Theme: Truthfulness in worship
Text: Deut. 26:1-11; Rom. 10:8-13; Lk. 4:1-13
Today is the first Sunday in Lent. We observe this holy season by meditating and reflecting on the Word of God and by prayer and fasting. Unfortunately during this period we often forget that it is time to enter into our inheritance as children of God if we are not already enjoying the provisions of the New Testament. The death of Christ made us partakers of the New Testament that is a better Testament than the Old as it involved the shedding of the eternal blood of the Son of God that was once and for all time. “Where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive” (Hebrews 9:16-17). How can we ever doubt God’s love for us when all that belonged to Him has been given us in His will? Our only response is to be close to Christ through our truthfulness in worship.
“What is truth?” Pilate asked Jesus. This question still continues to be relevant today. We need to know the truth about God, the truth about us and the truth about worship. The Word of God is truth. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” John 1:1. The Scriptures testify that Jesus Christ is God. At His baptism God the Father called Him “His beloved Son”. The devil’s attempt to make Christ doubt the truth was a complete failure. How can truth ever doubt the truth? The truth is not only that Jesus Christ is God; the truth is also that He paid the penalty for sin. We often underestimate what Christ did for us because our finite minds cannot even imagine the level or intensity of His suffering. How can we even begin to imagine Christ who knew no sin being made sin with our sinfulness, past, present and future, to make us God’s beloved children with the righteousness of God? We also need to know the truth that the sacrifice of Christ has not only made us the righteous beloved children of God but has also recreated our spirits so that the Holy Spirit can live in us. The presence of the Holy Spirit in us is a confirmation that we have been recreated spiritually perfect. “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit” Eph. 1:13.
As believers, the beloved of Christ, we are “saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth” 2 Th. 2:13. We are spiritual beings who possess a soul and live in a body. Our spiritual nature is made perfect for the Holy Spirit to live in by faith in the sacrifice of Christ. The Holy Spirit then empowers us to believe the truth by bringing our way of thinking in accordance with the Word of God. Unfortunately many believers continue to be ruled by a way of thinking that is contrary to the word of God. The change does not come easy since before salvation our lives and habits were all controlled by a way of thinking that was contrary to the Word of God. As a believer, is your way of thinking in accordance with the Word of God or contrary to the Word of God? Paul exhorts us to renew our minds, have a spiritual walk with the Lord by believing and acting in accordance with the Word of God.
We need to know the truth about God and also the truth about man to understand God’s love and divine destiny concerning man. God created man and invited him to partner Him rule the earth when He gave him dominion or rule over the whole earth. God is the Creator and ruler of the whole universe but He has chosen man as a partner to rule the earth. The right to rule depended on our relationship with our Creator and this is obtained and maintained through worship. God created man to worship Him. The first daily response of every believer should be one of worship and thanksgiving to God for being their source of life. Of all God’s creation only man has the ability to look into the heavens and know that they too were the mighty work of God’s hands and that He deserves our worship. God created man to worship and depend on Him. This is the reason why He created everything that man would ever need before creating man. Man’s response to His abundant provisions can only be worship. When we understand God’s love and abundant provisions our response can only be that of worship.
If God loved us so much to give His live for us is it not to our advantage to give our life back to Him. Who can take better care of our lives? As believers we sometimes determine worship to be the time spent in praise and worship. We see worship as the length of time spent fasting, the outward appearance of holy living or the frequent attendance of Church functions. Although all these are important, the most important thing in worship is maintaining a spiritual walk with the Lord. We have at our disposal the same spiritual resources that Jesus used when He faced and defeated Satan – prayer, the Father’s love, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God. We also have Jesus Christ in heaven interceding on our behalf. He is a constant reminder to the Father of His love for us making sure the best is made available to us.
Sacrifice has always been a part of worship. The sacrifice of Christ has opened a new and living way to God’s presence. Christ became one of us to make us righteous. If Christ loved us so much to give His live for us is it not to our advantage to give our life to Him. Who can take better care of our lives? We cannot give our life to Christ and hold on to the provisions He makes available to us. Worship also involves the sacrifice of our substance. How do we show that all we are and all we have belong to Him? It is by giving Him the best or the first of what He gives to us. Worship does not only involve the sacrifice of ourselves and our substance to Christ, worship also involves our total obedience to Christ. At salvation man is recreated spiritually perfect for the Holy Spirit to dwell in. The presence of the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth, empowers man to live the truth so that he can offer acceptable worship to God.
Acceptable worship believes God. The temptations of Christ were the devils attempt to get Him doubt the Word of God. “If you are the Son of God” was to get Jesus doubt the Words His Father had just spoken to Him. The devil intentionally left out the Word ‘beloved’. A beloved Son would not doubt the fullness of the Father’s provisions. What we need to know today is that because of what Christ went through on our behalf, we have become God’s beloved children. God loves us just as much as He loved His Son, Jesus Christ. How can we ever doubt this when His Son died in our place? The devil, the father of lies, does not want us to know this as knowledge of this love will keep us from believing his lies. How can we doubt that God will withhold anything good from us when we know we are His beloved children? As believers we are God’s beloved children. As His beloved children we have access to all His promises and should never doubt His intentions concerning our lives.
Satan tempts us to bring out the worst in us, but God can use these difficult experiences to bring out the best in us. Temptation is the devils weapon to defeat us, but it can become God’s tool to build us up. This does not mean that we should not prevent temptations coming our way. It is always better and easier to prevent what is preventable than to cure what could have been prevented. It is better and easier to be immunised against Polio than to treat polio after contracting the disease. If we can prevent sin by resisting temptation, even though it is hard work, then we will not have to deal with the effects of sinful lives later. We need to rely on God to resist temptations instead of yielding to them. Christ paid the penalty for sin so that we could become God’s beloved children. All we need to do is to confess Him as Saviour and Lord. We are saved “When we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in our heart that God has raised Him from the dead. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Is Jesus Christ your Saviour and Lord? Amen!
