Title: Worship that pleases God
Contents
Ecclesiastes (14) Worship that pleases God (Ecclesiastes 5:1-7)
1. Worship that listens to the Word
One of the important elements of worship is listening to God's Word (verse 1). In this way, we should listen to the word a lot and speak less. Most of the text in the text is about speaking less. “Do not open your mouth recklessly (verse 2). When there are many words, the voice of a fool appears (verse 3). Thou shalt not sin thy flesh with thy mouth (verse 6). Many words are in vain” (verse 7). The more you talk, the more likely you will fail, and the more you listen, the more likely you will succeed.
2. Worship that fears God
Solomon said, “Do not open your mouth recklessly before God!” (verse 7). In this verse, the words “Do not open your mouth recklessly!” are important, but the words “Before God!” are more important. When we meet God who is the transcendent through the fear of God through true worship, confession of our sins comes out. What did Isaiah confess when he met God? “Woe to me, I am destroyed.” A person who has such a confession is a true worshiper.
The Pharisee prayed like this. "God! I appreciate that I am radically different from sinners.” Such a Pharisee's prayer is not acceptable to God. Because it is a confession of not meeting the living God. On the other hand, the publican prayed like this: "Lord! I am so sinful that I cannot look to the Lord.” When we meet God, we see a holy God and see ourselves as unholy. At that moment, the only thing to vomit out of our mouth is the confession of a sinner. Worship offered with a heart of reverence for God is the worship that pleases God.
3. Worship with a resolution of life
One day, when a pastor of a revivalist was leading a revival meeting, people laughed as soon as he stood on the platform to lead the early morning worship. The pastor thought, “I did a lot of funny humor yesterday, so people laugh and receive blessings just by looking at my face!” But it was unusual for people to keep smiling from start to finish. I later found out that he was wearing pajamas and a tie. If I had looked in the mirror, there would have been no such mistake, but not looking in the mirror was the problem.
How shameful would you look if you left in front of the mirror without wiping it off even though you had two mouths with lipstick on your nose? Listen to the Word of God and act as if you always check yourself in a mirror. Real grace is given when we obey the Word and put it into practice, and real wisdom comes when we apply the Word in our lives. The end of worship is the beginning of a new worship offered by life. Worship with such a resolution of life is true worship.
UCLA University professor Robert Goldlan researched the successful ones among his students and found some commonalities. First, successful students walked fast, while unsuccessful students walked slowly. To walk hard and walk fast means to live hard. Second, it is said that successful students always come and sit in the front row. Students who study hard always sit in the front seats. If you want to succeed in your faith life, you must make an effort to sit in the front seat during the worship service.
Third, successful students were positive in everything. The word positive refers to people who do their best and live with the conviction that “it can be done!” when they do something. Whoever had that certainty became something. Fourth, successful students must focus their attention on the teaching professor. That is, I did not think otherwise. We need that kind of concentration even in worship. If we focus only on God, worship itself becomes grace and blessings are prepared.