The Israelites have just finished the tabernacle and the alter, they’ve been given all these detailed instructions on various offerings, the priests are good and ready, and in Leviticus 9 we have basically what is the first ‘worship service’. It being the first time, they probably don’t know what’s going to happen, or what to expect. The glory of God appears to all the people, and God consumes the offering with fire. The first ‘service’ ever, and God ‘shows up’, and the people go crazy, start shouting in joy and fall face down in worship.

Can you imagine? How awesome must that have been? The priests, Aaron, Moses and the people doing this for the first time the way God has told them exactly how he wants to be worshipped, not knowing what to expect, not sure what exactly is going to happen, and God shows up, and is seen in all of his glory!

But then in chapter 10:

“Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.”

Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu, after just having seen the glory of God, being all fired up and excited (no doubt about it) after just having seen God’s glory and fire come out from the presence of the Lord to consume the offering, offer unauthorised fire before God – contrary to how he’s said how it’s to be done. Bad idea! If God gives you instructions on how to do something, you stick to them. Otherwise, there’s serious consequences.

So, having done different to what God has told them to do, despite their hearts being in the right place, being fired up and excited about worshipping God, fire comes out from the presence of God, consuming them and killing them.

What’s interesting here is that they’re hearts are in it – they’re trying to worship God, but the way they do it isn’t right. It matters how we worship God. Our hearts have to be in it, but our actions – which reflect what’s going on inside have to be in line with how God wants to be worshipped. It’s not about how WE want to worship God – it’s how HE wants to be worshipped.

So, you’re thinking: Slaughtering animals, burning stuff, etc… that’s Old Testament, right? That’s old school? We don’t do that anymore, right? But the theory still applies today because God still cares how he is worshipped. Worship is an offering before God. We do need to follow the examples in the bible of how God wants to be worshipped. If we get mixed up in that, and worship God how WE want to, even with good hearts, like Nadab and Abihu – our good hearted worship offering can be offensive to God.

We were saved, not to be slaves to God, because that would imply he needs us, but to be sons and daughters, to worship God, our father, and to live lives that glorify him. We are all called to worship God. We are called to stand in awe.

Jesus talks about worshipping what we do not know. He follows on by saying (John 4:23-24) that “true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks (again – what God wants, what God is looking for). God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth.”

Worship in spirit and in truth? What is that?

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12: 1-2)

Worship is a sacrifice. An offering. Similar to the offerings in the Old Testament, here Paul talks about offering ourselves, our very lives as a worship sacrifice to God. Being a Christian is sacrificing your life to God – and that’s worship. Living a life of worship.

Spiritual worship is praising and worshipping a God who requires you to be all in, giving up the things of the world, and becoming more like Jesus daily. That involves sacrifice. That involves taking up our crosses daily.

Part of worshipping in truth is simply worshipping God in the way that he wants to be worshipped. With all your heart, soul, mind and strength, in accordance with what the bible says about how God wants to be worshipped.

We see plenty of examples of worship throughout the bible. We read the Psalms which teaches us how to worship God by singing. There’s examples of physical acts of worship (raising hands, facedown worship, kneeling, dancing, etc) as well, practised by people like Abram, Moses, Aaron, King David, Peter, James, John, etc. Taking a closer look at some of these people allows us to see the heart behind their physical acts of worship.

Every posture in worship says something of both the worshipper and the one being gloried in. The raising of hands tells of a soul stretched out high in praise and the worth of the one being exalted. Joyful dancing (like David) interprets a grateful heart and points in adoration to the lovable gracious God – the source of that joy. Worshipping facedown tells of a soul so captivated by God that to prostrate your self before God in true and total surrender seems the only appropriate response (and is probably the ultimate act of reverence) to our God, our high and exalted master.

What I’ve learned is that all these physical acts or postures begin as a posture of the heart. So it’s important to spend a short time before or just at the start of worship, readying your heart, focusing on God, asking for forgiveness, focussing on something that God has done, or that you long for him to do. I believe if you sort out your heart, and your head before you enter a time of worship, the prospect of raising your hands in a physical act of worship doesn’t seem a scary thing at all. When you truly focus on God, the people around you, which can make you feel uncomfortable and not confident in worshipping outwardly, become less of an issue.

Ultimately, who’s bigger? We’re concerned about the person to the right and left of us? Maybe they’re concerned about you? What will they think if I raise my hands and actually worship God in the way my heart wants to, in a response to who God is and what he has done for me? And I get it. I understand. Half the time, I struggle with it myself. Half the time I don’t do what my heart wants to do. It’s difficult sometimes.

One example of facedown worship is when the Ark of the Covenant has been taken by the Philistines in 1 Samuel 5, they take it a temple and they place it before their ‘god’ Dagon. The Ark of the Covenant was God’s presence. They come into find their ‘god’ (a statue) Dagon facedown before the Ark of the Covenant. Even supposed gods end up facedown in the presence of God.

Then there’s David. Shortly after the Dagon incident, the Ark of the Covenant is brought back to it’s rightful place. David is so overjoyed, that he dances with all his might in worship of God, in an undignified way. Sometimes when we God ‘gets’ us, we get ‘it’, which is to say we tend to throw off the concerns about what people may think, like David did… and go a little bit crazy and worship God in an undignified way.

This leads to my final point. Worship is a response. It’s a response to who God is. It’s a response to what he’s done, and what he’s going to do. We get so wrapped up in what we want from worship. We base our judgement on how good worship was depending on how ‘hyped up’ and spiritual we feel afterwards. Coming back to what I said at the beginning, it’s about God. Not us.

First and foremost, worship is to God. Secondly, it’s us. God can and does minister to us through the Holy Spirit in worship. It’s communion with God. It’s a two-way thing. That is also why we can (like David does in the Psalms) cry out desperately for God in worship, in our pain and hurting, in the midst of some of the craziness in this world, but still ultimately put our hope and our trust in the God who is in control of everything.

Worship is also a choice. It’s not something we always feel drawn into. Sometimes I’m just not in the mood to get down on my knees and worship God. Just like sometimes the last thing I feel like doing is reading my bible or praying. We don’t just pray to God when we feel like it; otherwise it’s just a take, take, take, relationship. In the same way, we need to make the choice of worshipping God in the midst of suffering. We need to step into worship even when we don’t feel like it, which is basically saying, “God, even though I feel miserable right now, you’re still worthy and I’m going to worship you despite…”

In Habakkuk, the prophet Habakkuk is crying out to God. He’s asking for help. His people are screwing up big time. They’re not living the lives God called them to live. Habakkuk talks about all the destruction and violence and strife and conflict. He wants to know why God isn’t moving when there’s so much wrong going on. He wants to know how God can watch this and do nothing.

God tells Habakkuk that he’s raising up the Babylonians to sort things out. He’s raising up an even worse ungodly nation, to take over the currently ungodly nation of Israel. Ouch. Basically, Habakkuk is in a bad situation, and it’s only going to get worse, and then he prays this:

“Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.” (Habakkuk 3:2)

It’s amazing. Despite the fact that Habakkuk is in a crappy situation, and he knows it’s only going to get worse because God is raising up the Babylonians, he still worships God. He still, in the midst of suffering, in the knowledge that it’s only going to get worse, trusts God and puts his hope in him.

Habakkuk standing in awe of God’s deeds? What? Even in a bad situation?

There’s so MUCH to stand in awe of. So much that God has done in the bible which should have us fall flat on our face (like Dagon) in worship to God. How can we even find it ‘hard’ or ‘awkward’ to worship?