True Worship
by
John
MacArthur, Jr.
Word
of Grace Communications
ã 1982, 1985 by
John MacArthur, Jr.
All
rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission
in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied
in critical articles or reviews.
Note:
Permission was received for Bible Bulletin Board (www.biblebb.com) to transcribe this book for
posting on their website, and all original copyrights and other rights are
still in effect.
All
Scripture quotations, unless noted otherwise, are from the New Scofield
Reference Bible, King
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publications Data
MacArthur, John F.
True worship.
(John MacArthur’s Bible studies)
1. Public worship 2.
Public worship - Biblical teaching.
I.
Title II. Series: MacArthur,
John F.
Bible Studies.
BV15.M23 1985 264 85-25912
ISBN 0-8024-5108-X (pbk.)
ISBN: 0-8024-5108-X
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Printing/GB/Year 90 89 88 87 86 85
Printed in the
Contents
LESSON PAGE
1.
True Worship - Part 1 7
Tape GC 2004 - Selected
Scriptures
2.
True Worship - Part 2 18
Tape GC 2005 - Selected
Scriptures
3.
True Worship - Part 3 34
Tape GC 2006 - Selected
Scriptures
4.
True Worship - Part 4 46
Tape GC 2007 - Selected
Scriptures
5.
True Worship - Part 5 57
Tape GC 2008 - Selected
Scriptures
6.
True Worship - Part 6 70
Tape GC 2009 - Selected
Scriptures
7.
True Worship - Part 7 84
Tape GC 2010 - Selected
Scriptures
8.
True Worship - Part 8 94
Tape GC 2011 - Selected
Scriptures
These
Bible studies are taken from messages delivered by Pastor - Teacher John
MacArthur, Jr., at
WORD OF GRACE COMMUNICATIONS
Or, call the following toll-free number:
1-800-55-GRACE
Selected Scriptures Tape
GC 2004
1
True
Worship - Part 1
Outline
Introduction
A. Worship
Defined
B. Worship
Depicted
1. The fragrance of the
Tabernacle’s incense
2. The fragrance of Mary’s
ointment
C. Worship
Distinguished
Lesson
I. The
Importance of Worship
A. Scripture is Dominated with It
1. Old Testament passages
a) The
emphasis of the first commandment (Ex.20)
b) The
establishment of the Tabernacle (Ex.25)
c) The
encampment around the Tabernacle (Num.1:52-2:2)
d) The
example of the seraphim (Isa.6:1-2)
e) The
exhortation of the psalmist (Ps.95:6-7a)
2. New Testament passages
a) Romans
12:1-2
b) 1Peter
2:5
B. Destiny Is Determined by It
1. Unacceptable
worship
a) The worship
of false gods
(1)
Earthly/material gods
(2)
Heavenly/supernatural gods
Introduction
John
4:20-24 is going to be the touchstone for our study of worship. We’ll be coming
back to it intermittently throughout this series, and then we’ll look at it in
more depth. I believe John 4:20-24 is the most significant New Testament
passage on the subject of worship - so we must understand its truths.
Our
text is a conversation between the woman of
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now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in
truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit; and
they that worship him must worship Him in spirit and in truth:
(italics added). The word “worship” appears eight times in this passage. Therefore,
it is essential that we understand what our Lord is saying here.
Most
people go to church for what they can get. Some people just check out the
church page in their newspaper to see who’s playing where on a given Sunday,
and go for what will appeal to them or “bless” them. Well, if you go to church
just for what you can get out of the music, or what you can get
out of the sermon, or just to get blessed, you’ve missed the point. The
music and the sermon aren’t ends in themselves, they are but stimuli to cause
you to worship God. And if you have any thought less than that, you’ve missed
the point!
We
go to church to worship God, and that’s done by giving, not getting. We go to offer
something to Him, not to receive from Him. Granted, if we offer to Him the
praise due His name, we will receive at His hand. There is blessing in giving,
for the Lord is quoted as saying, “It is more blessed to give than to receive”
(Acts 20:35b). So, worship is giving to God, not getting.
Do
you worship when you go to church? Is that what’s in your mind? Do you prepare
your heart for worship? When you are getting dressed, or when you are in your
car on your way to church, is your heart eager to worship God? Have you ever
asked yourself these questions? Well, if you haven’t, I’m going to force you to
do so in these chapters. In fact, my purpose is to force you to make a decision
about whether you’re going to worship God or not. My objective is to make you
think, first of all, about what worship is; second, whether you’re doing it or
not; and third, if not - will you? And if you won’t, then you’re going to have
to deny what the Bible says. I want to force you into a corner where you have
no other alternative than to do what God says, or not do what God says, and
know clearly what you’ve done.
A. Worship Defined
What is worship? Let me give you a definition: Worship is “honor paid to a
superior being.” It means “to give homage, honor, reverence, respect,
adoration, praise, or glory to a superior being.” In Scripture, the word is
used indiscriminately to refer to the homage given to idols, material things,
or to the true God. So the word in itself is not a holy word, it only describes
honor given to a superior being.
The common New Testament word for worship is proskuneo,
which means “to kiss toward, to kiss the hand, to bow down, to prostrate
oneself.” The idea of worship is that one prostrates himself before a superior
being with a sense of respect, awe, reverence, honor, and homage. In a
Christian context, we simply apply this to God and prostrate ourselves before
Him in respect and honor, paying Him the glory due His superior character.
Essentially, then, worship is giving - giving honor
and respect to God. That is why we, as Christians, gather together on Sunday.
We don’t gather to give respect to the preacher or those in the choir, we
gather to give honor to God. The sermon and the music are just to be the
stimuli that create the desire in our hearts to honor Him.
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So, if you attend church for
what you can get, (i.e.,
to “get a blessing”), you’ve missed it! When we gather together to worship the
Lord, our focus is to be on giving to Him, not getting from Him.
Worship is a consuming desire to give to God, and it involves the giving of
ourselves, our heart attitudes, and our possessions.
B. Worship Depicted
Let me
illustrate this idea of worship.
1. The
fragrance of the Tabernacle’s incense
Exodus 30:34-38 provides a graphic illustration
of worship. God gave many instructions regarding how worship was to be carried
out in the Tabernacle. Many of the
instructions had great symbolic value and were used as teaching tools. One of
these visual aids, described in Exodus 30:34-38, gives us a wonderful insight into the area of worship:
“And the Lord said unto Moses, Take unto
thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with
pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight: And thou shalt make it
a perfume, a perfume after the art of the perfumer, tempered together, pure and
holy [i.e., unique, separate, and untouched by any other elements]: And thou
shalt beat some of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the
tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee: it shall be unto
you most holy.”
Now this perfume, which was
actually a sweet-smelling incense, was to be used only in the Tabernacle. Why?
Because it was to be holy. Verse 37 continues, “And as for the perfume which thou
shalt make, ye shall not make to yourselves according to the composition
thereof: it shall be unto thee holy for
the Lord. Whosoever shall make like unto that, to smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his people.” Now, did you
know there was a perfume recipe in the Bible? It was probably the most lovely
`fragrance imaginable, but God said that it could cost them their lives if they
made if for themselves.
You say, “Well, what’s the point?” The point
is this: here was a fragrance designed to be only for God. When this incense
rose to God’s nostrils, it was unique to
Him. This is a beautiful picture of worship, showing that worship is to be a unique, separated,
sanctified, holy act that arises out of a person’s heart to the very nostrils
of God.
2. The
fragrance of Mary’s ointment
As the fragrance of the incense in the
Tabernacle rose to the nostrils of God,
it signified worship. In John12:1-3, another fragrant gift is offered in
worship. However, this time it was offered to the living God in human form the
Lord Jesus Christ:
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“Then Jesus, six days
before the Passover, came to
Mary and Martha were different. Martha
was always serving, and Mary was always
sitting at the feet of Jesus. In fact, Jesus had previously said that Mary chose to do what was better than all of
Martha’s serving (cf. Luke
We tend to be so pragmatic, don’t we? We are
a generation of Martha’s - always busy. We have the church fine-tuned to a
system, with all of its programs and activities. And we are very careful not to
waste our substance; so much so, that
even what we give to God we tend to mark out very care-fully, rather than to
pour out that which is a year’s wages and to stoop in humility to wipe His feet
with our hair.
Mary’s act was an act of worship. As the
fragrance rose from her ointment, it portrayed the essence of a worshipping
heart. That’s what God is after. True worship is better than welfare and
religious activity. Although those things are necessary and good, worship is
better. And yet, I fear that many of us don’t even know what worship is.
C. Worship Distinguished
I think a comparison of worship with
ministry might help to distinguish what true worship really is. Ministry is
that which comes down to us from the Father, through the Son, in the
power of the Spirit, to one another in the form of spiritual gifts. Worship, on
the other hand, is that which goes up from us, by the Spirit’s power
through the Son, to the Father. Thus, ministry is that which descends
from God to us, while worship is that which ascends from us to God. And
both must be in perfect balance. Unfortunately, we tend to be too
10
ministry oriented (like Martha)
and not oriented enough toward worship. We need to learn from Mary how to sit at Jesus’ feet and
worship Him.
Ask yourself the following questions: “Do I worship
God? Is worship a priority for me? Do I faithfully and regularly attend church
with a deep heart of commitment to worship God? Am I so consumed with a hungering
desire to worship God that I hurry myself into the assembly of His people for
the expression of worship?” Well, God seeks acceptable, true, spiritual
worship, and if we’re going give it to Him, we must understand what it is.
Lesson
I. THE IMPORTANCE OF WORSHIP
A. Scripture
Is Dominated with It
The first reason worship is important is because
Scripture speaks so frequently of it. The Word of God emphasizes the theme of
worship hundreds and hundreds of times, but I just want to pick out a few select
passages to illustrate its priority.
1. Old
Testament passages
a)
The emphasis of the first commandment (Ex.20)
When God began to lay down
some standards, principles, and guidelines in the form of commandments, statutes,
ordinances, laws, and propositions, what was it that was most important to Him?
Notice the first commandment that He gave. “I am the Lord thy God, who have
brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, Thou shalt
have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any carved image,
or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth
beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow down
thyself to them, nor serve them; for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and
fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing ,mercy unto thousands of
them that love me, and keep my commandments” (vv.2-6). The first commandment,
then, is to worship God and God alone. That is our priority (cf. Ex. 34:14;
Matt.
b)
The establishment of the Tabernacle (Ex.25)
When God called His people
out of
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The Tabernacle itself was not very attractive,
but inside the holy of holies, which was inside the holy place, was the ark of
the covenant. On top of the ark was the mercy seat, where the high priest
sprinkled the blood once a year as an atonement for the sins of the people. It
was on this mercy seat, that the Shekinah glory of God dwelt, or tabernacled.
In Exodus 25:22 God tells Moses, “And there will I meet with thee, and I will
commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim
which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee
in commandment unto the children of Israel.” God gave them the Tabernacle as a
focal point of worship because worship was the priority.
c) The encampment around the tabernacle (Num.
It’s interesting to see how God arranged the
encampment of
Even the age requirement for a priest showed
the importance of worship. When a young man reached the age of twenty, he could
serve as a soldier (Num.1:3). A Levite could begin to serve the Tabernacle when
he reached the age of twenty five (Num.8:24). But a Levite had to be thirty
before he could become a priest (Num.4:3). Why? Because worship was the priority.
It demanded the highest level of spiritual maturity because it was the greatest
responsibility. There was one level for those who fought the battles and
another for those who served in the Tabernacle - but the highest level was for
those who brought the people to worship God.
d) The example of the seraphim (Isa. 6:1-2)
In Isaiah 6:1-2 Isaiah says, “In
the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high
and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim:
each one had six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered
his feet, and with two he did fly.”
It’s interesting that four of the wings were related to worship, and only two
were related to service. Each one of the seraphim covered his face because he
couldn’t look upon God’s glory, he covered his feet because of God’s holy
presence, and with the remaining two wings he took care of the service. Worship
is the priority - even for the angels.
e) The exhortation of the psalmist (Ps. 95:6-7a)
Psalm 95:6-7a says, “Oh,
come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For
he is our God.”
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This is just one of the
many such Psalms which exhort us to worship (cf. Pss. 5:7; 29:2; 45:11; 66:4; 86:9; 96:9; 99:5;
9; 132:7; 138:2).
2. New
Testament passages
a) Romans 12:1-2
In the first eleven chapters of Romans,
Now, after eleven chapters of
doctrine defining the Christian and all his benefits,
What does God want out of a believer? He wants
acceptable, spiritual worship. And it begins with the presentation of the body
as a living sacrifice. Now, it’s not just the physical body, because then it
wouldn’t be an act of spiritual worship. The body referred to in verse 1
is the whole person, the true self. So because of God’s great mercy to us, He
calls on us to present ourselves to Him in an act of spiritual worship. Simply
put, ‘God saved us so that we might truly and acceptably worship Him.’
b) 1 Peter 2:5
Chapter 1 contains the wonders of redemptive grace.
For example, verse 19 tells of “the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot,” verse
18 talks about our new birth, and verses 2-3 of chapter 2 talk about “newborn
babes” who “have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” Now, as saved individuals,
2:5 describes us, “Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house,
an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus
Christ.”
God doesn’t live in a house made with hands - in a
building made of brick and mortar. He lives in a house made of the living
stones of His people. And as holy priests, we are to offer up spiritual
sacrifices. Acceptable, true, spiritual worship is offered on the basis of
God’s transforming work in Christ.
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So that’s a brief look at the
first reason worship is important - Scripture is dominated with it. The second reason worship is
important is because:
B. Destiny Is Determined by It
Worship is not an addendum to life, it is at life’s
core. You see, the people who worship God acceptably enter into eternal life,
but the people who do not worship God acceptably enter into eternal death.
Worship, then, becomes the core. Time and eternity are determined by the nature
of a person’s worship.
Now, there are only two kinds of worship that can be
offered-acceptable or unacceptable worship. The majority of the world offers
unacceptable worship, and God will not accept it. The Bible is explicit on
this. There are people today who say that ultimately everybody is going to be
saved, but that is not true. The Bible does not say that. But it does say that there are only two kinds of
worship - acceptable or unacceptable worship.
1.
Unacceptable worship
a) The worship of false gods
People say, “What about all the people who worship
their own god because they don’t know any better? Surely God will accept them
if they’re sincere in their worship,
won’t He?” No! It is unacceptable to God for anyone to worship a non-god,
because He is a jealous God and will not tolerate the worship of another (cf.
Ex. 34:14; Isa.48:11b).
The world worships false
gods. Look at Romans 1. In verse 21a we read: “When they knew God, they
glorified him not as God, neither were thankful.” Now frankly that just means
that they wouldn’t worship Him or give Him glory, praise, thanks, homage, or
adoration. They refused to worship God, which is unacceptable, so He “gave them
up to uncleanness” (v.24), “unto vile affections” (v. 26), and ultimately to
their judgment (v. 32). In fact, when they refused to worship God, they began
to make images “like corruptible man, and birds, and four-footed beasts, and
creeping things” (v.23). In other words, they turned to idols. Everybody
worships. So when men reject God, they will worship false gods - gods of their
own creation. These false gods basically fall into two categories:
(1) Earthly / material gods
An example of an earthly or material god is the god
of wealth. This is illustrated in Job 31:24-28: “If I have made gold my hope,
or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence; if I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and
because mine hand had gotten much; if I beheld the sun when it shined, or the
moon walking in brightness; and my
14
heart hath been secretly
enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand; this also was an iniquity to be punished by the judge; for I
should have denied the God who is above.” In other words, if I worship what I possess, if I worship my
little world, if I go around kissing my own hand, I’ve denied God. But men do
that, and they worship the gods of the material world.
(2) Heavenly / supernatural gods
Deuteronomy 4:14-19a gives us an illustration of
this. As the children of
So, the first kind of unacceptable worship is the
worship of false gods. And throughout the Old Testament this is condemned. I
want to draw to a conclusion by looking at Isaiah 2:6-10. Here is Isaiah’s
commentary on what was happening among his people. “Therefore thou hast
forsaken thy people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled with customs
from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please
themselves in the children of foreigners [i.e., they had allowed the foreigners
and their foreign gods to invade their
15
thinking and worship]. Their
land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full
of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots; their land also is full
of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own
fingers have made. And the mean [lit. ‘common’] man boweth down, and the great
man humbleth himself; therefore, forgive them not. Enter into the rock, and
hide in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty.”
God’s people became
idolatrous. They even worshipped the sun (Ezek.8:16). The pagans worshipped
anything they could think of - and the same thing is true today. Every religion
that doesn’t rightly discern God worships a false god. Every materialist, every
irreligious atheist, and every agnostic who wouldn’t even darken the door of
religion worships some material god of his own invention, even if it’s himself.
It’s all unacceptable to God - it damns the soul.
Focusing on the Facts
1. Why do most people go to church (see p. 8)?
2. What are the music and the sermon in a
church service designed to do (see p. 8)?
3. Define the word worship. What does
the New Testament word for worship mean (see p. 8)?
4. What was offered to God in the Old
Testament Tabernacle as a symbol of worship (see p.9)?
5.
What act of worship did Mary offer Jesus in John 12:1-3? What attitudes did
that act demonstrate (see p.10)?
6. Explain how the church of today is more
like Martha than Mary (Luke 10:38-42; see p. 10).
7. Distinguish between ministry and worship
(see p. 10).
8. What is one way Scripture indicates that
worship is important (see p. 11)?
9. Summarize the First Commandment in a brief
sentence (Ex. 20: 2-3; see p. 11).
10.
Why did God instruct the Israelites to build the Tabernacle (see p. 11)?
11.
Explain how the minimum age requirement for a Levitical priest demonstrates the priority of worship
(see p. 12).
12.
After having bestowed His mercy on sinful man, what does God require from him,
according to Romans 12:1-2 (see p. 13)?
13.
What are the only two kinds of worship that can be offered? What kind does the
majority of the world offer? What happens to people who do not worship God
acceptably (see p. 14)?
14.
Will people who worship their own god out of ignorance be accepted by God? Explain (see p. 14).
16
15. What happens when a person rejects God by refusing to
worship Him (Rom. 1:21-26; see p. 14)?
16.
Give an example of a material god (see pp. 14-15).
17. What did Moses warn the children of Israel of before they entered
the Promised Land, according to
Deuteronomy 4:14-19? Why shouldn’t we have a visual conception of God (see p.
15)?
18.
What does every religion that doesn’t rightly discern God do? Does that even
include atheists and agnostics (see p. 16)?
Pondering the Principles
1. Do you
attend church primarily to worship God? Or do you go to avoid peer pressure, be
entertained, or receive some sort of blessing from God? Is your focus on giving
to God or getting from Him? Are you so eager to worship with other Christians
that you attend church regularly and you prepare your heart on the way there?
Review the definition of worship on page 8. Are you worshipping
according to the way that word is used in a Christian context? Determine what
you should do to improve the attitude of worship you offer to God.
2. Read
Luke 10:38-42 and notice the contrast between Martha and Mary. Which woman most
closely exemplifies your expression of devotion to Christ? Are you busy with
details that do not directly increase your devotion, or are you sitting at the
feet of Jesus so that you can get to know Him better? Would you have anointed
Christ’s feet with a costly ointment in a humble act of worship like Mary did
in John 12:1-5? Or would you have criticized such an act as inappropriate? God
desires that our worship recognize our humility and His glory, the price of
which can never be measured.
3. Meditate
on Psalm 95. Why should we worship God? How does the psalm instruct us to
worship? What are the consequences of a person hardening his heart and not acknowledging
the sovereignty of God? Most people offer unacceptable worship to God. If a
neighbor or relative asked why he couldn’t worship God in his own way, what
would you tell him? Where has God revealed Himself? Pray for an opportunity to
share with him the eternal importance of worshipping God in an acceptable
manner.
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