Text: Revelation 4: 1 - 11
Memory Verse: “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4: 24
Welcome to August, the month of renewal. May God Almighty, the King of creation, renew your strength this month and beyond.
I always look forward to the month of August with great eagerness and excitement. To begin with, it is during this month that a lotof us escapes away from “everything” (at least for some part of the month) and go on holiday to get our “batteries recharged”. Also,it is the month when the annual National Conference of the Overseas Fellowship of Nigerian Christians (OFNC) takes place. Thisconference provides us with a great opportunity to (amongst many other things) fellowship with one another as a family of believersand worship God. And as I prepare for this year’s conference and begin to meditate on what it means to worship God, the Lord ledme to read the scriptural passage I have chosen as our text for this homily: Revelation 4: 1- 11. Reading the passage has offered mea new insight into the biblical meaning of worship and how God expects me to offer Him worship that is true and acceptable to Him.This is what this homily is about; and I hope and pray that the Holy Spirit will grant you the same understanding.
There are several dictionary meanings of worship. However, two of them that I consider most pertinent to our discussion arefrom Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage and Easton’s 1897 Bible Dictionary. Merriam-Webster defined worshipas "Reverence offered a divine being or supernatural power; also: an act of expressing such reverence; a form of religious practicewith its creed and ritual; extravagant respect or admiration for or devotion to an object of esteem.” Clearly from this definition, wesee that God is not the only being that can be worshipped. People can and do worship other created things (lesser god), including manand self. Also we see that worship is attitude and activity, a lifestyle of devotion to an object of esteem. So, worship involves threeelements: an object of worship, a purpose for worship and a form of worship. Now let’s consider Easton’s definition of worship. Itis “homage rendered to God which is sinful (idolatry) to render to any created being (Ex. 34:14; Isa. 2:8)”. This definition does notonly specify what the object of true Christian worship should be, it restricts it to God Almighty.
So for us as Christians, true worship is offering reverence and gratitude to God with a right attitude of mind; and it is much morethan making music or singing songs, as important as these are to worship. It involves the submission of all of our nature to God aswe dethrone self and enthrone Him daily. True worship is not limited to a place of worship or a time, but it is one that evaluatesGod properly all the time, esteeming Him for all His worth, acknowledging all His attributes and crediting His judgment withrighteousness, as we see the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders do in our text. Our memory verse stipulates how wemust worship God: in spirit and in truth. This is directly from Jesus Christ Himself. Psalms 15: 1 – 5, 24: 1 – 6 show us clearly howto worship God in spirit and truth: at all times and in every way, we must have clean hands, pure hearts, walk blameless, do what isright, speak the truth, control our tongues and emotions, be honest, hate and shun evil, be of integrity and be generous. In short, toworship God in spirit and truth is to have a lifestyle that is empowered and directed by the Holy Spirit and that declares and rejoicesin the whole truth of God as revealed in His Son Jesus Christ and His Words, the Holy Bible. This is the true worship; and the basisfor it is true love for God.
Now, are you a true worshipper of the only true God? Do you worship Him in spirit and in truth? Is your lifestyle a devotion to Hisoutshining character? Or are you a person who limits your worship of God to church services or making music? Or are you someone who does not even see the need to worship God at all? Jesus Christ says in John 4: 23 that “a time is coming and has now come whenthe true worshippers (of God) will worship (Him) in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers God seeks. If this is thecase, why don’t you decide to become one today? It starts with turning your life over to Christ, accepting his conditions for salvation;and enlisting the support of the Holy Spirit to help you live a new life of holiness and righteousness that magnifies, exalts, blesses,praises, glorifies and honours God. This is the word of the Lord for you this month.