The Freedom of Worship

Verse of the day: 1 Samuel 1:3, This man went up from his city yearly to worship and sacrifice to the LORD of hosts in Shiloh. Also the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the LORD, were there.

Do we, as God’s children, realize and appreciate how much freedom we have in our worship of God? Unlike us today, Israel did not have the freedom to burn their sacrifices to God at home or anywhere other than the Tabernacle or the Temple (once it was built). There was one central place of worship and only the priests and high priest could present it before the Lord (Exodus 36-40; 1 Kings 6). In Joshua 18:1 we read, “Now the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of meeting there. And the land was subdued before them.” Central worship was established at Shiloh and the Ark of the Covenant remained there until Samuel’s time. We see here that Elkanah had to journey to Shiloh with his wives to bring his sacrifice of worship to the Lord. With that understood, let us step back and reflect on worship today. Worship is no longer centralized, in that we can worship God from wherever we are at the moment. We can worship God at home, in our car, at work, in the park, or wherever we find ourselves at the moment we think about Him. Why do we have such freedom of worship today? The simple answer is, “Because of Jesus”. Unlike the high priests of the day, we have one High Priest who offered up the ultimate Sacrifice, His own body and blood. Hebrews 4:14 tells us, “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.” Hebrew 9:24-26 also tells us, “For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; 25 not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another- 26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” The greatness of that Sacrifice broke down the wall that separated us from the Lord. Matthew 27:51 says, “Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split”. Sadly, far too many Christians today treat worship as if we were still required to meet in one central place in order to bring our sacrifices to God. The attitude or approach that develops is that we live like the devil all week, then we go to the local church building on Sunday, sing, lift up our dirty hands, listen to some preaching, feel like we did our duty, then go back to living like the devil all over again. That is not a relationship; that is religion. If we are to exercise true worship, we will do it in accordance to Hebrews 13:15-16, “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. 16 But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.” I will put this plainly. Worship is not about gathering in a church building once or twice a week and singing a few songs and listening to someone preach or teach the Word of God (although we are commanded not to forsake this in Hebrews 10:24-25). Worship is about how we live for the Lord. It is about how we treat others as ambassadors of Jesus Christ. Worship is about offering up praise and thanksgiving, especially during difficult times in our lives, not just when things are going well. It is about doing good to others (not to be saved, but because we are saved), even those who do not deserve it, because God has given us what we do not deserve, His love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness. We can do all of this regardless of what time of the day it is, where we find ourselves physically (location-wise), and for as many people as we choose to do this for in our daily encounters. Worship is about being continually mindful of God’s presence in our lives and speaking to Him continually, praising and giving thanks for the fact that He is far more faithful to us than we are to Him, as our unfaithfulness does not change who He is in our lives. Instead, He loves on us, and uses His goodness to bring us back into fellowship with Him. Realizing all of this, is there a reason why we would not want to use the freedom that we now have in Christ to worship God continually and freely?

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).