“Set Apart for Holy Use”

monday | JULY 18

Exod. 25:1–22;

29:38, 39; Exodus 35;

Deut. 12:5–7, 12, 18; 16:13–16;

Matt. 4:10;

1 John 5:3;

Rev. 19:10

Logos

“Set Apart for Holy Use”

Worship: The Who (Matt. 4:10; Rev. 19:10)

There is only One who is worthy of worship. When Satan urged Jesus to bow down and worship him, He responded, “ ‘Away with you, Satan! For it is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve” ’ ” (Matt. 4:10, NKJV; emphasis added).

Even though Scripture clearly testifies that God alone should be the fo­cus of our worship, there are times when individuals attempt to direct their worship elsewhere. For example, when the apostle John encountered an angelic being, he fell down in worship. He received the following rebuke from the heavenly messenger. “ ‘See that you do not do that! . . . Worship God!’ ” (Rev. 19:10, NKJV; emphasis added).

It is our privilege to worship our Creator moment by moment. Every time we lift our hearts and voices to Him in worship, we join with the heav­enly beings who worship Him day and night before His throne. Through si­lent prayers of thanksgiving and praise, we can worship our God anytime, anywhere. In many ways, our private devotions and worship are more important than what we might do as part of the community.

Worship: Where, When, and How (Exod. 25:1–22; 29:38, 39; Exodus 35; Deut. 12:5–7, 12, 18; 16:13–16)

Despite the importance of our private worship, the texts for this sec­tion of the Logos teach us that there should be special corporate times for worship. Principles regarding such times are found in God’s directives regarding the sanctuary services and the Hebrew feasts.

In these texts, we learn that holiness means to be “set apart for holy use.” In a real sense, corporate worship can be just that—the setting aside not just of time but also of ourselves for special communion and inter-action with God and with one another. It’s our way of saying, “How great You are, God; and how unworthy we are.” It’s our way of acknowledging our total dependence upon Christ’s righteousness as our only means of salvation. The directives God gave regarding sanctuary worship teach us that we should set aside times when we cease from work, from play, from everything else we do in order to pour out ourselves to the One who is the Source of all that we are, the One whose death on the cross has opened the door to heaven for all who will walk through.

Worship, like anything that is continually repeated, faces the danger of becoming a mechanized routine.41 

True Worship (1 John 5:3)

Yet true worship is so much more than merely forms, songs, or a liturgy. True worship is our expression of gratitude for what God is and for what He has done for us through Jesus. Just as John said, “This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments” (1 John 5:3), we also reveal our love for God by worshiping Him. Certainly this was part of what Jesus talked about when He said we would worship the Lord in “spirit and in truth.”

Worship, like anything that is continually repeated, faces the danger of becoming a mechanized routine. Once we cease worshiping God out of sincere love for who He is and what He has done for us, our worship can go in any number of unhealthy directions.

God Dwelling With Us (Exod. 25:8)

In Exodus 25:8, God commands Moses to “let them make me a sanc­tuary; that I may dwell among them.” With detailed instructions God gave Moses the blueprint to build an earthly shadow of “the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man” (Heb. 8:2, NKJV). Too often we forget that God Himself called His sanctuary into being in order to teach His people about salvation.

“ ‘The Lord is in His holy temple. / Let all the earth keep silence before Him’ ” (Hab. 2:20, NKJV). Therefore, one purpose of the sanctuary was to meet with the Lord and bask in His glory. “Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub, and paused over the threshold of the temple; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord’s glory” (Ezek. 10:4, NKJV). The message that comes from the earthly sanctuary is clear: Jesus became our Sin Bearer, taking upon Himself our sins and being punished for them. This makes Him the only means of salvation and forgiveness for fallen humanity.

Today, Jesus is in the heavenly sanctuary, interceding on our behalf. “Our God is a tender, merciful Father. His service should not be looked upon as a heart-saddening, distressing exercise. It should be a pleasure to worship the Lord and to take part in His work. God would not have His children, for whom so great salvation has been provided, act as if He were a hard, exacting taskmaster. He is their best friend; and when they worship Him, He expects to be with them, to bless and comfort them, filling their hearts with joy and love. The Lord desires His children to take comfort in His service and to find more pleasure than hardship in His work. He desires that those who come to worship Him shall carry away with them precious thoughts of His care and love, that they may be cheered in all employments of daily life, that they may have grace to deal honestly and faithfully in all things.”*

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*Steps to Christ, p. 103.

Farrah Paterniti, Taylor, Michigan, U.S.A.42