One of the purposes of spiritual worship should be to unite us with God. This devotional reading looks at how we do — and do not — accomplish that.
Nuggets
- We unite our hearts with God when we walk with Him.
- We unite our hearts with God when we are sincere.
- We unite our hearts with God when we separate ourselves to be with God.
- We cannot be united with God if we do not spend time with Him.
We are way into our study on spiritual worship. Charnock was describing what spiritual worship is. He said that it is “performed with unitedness of heart.”
Look at the four verses Charnock identified. At first glance, the connection isn’t readily noticeable. Let’s see what we can piece together.
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.
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United in Learning
“Teach me your ways, O LORD, that I may live according to your truth! Grant me purity of heart, so that I may honor you” (Ps. 86: 11 NLT)
We unite our hearts with God when we walk with Him.
When we first ABCD, our character isn’t like God’s. It is a process to learn to be like Him.
Parry told us about the three phases of religion. He wrote, “In the expressions ‘teach,’ “fear,’ ‘walk,’ we have religion presented to us in the three aspects of knowledge, feeling, and conduct.”
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God teaches us in many ways. This is how we gain knowledge of Him.
We read God’s Word to gain an introductory knowledge of Him. After we become His children, He reveals Himself to us through the Holy Spirit and His creation. At times, God uses Pastor Steve-types and even Springfield Mom-types to increase our depth of understanding.
Several times we have said that we cannot put faith in God if we do not know Him. Gaining knowledge of Him is part of navigating the Sanctification Road.
Faith is a gift from God and a work of the Spirit that enhances the conviction that the doctrines revealed in God’s Word are true, even if we do not understand all aspects of them, a belief which impacts our lives and distinguishes us from others.
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.
- 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.
- Spiritual death is the separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
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
God wants us to learn more about Him.
What is God teaching us? His laws and commandments. By learning them, we learn about God’s character.
We learn to fear God as we gain this knowledge. The fear of the Lord means awe, reverence, and love, not terror. It is how we exhibit our child-like faith.
We do not have faith in God if we do not have fear of Him, displayed in the feelings of awe, reverence, and love.
Yes, the knowledge part and the reverence part must go hand in hand. That leads to walking with God.
Walking is the term used to describe how we live our lives, specifically our habitual state of mind, behavior, and manners. Walking with God means we are humble, reverent, teachable servants of God.
Many would say that walking is how we conduct our lives. Do we imitate God? Do we have the child-like characteristics of sweetness and trust?
God told Jeremiah that He has plans for us. “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the LORD. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope’” (Jer. 29: 11 NLT).
We need to look to God so that He can reveal those plans to us. They are plans to fix our spiritual condition so that we can worship Him.
United in Sincerity
“So my people come pretending to be sincere and sit before you. They listen to your words, but they have no intention of doing what you say. Their mouths are full of lustful words, and their hearts seek only after money” (Ezek. 33: 31 NLT)
We unite our hearts with God when we are sincere.
Okay, switch gears.
I thought Charnock was talking about how to be united with God. This verse doesn’t say that.
Let’s think about it for a second. Don’t we sometimes learn how to do things by learning how not to do things? Case in point — not touching a hot stove.
What is the list of things in this verse that we don’t’ want to do?
- Pretend to be sincere.
- Listen without acting on them.
- Have the wrong focus.
- Have the wrong motivation.
Lyth called this person a formalist. A formalist is a person who gives the appearance of being a disciple but isn’t.
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Nominal disciples are similar. Nominal disciples are those boasting they love God without even trying to imitate Him — those who dig on religion and its rituals without having a change in heart.
We would say that these are the Matthew 7: 21 Christians. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Mt. 7: 21 ESV).
The sad part is some of thing think they are doing things exactly right. But they aren’t.
The really sad part is, sometimes, it may be difficult to tell formalists apart from real disciples. Punshon said both are in the same room worshiping together. The formalist may even be responding to God’s Word.
But, somehow, they just aren’t right with God. There is some resistance.
We have to respect God’s truth. We can’t be trying to rewrite God’s Word and redefining sin.
That means we have to know God’s laws and commandments – and do them – all of them.
Some question whether we must keep the letter of the law or the spirit of the law. Parker discussed that. He wrote, “The people come to hear the letter only, and there is no letter so disappointing as the letter of the Bible.”
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I know. That makes it hard for list checkers. Comparing and contrasting letter and spirit is probably too deep for this current discussion.
So, let’s keep on track.
Lyth said that a formalist didn’t get it down to the heart level. Their hearts haven’t been regenerated. 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.
Glossary
But then wouldn’t the letter/spirit fit into that, too? We think we are following the law correctly when we are following it to the law/spirit level.
We have to do things God’s way. We have to sincerely follow His direction.
Learning by Separation
“But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you” (Mt. 6: 6 NLT)
We unite our hearts with God when we separate ourselves to be with God.
It can be difficult at times to focus on God. We let life slip in when we are reading God’s Word or praying to Him.
Going into our prayer room can help keep our focus on God. That sets the environment for uniting with Him.
Barnes said it is our duty to offer secret prayers.
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The sermon by the American Homiletic Monthly lists why we benefit from going into our prayer room. They are
“1. To be alone with God.
“2. To cultivate heart-religion.
“3. To obtain needed supplies of grace.”
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What this tells me is we have to focus on God. We can’t do that when we let the world come in and distract us.
We can’t be united with God when we don’t spend quality time with Him.
Learning by Staying with Him
“I have tried hard to find you — don’t let me wander from your commands” (Ps. 119: 10 NLT)
We cannot be united with God if we do not spend time with Him.
Relationships take work. Our relationship with God is no different.
We must spend time with God — seek Him — if we are going to imitate Him.
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17)
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3)
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16)
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11)
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2)
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11)
The Homilist said we have one big problem. One line in their sermon said that we have the capacity or “power to wander from the Divine law.”
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Ouch but true.
We have the ability to wander off because we have free will. Free will is the ability within us to make decisions, which determine actions that produce character.
We are not united with God if we are wandering away from Him. For that reason, we need to ensure we stay in lock step with Him.
Making the Connections
Did you notice how sincerity slipped into the discussion? We can’t be united with God if we aren’t sincere.
We have to sincerely walk with God so we aren’t Matthew 7:21 people. That means getting His Will down to the heart level. We can only do that by spending quality time with Him.
How Do We Apply This?
- Be humble, reverent, teachable servants of God.
- Be sincere in worshiping God.
- Utilize our prayer rooms.
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Father God. We worship You. Lord, it is our prayer that we be united with You. Teach us so that we can walk with You. Amen.
What do you think?
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