The Essence Of Worship

Worship-Offering a Sacrifice of Praise

Psalm50

I.Review of Past Sermons

A. Last week we delved on the subject of worshipping the Lord Jesus Christ. We illustrated worship in this manner: we show how much we value a person in the way we treat him/her. This is shown when that person visits your home. What accommodations do you prepare for him? In the same vein, we show how much we value the Lord Jesus Christ in the way we treat him.

1 Let us look at the different valuations of people about the Lord Jesus
Christ which runs from just a (a) piece of conversation to (b) being
dispensable to (c) just thirty pieces of silver, the price of a servant.

2 Let us also look at the unique regard of Mary to the Lord Jesus Christ
when she poured on Him a very expensive perfume; without reservations,
she gave all to the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 Previously, we also saw another way of giving regard to the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is when Abraham would willingly offer up Isaac, his only
beloved son.

4 In addition, in Mk. 12:41-44, on the occasion when people bring money
to the treasury, the Lord commended the poor widow who gave more than
the rich who brought a lot to the treasury because they gave out of
their abundance while the widow gave out of her need.

B. From the above examples, we learn that the worship acceptable to the
Lord Jesus is that which is offered at a great price. For example:
David, when he made an offering unto the Lord that the plague may be
stayed would not use the threshingfloor and the instruments thereof
without a price to be paid. David said, “Nay,but I will
surely buy it of thee at a price; neither will I offer burnt offerings
unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing.” (2
Sam. 24:24)

II.Today, in our study of the Word of God,  let’s take a look at Psalm 50.

A. Psalm 50 is composed of three groups:

1 The Lord says in Psalm 50:1-6: “Gather my saints together
unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by
sacrifice.” Who are those saints? Those who have made a
covenant with the Lord. A covenant of offering and sacrifice.

2 This covenant of offering and sacrifice is not an animal sacrifice to
the Lord. Why? Because the Lord owns all things and all life. How can
you say, therefore, it is a sacrifice indeed when in fact all
sacrificial animals belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. Likewise, the Lord
owns the life of the person who offers the sacrifice. Yes, even his
livelihood comes from Him. The Lord Jesus Christ, who is the object of
the sacrifice is the owner of all things and the world. (Ps. 24:1) The
Lord said in verse 14, “Offer unto God thanksgiving (haing
pasasalamat); and pay thy vows to the Most High.” The basis
of sacrificial offering is not only in its realization, but we should
offer sacrifice with thanksgiving.

3 Vv. 16-23. The disobedient and the evil-doers cannot give glory to the
Lord. In v. 23, the sacrifice of giving thanks unto the Lord is
precisely the worship of praise and glory to Lord.

B. Everyone prays but there are different ways of prayer.

1 The lowest form of prayer is the prayer of
‘solicitation’ to the Lord. The only reason why one
prays is to ask something from Him. “Lord give me this and
that”. “Lord help me.”, “Lord
heal me”. Nothing is wrong with asking things from the Lord.
The only thing is, when one prays with a wrong motive. For example:
“Lord heal me of my sickness so I can go partying in the
disco.” However, when one prays so he can be used to serve
the Lord, then it becomes a good prayer. Nonetheless, it is still the
lowest form of prayer.

2 The higher level of prayer is listening to the Lord Jesus Christ. When
one says, “I am yours Lord” and the Lord would
answer, “and I am yours too”. This is precisely
communing and fellowshipping with the Lord Jesus Christ (Jn. 15:1-7;
Rev. 3:20; 1 Cor. 1:9)

3 The highest level of prayer is “worshipping the Lord Jesus
Christ.” When one says in his heart, “Bless the
Lord, O my soul”. In this level, there is sacrifice of
praise, and sacrifice of thanksgiving. You bless the Lord. Not in the
sacrifice of anything but sacrifice of worship. Jesus no longer serves,
but He is the one being served by you. “Bless the
Lord” not “bless me Lord”. It is
difficult to offer praise and thanksgiving when you are faced with a
seemingly insurmountable problem. Though you find it difficult to bless
Him, yet with all sacrifice you praise Him anyway, then this becomes
the highest level of prayer to the Lord Jesus Christ.

C. In Psalm 50, all the saints congregate in the Lord Jesus Christ.

1 The gathering point of all the godly is the Lord Jesus Christ. Gen.
49:10-“unto Him (Shiloh-the One whom the scepter belongs to,
i.e., the Messiah) shall the gathering of the people be), (cf. Matt.
18:20) Their godliness is their gathering and devotion to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Their gathering unto the Lord Jesus Christ is their
offering of thanksgiving to the Lord.

2 Others refuse to offer sacrifice to the Lord Jesus Christ. They do not
realize that the essence of worship is to offer sacrifice and
thanksgiving. For example, when people dine in a restaurant, they give
‘tip’ to the waiter as a gesture of gratitude. But
very few people thank the Lord for all the blessings they receive. The
waiter is more blessed because he gets a 10% tip, but the Lord Jesus
Christ who is the source of all life, breath and all things gets
nothing. “We always give Jesus the credit but we seldom give
Him the cash.”

3 In Jer 17:26-“bringing the sacrifice of praise unto the house
of the Lord.” You honor the Lord Jesus Christ because He is
not tightwad nor a cheapskate. Not even a swindler (like the
‘crying’ religious idols). He is the God of love,
truth, perfect justice and infinite grace. Don’t you realize
He holds in His hand all power in this world even unto eternity? The
power to save all from perdition? Power to give you eternal life? Power
to give you glory evermore? Do you give import to this truth? If you
gather with the Lord Jesus Christ, do you offer sacrifice of
thanksgiving and praise to Him?

D. There is one pattern we can see from the examples we have studied thus
far. This is the offering of sacrifice to the Lord Jesus Christ. This
is the highest level of worship to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is
worship that is not based on what is convenient, worship that is not
based on obligation. But it is a worship that is based on love for the
Lord Jesus Christ. Just like the song which goes, “Here I am,
broken and spilled out for my love for Jesus because Lord you were
broken and spilled out for me.”

E. Before Abraham actually offered Isaac, he was asked by Isaac as to
where is the lamb for burnt offering. Abraham replied, “The
Lord will provide.” Abraham saw the provision of the Lord by
faith. But when Abraham had offered Abraham, “in a
figure” (Heb. 11:19), it was at that point that Abraham saw
the provision of the Lord, no longer by faith but by sight. When you
make that costly sacrifice of praise, that costly sacrifice of
thanksgiving to Jesus, at that point the provision of the Lord has been
realized in your life.

F. If we make that sacrifice for the Lord of the most costly, most
precious, most priced offering, the Lord’s provision is
guaranteed. What’s the guarantee? Rom. 8:32-He who spared not
His own Son, how shall He not with Him freely give us all things? The
over-arching provision of God is the sacrificial offering of His Son
Jesus Christ. If the only begotten Son, whom the Father loves and in
whom the Father is pleased, is given for us, there would be no
provision that will be kept from us by God but that all provisions have
already been given to us in Christ Jesus, when we offer our all in as a
sacrifice for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Author:
Rev. Mario I. Quitoriano

The Essence of Worship by Rev. Archbishop Mario I. Quitoriano is
licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Philippines
License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at tafj.org

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