Spiritual worship is tied with our being made new creations. This devotional reading looks at how spiritual worship helps us in sanctification.
Nuggets
- Spiritual worship can only come after we have been made a new creation.
- It is only through the influence of the Holy Spirit that we engage in spiritual worship.
Ever since I ran across Menander and Charnock’s sermon, I have been scratching my head, wondering why Charnock waited so long to talk about what spiritual worship is. Why didn’t that go before putting it into practice?
Well, the verses are different, so we will look at them. Surely, there will be others nuggets from which to glean.
Let's Put It into Context
To read devotions in the Habitual Holiness of Heart and Life theme, click the button below.
Here is a running list of nuggets for the theme.
Devotions in the Finding Jesus through Spiritual Worship study
Here is a running list of nuggets for the study.
The foundation of this series is Menander and Charnock’s Spiritual Worship.
Resource
The headings are Charnock’s words.
From a Spiritual Nature
“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago” (Eph. 2: 10 NLT)
Spiritual worship can only come after we have been made a new creation.
God created mankind in His image. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1: 27 NLT).
Glossary
Yes, the original sin put a kink in that. “When Adam was 130 years old, he became the father of a son who was just like him — in his very image. He named his son Seth” (Gen. 5: 3 NLT).
God straightened out the kink when Jesus paid the sacrifice for our sin. “So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (II Cor. 5: 16-17 NLT).
Everyone who ABCDs becomes new creations. If we don’t, we need to question our conversion experience — we haven’t really received salvation.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Glossary
Conversion is the product of repentance, when we turn away from our sins and return to God, that secures salvation.
- Repentance is acknowledging our separation from God and expressing sorrow for breaking God’s laws and commandments by making the commitment to change our sinful ways to ways of righteousness through obedience.
- Sin is not believing that Jesus is our Savior to save us from our actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
- Sanctified means to be set free from sin.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
- Pure means not being sinful or having the stain of sin.
- Virtues are standards of moral excellence.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Obedience means submitting ourselves to the will of God as it is presented to us and living our lives accordingly.
Salvation is the gift of life through the deliverance from condemnation and sin to acceptance and holiness and changes us from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive.
- Holiness is the transcendent excellence of His nature that includes elements of purity, dedication, and commitment that lead to being set apart.
- Purity means possessing God’s moral character, having eliminated the stain of sin.
Glossary
That is what Paul is talking about here in Ephesians. We can only be justified through Christ. Justification is the act through the merits of Christ that makes us free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws. Jesus justifies us when we put our lives in His hand.
Glossary
But Harris cautioned us that justification is not received only through faith. He wrote, “But here St. Paul finds it necessary to put in a word of caution to those who are the very foremost in accepting his teaching, and the most earnest in looking to their faith as the sole instrument of their justification.”
Resource
Wait! What?!?
Remember, Paul had just told his readers that. “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it” (Eph. 2: 8-9 NLT).
We don’t gain salvation through our own merit. It is a gift from God. We have to not only believe Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer, but we also have to accept the gift and live it out. We have to change to become like God.
We do that by navigating the Sanctification Road. Sanctification is the transformational process of the mind, body, and soul, which begins with regeneration; gradually changes our nature and morals through the promptings of the Holy Spirit; and ends with perfected state of spiritual wholeness or completeness.
- Regeneration is being changed from spiritually dead to spiritually alive and the internal new birth and requickening that God brings about through the work of the Holy Spirit to give us new character.
- Spiritual death is the separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
- The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
- Spiritual death is the separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
Glossary
This makes more sense when we tack on the verse James wrote. “You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror” (Jas. 2: 19 NLT).
Having faith isn’t worshiping God. Worshiping requires more of a response.
The response we are to have is to change to become more like God. Only by being obedient and following His laws and commandments – having His character – brings maturity in our salvation.
By the Influence of the Holy Spirit
“Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live” (Rom. 8: 12-13 NLT)
It is only through the influence of the Holy Spirit that we engage in spiritual worship.
We can’t continue in our sinful nature after we receive God’s salvation. To do so would mean we are still dead in our sins.
Yes, we are still in our sinful bodies, so we will continue to commit sins. This is talking about attitude. Do we have the mind of Christ?
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
If we have the mind of Christ, we possess an attitude of spiritual worship.
We are talking again about mortifying our sins. Mortify means to place a death penalty on our sins.
The Holy Spirit through His power is the One Who mortified sin. This comes through sanctification. Burder told us how.
- Awareness and abhorrence of sin
- Faith to ask for forgiveness, being made righteous, and strength to withstand temptations.
Resource
When Paul talk about “… you will live” (Rom. 8: 13 NLT), he is talking about eternal life. We have a home in Heaven, where we will live with God for eternity.
What will we be doing in Heaven? Worshiping.
“After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. And they were shouting with a great roar, ‘Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!’” (Rev. 7: 9-10 NLT).
Haydn explained what John saw. He wrote, “There are no notes of discord in the song they sing — no praises but of One and the efficacy of His atoning blood, Rejecting Christ as the Lamb slain from the foundation.”
Resource
Everyone is standing around the throne — as one — and worshiping our Lord and Savior.
Making the Connections
Spurgeon put it very succinctly. He wrote, “The spiritual life cannot come to us by development from our old nature.”
Resource
Faith alone is not enough. We have to accept the gift of salvation and allow God to change us.
Worshiping God is a big part of this change. Plus, it has to be spiritual worship, not our brand of worship.
We have to show God’s workmanship in us. We do this through works of obedience (including spiritual worship) and works of love.
How Do We Apply This?
- Navigate the Sanctification Road to become more like God.
- Mature in our faith.
- Recognize salvation is a gift that we accept.
Father God. We worship You. We want to be like You. Help us as we navigate the Sanctification Road to follow Your laws and commandments. Amen.
What do you think?
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