OUR MANDATE OF WORSHIP
SCRIPTURE: 1 Peter 2:4-5,9 (ESV)
”4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
The Church is a spiritual house, a holy priesthood built to offer acceptable spiritual sacrifices to God through Christ Jesus. We are chosen and mandated to show forth the excellencies of God by offering acceptable spiritual sacrifices. In the book of Philippians chapter 3, verse 3, the Apostle Paul in a revolutionary declaration, described the church as people of superior circumcision, circumcised at heart not in flesh.
Let’s take a look at the statement of Paul: ”For we [Christians] are the true circumcision, who worship God in spirit and by the Spirit of God and exult and glory and pride ourselves in Jesus Christ, and put no confidence or dependence [on what we are] in the flesh and on outward privileges and physical advantages and external appearances. “ (Phil 3:3 AMP)
These spiritual offerings & sacrifices include our worship, praise, thanksgiving, prayers, our financial and material giving, etc. What an honour it is for you and I to be worshippers of God in the Spirit! When Jesus met the woman of Samaria at the well, Jesus made an open declaration, which laid the foundation that a different breed of worshippers, other than those with which the Jews and Samaritans were familiar, was what the Father sought for as was captured by the Apostle John: ”God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24 KJV).
Also, when we offer praise to God, we are wholeheartedly telling Him of His wondrous works which are for, with, and through us, His creation. With recreated and joyful spirits, renewed minds, and holy hands, we acknowledge His awesomeness towards us. It deepens our knowledge and increases our faith in Christ for His ultimate sacrifice, which made us worthy of the capacity to stand and give thanks and confess his name.
The writer of Hebrews puts it clearly for us to identify with in 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.” (NKJV). Jesus, our High Priest, enables us to praise the Father with the words of our lips. Hallelujah!
CONFESSION
As a child of God, it is an honour to offer up spiritual sacrifices of worship, praise, thanksgiving, and prayers to my God. I make it a daily habit to confess the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Father seeks spiritual worshippers, and I am one, making it a continuous lifestyle to give thanks and praise in Jesus’s name. Amen!
FURTHER READING
PHIL. 3:3 (AMP)
For we [Christians] are the true circumcision, who worship God in spirit and by the Spirit of God and exult and glory and pride ourselves in Jesus Christ, and put no confidence or dependence [on what we are] in the flesh and on outward privileges and physical advantages and external appearances.
JOHN 4:24 (NKJV)
“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.”
Ps 141:2 NIV
2 May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.
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