Article - Worship of God in Fear
In Nehemiah 8:6 after Ezra had opened the Book, he blessed God and the people answered, “Amen, Amen…And they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.” This signifies that the people had a great sense of fear (respect) when it came to worshipping God. By using the word fear we do not mean afraid, but rather a respect for authority. Israel feared the One who wrote the Book!
We must also fear the One who wrote THE BOOK. In the New Covenant, God has made specific laws concerning how we are to worship Him. In Jn 4:23-24 Jesus said, “…the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." Today, many people emphasize spirit worship, but not worship in truth. For worship to be acceptable to God we must govern our emotions by the truth. Spirit worship involves a person’s mind and emotions being engaged in the acts of worship. Worship in truth means our worship must be in accordance with biblical authority. One without the other is not acceptable. For example, God has given man the authority to sing (Ephesians 5:19), and God has specified that singing must be with the spirit and with the understanding (I Corinthians 14:15). Therefore, if someone were to sing to God in spirit, but without the understanding he would be violating God’s authority. On the other hand, if someone was to engage the spirit and the understanding, but he clapped his hands while he sang; he would violate Bible authority (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16-17). To properly restore worship we must abandon any unauthorized ways of worship, and worship God only in ways that He has commanded us. May God help as we endeavor to do this!
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