True Worship P2- Approaching the Altar

Last week, we started a series on “True Worship.” This week’s message delves into a bit more detail on what constitutes true worship. What is worshiping “in Spirit and Truth” supposed to look like?

In Gen 4:2-7, we read of two young men who bring an offering to God. At first glance, both offerings seem acceptable. They are both the results of the hard work of these two young men. I remember as a young Christian having great difficulty understanding why God would accept Abel’s offering and not Cain’s. To find out, one has to look beyond the offering itself to the attitude and posture of the two worshipers.

Cain brought an offering symbolic of his hard work in his chosen profession of tilling the ground. There was a curse on the ground due to the sin of Adam and Eve in breaking God’s command by eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, so Cain would have had to make a concerted effort to grow his produce. Of this, he was proud and he offered the first fruits of his labour to the Lord. He brought to God an offering symbolic of his pride and his works.

Abel, on the other hand, also brought an offering from his chosen profession as a shepherd. However, his offering foretold of the coming Redeemer who would wash his sins away by the pouring out of His blood. Abel offered his sacrifice in faith and it typified the Messiah who was to save all mankind from their sins. Cain did not offer his sacrifice in faith, so to him it became sin. (Rom 14:23). The Lord’s response to Cain: “if you do well, will you not be accepted?” gives us the clear message that there was a standard for offering sacrifices to God and Cain was not true to that standard. God is no respecter of persons – if Cain had brought the right offering with the right attitude and posture of worship, it would have been accepted! (Rom 2:11, Col 3:25)Cain’s attitude when His sacrifice was not accepted demonstrates his attitude in bringing the sacrifice in the first place! If it was mere ignorance that had caused him to bring a sacrifice of the wrong nature, he would have immediately repented and asked his brother for a lamb to offer to God. Instead, he was driven to wrath and fell prey to the heinous sin of murdering his brother.

The same issue was at the forefront in Jesus’ day when the Pharisees prayed aloud on the street corners, but their hearts were far from God, and the poor publicans who asked for mercy and rested on the promise of the Messiah to atone for them, were vindicated .(Luk 18:9-14)

Our tithes, offerings, praise and worship to God are not acceptable unless they are of the right nature, and brought with the right attitude and not one of hypocrisy or trusting in our own works for salvation. We should not compare our sacrifices of praise to that of other worshipers, for God looks at the heart of those who worship Him. Forgive each other before bringing gifts to the altar. Let the older ones be an example to the younger, teaching them true worship!

"Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift."-Matt 5:23-24

"And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering, but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him."-Gen 4:2-7

"And he [Jesus] spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others. Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other, for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."-Luke 18:9-14

The Presence of Suffering-Why?

I continue the message from last week on the topic of suffering. Last week we focused on whether the presence of suffering proves the absence of God, and a simple story helped illustrate that it does not.  Stories are powerful tools to help us wrap our minds around seemingly abstract concepts like suffering. Jesus often used parables to teach important lessons about His Kingdom from the simple elements of our earthly existence.

There is much suffering in our world today. When our first parents in Eden made the fateful decision to disobey the commandment of the Lord and eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, their choice unleashed a “Pandora’s Box” of suffering on our world. Since then, we have been writing a history steeped in the blood, sweat and tears of the human race.

The Lord had given Adam and Eve every advantage in their perfect Eden home, yet they failed the one test of allegiance he placed in their path. Had he not put this test before them, satan would have accused him of making beings with no moral choice, mere robots acting on his whim. The Lord did not want a nation of robots; he wanted a people whom He could love and who would of their own free choice, love Him in return. Their eyes were already opened to good since He had open communion with them in the beautiful garden; it was only the knowledge of evil that was withheld from them but only as long as they desired not to know evil. They made their choice. They longed to know both good AND evil. Satan had conveniently tricked Eve into thinking that they were missing something when actually they were not! His clever use of rhetoric that fateful day is still felt in our world today in the form of terrible suffering from the consequences of years of sin. (Gen 3:1-10)

However, Christ did not leave us alone in our suffering. He, of His own volition, joined the ranks of suffering humanity to ensure that we would not die from the curse of sin. The blood, sweat and tears we shed in this life mingle with the blood, sweat and tears the loving Saviour shed as he walked the dusty streets of Galilee, and as He hung suspended on a cruel cross, too sinful for Heaven to regard Him as He took upon Himself the sins of all humanity, yet despised and rejected by the ones He came to save.

Christianity is no bed of roses. If you think by becoming a Christian, you will escape suffering, you are sorely mistaken. In fact, many have increased their sufferings by joining Him. “In this world you will have trouble,” He said, WITH THE CROSS STILL AHEAD, “but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

"Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die, for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?"-Gen 3:1-9