What Is worship? Worship is the highest and noblest act that any person can do. When men worship, God is satisfied. When you worship, you are fulfilled. Why did Jesus Christ come? He came to make worshipers out of rebels. Think about the change that must take place in an unregenerate human being in order to get a person to the point of becoming a worshiper, that is the change that took place in you when Jesus Christ became your Lord. This is one way you can honor the Lord by tapping into the worship part of your being and giving God the glory.

[Tweet “The higher you desire to go in God, the deeper you have to dig.”]

Pillars and Foundations

1 Timothy 3:15 (KJV)
15 But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave
thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

Psalms 11:3 (KJV)
3 ‘If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?’

• Notice the words ‘pillar’ and notice also the word ‘foundation.’
• There are certain things that we as Christians ‘stand for’.
• As the old adage goes – if you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.
• There should be certain things that are part of our foundation as believers – there should be certain things that are set in our lives just like pillars.
• Why do things like ‘purpose’ and ‘calling’ sometimes take a prolonged time?
• The foundation has to be dug deep when the Lord means to raise the building high.
• The higher you desire to go in God, the deeper you have to dig.
• The foundation necessary for a huge skyscraper like the World Trade Center is not the same as the one needed for a three bedroom home.
• It is a dangerous thing to have pillars that are loosely set into the ground. It is dangerous to build on that type of foundation.

God’s Temple and Costly Stones

1 Kings 5:17 -18 (KJV)
17 And the king commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones, and hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the house. 18 And Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders did hew them, and the stonesquarers: so they prepared timber and stones to build the house.

• Notice the word ‘costly’.
• Solomon laid the foundation of God’s house with costly stones.
• Does that make any sense to you?
• Isn’t it interesting how the Lord thinks?
• He does not think like you or me.
• The Lord puts costly stones into a foundation
• Stones that are buried under ground.
• Stones you never see.
• He piles dirt on them.
• What type of mentality is this?
• This is a mentality of abundance.
• In Solomon’s day, for example, silver was so abundant that it was piled outside in big heaps.
• So readily available was it, that its value was minimal.
• God owns everything and for Him to put costly stones into a foundation is no big deal.
• The spiritual parallel or application of this, in the New Testament, is marvelous to behold.

Eph. 2:19-22 (KJV)
19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

• We are built upon a foundation of stones that we also have never seen!
• They have been buried by the dirt of time.
• How many of you have ever seen Peter or gazed into the eyes of Paul or any of the other apostles that are referenced here as part of the foundation of God’s house?
• But yet you are willing to and have made, major adjustments in your life because you believed that what these men spoke in their epistles was by the Spirit of God.
• Notice Jesus is a stone in this foundation of God’s house.
• Wasn’t Jesus the most costly stone of them all?
• Have you ever seen Him?
• Yet, not seeing Him, you love Him.
• He has been physically hidden from your eyes, yet you call upon Him and count Him as your Lord.
• Now if the foundation which is in the ground is costly, what about that which is above ground?
• What about the stones that can be seen?
• Are they not also costly?
• Or does God heap a bunch of junk stones, a pile of worthless rock, upon this costly foundation?
• Is this God’s manner?
• Some would have us to believe that we are nothing and nobody.
• The Bible record is vastly different.

1 Peter 2:5-6 (KJV)
5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. 6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.

• The priesthood of the believer is something that we, at times, forget as we get involved in building up the kingdom, and get intense about helping others in Jesus Name.
• But we must always remember our priesthood.
• What do priests do?
• They offer up sacrifices.
• And yet, knowing these truths our worship is at times not what it should be.
• What are some common mistakes that believers engage in when it comes to worship?

Worship Mistake One: Forgetting that Worship is a Sacrifice.

• Sacrifices that cost nothing are generally not worth anything.
• David understood this principle and refused to offer up such a sacrifice.

2 Samuel 24:21,23-24 (ESV)
21 And Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the LORD, that the plague may be averted from the people.”… 23 All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the LORD your God accept you.” 24 But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

• It is easy to remember to offer sacrifices to God that cost you something when you remember the value and the worth of the foundation that you are building on.
• Don’t live a junky Christian life.
• You are building on a costly foundation.
• Jesus deserves your best.
• So, let’s look at a particular ‘stone’ that we build on God’s foundation: the stone of ‘work’ or being a ‘worker for God’.

Question: What additional worship mistakes do you think should be addressed in the believers life? Please leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

________
References