Pre-Symposium Verse, as shared by Andrew Farley:
Hebrews 13:15
KJV By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
NKJV Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
NASB Through Him then, let’s continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips praising His name.
NASB 1995 Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.
NASB 1977 Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.
LSB Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess His name.
AMP Through Him, therefore, let us 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.
Pastor Joedy Session 1
But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
John 4:23-24
We worship in Spirit and in Truth. We don’t worship in flesh and in falsehood. And when you accept the Truth, who is Christ, you worship in Spirit (who was poured out upon His ascension) and in Truth (as Christ Himself is the Truth).
There is true worship and false worship. True worship isn’t about following rules and do’s and don’t’s. It’s not worshipping the creation more that its Creator.
Sunrise and sunset signal times to worship the Creator. To complete your worship, enjoy creation and its Creator. We’re all His greatest creations… as we are, indeed, fearfully and wonderfully made.
…although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Romans 1:21
We were made to worship. If we aren’t worshipping Christ, we are certainly worshipping things that aren’t meant to be worshipped; or, something or someone else.
At this time Pastor Joedy recalls the Baguio Earthquake, and how the church needed to relocate to a suitable area to worship (in Baguio Colleges Foundation, now the University of the Cordilleras); He led worship and was approached and told by a lady who said that ‘God was using him mightily’.
It’s the same thing with anyone who chooses to be involved in worship, as in participants of conventional worship teams as we know them today: God uses us mightily, indeed. Our labor is not in vain.
“You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power;
For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.”
Revelations 4:11
In other versions, Pastor Joedy points out that ‘by (His) PLEASURE (we) exist and were created’. In true worship we not only enjoy God, but we realize that God takes pleasure in us and enjoys us as well.
We aren’t just made to lead worship – no, before that, we’re made to, simply, worship.
Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”
Genesis 22:2-5
Context – Abraham was once Abram, the change of name coming with a promise – ‘exalted father’ to ‘father of a multitude’. Therefore, when Isaac was born, he was a son confirming the promise. But here we see that God asked Abraham to offer up Isaac as a sacrifice.
Abraham and Sarah waited for Isaac for 25 years, and here God was asking to offer him up as a sacrifice. And not at a time, like when he was just born, but they watched him grow and enjoyed him, even.
At this time Pastor Joedy appealed to emotion, emphasizing the pain of a father seeing his own children suffer… but he pointed something wonderful out, in Abraham’s response:
Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”
The word used for ‘worship’ in this verse is shâchâh / shaw-khaw’ / A primitive root; to depress, that is, prostrate (especially reflexively in homage to royalty or God): – bow (self) down, crouch, fall down (flat), humbly beseech, do (make) obeisance, do reverence, make to stoop, worship.
So in other words, Abraham responded with worship. This is in contrast to our older messages, which emphasize the ‘Isaac’ we were supposed to offer in worship, be it smartphones, video games, or whatever.
But we ought to really look at the nuance here: Worship is sacrifice, and sacrifice is worship. The idea of sacrifice is to somehow ‘make you uncomfortable’, and in Abraham’s case, it even meant death.
And, honestly, this isn’t something we can appreciate, much less perform wholeheartedly, on our own. BUT let’s also notice that when Isaac more or less figured out that HE was the sacrifice, we don’t read anything in the Bible of his resistance.
As we know, Isaac was bound, and Abraham was about to plunge his knife into his own son, before he was stopped by an angel, who told him to take the ram trapped in the thorns and to sacrifice him in place of his son.
The ram was a representation of Christ, who died in our place.
We see here that worship is sacrifice, but MORE appreciation and gratitude of the greatest sacrifice made – Christ. It is our prayer that those who do play instruments, or sing, or really, even claim that the act of worship encompasses our entire lives, do so FROM the sacrifice of Christ.
And when we’re so involved, so those we lead would also get themselves involved. True worship says, understands, and most importantly, CELEBRATES: God loves us so much that He did not withhold His only Son from me.
Pastor Joedy’s tips:
Imagine worshipping, with the triune God enjoying right in front of you.
Meditate on the lyrics, and be true and present to the songs you are singing.
Sacrifice and offering You did not desire;
My ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.
Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart.”
Psalm 40:6-8
The power behind worship is the cross of Christ. It wasn’t us, but the Son of God who delighted to do His will.
The word for worship in the New Testament is proskuneō / pros-koo-neh’-o / From G4314 and probably a derivative of G2965 (meaning to kiss, like a dog licking his master’s hand); to fawn or crouch to, that is, (literally or figuratively) prostrate oneself in homage (do reverence to, adore): – worship.
Side note – I have yet to adjust to how dogs apparently appreciate us by way of licking our hands. I’ll let my dogs do that, I’ll welcome them doing that from now on.
The depth of our love to God is only as deep as our understanding of God’s love for us.
“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
John 4:24
Worshipping in spirit and truth isn’t as complicated as so many folks make it. It’s worshipping in love.
Worship is not merely a show of affection, but Pastor Joedy adds: it’s EXTRAVAGANT affection – I mean, it’s a mere response, versus an approach: No longer do start with how we love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, etc.; No, we love HIM because HE LOVED US FIRST.
Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”
Luke 7:44-47
Our response varies… but our prayer is that we all start from appreciation of God’s extravagant love for us, and only then, no matter who we are or what we’ve been through, we respond, naturally, with extravagant affection.
Another side note: You don’t need to look too far to see how much you’ve been forgiven. Most of us look to the past – but when we behold the glory, grace and love of God through Christ, eventually, we find and exhale, here in the present: Who AM I, that YOU ARE so mindful of ME!?
Something else: I’m not about to quantify or measure how folks understand just how much they are forgiven… or, I’m not about to monitor ‘extravagance’ by way of how much they shout or dance. Going back to the lady with the alabaster jar, it wasn’t as ‘extroverted’ as some folk in this symposium are expecting it to be.
(Fade to video montage of Christ’s scourging, with Worthy Is The Lamb playing in the background)
Until the next post, God bless us all.
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