WORSHIP, part Two

WORSHIP, PART II

By

J.M.MacLEOD

Worship of God is given to humanity as protection from abusing free will.

Some years ago a film depicted an encounter between a young man and the fallen angel, Lucifer. The young man asked Lucifer why he left heaven. The conversation went something like this:

“So why did you leave if heaven is supposed to be all that wonderful?” the young man asked.

Lucifer replied, “Here, I’ll sit on this pedestal while you parade around me extolling my virtues.”

“Okay,” said the young man, and he proceeded to do a dance around the pedestal where Lucifer perched. “You are wonderful, you are wise, you are beautiful… How long do I have to keep this up?”

“Keep going, you’re doing fine. I’ll tell you when”

After several more turns around the pedestal the young man, breathing heavily, said, “Look here, I’m getting tired of this.”

“Oh, keep on, you’re just getting the hang of it.”

“Very well, for a while longer.”

After several more turns the young man stopped his dance and said, “This is all very boring, you know. I’m not going to do it any more.”

Lucifer smiled and said, “Now you know why I left heaven.”

The filmmaker’s point seemed to be that heaven must be a very boring place—and the God of heaven must be an egomaniac wanting constant adoration and worship for all time and eternity.

There is, aside from the truth that God really is worthy to be continually worshipped, a very practical reason why God has arranged to receive worship from His children.

CORRUPTED BY ABUSING FREE WILL

It’s been lamented by some that God gave men and angels free will because free will ultimately led to damnation. Free will involves risk; so why would a loving God allow His created beings to handle something so dangerous? But there is a way, in fact, only one way, for humanity to exercise this freedom of choice and yet not be destroyed.

Free will is the gift of God, to both men and angels; but it’s a double-edged sword. Free will serves as the sieve that separates the faithful from the reprobate. Without giving His creation free will, God wouldn’t have anyone to return love to Him. Creating a robot that’s programmed to “love” could never satisfy a loving being, much less the One Who’s very essence is love.

So, let’s examine the root of free will abuse. How did such a marvelous gift of independence get turned into something so damaging?

It begins with Lucifer. Lucifer’s heavenly position was “the Anointed Cherub that covereth.”

 Eze 28:11 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,  12 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.  13   Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.  14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.  15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. (KJV)

Though this prophecy is addressed to the king of Tyre, it is more specific to the spirit indwelling the human king of Tyre, for the description wasn’t true of the man; for instance, the king of Tyre had never been in Eden. Lucifer is actually the one described in this passage. He had been given a place of great honor and power in heaven; he was beautiful, he was musical (vs. 13), and… anointed.

Anointed? What does that mean… and for what purpose?

We speak of “the Anointing” in Christian circles today and mean, “The Holy Spirit’s presence.” So too, we may conclude that Lucifer, before his fall, was under the Holy Spirit’s empowerment to perform his duties. He was the worship leader of heaven, conducting the praise from myriad angels to God, like a priest offering the prayers of people and bringing them to God’s altar.

Lucifer? Anointed with the Holy Spirit?

What else could the term “Anointed Cherub” mean? Either God influenced (not forced) the affairs of heaven (including Lucifer) through His Spirit’s persuasion or He was, as deists thought, an absentee landlord who just wound up creation like a watch and set it on its own course. It is immediately obvious that an “absentee landlord” wouldn’t have provided such a marvelous salvation at the price God paid to redeem us.

Like man, angels have free will. As long as Lucifer used his free will to worship the One that was greater than he, he was safe from destroying himself with wrong choices. But he chose to glorify his own beauty and power; in so doing he became arrogant. He envied the worship he presented to God. He envisioned himself sitting on God’s throne, receiving the adoration of multitudes. At some point Lucifer abused the free will given by God, and chose to worship himself, thus becoming egocentric. In so choosing, he grieved the Holy Spirit and was bereft of the anointing.

Isa. 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!  13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High…

Lucifer’s heady rebellion spread, drawing one-third of the angels to him in his quest to glorify self rather than God. And Lucifer brought rebellion to naïve mankind on earth. Here was a domain he could usurp from the appointed steward and establish his own version of “heaven,” with himself ruling as a god. The wonderful gift of free will that God had given him was corrupted by his seeking and doing what he wanted instead of choosing to submit to God’s will.

Free will, as God intended, is to learn and choose to do His will out of loyalty, thankfulness and love. Of course, He could have programmed the behaviors He wanted into men and angels, but then their obedience wouldn’t have been a freely given expression of love and fidelity, but rather, mere programming. For the God of heaven to be Love Personified yet have no object to lavish love upon and have them freely love Him in return would make the universe meaningless.

To demonstrate the depths of His love, God created mankind though knowing they would fall under Lucifer’s spell. Because of the rebellion Lucifer had provoked, God wanted to demonstrate His inherent nature of redemption as a contrast against satanic selfishness, making it possible for heaven’s and earth’s inhabitants to more fully comprehend the depths of God’s magnificent capacity to love.

Lucifer’s abuse of free will by perverting the concept of love into self-love instead of love and care for others corrupted even heaven. That’s why there will also be a new heaven when the old earth is replaced.

THE DANGER OF HAVING FREE WILL

When Lucifer and his minions misused free will, their natures mutated, becoming unclean and defiled; they became slaves to corrupt desires, in effect, losing their free will. They stayed glorious and holy only as long as they used free will to submit to and acknowledge God’s ultra-ness. Thus fallen angels are irredeemable because they knowingly chose disobedience despite the obvious consequences. When Lucifer and his minions refused to worship the Source of life and truth, they, in effect, became robotic beings—ruled by their rebellious natures; incapable of choosing to do anything except evil.

Intelligent beings, such as men and angels, must have a sense of significance or they are miserable. What Lucifer chose to ignore was the fact that men and angels only have significance as long as they freely choose to obey God’s will. Abandoning God is the same as abandoning significance. Without significance, sentient beings can know only frustration, despair, anger and hatred.

Unlike Lucifer and his demented followers who deliberately chose their path of self-destruction, mankind was deceived into joining the rebellion against God. Adam and Eve were created, not as holy, but innocent beings, neither holy nor unholy. The consequences of disobedience weren’t obvious to Adam and Eve before they partook of the forbidden fruit. Therefore, God, in demonstration of His mercy, didn’t immediately banish them from His presence, but made a way of redemption for them and their descendants if, during their limited lifespans, they’d turn from the self-serving creatures they were born as under Lucifer’s influence, and seek to serve Him.

Fallen mankind still has a vestige of this free will. But this opportunity to correctly use free will lasts only as long as breath remains in him. When he passes to the spiritual realm, if he hasn’t sought for and found God through Jesus Christ, he too will become like the demonic beings that preceded him—unable and unwilling to repent despite looming eternal punishment.

Nonbelievers are ensnared and controlled by sin and lust, gratifying whatever their hearts desire. The only thing they can do with their vestigial free will is use it to seek God.

The born-again believer has exercised free will properly and now seeks to follow God. But there are pitfalls. The believer will often be tempted to follow sinful or carnal desires instead of the Lord’s will. Demons try to override the believer’s deliberate choices to follow God with various lusts of the flesh, lusts of the eyes and the pride of life.

Here’s the dilemma: the Bible exhorts believers to put their old man to death and live holy lives. The question is, “how?” Believers, who that have the Holy Spirit, know they ought to rise above their lower nature’s urgings and live holy lives, but there’s a struggle to do so, and they often fail.

Furthermore, the temptations from evil spirits are strong; they know how to exploit their victims’ weaknesses. The Church seems to be unaware that such temptations are spiritual attacks, and as a result, many Christians live sub-par lives, struggling to overcome sin, feeling guilty, even doubting their salvation. They haven’t overcome their own lusts, much less resisted satanic attacks. Their choosing to not sin is impeded.

Rom. 7:18   For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.  19   For the good that I would, I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.  20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.  21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.  22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:  23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.  24 O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 

Immature believers (see I Jn. 2: 12-14 note that children—i.e. immature believers sin habitually) are trapped on a treadmill of trying to resist sin with their wills, but it is only a matter of time until they fall into sin again. Then they repent and climb on the treadmill of repentance again, promising to do better. They are unknowingly misusing their free will by trying to resist sin through their own efforts instead of overcoming via the method God has provided.

Paul concludes with the answer to this dilemma:

I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord… Rom. 7:25

THE GUARDRAILS OF WORSHIP

This is where worship meets the need. Worship is recognizing and thankfully declaring the awesome worthiness of God. The deeper a believer knows God, the more awestruck he is by His beauty and magnificence as well as developing an increasing awareness of what He’s done for them; thus they’re drawn into worshipping Him all the more.

But worship must be free and sincere, otherwise it’s just an empty religious exercise. Churches spend a good portion of the service in singing hymns, but how many of those singing are actually worshipping? How many sense God’s presence as they sing? And how often do they sing to the Lord outside of the weekly church meeting? The answer to these probing questions will reveal the reasons why many believers are not experiencing victorious Christian lives. And free will is at the root of the solution.

Paul reveals the secret to overcoming temptations of the flesh such as drunkenness, and progressing to live a holy life:

Eph 5:17-20   Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.  And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit, Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…

This passage contains all the elements of worship: knowing and desiring God’s will, vocalizing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs; making up one’s own songs of praise to the Lord, and being thankful.

When we’re filled—anointed—with the Spirit, by choosing to engage in sincere worship, we’re empowered to overcome the lusts of the flesh.

Gal 5:16  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

So how do we get “filled” with the Spirit? By using our free will to choose to worship God, as the Ephesian passage suggests.

            Free will is a very risky thing. Like it or not, God has given us free will and won’t violate our right to choose to obey or reject Him. In having free will, mankind is responsible for using it wrongly, or using it rightly. As fallen beings, we need to remember that we’re prone to the misuse of free will… but wise use of it entails worship of God.

            Satan used his free will to turn away from worshipping the only One worthy of worship. He permanently corrupts himself by misusing, and thus losing, free will. Worshipping God is the only thing that could have kept him safe from self-destruction, but he rejected it.

Even believers haven’t passed beyond the existential dangers of free choice. But God has given His children a way to escape this fallen world’s pull toward evil—worship. By abiding in the Spirit, under His anointing, and choosing a lifestyle of worship, we’re safeguarded from selfish snares, temptations and human weaknesses.

True, sincere worship of our loving Heavenly Father and our Redeemer Jesus Christ, is the guardrail along the dangerous highway of life that keeps us out of the ditch of the wreckage of a wasted existence and instead, on the road of spiritual progress toward holiness.