Well, it’s not the praise and worship you see today.
Brother Jim Modlish preached this lesson in January 2004. Paul said in Phil 3:3, “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” We are, therefore, to follow what Paul said and “worship God in the spirit … and have no confidence in the flesh.”
Today, the worship in worship centers and praise and worship services is confidence in the flesh and has nothing to do with worshipping God in the spirit. As a matter of fact, Paul mentioned the word “worship” only four times in his letters, and twice those references were negative.
Looking through the Bible, we can find what God has to say about worship. This Bible study will help us to understand what real worship in a “worship” service is. Real worship is:
1. Gen. 22:5 – A service where people are prepared to sacrifice by faith. Abraham had received Isaac as a gift from God and he was prepared to give him back to God. There were no stylish worship leaders at this worship service. There was no rock and roll music accompanying Abraham and Isaac’s worship. Their worship was simply a demonstration of faith by sacrifice.
When you bring to God a mind free from distractions, a heart prepared to hear, and a voice to sing praises, you are worshipping God.
2. Gen 24:22-26, 52 – A service where people are getting saved. Here you have a picture of the Holy Spirit (Abraham’s servant) searching for a bride (saved people in the church) for Isaac (Jesus Christ). The servant worshipped God when he found a bride for Isaac. And we worship God when we bring people to a service where the Holy Spirit is bringing folks to Jesus (i.e., Jn 12:20-22).
3. Ex 4:29-31 – A service where people believe God concerning future freedom. God told Moses to tell the people that he was going to get them out of bondage in Egypt. He was going to lead them to Canaan. That’s a picture of us being taken out of the world and being taken to heaven. Therefore, a good message on the rapture makes for a good worship service.
4. Ex 12:21-27 – A service where people sing about the blood. Here the Jews worshipped God for the shed blood of the Passover lambs. Jesus is our Passover lamb. And we have great worship songs in our hymn books about Jesus shedding his blood for our sins. There are songs like, “When I see the blood,” “Nothing but the blood,” “There is a fountain,” etc. Therefore, a service where these old songs on the blood are sung is a great worship service.
5. Ex 24:1-8 – A service where people “Amen!” (agree to obey) the words of the Bible. Here the people agreed to obey God concerning words that were written in a book. Therefore, a good preaching service is a good worship service.
6. Ex 33:1-10 – A service where people put off the world. The Jews went into the wilderness with a bunch of Egyptian junk. God said “put off thy ornaments,” which they did and then they worshipped God. Their worship started after their love for Egypt was dealt with. Love for the things of the world gets in the way of our love for God. So good worship begins as our love for the world diminishes.
Bro. Modlish concluded that trusting Jesus Christ to save you is a great way to worship God. Following an invitation, a lady came forward and received Jesus Christ as her Savior. What a way to worship God!!!