John 4:24
John 4:24 “God is a Spirit (a Spiritual Being) and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (reality).”
All of my life, I have associated worship with singing praises either in church, or in my devotional time. Once, I am delighted to say I was with a group of ladies at a restaurant when spontaneous songs of worship began. It was wonderful. My problem is that I can’t sing. “I can’t carry a tune in a bucket” as my sweet mother would say. (I inherited my singing abilities from her.) But I love to worship. Singing praise to the Lord brings us into the Presence of the Lord and as C.S. Lewis says, “In worship, God imparts Himself to us.” Wow! If we really believed that don’t you think that we would be worshiping ALL the time!
But today I would like to share a different aspect of worship, about which most people never think. Does our act of worship cost us something?
"Maybe the breakthrough you're waiting for requires a sacrifice of praise. Worship that costs you something." —Joshua Swanson, The Walk Podcast
Hebrews 13:15 “Through Him, therefore, let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His Name.”
Let me give you a couple of examples from the Word of God. The first example is the story of Abraham and Isaac. Hebrews 11:17 & 19 “By faith Abraham, when he was put to the test [while the testing of his faith was still in progress], had already brought Isaac for an offering; he who had gladly received and welcomed [God’s] promises was ready to sacrifice his only son,….19 For he reasoned that God was able to raise [him] up even from among the dead. Indeed, in the sense that Isaac was figuratively dead [potentially sacrificed], he did [actually] receive him back from the dead.” Abraham’s faith was counted unto him for righteousness. Abraham was willing to give the Lord his most important possession. Isaac was his heritage, his heir, his son!
2 Samuel 24:24“ King David said to Araunah, No, but I will buy it of you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God of that which costs me nothing. So, David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.”
What are some things that cost us something, that are a sacrifice for us, that we could give as sacrifice of praise and worship.
Our Time
Our Finances
Our service
Ourselves
Our prayers
Romans 12:1 “I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship.”
Don’t let singing songs of praise and worship on Sunday morning in your church service be your only time to worship. Let’s ask our Lord Jesus to broaden our horizons, to show us ways to worship that are so pleasing to Him. Then we become a sweet-smelling sacrifice that rises up before the throne of God. 2 Corinthians 2:15 “For we are the sweet fragrance of Christ [which exhales] unto God, [discernible alike] among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.” As we become that sweet smelling fragrance in worship to Jesus, our Lord imparts Himself to us. What an excellent thought!