In the Beauty of Holiness

Tony Khalil

Midland SDA Church

November 10, 2018

Did you come here today to worship?  What does that mean to you?   What does it look like?  Maybe you have not thought much about it.  We call this our worship service, so what we do here must be worship, right?  Don’t misunderstand me.  I am not trying to critique or criticize our worship service.  In fact, I very much like coming to church here.  As an elder of this congregation I’m involved with planning our worship services, so if I have a problem with them, I have myself to blame.  It’s just that lately I have been thinking about the subject of worship.  Some thoughts have crossed my mind that have awakened in me an interest in learning more about what it really means to worship, and I have embarked on a study which has led me to this point of sharing with you today.  (Pray)

The word “worship”, which we read in our bibles is translated from either a Greek or Hebrew word, depending on where in the bible it occurs.  In the old testament the word most often translated as worship is the Hebrew word “shachah” (shaw-khaw) which means to depress, prostrate, bow down, crouch, fall down, or stoop.  In the new testament we find the Greek word “proskuneo” (pros-koo-neh-o) which means to kiss like a dog licking his master’s hand, to fawn, to crouch, or prostrate oneself in homage.  The English word “worship” is defined as the reverent love and allegiance awarded a deity, idol, or sacred object.  In all three of these words, although different, we get a picture of reverence, falling-down, or prostrating oneself before the object of worship.  Is that what we do here?  Well, we do kneel-down and bow our heads during the family prayer, but much of our time is spent listening to someone preach, teach, or read the scriptures.  Perhaps it’s more of an attitude of reverence.  You know, not necessarily a physical falling down or stooping, rather a mental prostrating of oneself.  Coming before God with a humble heart, an inner bowing down of one’s spirit, as it were.  Perhaps?  It is however noteworthy that in the Hebrew, Greek, and English. The worshipper is not the important one.  The worshipper is focused not on him or herself but on the one he or she is worshiping.  The worshipper is crouching down to decrease before the object of their worship.

Are any of us here today dog lovers?  What does your dog do when it encounters another more dominant dog?  It will crouch down, put its head low to the ground and maybe even lie down and roll over becoming vulnerable before the other animal.  Right?  This is the imagery that comes to my mind as I consider this idea of worship.  But it is more than just submitting to one that is more dominant, there is also a component of love and allegiance. “To kiss like a dog licking his master’s hand.” People often view the dog as having unconditional love, and if you have a dog, you know exactly what I am talking about.  Every day, when I come home from work, Aidan’s dog Blizzard, is without question the happiest one to see me upon my arrival.  You would think I had been gone for weeks.  He can hardly contain himself.  He cries, makes circles, presses up against me getting white hair on my dress pants, and kisses me.  He used to jump up on me too, but we had to put a stop to that.  90+ pounds of dog hurling itself at you can do some damage.  When you come to worship God, can you hardly contain yourself?  Or can you hardly stay awake? Do you sometimes find yourself thinking, as I sometimes do, “I hope I get something out of this worship service?”  You see, I forget sometimes that we don’t worship to get.  Worship is an act of giving.  Have you ever prayed like I have that you would receive a blessing from being here?  At some point in my Christian walk I came to the realization that was sort of a selfish attitude and I began to pray that I would be a blessing to someone else.  Now, as I am beginning to understand what worship is all about, I am realizing that my prayer should be “Father may you receive a blessing from my worship.”  That’s right, when we worship God we are showing our honor and love toward him.  We are praising him for who he is to us.  Don’t you think He is blessed by that?  If I am concerning myself with whether or not I find the pastor’s sermon interesting or whether or not I like the melody of the hymn of praise, I must ask the question…”Who am I worshiping?”  Myself or God? There is a funny little video you can find on Youtube called Church Hunters.  You should look it up sometime.  You’ll get a kick out of it.  It’s a parity of the HGTV program House Hunters except with churches instead of houses.  The program follows a young couple on their journey of trying to find the right church for them.  They describe what they are looking for in a church, which is almost entirely superficial, and then the host, sort of church realtor, takes them to various churches trying to “sell” them on one by espousing it’s advantages like what celebrities attend there, what kind of music they use in their worship services, and the service times.  It is meant to be funny, so it is exaggerated and over-the-top, but part of the reason it’s funny is because it is true.  If we are concerned with what suits us, be it music, message, or comfort of the pews, we are missing out on true worship, and worse yet, God is missing out on the blessing of our worship to Him. 

The Bible is not silent on the subject of worship, let’s take a look at some passages of scripture and see what the inspired Bible writers had to say about the subject.  Turn with me to 1 Chronicles 16: 27-31 

²⁷Honor and majesty are before Him;
Strength and gladness are in His place.

²⁸ Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
Give to the Lord glory and strength.
²⁹ Give to the Lord the glory due His name;
Bring an offering, and come before Him.
Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!
³⁰ Tremble before Him, all the earth.
The world also is firmly established,
It shall not be moved.

³¹ Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad;
And let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”

Did you notice the repetition of the phrase “Give to the Lord”?  Worshiping God is not about getting, it’s all about giving Him all the glory that he deserves, and in verse 29, it says “bring an offering.”  If we truly recognize the goodness of God and what He has done for us, we would want to bring Him an offering of the best we have.  What do you suppose it means to “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness”?  The word here translated as beauty is the Hebrew word “hadarah” (had-aw-raw) which means adornment or decoration.  And the word holiness is translated from the word “qodesh” (ko-desh) which conveys the idea of sacredness and being set apart or consecrated.  In Adventist circles, the word adornment has a negative connotation because we associate it with physical adornment, or the wearing of jewelry, which we view as being inconsistent with the teachings of scripture, but here we see a different kind of adornment.  We are being instructed to worship God not with the adornment of gold and precious stones, but rather with the adornment of sacredness, earnestness, and a spirit of quiet reverence.  To God the adornment of sacredness is more beautiful than any diamond or gem we could dig from the earth.  It’s interesting to note the phrase “beauty of holiness” is not just found once in an obscure part of 1 Chronicles, although I did not do an exhaustive search, I also found it used twice in the book of Psalms.  Remember repetition indicates importance. 

Speaking of Psalm, let’s turn there, to chapter 99 verse 5.  It reads…

⁵ Exalt the Lord our God,
And worship at His footstool—
He is holy.

This is just one of many Psalms that speak of exalting or magnifying God.  To exalt someone or something is to hold it up high, to be lifted up or set on high.  Likewise, our worship should involve restoring God to His proper position in our lives, exalting Him, lifting Him back up as the object of our worship.  As fallen beings we have a tendency to get absorbed in whatever it may be we are doing, our work, our interests, our relationships with one another.  Not necessarily bad things, but we easily allow other things to take the honored position of first in our lives.  Part of worshiping God involves reprioritizing our lives in such a way that He is restored to his proper place as Lord of our lives.  Figuratively lifting Him up through exaltation.  As a side note, if your Bible is still open to Psalm 99, take a look down at verse 9.  It’s a verbatim repetition of verse 5.  Is it possible the Psalmist is trying to tell us something?

Now let’s consider Psalm 100.  It’s only 5 verses, so let’s read the entire chapter.  It reads…

¹Make a joyful shout to the Lord, ^[a]all you lands!
² Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
³ Know that the Lord, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and ^[b]not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

⁴ Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
⁵ For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.

Another important aspect of facet of worship is singing and praising Him.  I imagine most of us enjoy hearing beautiful music, and it is easy to enjoy listening to a special music or singing a congregational hymn.  We derive pleasure from it, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but worshiping is not about the beauty of the voice, it is about the beauty of our God.  The music is not merely for our own entertainment.  We sing to glorify God.  When you sing a hymn do you ever consider why you are doing it?  Has it occurred to you that God is our audience?  Sometimes there are discussions about what forms of music are appropriate for worship.  I think if we kept in mind who we were singing to, these types of questions would become easier to answer.  But there is more in these 5 verses than just singing.  Verse 4 talks about giving Him thanksgiving.  Praise to God.  I don’t know why, but when I think of giving praise to God, I think of the people I have seen perhaps at a Christian concert that close their eyes and raise their hands in the air while a worship song is sung.  This type of behavior is not part of typical Adventist protocol, and can make us a bit uncomfortable like we get when someone is too responsive during a sermon, giving too many “Amens” or “have mercies” for our taste.  We have a tendency as Adventists to really value knowledge and understanding of the scriptures.  We love Bible prophecy for its academic value, but we have an aversion for anything bordering on the edge of emotion or feeling, and are uncomfortable straying too far from our rational academic box.  Don’t worry, I am not suggesting we are slayed by the spirit and speak in tongues or anything.  I just think it is important to remember that we were created with both intellectual and emotional fascist, and that we were created in God’s image, which would logically suggest that He also possesses both of these qualities.  It seems to me that praising necessitates we use some of that emotion He has created us with.  We can do that without discarding the intellectual logical part of our being, and I believe we can do it reverently.

What about thanksgiving.  How does that relate to worship?  When I consider thanksgiving, I think of all the people that Jesus brought restoration to while on the earth. Some spiritual restoration and some physical.  Those that He saved from the most dire circumstances could not help but tell others of him and testify to what Jesus had done in their lives.  I think of the demoniac from whom he cast all of the evil spirits out.  You know the story where the demons were cast into the herd of swine that subsequently dove to their death off the cliff.  After that man was clothed and in his right mind, he wanted nothing more than to follow Jesus and become His disciple.  As you remember, Jesus told him to stay and be his disciple right where he was.  He was to testify of Jesus in his own country.  When we testify of Jesus, we are demonstrating our thankfulness for what he has done in our lives and that is part of worship.  Sharing a testimony honors God.  For we are testifying to His great power and love that while we were still sinners, he saved us.  Occasionally during our worship services, mostly at our communion services, we are afforded the opportunity to testify.  Do you take advantage of that?  Perhaps while you are preparing your heart and mind for the next communion, you could as God to remind you of a testimony that you could share.  The purpose of doing so is not to draw attention to oneself, but rather to bring praise glory and thanksgiving to God, and when we do so, it encourages others to trust Him with their lives too.    

At the very end of verse 4 we are told to do something that I find sort of unusual.  We are instructed to “Bless His name”.  How do we, mere humans, bless God?  Isn’t He the one that is supposed to bring blessings to us?  Afterall, what ability do we have to bless anything.  Again, a closer look at the original language expands our understanding of this directive to bless His name.  The word translated here as bless is from the primitive root “to kneel” and implies an act of adoration or praise.  So, the psalmist is using this phrase as another way of saying praise the name of the Lord.  When we bring praises to the name of the Lord as an act of worship we are in essence, “blessing” Him. 

One thing I particularly like about Psalm 100 is that it doesn’t just instruct us in how to worship, but it tells us why we should do so.  Read again with me verse 5…  

⁵ For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.

We want to worship him because of His goodness, mercy and truth.  Many faiths worship their gods out of fear or an effort of appeasement.  Some worship to receive, but true Christian worship is nothing more than a response to what God has already done for us.  We worship Him for his goodness, praise Him for his mercy, and thank Him for his enduring Truth. 

Something I find particularly useful when studying a particular topic is to ask the question “Did Jesus have anything to say about this?”  On the topic of worship, the answer is yes.  In fact, He had some pretty strange things to say about worship.  Turn with me in your Bibles to John 4: 21-24

²¹ Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. ²² You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. ²³ 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. ²⁴ God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Jesus is speaking here to the Samaritan woman at the well, and the discussion turns to where one should worship.  In his trademark way, Jesus drills right down to the heart of the issue, not wasting any time on the superficial.  It is not where one worships, but how that counts.  He tells her what true worshippers will do.  He says they will worship in the Spirit and Truth.  This is very interesting.  Jesus is differentiating between two forms of worship, true and false.  True worshippers do so from the heart while false worshippers do so ritually.  I like how the SDA Bible Commentary elaborates on what Jesus is saying here in verse 22.  It reads…

“in the spirit and in truth.  That is in all sincerity, with the highest faculties of the mind and emotions, applying the promises of truth to the heart.”

Jesus is not teaching an entirely new concept here, in fact we find the same idea in the old testament.  Turn back in your Bibles with me to Micah 6: 6-8.

⁶ With what shall I come before the Lord,
And bow myself before the High God?
Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings,
With calves a year old?
⁷ Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
Ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
^[a]The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

⁸ He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly,
To love ^[b]mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?

God is not impressed with our ritualistic actions that resemble that of the heathen.  He wants our heartfelt praise.  In verse 8 the prophet lists three things that are important to God:  To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God.  All three of these require a surrendered heart.  It’s not a check list of things that we can just force ourselves to do because God commanded it.  No, it requires a heart change.  Without a heart change we are wholly selfish.  How can justice come from a heart of selfishness?  Can you make yourself love something?  We can force ourselves to do actions that might imply that we love something, but we cannot force ourselves to love something.  Without God’s character in us we cannot love mercy.  Our natural tendency is to love justice.  You know, when someone gets what they had coming.  Some call it Karma.  In fact, we are oftentimes offended when someone gets more than they deserve.  If we work hard at our jobs while a coworker slacks and at the end of the year learn that we both received the same pay raise or the same bonus, do we love that?  Not naturally.  We think “That is not fair”, “Justice has not been served”.  The only time natural or carnal man loves mercy is when it is bestowed upon himself.

What about walking humbly with our God?  What does it mean to be humble?  The simple or obvious answer is to be unpretentious, but I would suggest it is more than that.  It is more than just the action of stepping back and putting the needs of others before our own.  True humility changes more than just our actions, it begins in out thoughts.  What thoughts preoccupy our mind?  Are we thinking about our own plans, our own feelings, our own dreams?  Or do we concern ourselves with others, leaving our plans with the God with whom we walk? 

Of these three requirements of God, are there one or two that are particularly difficult for you?  Do you see your weakness? You cannot fix it, so don’t waste your time trying to address the symptom of a problem that exists in the heart.  Ask Him to work in your live and give you His character, and your life will become an act of worship.  

So, what about this worship service that we have here each Sabbath?  Is this ritualistic “False” worship or is it part of “True” worship?  I would like to suggest that this service, in and of itself, is neither true nor false worship.  If I learned nothing else from my study on the topic of worship, I have learned that worship, although often done corporately, is a deeply personal activity.  And it’s more than simply an activity.  It’s a state of mind.  Our weekly worship service is really nothing more than a structure designed to encourage or promote true worship.  Whether or not this service meets the definition of worship is entirely up to you and me.  If we glorified God today, we worshipped. If we brought him an offering of our time, talents, resources, or love, we worshipped.  If we praised him with emotion through exuberant singing or heartfelt Amens, we worshipped.  If we lifted God up to the rightful position of honor in our lives, we worshipped.  If we testified of his goodness from the thankfulness within our hearts, we worshipped.  And when we worship…God is blessed.