What is Worship? Part 1b

Happy Memorial Day. It's been a while since I posted the first section. According to the date of my saved draft, I started this post on Christmas Eve. Oops; i've been busy. ^__^ Here is the number two of the nine parts to this study. in this section my sources are John Gill and John Frame. I am picking up where I left off, which was answering the question "who is the object of worship?"

Put simply, God is the object of worship. If you are worshiping someone/thing else, you are in sin and need to repent. It's as easy as that. There is a plethora of articles, audio sermons, and videos that I could point you too for more depth on the topic. So much so that I don't know where to start, so I am moving on. Worship is just too important to put things simply and leave it at that. We worship the one true God, Jehovah (YHWH - LORD). There are different aspects that one can and needs to keep in mind while worshiping. You can emphasize different parts of God's character for different approaches. One must worship with His essence in mind, which is simple, uncompounded, immutable, infinite, and eternal. Remember that He is the Lord "thy" God. In other words, He is your creator, benefactor, supporter, and preserver. According to John Gill, the name Elohim is derived from an Arabic word that signifies to worship. However, I haven't found any other sources that say that, and have only found that it is the plural of El. His citation for it does not even seem to be in English. He could be saying that because El means God, or a diving being, the very nature of which evokes worship. Which happens to be the very argument of this section. ^__^

Trinity
We worship God the One, and we also worship God the three. We worship Him as the triune Godhead, three in one. Baptism is a form of worship and it is administered in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is done under God's authority and command, and to baptise into the name of a creature would be idolatrous. Prayer is another form of worship and it is, imho, one of the best displays of the triunity of God at work. Access and address is most frequently made to the Father because He has no office. Christ is our mediator to the Father, and the Spirit assists our supplications to the Father. Through prayer (not solely of course, nor that it is by any work of our own) the Father grants us, Jesus is the petition for, and the Spirit is the increase of grace and peace. Of course, we pray to Jesus or the Spirit directly as well. Acts of faith, hope, and love are also forms of worship. The Father was the object of Christ's love as man and mediator, so He is the object of love of those that believe in Him (John 14:31). As Jesus' people, we hope in Him for happiness, and have an affectionate devotion for Him. Graces from the Spirit are exercised on the Spirit; we have faith, trust, and hope that He will finish the good work.

Covenant Lordship
This part is an idea that John Frame really likes to push, and rightly so. We worship God as our covenant Lord, our prophet, priest, and king. His relation to us is lord, but it is not a mutually dependent covenant. His divinity precedes our existence. He is the one that is not only in complete control (king role) of the universe, but created it as well. We are totally dependent on Him and our worship should reflect that. His authority (prophet role) denotes his right to be obeyed. We should not question Him. His authority covers all other authorities that may be. He is above all, and therefore should take precedence and those finite authority should be in submission to Him as well. His authority covers all of life and all the ends of the earth. Just as He created the universe, there is no corner that is outside His realm. Our worship should reflect this also. Lastly, as our covenant Lord, He has a great presence (priest role). He is always with us and involved with us. This last role presupposes the previous two, and none of them are independent of the others. They are tied together so closely and are but a different perspective of God's almighty power. This one, i think, is the one that can really bring worship home for someone. How can you know that God is there with you and not worship properly? The very God who gave and sustains your life is there with you. All powerful but made Himself available for us, for our happiness and peace, for His glory. That idea alone should bring you to your knees.

To the exclusion of all others
One cannot worship God in addition to others. A person must not worship idols. This includes images of things in heaven, earth; or the sea or man-made works of gold and silver. All these things are not bad, but it can only point back to God's glory at best and is not something that should be worshiped. This also includes idols of the heart. This one is more tricky since it can often be subtle and not as obvious as worshiping a statuette. A person must also not worship creatures in the heavens or on the earth. It is sinful to worship the sun, moon, or stars. They are but mere creations and with all their radiance only reflect back a fragment of God's glory. We should not worship men, heroes, or kings/presidents, whether good or bad. Even the most virtuous, honorable person is only a sinner created in the image of God. Anyone who worships a man is missing the point. Lastly, we don't even worship angels, and especially not demons. These are celestial beings but they too were created for the purpose of worshiping God and should not be worshiped themself.

Gospel-centered
Most importantly, our worship is to be with the beautiful truth of the gospel front and center. In the garden (of Eden), Adam and Eve had a pure worship, an adulterated paradise of life and God. It was a pretty sweet deal, but, well you know the story. At any rate, pre-Fall it was a unique type of worship. Afterwards, the worship centered around sacrifices. I will get more into more detail on this in part eight of this study. Times where the word group for worship is used in the old testament is referring to the various sacrifices and detailed procedures that God instructed Israel to do. It was atonement of sins of sorts, but it didn't work since they had to continually do it. It was worship because they are displaying the knowledge that they are in need of a savior. It's a recognizing of this Supreme Being and being in total submission to Him. Christ fulfilled so many things on the cross, among which is worship. We now worship a risen Lord. Where all worship in the old testament was a shadow, a pointing forward of things to come, worship in the new testament and beyond is a fulfillment of that. Every act of worship today should point to the wonderful work of Christ. There is no worship without a true understanding and appreciation of the mercy and grace of our great God.

Stayed tune for the next discussion, where we will look into the qualifications of the worshiper. Yep, not any joe can just decide he feels like worshiping. There are some important qualities that must be present first for his worship to have any significant value, by God's grace (ooh spoiler: that is one!).

Life:Gallery

So maybe you are wondering what sort of fun stuff has been keeping me from posting? What sort of crazy adventures does Becky go on when not playing payroll manager M-F 830-530?

A couple weeks ago I finally drew up the courage to open a box at the bottom of a stack of boxes at the front of my garage. I was afraid because I couldn't remember what was in there but I knew whatever it was, it had to be ruined. I procrastinated through another rainy season. When I saw the writing on top of the box - "FRAGILE! If anything happens to the contents of this box, I will have to kill you!!! (Have a nice day)" - my heart sunk because I realized my porcelain dolls were in there. The top layer seemed in good order (a birthday present from Nathaniel was still in its box and I would be über sad if it were messed up). As I (ok we, I halted the project until Nathaniel came over) rifled through spiders, we realized the dolls at the bottom (therefore, the biggest ones) were too moldy to even attempt to clean. So we salvaged the parts and had a bit of fun in the process.





This weekend me and the girls went dress shopping for them. They helped me pick out the fabrics for my dress. Afterwards we had lunch in Little Tokyo. Ten cool points to whoever can guess who posed first in this picture.

I meant to post more, but I am hungry and anxious to try the Lime Shrimp ramen I made. Bokurano is calling. Until next time...whenever that may be. I don't write much because I am working on the wedding website when I am on the computer with extra time.

My Testimony

Below is the testimony I gave a few weeks ago as part of the membership process at my church.

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One day a couple decided to get their daughter a puppy. They took her to the pound, pointed to an adorable mutt lying in a cage and asked her if she liked that puppy. The girl answered positively and her eyes shined with delight as she gazed upon her soon-to-be pet, now standing and wagging its tail, staring back at her with equal excitement. With that, the parents took the girl back home, leaving the puppy behind. They dug out an old doghouse from the back of the garage and scrubbed it of the dust that accumulated over the years. They bought new food and water dishes and chewtoys for the puppy. Sometimes they would buy treats for the puppy as well. When asked if she had a pet, the girl would tell people about her puppy at home. She loved to spend time shaking a chewtoy or grabbing the leash for a walk. There was just one problem; through all this, the puppy was still at the pound. The dogfood spilled over the wet ground around as it was filled more and more but with no dog to eat it or drink the water. The girl must've been quite a sight, waving a squeaky rubber newspaper in the air, and dragging an empty leash around the neighborhood. When people came to visit, they wondered where the famous puppy was, but didn't inquire about it. If the family said it was there, it must be around somewhere out of site, perhaps sleeping peacefully in a bright corner of the yard. They would know if they had a puppy, and who was anyone to question that? Of course, this poses a major problem. The little girl liked owning a dog, but -in reality not owning one- never experienced the pleasure that comes from from actually owning a dog. And as time went on, she has a false sense of security, relying on her non-existent guard dog to protect her as she took the leash on a walk or left the house empty. Her family and friends truly believed she had a dog, so the girl never for one minute doubted her ownership of that puppy at the pound.

This was me for most of my life, if you can compare faith to an animal. At four I said the prayer and at five I was dunked in the Pacific by a Calvary Chapel South Bay pastor. I thought I was set. One time at AWANA, which I was a part of from 2nd grade through junior high, we had to give our testimonies. My mom told me that I had what was called a boring testimony: I was a good Christian all of my life. I never understood what so many people had against God and Christianity, or why there was so much controversy surrounding religion. I didn't get why they wouldn't just say the prayer. It only took a minute! They could carry on with their strange customs if they just accept Jesus into their heart, and it would all be good. My family stopped going to church when I was 12, just when I was old enough to go to the secondary school class. We continued with AWANA, but I stopped going when I got to high school, because no churches in the area offered a varsity program. I didn't want to join a youth group because I was basically just in AWANA for the verse memorization and games (ie, competition). Fellowshiping and spiritual growth was not my goal. Eventually, I started going to church again at 19. I had been feeling guilty that I didn't go. I couldn't state a reason to do so, but I just felt like I should.

I didn't get the gospel. I didn't even know what it meant. Even though the church I attended when I said the sinner's prayer seems to believe that you can be saved without hearing the gospel, that's not the case. I understood the term as a music genre and what the first four books of the new testament are called, but that was about it. You can forget about atonement. I thought that Jesus offered himself up as a hostage exchange for a group of Jews that had been captured by the Romans. I figured they considered that an even trade because, well, he's JESUS. I believed in free will and thought God created the world because He was bored and needed company. I had never heard words such as Fall, Atonement, Sanctification, etc. I thought Grace was just a characteristic or nice girl's name. I was familiar with Christian songs (contemporary and traditional), but didn't pay much mind to them or saw beyond a superficial meaning or nice beat. Church meant pasting cotton balls to sheep shapes. I didn't get why religion was so controversial or why people didn't want to rather be safe than sorry and take a couple minutes to accept Jesus in their heart so they can go to Heaven and watch the angels play harps all day long too.

I can't give a specific date when I became saved. I can pinpoint it sometime while I was reading Desiring God by John Piper, which did take me a while because there's a lot in there and I didn't always find time to sit down and read. I just know that who I was before and after reading it was entirely two different people. I don't attribute it to the book, of course. It was purely the work of the Holy Spirit. As far as the means used, attending Monday night apologetics tore down my worldview and wrong conceptions about religion and life, while Desiring God built it up to the right focus (that's not to say Faith Defenders wasn't edifying). I, like many people, had wrestled with the meaning of life. I didn't believe true happiness existed, that we were only sometimes blissful for a while. The only thing I knew my whole life was that God must've had to put us here for a reason, and we'd have to deal with it. I found out that life is so much more than just dealing. We have meaning and purpose, the basic core of which is to glorify God. I was a new person, and found myself "happy" even when I had every reason to be sad. There was now a firm foundation where there was just sand or pixie dust or something before. I saw a deeper beauty to everything. Most importantly, I had a strong confidence and hope that Jesus paid for my sins, and I was determined to show my respect and appreciation, what little I could give.

Maybe it's a little silly to compare one's faith to an animal, but it's even sillier to think that a little prayer could save someone. Thankfully, by God's grace and providence, I was saved from a meaningless life of guilt and humanism, and brought to a new life of continuous joy and gratitude towards our gracious Creator, ever-loving Savior, and vitalizing Comforter. I am glad to have found a church that follows the Bible and look forward to being a part of Faith Community Church, to edify and be edified.