Defining Worship
based on Leviticus 1:1-9
Do you remember getting your driver’s license? I remember thinking that if they would just let me behind the wheel – I knew what to do! Instead, I had to take a book home, study it, and learn all of the laws well enough to pass a test before I was even allowed to sit in the driver’s seat with the keys to the car! Although I resented that time of preparation for myself, I appreciated the instruction when the time came for my children to get their driving permits.
The book of Leviticus is one of the books of Law in the Bible, and although it may not be as “inspiring” as many of the other books, I think it has much to teach us today. It begins with the Lord calling Moses into the tent of meeting to give him important instructions on how the people were to conduct their worship. In the first seven chapters of Leviticus God defined worship and told the people what he required from them in worship. God simply required offering one’s very best.
But further reading shows us that God gave specific instructions on how to make sacrifices. Why? The primary purpose that God summoned Moses and told him to tell the people his words is seen in v11:44 "For I am the LORD your God; sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy for I am holy…For I am the LORD who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; you shall be holy, for I am holy."
God has taken extraordinary care to help his people be holy. Then Sin happened. And although God took steps for people to be made right with him, we need to do our part. Worship first requires that we offer our very best to God. God makes it clear that the offering they brought to the temple was first from their own personal property and then secondly it had to be without blemish! Worship needs to cost us something both then and now!
