Does Worshiping God Really Make a Difference?
Worshipping God makes a difference. Not just singing inspirational songs, but when life imitates art, and one’s makes it “all about You, Lord,” universal change becomes reality. All the people will see God’s glory shine in the place of worship and they will sing “He is good, and His love endures forever!”
2 Chronicles 7 illustrates for us why worship matters. Here we find that Solomon’s newly built temple is filled with the glory of the Lord, fire from heaven consumes the burnt offering, the people outside the temple witness the divine manifestation of fire, and they fall down, declaring, “Truly He is good, truly His loving kindness is everlasting” (vv. 1-3). The king and the priest offered animal sacrifices and songs of praise to God, places were consecrated (i.e. set apart solely for use in worship), and sacred meals were eaten (vv. 4-10).
Once all ceremonies were completed, God speaks to Solomon. He says,
The image is not of God sitting on a cloud ready to zap anyone who crosses the line with a lightning bolt; rather, it illustrates the blessings of those who remain faithful in keeping God’s Word, offering genuine worship, and being a light to the nations, from those who abandon God’s Word, allow sin and corruption to flourish, and becoming a stench to the nations. God says to Abraham, “in you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Gen. 12:3), and “In your seed all nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice” (Gen. 22:18).
When people abandon the way of God, then corruption flourishes, and all would suffer. For instance, if robbery becomes the norm, then merchants must raise prices, but can never really thrive as a business. If judges need to be bribed in order for justice to be served, then injustice reigns because some could never afford to buy their justice. If people did not use just scales, but added to their bags of grain rocks and stubble so they could get more for less, then all would need to employ regulators, which ultimately reduces the amount of profits that can be earned in each transaction. Robbery, bribery, and unjust scales are not part of God’s way (cf. Exod. 20:15; 23:8; Lev. 19:35-37; Prov. 16:11). If, however, the children of Israel worshipped God, and kept His Word, then their land would be blessed, there would be prosperity, and the surrounding nations would also be blessed.
Christ came to redeem lost sinners from the curse, and He offers them a way to a right relationship with God. Christ followers are the salt of the earth, and a light to the world (Matt. 5:13-14). They are given a new commandment to love, which is the identifying mark of Christ’s disciples (John 13:34-35). Their worship to God can make a difference to a world lost in sin and corruption. It is through the transformational work of the Holy Spirit that they can bring new spiritual life to dead communities (cf. Gal. 5). It is also more than a song that one brings to worship, it is one’s life. “I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:1-2).
2 Chronicles 7 illustrates for us why worship matters. Here we find that Solomon’s newly built temple is filled with the glory of the Lord, fire from heaven consumes the burnt offering, the people outside the temple witness the divine manifestation of fire, and they fall down, declaring, “Truly He is good, truly His loving kindness is everlasting” (vv. 1-3). The king and the priest offered animal sacrifices and songs of praise to God, places were consecrated (i.e. set apart solely for use in worship), and sacred meals were eaten (vv. 4-10).
Once all ceremonies were completed, God speaks to Solomon. He says,
I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place. For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that My name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, even to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep My statutes and My ordinances, then I will establish your royal throne as I covenanted with your father David, saying, “You shall not lack a man to be ruler in Israel.” But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot you from My land which I have given you, and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. As for this house, which was exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, “Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?” And they will say, “Because they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers who brought them from the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this adversity on them” (vv. 12-22).God is reminding Solomon of the blessings and curses associated with obedience and disobedience to the Mosaic Law, which served as part of their covenant relationship (Deut. 28). God stresses to the king that that who abandon their faithfulness to the covenant will come to ruin and ultimately be exiled. The sin would be purged, but out of this refining fire of judgment, a remnant will emerge. Hence, “If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chron. 7:13-14). These two verses anticipate what happens in the rest of 2 Chronicles, for the people do sin, God does send the curses, and when the people repent, God relents. Unfortunately, this did not happen all the time, and eventually the people sinned, God sent the curses, but the people kept on sinning, and then God sent them into exile.
The image is not of God sitting on a cloud ready to zap anyone who crosses the line with a lightning bolt; rather, it illustrates the blessings of those who remain faithful in keeping God’s Word, offering genuine worship, and being a light to the nations, from those who abandon God’s Word, allow sin and corruption to flourish, and becoming a stench to the nations. God says to Abraham, “in you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Gen. 12:3), and “In your seed all nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice” (Gen. 22:18).
When people abandon the way of God, then corruption flourishes, and all would suffer. For instance, if robbery becomes the norm, then merchants must raise prices, but can never really thrive as a business. If judges need to be bribed in order for justice to be served, then injustice reigns because some could never afford to buy their justice. If people did not use just scales, but added to their bags of grain rocks and stubble so they could get more for less, then all would need to employ regulators, which ultimately reduces the amount of profits that can be earned in each transaction. Robbery, bribery, and unjust scales are not part of God’s way (cf. Exod. 20:15; 23:8; Lev. 19:35-37; Prov. 16:11). If, however, the children of Israel worshipped God, and kept His Word, then their land would be blessed, there would be prosperity, and the surrounding nations would also be blessed.
Christ came to redeem lost sinners from the curse, and He offers them a way to a right relationship with God. Christ followers are the salt of the earth, and a light to the world (Matt. 5:13-14). They are given a new commandment to love, which is the identifying mark of Christ’s disciples (John 13:34-35). Their worship to God can make a difference to a world lost in sin and corruption. It is through the transformational work of the Holy Spirit that they can bring new spiritual life to dead communities (cf. Gal. 5). It is also more than a song that one brings to worship, it is one’s life. “I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:1-2).
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