What Is Worship?

 

 

First time seen in the Word

At Genesis 22:5,

Go there now and read

And see how it comes alive!

 

Just two human beings:

A father and his son

Having traveled a great way,

To worship they have come.

 

“Stay here,”

He had said to the party,

No one was to stop his worship

To his God the Almighty.

 

Is worship singing?

There was no singing there,

No singing and no music

Just reverential fear.

 

The epitome of worship

It can’t get better than this,

A father, his offering and God

Just three on this list.

 

No clapping, no shouting,

No keyboard or drumming,

No clarinets or saxophones,

No guitarists strumming.

 

 

A pile of rocks and wood

Prepared for the sacrifice

Of his son, his only son, Isaac-

This could not be nice.

 

His only son?

Did he not have another?

The son he ultimately loved?

Lord, this is a bother.

 

Why not Ishmael?

Ishmael was his son also,

Isaac was the son God wanted

The best must be on show.

 

Worship is giving up

All that we hold dear,

Nothing between us and Jesus:

No fret, no gift, no care.

 

 

Holding everything loosely

As Corrie ten Boom did say,

Worship is one and Jesus

Just the two at play.

 

Personal before corporate

Abraham offered his son,

Not a single petition was made,

Absolutely none!

 

While God stayed his hand

The act was as good as done,

Obedience was the heart of worship

God’s favour he had won.

 

One could just imagine

The burden that was lifted

In this precursor of Jesus Christ

To whom all was shifted.

 

 

The Lamb identified by John

To take away our sin,

God’s Son, God’s only Son!

Yes, we must worship him.

 

“When,” somebody asked,

“Did worship become singing?”

Worship is one’s walk with Christ

Expressed in one’s daily living.

 

A life of total surrender.

A life of childlike trust,

A life holding all things loosely

With Jesus as the must.

 

Must have Jesus

Must live by his word,

Must shine for him in word and deed

Must show him to the world.

 

Worship is not singing,

It is a given over heart

Consecrated to God our Saviour

Who loved us from the start.

 

 

A slaying of self as it were,

A putting off and a putting on,

No more the long night of darkness,

Step into the light of dawn!

 

Worship is walking in the light

In the light that is Christ,

In constant obedience to him

As a living sacrifice.

 

Stewart Russell © May 6, 2024

 

In Whose Fold Are You?

Be careful what you see

Be careful what you hear,

Be careful where you go

Be careful what you wear.

The devil is on the loose

He wants to capture your soul,

In fact right at this moment

You may be a sheep of his fold.

He is not a caring shepherd

But a hireling the Bible says,

He will damn your soul to hell

If you continue in his ways.

He makes evil appear good

And suggests that black is white,

He will turn you upside down

And lead you from the light.

He drives you from the rear

Quite unlike the Shepherd

That gave his life for the sheep

And leads them by his word.

As a matter of fact

Sheep are driven by the butcher

And the reason he is at the back

Shows he is not the shepherd.

Destination…slaughterhouse

The sheep know not this truth

Even though they are featured in ads

Outside the market booth.

“Get your choicest pieces

Of shoulder, leg or rump”

And the pieces that are left over

Are thrown on the city dump.

Though they feed and water them

This is only for the kill

So they can have a better price

And provide money for their till.

  

Many sheep are slaughter daily

Unwillingly giving their meat

They never know their peril

So they ravenously drink and eat.

They enjoy life to the fullest

But then comes their market day,

They are slaughtered and chopped in pieces

And then they are taken away.

I know of a Shepherd and Lamb

Yet they were one and the same

That gave his life for the sheep

Yes!  Jesus is his name.

His sheep will never perish

For he gives them everlasting life,

Heaven is their destination

Not life’s market and its strife.

Ours is a living sacrifice

Quite unlike the devil’s sheep,

We willingly give up our lives

To the Shepherd for him to keep.

And that he does each day

Going before us in the way

Providing, protecting and preserving

At school, at work, at play.

In whose fold are you?

That’s the question to consider,

If you’re in the butcher’s fold

The Shepherd is come to deliver.

Stewart Russell © July 2018