A Few Remarks on Worship, Spiritual Sacrifices etc.

Sep. 2017.
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Worship is not preoccupation with ourselves, but preoccupation with Christ Himself and the Father, contemplating the glory and greatness of the Person and work of the Son of God, being lost in wonder and admiration of His excellency.

Occupying with ourselves, except to confess our sins (I John 1:9) is not good for our spiritual condition. Introspection is very harmful to the souls. But on the other hand, preoccupation with the Person of Christ, and His work will lift us above the cares and anxieties within and without.

" I have set the Lord always before me: because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope......Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in Thy presence is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." Psalm 16.

We have here the secret of joy disclosed to us. In His presence is fullness of joy. And Christ at the right hand of God is the divine center for the faithful. Thus we ought to look upward always unto Christ, (John 14:1)—by looking away from ourselves and from the passing things of the world, and looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith. Heb. 12.

We enter within the veil "Whither the Forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an High Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec." (See Heb.6:19-20.)

The Lord Jesus "by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." And now, the Holy Ghost bearing witness to all this says: "And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh; And having an High Priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." (Heb. 10.)

And, furthermore, in verse 23, we are exhorted to "hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering;" etc. v24. "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:"

Verse 24 here connects us to the other class of spiritual sacrifices as we read in Heb. 13:16; besides the sacrifice of praise (fruit of our lips giving thanks to His Name), which we offer to God by Jesus Christ (v15).

Heb. 13:16. "But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased."

These good works and acts of beneficence are exemplified by the churches of Macedonia, concerning which the apostle testifies in II Cor. 8, and elsewhere. "But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God." Philippains 4:18.

As one has said, "Such sacrifices as praises to God are the outflow of the heart in worship; and doing good, etc., is the activity of the divine nature displayed in the saint—the practical manifestation of Christian love."


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