Back to the Original Question

It's been a few days since I've had opportunity to sit and think with you about the topic of worship.  And I've missed you!  Let's go back to our original question.....what is worship anyway?  Is it a single event that occurs maybe once a week?  Is it a lifestyle?  Have you drawn any conclusions yet?

We're also going to revisit the question that was left hanging at the end of the last post.  You may remember that we looked at the placement of furniture in the tabernacle and then gave some attention to the cloud over the tabernacle that signaled God's presence.   Since a few days have passed, you might want to go back and review.  We closed that post by pointing out the reality that the time came when the cloud of God's presence no longer hovered over the temple, that God's presence had left the temple.

 Today let's look into the New Testament, at the Gospel of John and continue to ponder that thought. This may be some heavy thinking for us this morning!!  But let's do it anyway :)  Jump right in to the first chapter of John's Gospel and read verses 1-2 and 14.  What do these verses tell us about God's glory?  Where did it now dwell?

Remember back to the end of the last post.  Herod had rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem, but there was no cloud signaling God's presence.  What do these verses in John indicate would happen when Jesus went into the temple that Herod had rebuilt (the one usually referred to now as the "Second Temple")?  If Jesus was in the temple, where was God's glory?

Also reflect on this.....just before His crucifixion, Jesus gathered His disciples together in an upper room and told them He was going away, back to the Father.  However, He promised not to leave them alone.....that He would send the Holy Spirit who would be in them.  He said, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him." (John 14:23).  In other words, God would dwell in them.....in those who would believe in Him.

Now read 1 Corinthians 3:16 and I Corinthians 6:19-20......note references to the temple, the Spirit of God and the phrase "dwells in you".  Now think about this......where did the glory of God first dwell?  Then where was it seen? (Remember the passage in John 1).  And where does His Glory, His Spirit now dwell?

And here's the big question today.....how does understanding all this affect the way we worship?  What does it mean to you that God calls you His temple?  What effect does that have on your life?  And how does this relate to worship?

And this brings us back to the original question I posed to you as we began this journey.  What is worship?  Is worship just the name we give a particular church meeting?  Is it just the singing we do at the beginning of the "worship service"?  Or is it much more than that?