Is God serious about worship? I wonder how many people enter the doors of a church today and think about how they will worship? Your answer to this will depend on why you go to church. If you go to see friends or connect with people, your mind will be thinking about who is there or who is not. If you go because it is something you have always done, you will go through the motions and not think much about it. If you go because you love the Lord and your heart desires to please Him, you will probably engage in worship. Only you can truthfully answer this question. If someone were to ask you this morning why you came, most Christians would give the correct answer. “I came to worship the Lord.” However, giving the right answer does not mean your heart is there to worship. Today, I will teach first through third graders what Jesus says about His house and how we are to come to worship.
In John chapter 2:13-22, we have the account of Jesus coming to Jerusalem for the Passover. This was His first Passover to attend after He entered the ministry. What He found, and how He reacted, will teach us much about how He felt about the church and what goes on in it. In verse 14, we see that those who sold animals for the Passover sacrifice had moved from the streets and marketplace to the temple. They saw an opportunity to make money and edge out the competition by moving closer to where the people would need the sacrifice. Every family would bring a sacrifice as a commemoration of the Passover Lamb, where their firstborn son was spared from death as the death angel passed over the houses. Those who put the blood over the doorpost as a symbol of God’s protection in Exodus chapter 11 were spared. Those who traveled far would buy one once they got to Jerusalem.
John 2:13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
As Jesus entered and saw how this time of worship was being exploited, He was enraged. He makes a whip and begins to run the animals out of the temple. When He removes the animals He turns over the tables of those who were using the temple and the worship of God a business to make money for themselves. Jesus is serious about not only why we worship, but also how we worship. It is to be done with reverence and respect. It must be done to please God and God alone. Any other worship is not acceptable to Him.
John 2:14-16 “And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.”
In Psalm 29:2, we are to worship in the beauty of holiness. This refers to the state of the heart. We are to cleanse our hearts through repentance. Then his beauty will be pure as we see it through the eyes of forgiveness. “Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.”
In Psalm 66:4, all the world will one day worship God and sing praises to Him. Singing is to be a part of our worship. It does not matter if you are not endowed with a beautiful voice by the world’s standard; to God, your song of worship to Him is beautiful.
Psalm 66:4 “All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name. Selah.”
In Psalm 95:6, we will bow before Him in honor of who He is, and we will kneel as in an attitude of prayer. Our worship will be about giving Him honor and exalting Him for who He is, as we are taught in Psalm 99:5.
Psalm 95:6 “O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.”
Psalm 99:5 “Exalt ye the LORD our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy.”
If we are to exercise true worship today, we must worship sincerely in spirit and in truth. That is with the heart, not in formality, but through Jesus, who gives us direct access to God himself. When the veil was torn at the crucifixion, it revealed that we no longer need a priest to speak for us; we can speak directly to God.
John 4:23-24 “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers 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.”
Today, as you worship, remember that you are in the presence of your Almighty Creator. Your primary reason for being at church is to worship Him. Think about what you are doing. Are you worshiping in holiness? Have you met with Him this morning to ask Him to reveal anything in your life that does not please Him? Are you willing to repent and seek Him? Are you singing to Him and Him alone? Are you praying from your heart as others pray? Today, lift your heart and your voice to the Heavens and exalt Him in spirit and truth. Be as sincere as you possibly can and block out any distractions. God is serious about our worship, and we should be too.
