Worship - offering -

Genesis 2:7 (NIV)
"The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground..."

Many people tend to forget that we are nothing but dust itself. We are literally made of dirt from the earth that we now walk on and yet there is so much pride in us, we who are dust itself.

Isaiah 14: 12 - 14 (NIV)
"How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth you who once laid low the nations!"
"You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountains."
"I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High."

It was pride itself that caused Lucifer (Satan) to fall.

Revelation 12: 4 (NIV)
"His tail swept a third of the stars out fo the sky and flung them to the earth..."

And with satan fell a third of the angelic host in heaven. The stars that plunged to earth are considered to be the angels who fell with Satan and subsequently became his demons. Even Hebrew traditions speaks that a third of all the angels in heaven fell with Satan.

A very common misunderstanding with many people including Christians is that heaven is heaven because God is there (which is true) and that hell is hell because God is not there which is not what scripture teaches. Hell is simply the wrath of Almighty God.

Revelations 14:10
"... He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb"

And before the wrath of God, all people. I say again, ALL PEOPLE whether great or small will try and hid before God's wrath

Revelations 6: 15 - 17
"Then the kings of the earth, the princes... every slave and every free man hid in caves and amoung the rocks of the mountains."
"They called to the mountains and the rocks "Fall on us and hide us form the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath fo the Lamb!"
"For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?"

It is the perfect justice revealed against man throughout eternity. And before the wrath of the lamb, great and mighty man will cry out and cower in fear before God's righteous fury. Yes we do have the assurance of salvation and a place in God's presence in heaven when we are first saved. However, DO NOT presume that just because you call Jesus your Lord and Saviour will result in you being saved. We have to bear fruits (This is another topic). Justice will be poured out upon all non-believers and people who do not bear fruits for there is no such thing as a barren Christian. We will bear fruits. Just like how there is no homosexual Christian nor an occult practicing Christian who would bear true fruits of the Holy Spirit. And because of the crimes you have commited and commit in the future, justice would be poured out.

God's love is so great for us is SO GREAT that it is IMMEASURABLE! I will say this, when Satan and his followers rebelled against the Kings of Kings, Lords of Lords, the Almighty God, God saw it fit to send Satan and his followers to hell. And God was still righteous and perfect when melting out his judgement. Yet when Adam and his decendents rebelled, God has the very same right to send us to hell as well. He would be perfect and just still. However he sent Jesus as our saviour, as our hope and our way out. Jesus was sent down to earth for our sake, because out of Love God sent his only son to die for us.

Isaiah 53: 10, 12
"Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand."
"... because he poured out his life unto death and was numbered with the transfresors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."

Someone had to bear the sin, someone had to become the scapegoat, someone had to become the curse. We are saved only when Jesus was nailed to the tree to die for our sins. God has crushed his one and only begotten son for us! We must not only realise but understand that God had to measure out the punishment for it was God who was offended, it was God's wrath that was kindled and it was God's justice that had to be poured out. Someone (Jesus) had to interpose and suffer the judgement, the wrath and the justice of God.

Galatians 3: 10
"... "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law"

If anyone just broke one law, ONE law, you would be under a curse. I say it again, break just one law and your under a curse already.To be under a curse before our Holy God and heaven, we would be so vile, so disgusting, so dirty, so henious that when we enter hell all creation has the right to clap to God for his Righteousness. To save us out of love, someone had to die and that someone was Jesus. Jesus was seperated from God's favourable presence because he had to bear the sins of his people and become a curse before his father. Jesus Christ has redemped us and became sin on our behalf our of love. To take upon the shame, the guilt, the sin before a Holy God and dieing without him.

Now listen to me, God has loved us so much that he has sent Jesus, his only son to die on the cross for us. He did not have to send Jesus at all, for he would still be righteous and just. Praise is obviously the time when we praise and proclaim his greatness, thanking him for everything he does. Worship is different, worship is we saying Lord I love you. For all that he has done, for what he is and who he is, I love you. Offering is a special type of worship, offering really shows our heart and the sacriface we are prepared give to God.

2 Samuel 24: 24
"But the king replied to Araunah, "No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing"

Do not have the misunderstanding that you are sacrifacing what is yours, everything under the heavens and in heaven belongs to God. There is absolutely nothing that God who created everything does not own. He has given to you what he owns and as an act of faith, give back to him what he has given to you. In the ancient days, lambs, doves and other animals were sacrifaced however they were not bought without a price. It showed the level of faith, believe and love they had for God. Now we use money which is the price. God has given each of us different abilities and different standings in society as well as different richness for his own purposes. For what God has given to us, no matter how big or how small, God looks at the heart of our giving, not the amount for our offering as mentioned before is an act of love and faith to God.

Mark 12: 44
"They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything - all she had to live on"

Now a days, we expect God to come to us, to explain and prove who he is and of course shower us with gifts. God does draw to us but with a myraid number of ways. This is so different from people of the past whom this particular characteristic we should learn and copy. For example, the Magi travelled for thousands of miles to see the Jesus and responded with joy, worship and gifts when they finally found him

Matthew 2: 1 - 2
"... Magi from the east came to Jerusalem"
"and asked, 'Where is the one who has been born king of Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.' "

To sum things up, the essence of true worship is honouring Jesus for who he is and willing to give him what is valuable to you. Not because we have to give him the properties he had entrusted to us but because this is our act of love and faith to him.

Matthew 2: 11
"On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh."

God bless you,
Jeremy Lim

As usual, any corrections, questions, words of wisdom and encouragement are welcomed. Pls post under comments and I will get back to you as soon as possible :)