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Worship
(1st in the series of expositions on Communion delivered on July 9, 1978)
Jn 4:23 reads:
But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will
worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for such the Father seeks to
worship Him.
God doesn't look for people who worship Him in this or that place, but in spirit and in truth.
A biblical truth: Holiness is the foundation of truth in daily life.
Do you know what it is to worship God? Churches today have a great lack of worship; worship consists of 3-4 hymn singings, Bible passage reading, announcements, teaching (lecture). Where is worship? If done right, singing, praying, reading Bible, listening becomes worship. What is happening is rushing on, getting on with it.
Do we know the power, joy and glory of worship? People who know that worship gives spiritual depth and power in life meet with God, abide in His presence; have a light sparkle coming out of their eyes, and have a deep inner joy. One can go to worship superficially. This is the difference between the spiritual and the carnal man.
1. If we don't know worship at Communion, then there is no worship.
Communion sums up all the major elements of worship. The richness of
Communion leads into worship. If we worshipped once for two minutes,
something will have happened to us because we've met with God. It is not
a question of how long but of quality. We don't have to worship God only
at Communion, but at Communion God particularly chooses to meet with us.
The Lord's Table is the communion sense of "I have met with Him". He
chooses to do this. In Mt 18:20 it says, "Where two or three are
gathered in My name, there am I with them". At Communion this happens.
Communion is not just a wooden table, bread and wine. For the man of faith discerns sense beyond experience, i.e., the presence of God at Communion.
The first element of worship is Communion; the Lord has chosen to meet with us at the breaking of bread.
2. Worship is never an individual exercise.
Don't meet with God until we sort out our relationship with one another.
We can't say our relationship with God has nothing to do with one
another. Without church and others, we don't have a relationship with
God. Our relationship to God is absolutely dependent on our relationship
with one another. If you remember you have something wrong in
relationships with others, don't bother to go before God; God doesn't
take offering from filthy hands or hearts. He wants us to be right with
our brothers and sisters. The relationship is like that between husband
and wife, parents and children. Repentance is not just between God and
me. Therefore the Spiritual Principle is to get right with brothers ands
sisters before approaching God.
3. Communion is never bogged down with formality.
Jesus deliberately takes formality out of Christianity and put into
it the family situation. He did it in the upper room. Human beings
degenerate into formality. During Communion in the NT church, all drank
out of one cup. If it disturbs our sense of hygiene, then there is no
sense of family. Remove formality for it is the sign of dead
spiritualism. If we depend on stained glasses, the performance of the
priest, etc., then we don't know how to worship in spirit. Formality is
actually distracting and is the enemy of spirituality.
Summary
1. The Lord has promised His presence at Communion. If we don't meet
with Him there we meet Him nowhere. But if we meet with Him there then
we meet him elsewhere. "Where two or three are gathered together, there
am I with them."
2. Other people are vital to our worship. Whether we like them or not,
they are His body. If we want to touch Him, we touch Him through His
body. If we can't love the brother we can see, how can we love God whom
we can't see? If we don't love them, we are lying to say that we love
God; we are finished with worship of God.
3. Make worship come spontaneously deep from the heart, away with formality. Search our hearts and be quiet before the Lord and see if our relationship with brothers and sisters is right. If not, after Communion, go and say, "I am sorry."
So we are concerned that formality be removed. We don't know that if God gave the bread or cup first. In the Lucan account, the Lord blessed the cup first and then broke the bread. The Scriptures deliberately don't want us to fall into a pattern.
If we are to worship the Lord in Spirit, then why do we need the bread and the cup? Scripture answers plainly and wonderfully: "The spiritual finds expression in the material." For example, love must be expressed among brothers and sisters. In the same way, the Lord Jesus gives these emblems to focus our worship to Him. The spiritual finds expression in practical ways.
Even though expressing it may make us uncomfortable, but then our aim is that Christ may be glorified in this body of mine whether in life or in death. The Spirit of God, the power and His love will finds expression in having one mind and heart.
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Communion Series:
- Worship
- A Sharing in the Body of Christ
- God's Expression of Love to Us
- Pressing toward the Mark of the High Calling
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