SOME THOUGHTS ON WORSHIP, KNOWING GOD, MARRIAGE & ADULTERY/HARLOTRY
SOME THOUGHTS ON WORSHIP, KNOWING GOD, MARRIAGE & HARLOTRY
by Tuese C. Ahkiong, Director of Always Ready Ministries last updated 2-4-05
by Tuese C. Ahkiong, Director of Always Ready Ministries last updated 2-4-05
1. Worship: To give honor, reverence, respect, homage or veneration. 2. Extreme devotion; intense love or adoration 3. To show dignity, worthiness, admiration, wonder and awe
2. The chief end of man is to serve, (know, worship,) glorify, and enjoy God forever. (Westminster catechism)
3. Love The Lord with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. Mk 12:30 Loving God with your entire being.
4. Corum Deo: To live life before the face of God. In the presence of God; Under the Authority of God; To the Honor and Glory of God.
5. All of life is to be lived out for God’s Glory Alone: Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone Be The Glory!)
Worship is the quickening of the conscience by the holiness of God; the feeding of the mind by the truth of God; the purging of the imagination by the beauty of God; the opening of the heart to the love of God; the devotion of the will to the purpose of God. (William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1942-44).
WORSHIP IS…
Worship is the quickening of the conscience by the holiness of God; the feeding of the mind by the truth of God; the purging of the imagination by the beauty of God; the opening of the heart to the love of God; the devotion of the will to the purpose of God. (William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1942-44).
WORSHIP IS…
1) COVENANTAL, For the community of Believers/ Christians only towards God.
2) Largely Responding to God for who He is, what He has done and what He has said. God Initiates worship. The emotions and the will can be more sincerely and intentionally directed toward God if the mind has been given the chance to recall, understand, or reflect on Truth.
3) Intentionally Ascribing Great Reverence of who God is! It is Acknowledgement of his Authority, Love, Power, Worthiness, Holiness, Greatness, Sovereignty, Majesty, Beauty...
4) Adoration—Attributing to God the glory due His Name.
5) Service—Living in and for Christ.
6) Giving Offerings of Excellence to God—the sacrifice of praise, our lives, thanksgiving, gifts...
7) First, an inward Attitude of the heart that demonstrates humility, reverence and dependence (surrender/submission) upon Almighty God. Second, worship flows outward into a deeply devoted life.
8) Knowing God intimately through obedience to His Word. Therefore, spiritual songs act as a teaching tool to reinforce The Scripture.
9) A Foretaste of heaven.
10) What we have been Designed to do; it is our Purpose. It is the Will of God!
11) An aspect of our Growing Fellowship with a personal God.
12) What we Owe God. It is the Glory Due His Name. God receiving Justice (what He Deserves).
13) God-Centered, God-Directed, God-Focused.
14) The Lord is most glorified when we are most happy and completely satisfied in Jesus. J.Piper
15) Christian Hedonist; one who lives for the pleasure and enjoyment of God. J.Piper
16) Seeing Jesus Christ crucified and risen and reigning and bearing your sin as the infinite treasure of your life. J.Piper
Worship is paralleled with the physical relationship of a husband with his wife. In the O.T., God calls idolatry- adultery. In the N.T., the union in Eph 5 between a man and his wife is a model of the union of Christ and His Bride, the Church. There is a very close connection between the parallels of the type of intimacy and oneness that takes place in marriage and the kind of oneness that is suppose to take place when people are having a love affair with God by expressing affection to Him in worship. JP Moreland
Praise Songs—function to have a person relax and enter into an atmosphere or closeness with God.
Individual, Private, Corporate and/or Public Worship is the act of glorifying God in His presence through psalms, hymns, praise and spiritual songs; through the reading and exposition of Scripture; through observance of the sacraments; and through individual and corporate living in holiness and service.
Results of Genuine Worship (Grudem’s Systematic Theology): a) We delight in God. b) God delights in us. c) We draw near to God. d) God draws near to us. e) God ministers to us. f) The Lord’s enemies flee. g) Unbelievers know they are in God’s Presence.
Results of Genuine Worship (Grudem’s Systematic Theology): a) We delight in God. b) God delights in us. c) We draw near to God. d) God draws near to us. e) God ministers to us. f) The Lord’s enemies flee. g) Unbelievers know they are in God’s Presence.
Ephesians 5:18-20, 31-32 18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
31“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers toChrist and the church.
Colossians 3:15-17 15Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
MARRIAGE
1. Ephesian 5:21-33 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. 24But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.
25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.
28So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30because we are members of His body.
31FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH.
32This mystery is great; BUT I AM SPEAKING WITH REFERENCE TO CHRIST AND THE CHURCH.
33Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.
2. Genesis 4:1 And Adam KNEW Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.
3. Matthew 1:24-25 Joseph, having risen from the sleep, did as the messenger of the Lord directed him, and received his wife, and DID NOT KNOW HER till she brought forth her son -- the first-born, and he called his name Jesus.
4. Luke 1:34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not KNOW a man?”
25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.
28So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30because we are members of His body.
31FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH.
32This mystery is great; BUT I AM SPEAKING WITH REFERENCE TO CHRIST AND THE CHURCH.
33Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.
2. Genesis 4:1 And Adam KNEW Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.
3. Matthew 1:24-25 Joseph, having risen from the sleep, did as the messenger of the Lord directed him, and received his wife, and DID NOT KNOW HER till she brought forth her son -- the first-born, and he called his name Jesus.
4. Luke 1:34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not KNOW a man?”
KNOWING THE LORD
Know, Knowledge
The Old Testament. The Hebrew root yada [[;d"y],translated "know"/"knowledge, " appears almost 950 times in the Hebrew Bible. It has a wider sweep than our English word "know, " including perceiving, learning, understanding, willing, performing, and experiencing. To know is not to be intellectually informed about some abstract principle, but to apprehend and experience reality. Knowledge is not the possession of information, but rather its exercise or actualization.
The Old Testament. The Hebrew root yada [[;d"y],translated "know"/"knowledge, " appears almost 950 times in the Hebrew Bible. It has a wider sweep than our English word "know, " including perceiving, learning, understanding, willing, performing, and experiencing. To know is not to be intellectually informed about some abstract principle, but to apprehend and experience reality. Knowledge is not the possession of information, but rather its exercise or actualization.
Thus, biblically to know God is not to know about him in an abstract and impersonal manner, but rather to enter into his saving actions ( Micah 6:5 ). To know God is not to struggle philosophically with his eternal essence, but rather to recognize and accept his claims. It is not some mystical contemplation, but dutiful obedience.
In the doing of justice and righteousness, Josiah is said to have known God ( Jer 22:15-16).True knowledge of God involves obeying the stipulations of his covenant. It is expressed in living conformity to his will. The opposite of knowledge is not ignorance, but rebellion ( Jer22:11-14 ).
The word "know" is used as a euphemism for sex and intercourse: Adam knew his wife Eve and she became pregnant ( Gen 4:1 ). Women who have "known" a man are no longer virgins ( Numbers 31:17 Numbers 31:35 ).In his declining days David had an attractive attendant who served him but did not have sexual relationships with him ( 1 Kings 1:4 ). Even sexual perversions such as sodomy ( Gen 19:5 ; Judges 19:22 ) and rape ( Judges 19:25 )are designated by the word "know."
5. AMOS 3:1 Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt: 2 “YOU ONLY HAVE I KNOWN of all the families of the earth;
therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
7. John 17:1-3 Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give ETERNAL LIFE.”This is ETERNAL LIFE, that they may KNOW YOU, the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom You have sent.
8. Jeremiah 24:7 'I WILL GIVE THEM A HEART TO KNOW ME, for I am the LORD; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.
9. Matt 11:27 " All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one KNOWS the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and ANYONE TO WHOM THE SON WILLS TO REVEAL HIM
10. Romans 8:28-30 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreKNEW he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
11. Hosea 6.6 For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, And in THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD rather than burnt offerings.
12. Matthew 7:21-23 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23And then will I profess unto them, I never KNEW you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
13. John 10:15 even as the Father KNOWS ME and I KNOW the Father; and I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR THE SHEEP.
14. John 10:28 and I GIVE ETERNAL LIFE TO THEM, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.
15. John 10:14 " I am the good shepherd, and I KNOW MY OWN AND MY OWN KNOW ME,
16. 1 John 5:11, 13 And the testimony is this, that GOD HAS GIVEN US ETERNAL LIFE, and this life is in His Son. 13These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so THAT YOU MAY KNOW that you have ETERNAL LIFE .
17. 1 John 5:20 And we KNOW that the Son of God has come, and HAS GIVEN US UNDERSTANDING SO THAT WE MAY KNOW HIM WHO IS TRUE; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ This is the true God and ETERNAL LIFE.
18. Jeremiah 31:34 "They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'KNOW THE LORD,' for they will all KNOW ME, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."
19. Hosea 2:20 And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. Then you will KNOW THE LORD.
20. Hosea 6:3 “So let us know, let us press on to KNOW THE LORD His going forth is as certain as the dawn;And He will come to us like the rain,Like the spring rain watering the earth.”
21. Philippians 3:8-10 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of KNOWING Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to KNOW Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
22. 2 Peter 1:2Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
23. 2 Peter 3:18But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
24. Ephesians 1:17I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may KNOW him better.
25. 1 John 2:3-4We know that we have come to KNOW HIM if we obey his commands.The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
26. 1 John 3:1How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not KNOW HIM.
27. Colossians 1:10so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the KNOWLEDGE OF GOD;
DO NOT KNOW THE LORD
28. Prov. 30:2-3 Surely I am more stupid than any man, And do not have the understanding of a man. I neither learned wisdom NOR HAVE KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY ONE.
29. Judges 2:10 All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them WHO DID NOT KNOW THE LORD, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel.
30. Judges 16:20 Then she (Delilah) called, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" He awoke from his sleep and thought, "I'll go out as before and shake myself free." But he (Samson) did not know that the LORD had left him.
31. 1 Samuel 2:12 Now the sons of Eli were worthless men; they DID NOT KNOW THE LORD
32. 1 Samuel 3:7 Now Samuel DID NOT yet KNOW THE LORD, nor had the word of the LORD yet been revealed to him.
33. Matthew 7:21-23 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23And then will I profess unto them, I never KNEW you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
33. Gal 4:8-9 However at that time, when YOU DID NOT KNOW GOD, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. 9But now that you have come to KNOW GOD, or rather to be KNOWn by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?
34. 1 Thes 4:5 not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles WHO DO NOT KNOW GOD;
35. 2 Thes 1:8 dealing out retribution to THOSE WHO DO NOT KNOW GOD and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
36. Titus 1:16 They profess to KNOW GOD, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.
37. 1 John 4:8 The one who does not love DOES NOT KNOW GOD, for God is love.
38. 1 Corinthians 1:21 For since in the wisdom of God THE WORLD THROUGH ITS WISDOM DID NOT COME TO KNOW GOD, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
39. Jeremiah 4:22 " For My people are foolish,THEY KNOW ME NOT; They are stupid children And have no understanding They are shrewd to do evil,But to do good they do not KNOW."
40. Jeremiah 9:3, 6 "They bend their tongue like their bow; Lies and not truth prevail in the land; For they proceed from evil to evil, And THEY DO NOT KNOW ME," declares the LORD.
41. Hosea 5:4Their deeds will not allow them To return to their God. For a spirit of HARLOTRY is within them, And THEY DO NOT KNOW THE LORD.
29. Judges 2:10 All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them WHO DID NOT KNOW THE LORD, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel.
30. Judges 16:20 Then she (Delilah) called, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" He awoke from his sleep and thought, "I'll go out as before and shake myself free." But he (Samson) did not know that the LORD had left him.
31. 1 Samuel 2:12 Now the sons of Eli were worthless men; they DID NOT KNOW THE LORD
32. 1 Samuel 3:7 Now Samuel DID NOT yet KNOW THE LORD, nor had the word of the LORD yet been revealed to him.
33. Matthew 7:21-23 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23And then will I profess unto them, I never KNEW you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
33. Gal 4:8-9 However at that time, when YOU DID NOT KNOW GOD, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. 9But now that you have come to KNOW GOD, or rather to be KNOWn by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?
34. 1 Thes 4:5 not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles WHO DO NOT KNOW GOD;
35. 2 Thes 1:8 dealing out retribution to THOSE WHO DO NOT KNOW GOD and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
36. Titus 1:16 They profess to KNOW GOD, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.
37. 1 John 4:8 The one who does not love DOES NOT KNOW GOD, for God is love.
38. 1 Corinthians 1:21 For since in the wisdom of God THE WORLD THROUGH ITS WISDOM DID NOT COME TO KNOW GOD, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
39. Jeremiah 4:22 " For My people are foolish,THEY KNOW ME NOT; They are stupid children And have no understanding They are shrewd to do evil,But to do good they do not KNOW."
40. Jeremiah 9:3, 6 "They bend their tongue like their bow; Lies and not truth prevail in the land; For they proceed from evil to evil, And THEY DO NOT KNOW ME," declares the LORD.
41. Hosea 5:4Their deeds will not allow them To return to their God. For a spirit of HARLOTRY is within them, And THEY DO NOT KNOW THE LORD.
IDOLATRY HARLOTRY is likened to SPIRITUAL ADULTERY - Why was idolatry such a big thing!? Part of worshipping a false pagan god was having sex with the priestesses and/ or wild parties and sexual orgies to commune with that pagan god! About 100 times Scripture records Israel played the whore aka committed SPIRITUAL ADULTERY against The Lord in worshiping false gods!
42. Deuteronomy 31:16The LORD said to Moses, “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers; and THIS PEOPLE WILL ARISE AND PLAY THE HARLOT WITH THE STRANGE GODS OF THE LAND, into the midst of which they are going, and will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them.
43. Judges 2:17Yet they DID NOT listen to their judges, for they played the HARLOT after other gods and bowed themselves down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way in which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of the LORD; they DID NOT do as their fathers.
44. Judges 8:33Then it came about, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the sons of Israel again played the HARLOT with the Baals, and made Baal-berith their god.
45. Isaiah 1:21How the faithful city has become a HARLOT, She who was full of justice! Righteousness once lodged in her, But now murderers.
46. Isaiah 23:17It will come about at the end of seventy years that the LORD will visit Tyre. Then she will go back to her HARLOT’s wages and will play the HARLOT with all the
kingdoms on the face of the earth.
47. Jeremiah 3:1[ The Polluted Land ] God says, “ If a husband divorces his wife And she goes from him And belongs to another man,Will he still return to her? Will not that land be completely polluted? But you are a HARLOT with many lovers;Yet you turn to Me,” declares the LORD.
48. Jeremiah 3:6[ Faithless Israel ] Then the LORD said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen what faithless Israel did? She went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she was a HARLOT there.
49. Ezekiel 16:25”You built yourself a high place at the top of every street and made your beauty abominable, and you spread your legs to every passer-by to multiply your HARLOTRY.
50. Ezekiel 23:3and they played the HARLOT in Egypt. They played the HARLOT in their youth; there their breasts were pressed and there their virgin bosom was handled.
51. Ezekiel 23:8”She DID NOT forsake her HARLOTRIES from the time in Egypt; for in her youth men had lain with her, and they handled her virgin bosom and poured out their lust on her.
52. Ezekiel 23:14”So she increased her HARLOTRIES. And she saw men portrayed on the wall, images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion,
53. Hosea 4:12My people consult their wooden idol, and their diviner’s wand informs them;For a spirit of HARLOTRY has led them astray,And they have played the HARLOT, departing from their God.
54. Hosea 5:4Their deeds will not allow them To return to their God. For a spirit of HARLOTRY is within them,And they do not KNOW THE LORD.
CONCERNS ABOUT WORSHIP
Often times, praise songs, lack in reenforcing theology; who God is, what He has done, said and will do. In fact, they can often teach wrong theology. Some songs are known as 7-11 songs in which one sings 7 words like in a mantra, 11 times. Many songs today focused a lot on self. “Me, myself and I” are flooded throughout the lyrics. It’s singing tingly emotionally high powered, beat driven, adrenaline rushing songs about “my feelings” and “experience” of God, rather than to and for God.
Are the songs that one sings promoting greater devotion, reenforcement of Biblical Truth and intimate knowing of who God is through His Word or are they just good sounding music yet with shallow lyrics?
Truth & Spirit,
Tuese
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