AND THAT IS YOUR TEACHER? BUT THE LORD IS IN HIS HOLY TEMPLE! CULTIVATING A HEART OF WORSHIP ~ The Striking Contrast Between the Proud and the Righteous (Part 6) -- Habakkuk Lesson 13

I began this post weeks ago. Covid has swept through my family; my second round. After two weeks of not the worst illness I've ever had...again...I still have a faint line on my test. I had plans tonight! But, alas, until there's no slight evidence of covid, I remain home; and I press on to complete this post before I completely lose my train of thought. Sigh! 

Because the next woe in Habakkuk deals with idolatry, I wanted to take a look at the idea of worship. Some would put worship in a category of something people ought not speak about--religion. Politics is the other topic sure to cause many to see red. Interestingly, often it is politicians who try to mix the two together as they try to lead others into idolatry. Those without a biblical worldview can easily get sucked into Satan's agenda as they blindly follow the 'narrative' being thrust upon them by his minions. 

You know something: When my husband was first indicted, his attorneys, (then later our other attorneys) gave us the standard schpiel, "Don't talk about your case with anyone." Turns out that is a ploy to get the public to believe the side of the story the government most wants people to believe first.  You know, whip up a mob mentality, just like they did against Jesus. Proverbs 18:17 says: The first to plead his case seems right, until another comes and examines him. Oh, the things I learned going through my prison 'trial'. Just like I should have ran to tell "my side of the story" to as many people and newspapers that would listen, we need to speak the truth in all situations, and that is why we must talk about religion, the most important topic we can discuss.

You are at a family get together and someone begins to talk about the state of affairs in our world. You, as a Christian with a drastically different worldview, begin to put things into their proper perspective with no other motive than to expose the lies of this world and offer hope in Christ. What happens? Uncle Joe may blow up and accuse you of going 'there' again. Or, Sister Sue suddenly can't get out of the room fast enough because she thinks she hears her name being called from the other room. Perhaps, for some odd reason, the clock has just ticked to the end of the party which was oddly left off the invitation. Your sister-in-law looks at your brother-in-law and says, "Well, I think we had better get home; it's getting late," with that look that says, "Let's get out of her NOW!" Why?

Let's talk about a topic people are continually warned against talking about...religion. What is religion? Why so many religions? Why so much controversy surrounding religion? Why do we get so defensive or offended when someone questions our religion? Why do matters of religion go to the very core of who we are?  Today, I want to begin to look at the answers to those questions as we deliberately talk about 'religion'. Because the last woe in Habakkuk 2 deals with the issue of 'idolatry', let's look at the heart of man as it relates to his worship. 

What profit is the idol when its maker has carved it, or an image, a teacher of falsehood? For its maker trusts in his own handiwork when he fashions speechless idols. "Woe to him who says to a piece of wood, 'Awake!' To a mute stone, 'Arise!' And that is your teacher? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all inside it. But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him. (Habakkuk 2:18-20)

Before you move on to something else to read thinking this doesn't pertain to you, let's think about this: Who is the intended audience of Habakkuk 2? It is the proud one. We can quickly brush off these woes as directed toward the wicked Chaldeans; but Israel and Judah, as seen throughout the prophets, were also guilty of so many of these indictments. Idolatry, especially, was a charge leveled against God's own people right from the start of their identity as a nation. How did it happen? Calvin said that man's nature is a perpetual factory of idols. So, we should know that it is the nature of our flesh to lean towards idolatry. It's the easiest thing for us to do. 

Someone has said that whether apostasy stinks depends upon on how it is pitched. False religion is never pitched to people as apostasy. The idea of diversity, a word associated with congeniality, seems to be no threat to orthodoxy. Talk to people in supposed Christian denominations who have lost the truth of the gospel and you may think you are on the same page for a long time because the same terms are used but with very different meanings. Take the word 'grace' for instance. Ask a Roman Catholic what the word grace actually means to them. A hundred percent of anyone you would ask would say they believe in God's grace, and that it is crucial to their 'faith'. Faith is another word that means something completely different to a Roman Catholic than it does in Scripture. And, this isn't only Roman Catholics.

Often, so subtly, God's own people were directed to idolatry just for the sake of convenience. (This is something the church today must think about when the live-feed became so convenient with Covid. I'm thankful for the live-feed when it is absolutely necessary, but it is too easy for us now to lean toward the live-feed as a matter of convenience.) In 1 Kings 12, the nation had just split into a divided kingdom--the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Judah was still worshipping in the Temple, as directed by God. Israel failed to realize, time and time again, as we often do as well, that her only strength was in her relationship with God. Eventually, Judah followed her sister Israel into judgment for the same idolatry.

1 Kings 12:25-33 It all began in this chapter with counterfeit worship and a man named Jeroboam whom Israel had made their king. Jeroboam had a heart problem, the beginning of all man's problems.  God made him king over Israel, yet that was not good enough; even though God gave him the same promises He had given to Solomon in 1 Kings 11:38. He would bless Jeroboam if he followed Him as David had. When we fail to stand upon God's promises, there is no security for us, and we attempt to secure ourselves. Jeroboam did not trust or obey the Lord (vss. 26-27). In seeking security his own way, he not only shunned the sure word of God but turned Israel's heart away from the Lord. Fear for his own personal safety crept in when he stopped trusting God. How did he turn the people's hearts away from the Lord? By offering them a 'worship' based upon their convenience. So the king consulted, and made two golden calves, and he said to them, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt." He set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan (both sacred links to the Patriarchs). He went on to make houses on high places, priests from all the people who were not the sons of Levi and instituted his own feast to mimic that which was going on in Judah. He, himself, set the example for his people to follow. 

How? Why? Simply stated, idolatry was easier. The people did not know their God or His Word. They had no fear of Him. They listened to something and someone who was offering something similar, something vaguely familiar, to what they knew; but they had no real interest in studying to show themselves approved--workers who need not be ashamed by rightly dividing the Word of God. Maybe they were born into a family who thought it best not to discuss religion and not urged to know God for themselves. They just coasted along with the throng, riding the waves of the culture and the society around them, blindly following their leaders by refusing to want God's authority over them. False religion is man at his very lowest. The one who lowers himself under God's authority will be exalted by God in His timing. Listen, our worship of God involves every facet of our lives. It is the supreme goal of life, and a life that fails to worship God rightly is lived in vain. 

How do you worship? God's way or your own way according to the way it has always been done in your family? Have you ever studied God's Word for yourself to see how He requires all men to worship Him?

To begin to answer some of the questions asked above, first, how does worship relate to what we think of when we speak of religion? According to britannica.com: "Worship, broadly defined, is a response often associated with religious behavior and a general feature of almost all religions...to the appearance of that which is accepted as holy--that is, to a sacred power or being." Not super helpful and not at all specific to the way in which God defines true worship. In fact, God is not mentioned in that definition at all. In fact, there should be much that disturbs the Christian reading that definition.

Many, even in the church, associate worship with the music in the church. A response to God in our singing is one aspect of our worship, but it is so much more. One writer gave, I believe, a great definition of true worship that is simple and to the point. Worship is the right response to God through Jesus Christ. 

In Romans 12:1-2, Paul gives us a great understanding of true worship when he says, "I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable, or well pleasing and perfect." 

What motivates us to true worship is God's mercies to us. God has blessed us with innumerable gifts of His grace that we do not deserve. The more we get to know Him through His Word, the more we come to realize all He has done for us in Christ which motivates us to praise and thank Him in worship. 

How do we worship Him? By presenting our bodies a living and holy sacrifice. By living for Him. By giving our whole selves to Him. This means we give Him our hearts, our minds, our hands, feet, thoughts, attitudes. All we are. Man has been born into this world with a me-centered, distorted view of his world since the fall of Adam. When an animal was sacrificed in the Temple in the Old Testament, that animal had no control over himself. All humanity is born with a sin nature that wants to have complete control over his own life. He is born into this world wanting to be his or her own god. Often, babies first words are, 'No'! Or, 'Mine'! Or, 'I want'! In the New Covenant of Jesus Christ, an acceptable offering to God is from a living (made spiritually alive by Christ) and holy (set apart by God in Christ) sacrifice. God wants, God deserves...no less than your whole life. It is why He created you, and it's His best for you. 

How does true worship happen? God's Word says it involves the renewing of our minds. The world has its own 'wisdom' (that we were all born with) which is completely antithetical to 'wisdom from above', as James says. It is as different as light is from darkness, as day is from night, or as truth is from lies. Pilot asked Jesus a question for the ages: What is truth? THE very truth was standing in front of him, but he couldn't see it. The world has more access to the Word of truth today than any other time in history yet can't see it for what it is. Why else would men institute a Ministry of Disinformation to say truth are lies and lies are truth?

How do we worship God? From renewed and cleansed minds. How does the world 'worship' its false gods? Strictly with their emotions. Whatever feels right to me--not according to what IS right as God defines 'right'. This is not to say that our emotions and affections are not involved in true worship, but these emotions are shaped by a mind that is saturated in Truth in the boundaries of self-control by the Spirit of Truth. Affections in true worship are a response to truth, not the other way around. It is helpful to remember that 1 Corinthians 2:16 says that believers have the mind of Christ. It doesn't say we have the emotions of Christ. This is something I must always remember. I have been described as an emotional person. I think a better word is passionate. For instance, I have strong beliefs and am very passionate about them. I will admit that sometimes my voice goes up an octave or two (or ten) and several decibels when I begin to elaborate on some truth found in Scripture others are challenging. This is something I work hard at changing (my responses in passion, not the truth!). This is also where we must be careful in thinking that it is music that stimulates our worship. Music can have a powerful emotional affect on us. This is why it is vital that what we are singing is according to sound doctrine.

True worship is God-centered. The ONLY way one can be God-centered is to know God. Someone who says he or she is a Christian but who never reads or studies God's Words or who has no desire for the teaching of God's Word rightly divided lacks credibility. In order for us to worship rightly, we must respond to the true God. In order to respond to the true God, we must know who He is; so worship begins with God's revelation of Himself in His Word, the holy Scriptures, the Bible. John 4:24 says that we are to worship God in spirit and in truth. We are to worship from the heart and according to the way God designed. 

What is the object of true worship? God alone. Not saints, men, statues, angels, or any other false gods, including Mary, the mother of God (as I have recounted in many other blogs). Why do we worship? Is it to gain God's favor or get a blessing from God? We worship God for one reason alone--because He alone is worthy of all worship. It is for God's pleasure, not ours. What about those who feel they must worship from a sense of duty? Well, that is not love. Ask any husband or wife. Nobody likes hypocrisy. True worship acknowledges God, His power, and His glory in everything we do. The highest form of worship is our obedience to Him and His Word. Worship is for the purpose of glorifying and exalting God. Our default is to want to glorify and exalt ourselves, so we must fight our sinful flesh to worship God rightly.

How do you worship? Who is your teacher? The Lord is in His holy temple! Let us all praise the Lord's name, for His name alone is exalted, His majesty above earth and heaven.

Maybe you've gone with the flow your whole life; but you see that something is not right in the world around us. Men and women are not making any sense anymore. Today is the day of salvation. It is not too late. Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thought; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. Maybe you've never studied the Bible for yourself. Read the Gospel of John in the New Testament to get to know Jesus. Begin there. If you have questions, you can reach out to me or someone in your life who has been trying to tell you about Him. You can certainly turn to Him and ask Him to lead and guide you into all truth. He will never not answer that prayer from a sincere heart. Every single Christian has been where you are at one point in their life. Do it today!!! You are not promised tomorrow.

More next time. Maranatha!