The life and worship of the follower of Christ must be one...there must be a unity and a harmony between the two! What are you talking about Mark? Worship in the life of a Christian cannot be limited to prayer and corporate worship on Sunday morning. We will see in chapter 13 that we are to worship, or serve, God by faithfulness and obedience in all, IN ALL of our lives. If you are not maintaining a heart and attitude of worship that is acceptable to God throughout the week YOU ARE NOT WORSHIPING IN CORPORATE WORSHIP ON SUNDAY MORNING! I have been told not to write in all caps, because it is like shouting...I AM SHOUTING:) We see this in part in Heb 13:15-16, "Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God." You may remember a similar thread from Paul in Romans 12:1..."I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."
Heb 12:28-29 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.
I see three things in Hebrews 12:28-29 that I must watch carefully and prayerfully in my spiritual life. 1) We are told..."let us be grateful," let us show gratitude, let us be thankful...that we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken! GRATITUDE, GRATITUDE, GRATITUDE, to God must permeate every cell and molecule of our being...oh gratitude toward our heavenly Father should permeate every thought and every prayer that flows from our lips. Let me just say that the ENTITLEMENT attitude in our country has permeated our churches...it is the air we breath. We must fight the fight the good fight of faith so that we are not swept away in the current that believes that we are entitled to anything but HELL! Hell is what each and every human deserves, hell is our entitlement. That is a cheerful thought!
Quickly, two more things I have to watch in my walk with the LORD. We see in verse 28 that acceptable worship is characterized by reverence and awe. Why should our lives, why should we present our lives as a living sacrifice as an act of worship to God? Because God is a consuming fire. This points to Dt. 4:24 (cf. Dt. 9:3; Is. 33:14), the Israelites were warned not to engage in idolatry, but to faithfully serve the Lord and to serve HIM alone. Failure to do this would result in...well, lets just say it was not pretty.
Deuteronomy 4:24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
Deuteronomy 9:3 Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the Lord your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you. So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the Lord has promised you.
Is 33:14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless: “Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?”
2 Thessalonians 1:7 and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels
Hebrews 10:27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.
Hebrews 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
1. Gratitude
2. Reverence
3. Awe
Everything in our culture tells us the exact opposite! As God children we must remain sober minded, spirit-filled, so that we may walk in a manner worthy of the gospel. The current of this world will carry you away like a tsunami if you are not wise to the ways of our enemy. Paul warned us in Romans 12, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. 3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
love,
m