.' (1
Corinthians 1:24-25)
Introduction:
Seeing the plan and purpose of
God fulfilled.
The anointed worshipper, who is united with
Christ in His sufferings, rejoices in being called a fool for Christ.
But the highest level of worship is
worshipping God from the mountaintop of faith, and seeing the panorama of His
eternal plan and purpose. He or she is
able to see the outworking of God's purpose on earth from a heavenly viewpoint,
and worship is lifted to the heights of glory where the angels worship.
The worshipper rejoices in the foolishness of
God that stands in complete contrast with the wisdom of the world.
It is seeing the purpose of God fulfilled
through the weak and foolish things of the world.
On the previous level of worship the anointed
worshipper rejoices in suffering persecution and trials, but on the higher
level the anointed worshipper sees beyond this and rejoices in the knowledge
that all these things are working together for good in the eternal plan and
purpose of God.
'And we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his
purpose.' (Romans 8:28)
At the previous level the worshipper bears no
grievance towards those who cause him or her harm.
But at this level he or she sees higher than
this.
The worshipper rejoices that God is
fulfilling His purposes through the evil actions that were directed against him
or her. Joseph learnt this through the
evil actions of his brothers against him.
He had no thought of revenge; instead he was
free to bless his brothers when he said to them,
'But as for you, you thought evil against
me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save
much people alive.' (Genesis 50:20)
Forgiveness on this level goes beyond holding
no ill feeling for the harm that is done; it sees the purpose of God fulfilled
through the evil deed. When Jesus was
crucified he prayed for those who crucified Him, saying, 'Father, forgive them; for they know not
what they are doing', (Luke
They knew they were killing Jesus, but they
did not know that their evil deed was the fulfilment of the eternal plan and
purpose of God.
The crucifixion of Jesus was planned in
eternity past. The evil that made it
happen was a consequence of time, and those involved in it were unaware of what
was really taking place.
The Lord forgave them for their evil deed
because He rejoiced in fulfilling the eternal plan and purpose of God.
Worship on the highest level rejoices in the
wisdom of God in providing the way of salvation.
The angels always worship on the highest
level because they are aware of the glory of God.
When Jesus was born in
The Son of God who sat enthroned in the
heavens was 'more present' on earth in human flesh.
The angels who worshipped God in the heavens
came and worshipped God on earth in the shepherds' field.
'...praising
God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill
toward men'. (Luke 2:13-14)
The angels have never experienced salvation
because they have always been holy.
The angels who rebelled against God could not
be redeemed once they had fallen.
When Adam and Eve fell the angels had never
known redemption.
The angels also knew that when Adam and Eve
fell they were irreversibly united with sin.
The old man in Adam cannot be redeemed. Yet God promised He would save those who
trusted Him.
God was in fact promising to do the
impossible.
The angels did not know how God could redeem
His people when they were sinners irreversibly linked with sin.
Satan also sought to do the impossible.
He was seeking to destroy God by causing Him
to deny Himself.
God gave His word that He would redeem His
people, but this appeared to be impossible.
Satan believed that he had won a great
victory, and he was now able to attack God in a new role as the accuser of the
brethren.
If God justified an unjust people then He
could no longer be who He is.
God is the I AM THAT I AM (Exodus
His love cannot deny His holiness.
How did God do the
impossible?
Firstly, the eternal Son of God became the
mediator between God and man by becoming a man himself.
But this alone could not save us.
So how could He do it?
The wisdom and power of God is seen in that
God used death the greatest enemy of man to be the means of bringing forth
eternal life. Death entered into the
world through sin and this was how God brought about redemption.
God made death the greatest blessing because
without it there was no other way the Son of God could redeem us.
'And for this cause he is the mediator of
the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions
that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the
promise of eternal inheritance.'
(Hebrews 9:15)
In Christ the sinner is crucified and buried
with Christ and He or she is raised a new creation in Christ.
The old man inherited from Adam is buried
with Christ and the believer is raised a new creation, born again of the Spirit
of God.
'Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a
new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become
new.' (2 Corinthians 5:17)
What do we do when we understand this?
We worship; there is nothing else to do.
Unlike the angels we are able to worship from
an experiential level of being lifted from the depths of sin to the heights of
holiness.
No wonder the Bible says, 'the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is
stronger than men.' (1 Corinthians 1:25)
Worship on the highest level rejoices in
God's plan to build a temple for worship.
When the Son of God became man, worship was lifted to a new realm. For not only was the Son of God the object of
worship, He as man worshipped the Father.
The eternal Son of God became a worshipper so that He could redeem a
people for worship. Jesus died on the
cross worshipping the Father for He knew He was fulfilling the eternal plan and
purpose of God.
'Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher
of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.' (Hebrews 12:2).
The joy that was set before Him was the joy
of presenting worshippers to the Father.
His body was the
Paul saw this as he wrote to the Ephesian
believers from prison. He saw that his
ministry was in fulfilment of the purpose of God to build a dwelling place for
His glory to dwell in; a place of worship; a temple consisting of Jews and
Gentiles (Ephesians
'For
this reason I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, for you Gentiles' (Ephesians 3:1).
He was not a prisoner of
God is
still fulfilling His purpose through the weak and foolish things. The plan and purpose of God in the Great
Commission involves the whole body of Christ.
'God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise',
(1 Corinthians
The worshipper has a relationship with the
Lord from where he or she can be lead from worship to intercession. This is exactly what happened with Moses when
he asked the Lord 'show me your glory', (Exodus 33:18). Moses wanted to 'know the Lord' (Exodus
33:13), and the Lord let His glory pass by him (Exodus 33:19-23). Once Moses had encountered the glory of God,
he worshipped. But he did not stop
there. He began to intercede on behalf
of the children of
'And Moses made haste, and bowed his head
toward the earth, and worshipped. And he
said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray You, go
among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin,
and take us for Your inheritance.' (Exodus 34:8-9)
Worship brings us into a close relationship
with the Lord so that intercession becomes a natural progression from worship on
the highest level. We should always be
ready to use our relationship with the Lord to begin interceding on behalf of
others. The Greek word translated
intercessions (enteuxis) in 1 Timothy
2:1 is the word used for approaching a King.
An intercessor is one who through worship maintains a close relationship
with the Lord and through this relationship is able to approach God on the
behalf of another.
'I exhort therefore, that, first of all,
supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all
men;' (1 Timothy 2:1)
Everything Paul did flowed out of
worship. It was therefore natural that
Paul had the heart of an intercessor.
Paul's heart burned for his fellow countrymen. He longed for
'I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my
conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great heaviness and continual
sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that
myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the
flesh:' (Romans 9:1-3)
The person
who has a special ministry in intercessory prayer is firstly a worshipper on
the highest level. The anointed
worshipper who rejoices in the glory of God will naturally become an
intercessor.
Jesus revealed the wonderful truth that the
Father is seeking worshippers to a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. There is
significance in this because scripture identifies Jacob as a worshipper. In the
book of Hebrews, Jacob is shown to have worshipped at the end of his life:
'By
faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and
worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.' (Hebrews 11:21)
The significance of Jacob leaning upon his
staff is that he was weak in the flesh.
It reminds us of how he was weakened when he wrestled with the Lord, and
went away limping. Jacob was a natural
deceiver who could gain what he wanted by craftiness. From his youth, Jacob desired the blessing of
God, and he sought to gain even this by his own craftiness. The Lord loved him despite all his faults and
saw in him the potential of a worshipper, but the Lord had to deal with his
craftiness in order to lead him to the heights of worship.
Having a heart for God was not enough, Jacob
had to become weak in his own strength in order to become mighty in
worship. The Lord was with Jacob,
leading him, teaching him, breaking him, and Jacob was learning to know the
Lord. The heights of worship can only be
reached through brokenness. Jacob's testimony at the end of his life was that
his days were 'evil' meaning sad and unpleasant. The joy of worship flowed out from his broken
spirit.
'And
Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred
and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been,'
(Genesis 47:9)
Jacob experienced great sorrow when he
suffered the loss of the wife he loved, and then the loss of his favourite
son. This was the only way that Jacob
could be led to the heights of worship.
When he reached the end of his life the beauty of his relationship with
the Lord is revealed as he worships on the highest level prophesying concerning
the eternal plan and purpose of God.
Jacob’s life is an example of how the Lord leads us higher in worship
when we have a desire to seek after Him.
The reason the Lord leads us the way He does is because the Father is
seeking worshippers. God has led you this way to bring you to the heights of
worship.
The anointing at this level lifts the worship
from earth to heaven. The worshipper not
only rejoices in being counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Jesus,
but sees beyond this into the eternal plan and purpose of God, which was
prepared even before the creation of the world.
There is great rejoicing in every situation because the anointing of the
Holy Spirit is in control of every situation and circumstance.
Although this is the highest place of worship
within this level of worship there will always be greater heights to
reach. The height of His glory is
infinite. Worship on this level will always produce intercessory prayer,
because intercession is born out of a close relationship with the Lord. Intercessory worshippers are characterised by
a complete lack of self-interest; the desire to seek the glory of God; and a
heart that burns with love for the eternal welfare of others.