THE FACES OF WORSHIP

Shout with joy to God, all the earth!

Sing the glory of his name;

make his praise glorious!

Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds!

So great is your power

that your enemies cringe before you.

All the earth bows down to you;

they sing praise to you

they sing praise to your name."

(Psalms 66.1-4, NIV)

How awesome are His deeds, how fearful His works! Here we ought to consider the word "awesome", (translated "terrible" in our King James Bible); it's from a Hebrew word meaning to cause dread, reverential fear, a standing in awe before God as we consider His mighty works, His lovingkindness and unbounded mercy to each of us. Reverence, of course, has within it the seed of worship, for when we hold the Godhead in awe and reverence, it's an attitude of exalting Him while we freely acknowledge that in ourselves we're nothing before Him.

Yet, (and this is truly gracious), we are allowed to know that the inworking of His Spirit makes us SOMETHING IN HIM -- for HE MAKES us something in Himself --

"So great is your power" -- not just displays of brutish strength and irresistible force -- but the absolute majesty, and glory of His omnipotence! The more He allows Himself to be revealed the more creation will bow before Him in worship and awe. Yes, it's true "...you are a God who hides Himself, O God and Savior of Israel" (Isaiah 45.15), and He has worked out much of His purpose "behind the scenes", as it were. But it won't always be so: it is written in Revelation 1.7, "Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye shall see him" and "kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard they will understand" (Isaiah 52.15).

(See also Romans 15.21 and let the reader understand!)

"All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing praise to your name". There's TOTALITY in these words, an all inclusiveness that negates the doctrines of man that saves a favored few, a small remnant snatched from corruption, while the remainder of mankind is either destroyed or imprisoned in a place of torment "forever and ever". NOT SO! ALL THE EARTH will come to this place of worship before Him who has provided so great salvation!! "Then I heard EVERY creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:

'To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb

be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever'".

(Revelation 15.13)

"Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

and gave him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus EVERY knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and EVERY tongue confess that Jesus Christ is LORD,

to the glory of God the Father"

(Philippians 2.9-11, NIV)

Please note that in the phrase "that at the name of Jesus" the Greek word translated "at" is also often translated "by", "with", "on", or "within", and in some cases "by means of". So IN His name, BY His name, WITH His name, et cetera, all shall confess His Lordship.

The Holy Spirit used Paul to give an unqualified view of this in a short statement in 1 Corinthians 12.3, "Therefore I make known to you, that NO ONE speaking by the Spirit of God says, 'Jesus is accursed', and NO ONE can say, 'Jesus is Lord', except by the Holy Spirit".

The truth of the first part of the statement stands on the most fundamental and obvious premise, because the Holy Spirit, moving upon and in man, would never cause man to declare Jesus Christ is accursed. The second part is equally true, for without the inworking, (the inspiration), of the Holy Spirit to transform man, no man can truly call Jesus Christ LORD. Such true confession comes from the heart out of a RELATIONSHIP with and the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

In another place Jesus told us of those who would say to Him: "...'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And I will declare to them 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness'". (Matthew 7.22-23, NASB)

The critical word is "knew": He will tell them that He had not yet an intimate knowledge of them in the true servant-Lord relationship. LIP SERVICE DOESN'T COUNT! A man can mouth the word "LORD", sing it, shout it , eulogize it -- whatever -- but if that man's heart doesn't acknowledge the LORD relationship the whole show is vanity and must be purged with OUR LORD'S judgements until absolute surrender is made. "Get right with GOD!" the road-side signs admonish -- and the crucial step is complete surrender.

The upshot of this logomachy is that any knee that bows to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord will have been moved on by the Holy Spirit to bring forth that confession, so it can be uttered as a WORSHIPFUL CONFESSION given in spirit and in truth. It's no wonder God has purposed to "pour out My Spirit upon ALL FLESH" (Joel 2.28) and that "ALL FLESH shall see the salvation of the Lord" (Luke 3.6). Before God's purpose of the ages has been completed He will have restored all creation so that they will SEE -- (EXPERIENCE) -- HIS SALVATION, be filled with HIS Spirit and be able to truly confess that HE IS LORD. Rest assured, ALL creation shall worship Him!!

Another interesting word in the cited scripture, "at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow", is the Greek word,"KAMPTO" meaning "to bend or bow" and in our New Testament is used only in combination with the Greek word for "knee". This then is a gesture of full inner submission in worship, and is linked to confession and surrender. It is a gesture of absolute, humble, obedience to God -- a willing, loving obedience that springs from the heart's core -- not mere lip-service. Truly, "...if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord", and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved". (Romans 10.9, NIV).

The ultimate victory is certain, and marvelous in our eyes, but before we become a part of that great messenger company written of in Revelation 14.7 that says, "...with a loud voice, 'Fear God and give Him glory...worship Him...'" we must, ourselves, be brought to a place of greater reality in worship. The deeper our own experience the clearer will be our message calling others to WORSHIP HIM. Because we have "known in part" we can only produce an "in part" message, but the more completely He merges with us, the richer is the life, that living water Jesus told us of, that flows out of us to bless the entire creation. This "living water" is a "worship-message" -- a "life-message" that, though fully directed God-ward, will reach out and awaken in others a longing to know Him also.

We long to see all mankind come to Him, and just as surely as we worship Him yet more in spirit and truth, it will awaken a great desire in MEN to SEEK HIM and WORSHIP HIM, too.

That's real evangelism without guitars, costumes, holy-hype, bamboozling battalogy or joss-stick jitterbuggery!!! Adoration of and obedience to Him will stir in others a desire for His reality.

(For a list of the tools and procedures God has ordained to bring about this great awakening and quash the pagan-tomfoolery so rampant in our almost holy religion, read 1 Timothy 2.1-8.)

WHERE are we to worship? Let's answer this ancient question and settle it in our own heart's-core before we try to reveal it to God's creation.

The Samaritan woman (a type and shadow of the present Romano-Protestant Pagan "church") said to our LORD "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship" (John 4.19-20). Jesus answered her, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall you worship the Father. But an hour is coming, AND NOW IS, when the true worshipper shall worship the Father in SPIRIT and TRUTH; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipper. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in SPIRIT and TRUTH" (John 4.21,23-24, NASB, my emphasis).

It seems mankind has always tried to locate the point of access to God in a particular area: in this mountain, "down in Jerusalem", "on Calvary's blood-splashed mount", "The New and Abundant Life Tabernacle", "The Praise and Texas Fox-trot Assembly", "First and Last Church of --" whatever! People, even those naming themselves Christian, think in terms of places, buildings, fellowships, organized religious institutions -- all decorated more or less with man-made offerings and conducted according to man's fallible rituals.

Certainly, worship can be offered in all of those places; or out on the lake in a boat, walking on trails or highways, in your chair by the fire, in your car -- God can be worshipped IN ALL PLACES if such worship is in SPIRIT AND TRUTH -- in spiritual reality!! True worship must flow from the heart and that can be any place, any time. For Paul and Silas it was at midnight in jail, with their feet fettered. It's not time or place that matters, but the condition of the hidden man of the heart. It must be IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH.

(It's interesting to note that the phrase "in spirit and truth" doesn't separate "spirit and truth" into two different entities. The figure is a "heniadys" -- "two for or from one", and strengthens the scripture thus: GOD is a spirit and they that worship Him must [note well, "must] worship Him spiritually, yes -- in a truly spirit-reality condition, too.)

Our Lord made it plain enough -- GOD IS A SPIRIT so HE is contacted, worshipped in spirit -- not just with the muddled up mind bumbling about in some formulaic prayer-and-praise-party.

One man of God, trying to explain Him in His Spirit being wrote "Conceive of God as excellent without any imperfection: a spirit without parts; great without quantity; perfect without quality; everywhere without place; powerful without members; understanding without ignorance; wise without reasoning; light without darkness; and when you have risen to the highest, conceive Him infinitely above all that you can conceive".

Truly, He is out of the sphere of the material, far beyond anything the finite mind of man can comprehend. Yet, (and this is wondrous), He is with us in every detail of our life, in every atom of our being. Man is ever limiting God, and the ancient accusation still stands -- "Again and again they put God to the test; they vexed the Holy One of Israel". (Psalm 78.41, NIV).

In another place Solomon states plainly, "But will God dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built." (1 Kings 8.27, NIV). Again in 2 Chronicles 2,6 he adds this thought "...Who then am I to build a temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices to Him?" Because the sacrifice was an actual animal sacrifice Solomon needed a place to slaughter it.

But we're past animal sacrifice and in the dimension of worshipping Him in SPIRIT, so the WHERE becomes rather irrelevant insofar as our needing a specific PLACE to worship. What we need is the proper condition of innermost heart, so that our worship of Him is in TRUTH -- as real to us as it is to Him.

"For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh", (Philippians 3.3, NIV). "But now that you know God -- rather are known by God -- how is it you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days an months and seasons and years." (Galatians 4.9-10, NIV).

Man seems to desire to box his worship into a time, ceremony, ritual, an appointed season, so he can carry out prescribed routines, going around and around, cycle after cycle -- and "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

We have not been called to worship by rote, going through forms, posturing and chanting, counting beads, stations, ad nauseam. It is IN OUR SPIRIT AND BY HIS SPIRIT that we are to worship GOD WHO IS SPIRIT. That's the realm of life -- and I say again, FLESH WORKS PRODUCE NO LIFE -- AND THEY ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE TO GOD.

Read how the Spirit used Paul to challenge us: "...did you receive the Spirit by works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" (Galatians 3.2-3, NASB).

I would never imply by these words that people are not to assemble, to share one with another, confirming faith to faith and heart to heart and collectively offering the sacrifice of praise to OUR LORD. We should all rejoice in those occasions when HE draws people together, in one spirit to magnify HIM. We must, though, be always aware that a lot of gatherings are more in "flesh" than in spirit. Corporate worship is IN ONE SPIRIT TOWARD GOD when the members of the body are already worshipping Him IN THEIR SPIRIT -- at home, in the car, on the job, -- wherever they may be -- WORSHIP isn't something to be put on and taken off like a "robe of righteousness". It is an ongoing attitude of the inner man, a state of being wherein we are in continuous obeisance to our Saviour-God, -- and Him ONLY.

And if such worship isn't "IN TRUTH", it's mockery. Matthew's Good News reports that Jesus said:

"These people honor me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

They worship me in vain;

their teachings are but rules taught by men."

Obedience to the teaching of men or the "traditions of the church" is really giving worship to man and tradition rather than to God. It's HIS WILL to which we must bow and in so doing magnify Him. Anytime our obedience is directed toward other than God we have sullied our God-ward worship and it is empty and meaningless.

It will probably help to refresh our memory with the meanings of the Greek and Hebrew of the word translated "worship".

First, the Hebrew word most often translated "worship" in our KJV is "sahah" (shachah) and means to bow down -- especially before God, to pay homage, to adore with or without prostration. It is by far the most used word meaning to come before God in worship, "bowing down" in the heart, letting our self-will be prostrated in obeisance to the Creator. It is NOT just an outward act, a ritual -- it IS an attitude of the very heart's-core. Such worship is not some silly churchified form of de-humanization, but a willing acknowledgement that we are servants, bond-slaves, of the Most High and only God -- our LORD and Master.

This thought is more clearly brought out in Greek -- "proskuneo" -- made up of two words, "pros", meaning towards, and "kuneo" meaning "to kiss". This word is the one most frequently rendered into English as "worship" in our New Testament -- and indicates an act of homage or reverence to God -- acknowledging His TOTAL AUTHORITY AND LORDSHIP.

(It may be profitable to note here that the worship of God is nowhere defined in scripture insofar as physical attitude, et cetera is concerned. Consideration of the various Greek verbs used to express the thought shows that it isn't confined to outward praise alone; it may be regarded as direct acknowledgement of God, His nature, His attributes and ways, especially with heart-praise and obedience in Spirit and Truth.)

"Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name;

worship the LORD in the splendor of His holiness".

(Psalm 29.2, NIV)

If holiness were emphasized in every letter the LORD has allowed us to write to you, it would still not be declared enough. "Holiness" is a word that means separation, to be set apart -- and we are set apart FROM the world and UNTO our LORD. It's a state of being, not only in the sense of cleanliness, sanctification and/or purity -- but a tremendous meaning of being SEPARATED TO HIM, to HIS will, to HIS purpose -- free from the horrible spirit and bondage of the world's corruption.

Let me point out that HE sets us apart, HE cleanses us -- and we can only BE as HE wills. The clay doesn't help the potter mold the vessel -- it just submits to the will of the Great Molder of Mankind.

There are many who still live in error, thinking that they can participate in the LORD while living in the state of carnal worldliness, as if the LORD'S altar stands in Egypt. Israel cried and groaned under bondage in Egypt -- but couldn't worship and participate in His life while there.

Remember? Moses said to Pharaoh, "Thus says the LORD, the god of Israel, 'Let my people go that they may celebrate a feast to ME in the wilderness'". And the feast was not to be celebrated just outside the door or near the boundaries of Egypt but "three days' journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God." And according to God's will, Pharaoh answered, "Who is the LORD that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD and I will not let Israel go". (Exodus 5.1-3)

The result: plagues continued to assault Egypt until the situation was unbearable and Pharaoh offered a compromise -- just as the world seeks to win through compromise. He called Moses and Aaron to him and gave permission, saying, "Go and sacrifice to your God in the land."

(Extraordinarily typical!! If the world can't persuade you otherwise, they'll join you and try to get you to do things on their own turf -- IN THE LAND -- so they'll continue to have some kind of control over you.) Moses said, "That would not be right. The sacrifices we offer the LORD our God would be detestable to the Egyptians. And if we offer sacrifices that are detestable in their eyes, will they not stone us? We must take a three day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God, as HE commands us". (See Exodus 8.25-27, NIV).

Briefly, we've seen how the ONE and only Savior-God requires COMPLETE surrender to His will. He accepts no adulterous mixture in worship, no "my will if it coincides with God's will" -- for He has promised in a certain place: "You shall have no other Gods before Me" and "You shall not commit adultery". It's patently evident from the testimony of the Sacred Scriptures that He accepts only worship that is in spirit, really and truly spiritual.

Further, place or time are of no import in worship; man's tradition and pagan-born rituals are an abomination in His eyes.

THIS DISSERTATION SHALL CONTINUE.