Why We Worship

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Hebrews 9:13-14: For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow sprinkled on those who are defiled consecrated them and provided ritual purity, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our consciences from dead works to worship the living God.

People who believe in God are meant to worship. It's not really a choice.

In the old covenant time, meaning before Jesus time, the people of God came to offer sacrifices in order to "clean themselves" before God, to offer praise and adoration of God and what He did in their lives, as well as the sacrifice of a one-year old male lamb whose blood saved the family in that house. There was always an altar on which the sacrifice was offered, there was always blood shed in their worship because sins cannot be forgiven without the shedding of blood. God's people were meant to worship.

People who believe in God are meant to worship. It's not really a choice.

God's people of the New Covenant time, meaning the believers in Jesus, worship "in spirit and in truth." We worship to receive the sacrifice, not to give it. We worship to be cleansed from the inside out, not just an external cleansing. We worship and receive the forgiveness of sins God gave through Jesus. It is because of the shedding of blood are we forgiven. For us it is the blood of Jesus that forgives and cleans our consciences. In other words, we want the forgiveness. We come to receive forgiveness. We praise and honor God because He gave Himself to us. We gather in fellowship with God who unites us because of the blood of Jesus that forgives our sins AND because God loves us and we are the people where the love of Christ lives. God, thank You for forgiving us by means of Jesus.