Worship the Lord

From the very beginning of man, our God wanted to be worshiped.  We see this with Cain and Abel where Abel offered an acceptable sacrifice to God, but Cain did not.  From this story we know that God had given instruction to these people about what He wanted from them in worship.  But all through the Bible we learn of the importance of acceptable worship and respect toward our God.

Leviticus 10 tells us the story of Nadab and Abihu.  They offered "strange fire," a type of incense to God, and He ended their lives because of it.  The punishment seems extreme, but these men knew better and took it upon themselves to violate God with strange worship.

Early worship consisted of building altars to God and making sacrifices.  Later God would give a special Law to the Hebrew, Jewish, people, brought to them through Moses.  In this process God set up priests and a High Priest to assist with proper worship.  He instructed them to build a tabernacle which would include the Ark of the Covenant.  The Ark was a box of about 4 feet by 2 and a half feet by 2 and a half feet; it was to be reverenced.  There were very specific instructions as to who could see it, when it could be seen, and how it was to be handled, and every Jew knew that.  In 2 Samuel 6 we read of the Ark being moved.  It wasn't being handled properly and trouble was about to happen.  Uzzah, walking along beside the Ark, saw that it was about to fall.  He reached out to steady it but was struck dead by God.  His action seems only reasonable, justifiable, from a human viewpoint.  But God had given specific instructions about how to handle His Ark.  Man has his (our) own ideas about what pleases God.  But we need to be looking at what He says, what He teaches and what He wants.

So we jump to the New Testament.  We learn that Jesus was a good Jew and that He kept the Jewish Law during His lifetime.  One of the last things He did before dying was to take the Passover feast with His apostles.  But after He leaves them, as recorded at the end of Luke and the beginning of Acts, a new age begins.  Followers become "Christians."  The "church" is born.  Sunday worship begins, where before it had always been on Saturday. Christians took the communion, the Lord's Supper, when they came together to worship, an example being Acts 20:7. 

So what is the message for us today?  First, we must recognize that worship is very important to God.  He wants it, and He wants it done His way.  And what is His way?  We go to His Word, the Bible, and see what He has His early followers doing in terms of worship.  They were meeting each week on Sunday, taking the communion to "remember" Him, preaching, praying, singing, giving a contribution as needed.  Thus, we should follow the example, the pattern given to us by these early followers.  We need to please Him with our worship.....and do it His way.

Thanks for reading.  Feel the love....