Worship 301: Trivializing the Sublime

MONDAY

As we learned last week, the first commandment has to do with discipleship. It demands that we give our wholehearted allegiance to the Lord. The second commandment warns us against worshipping the One True God under some false pretense or methodologies. Remember Naaman in 2 Kings 5:1-14? Would Naaman have been blessed by God if he would have pursued his own form of obeying the Lord? When was it that God’s blessing was fulfilled in Naaman’s life? In the same way, you too have to abandon your own ideologies about the Lord and worship Him according to His Word. Write Jeremiah 13:10 on an index card and memorize it.

TUESDAY

Many seek to worship God in a way that would appease their conscience. They seek to be justified by tangible actions and rule following rather than by the promise of God. Read Matthew 7:21-27. These verses clearly teach the importance of relying of the Words of Jesus ONLY for a true worship of the Lord. Did the people in verses 22-23 feel justified by the actions they had done? Did the people in verse 22 feel justified by just declaring Jesus vocally? What are you trying to do, or appear to do, in order to justify yourself? Do you seek the approval of other people, like your Mom and Dad? Are you seeking the approval of brothers or sisters in the church? Are you just going by what seems right to you? See Proverbs 14:12. Write this passage on an index card and memorize it.

WEDNESDAY

The Pharisees were people that had reduced God’s religion to rule-keeping, a form of idolatry that is still very common in many professed “Christians”. Read Matthew 23:16-28. Why were the Pharisees called hypocrites? Do you think that they believed they were worshipping God? What did they substitute God for? What did they substitute devotion for? Whose approval were they looking for? How did they reduce God’s grace to the trivial? How is this rule-keeping idolatry? What were they focusing on in verses 16-22? Instead of using their means of worship to seek out the Lord, they treated the means as the end itself. They worshipped the objects instead of their Creator. They have lost connection with the Lord (Colossians 2:18-19). What does it mean when Jesus says they are straining gnats and swallowing camels? Do you think they forgot the reasons why the were doing all those things in the first place? Also notice what this rule-keeping produced hypocrisy. Write Galatians 5:4 on an index card and memorize it.

THURSDAY

Yesterday we say how the Pharisees, in their search for truth, got distracted by religion! Is it possibly for religion to get in the way of knowing Jesus? Of course! Our minds are continuously seeking satisfaction and understanding. We’re always seeking to package and define the truth of God. What we need to train ourselves to do is to let the Lord always define our parameters by His Word. Throughout the ages, many so-called Christian churches have even attempted to define their faith by establishing creeds, confessions and charters. People have sought God in statues that cry, wells that grant wishes and churches that physically heal the body. Jesus confided in the Samaritan woman that any such form of worship where the focus is attached to some material object is not the worship that the Lord seeks. Read John 4:20-25. What kind of worship were the Samaritans and the Jews used to? Was their worship attached to sacred objects and rituals? What about the New Covenant? How is the New Covenant different? What time was that which Jesus was speaking of in verse 23? Don’t we sometimes place some superstition on crosses that we carry or symbols we want to identify with? What kind of mentality does that reveal? What should our focus be on? Write Jonah 2:8 on an index card and memorize it.

FRIDAY

As a result of paying attention to anything other than Jesus, our minds can turn towards idolatry. The second command has given us a lot of insight into God’s spiritual nature and holiness. Nothing that we can reproduce here on Earth can even compare or be in the same sentence as God’s holiness and vastness. Yet, many continue worshipping according to their misunderstanding instead of according to godly wisdom from the Scriptures. If you didn’t get a chance to do the Wednesday Discussion, use those questions and the Scripture reading to see what idolatry brings to the idolater. Isn’t it awesome what we’ve been learning about God’s nature as we examine His commands!!?? Write John 4:24 on an index card and memorize it.

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