WORSHIPPING GOD: A BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE

[Dr. John Danish states, Pastor Teacher, Berean Memorial Church, Irving, Texas; Audio Tape #35 AM, dated 4-8-01, 'The Philosophy of Deception', Col 2:8-15]:

[Phil 3:3]:

(v. 3) "For it is we [believers] who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh."

"For" = because, introducing a sentence of strong condemnation of those who demanded physical circumcision in order to be saved, (v. 2).

"We" = we Gentile Christian believers, emphatic due to it's first position in the sentence in the original Greek.

"We are the true circumcision" = we are the true believers - who worship by the Spirit of God.

There is only one way you worship God = when you learn bible doctrine and apply it.

Worship does not require singing in the choir, nor serving as an altar boy, or being in a building with stained glass windows, a bellowing organ and a great altar up front with a priest standing there pretending to intercede with God for you so that you will not be sent to Hell. Nor is worship all the ceremonies, liturgy, musical entertainment, (sometimes professional - paid performers) = showmanship not worship.

The Mosaic Law had a system of worship through ceremonies and rituals portraying the Person and the work of the Messiah/Savior Jesus Christ. They were all symbols, an external system of works. But unless you believed in the Messiah which these rituals represented, the worship was to no avail.

[Phil 3:3 cont.]:

(v. 3) "For it is we [believers] who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh."

"we who worship by the Spirit of God = the true circumcision are those who worship in the Spirit of God and not by the energy of the old sin nature via works such as physical circumcision, liturgy.

Under the church age, God the Holy Spirit indwells each believer to guide him in his worship of God. And that worship involves first and foremost, spending time in the Word of God. You study scripture. This is so because one's worship of God is through direction of via the Word of God. It is the Word of God that enables you to think like God and appreciate Who He is - to be absorbed by Him through your understanding from the Word of God Who He is and how He thinks and what He has done for you through His Son, Jesus Christ. This is what worshipping God is all about.

[Jn 4:23-24]:

(v. 23) "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.

(v. 24) God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

Not in liturgy, ceremonies, in things you necessarily do. You worship with spiritual sacrifices - you worship with the sacrifice of your life, you money, your spiritual abilities, i.e., the spiritual gifts that God has gifted you with to serve Him. You worship God the Father by means of God the Holy Spirit. Your human spirit guided by God the Holy Spirit enables you to worship Him and that enables you to live the godly life.

"His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." = The words "in spirit and in truth" here are key. You must worship God in spirit in accordance with applicable truths from the Word of God. For example, this is not Old Testament worship anymore but church age truths that are taught in God's Word in the New Testament epistles. Furthermore, worshipping God is not just emotion. It is done in one's human spirit and in truth and it is the Holy Spirit Who guides us in that through the doctrine we've learned from studying God's Word, especially the New Testament epistles. Oftentimes one's worship of God is not outwardly emotional.

[Phil 3:3 cont.]:

(v. 3) "For it is we [believers] who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh."

"who glory" = "kauchwmenoi" = to boast