Sandy is not feeling well (good ol' morning sickness), so I'm doing her post for her today.
I wanted to mention two things from the Matthew passage today.
First, the sections on the Sabbath illustrate perfectly how Jesus came to fulfill the OT, but not to replace it. He did not abolish the Sabbath, in fact He reaffirmed it and said "the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath" (v 8) - claiming that He was greater than the law, He was above the law, He showed us the spirit of the law.
The Pharisees were really good at adhering to the letter of the law, but they did not get the spirit of the law. They didn't understand why the law was put in place. The purpose of the Sabbath is to rest and to worship God (the priests were still allowed to work on the Sabbath by performing sacrifices and conducting worship services). Sabbath work, work that includes serving and worshiping God - is the intent of the law.
V6 I tell you that one greater than the temple is here.
The notes on this verse in my Life Application study Bible jumped out at me today....
The Pharisees were so concerned about religious rituals that they missed the whole purpose of the temple - to bring people to God. And because Jesus Christ is even greater than the temple, how much better can he bring people to God. God is far more important than the created instruments of worship. If we become more concerned with the means of worship than with the One we worship, we will miss God even as we think we are worshiping him. (emphasis mine)
It reminded me of a video clip shown at our church a few months ago (which I tried to find on youtube but could not). And it was about worship. How worship is not about us. So many times we complain that we just didn't get anything out of the worship time because we didn't like the style of the music, we didn't like the instruments used, we didn't like the song selection. Since when is worship about us and our favourite songs?! Worship is about focusing on God, glorifying God, praising God - it's not about us!
That doesn't mean we can't enjoy our favourite songs - of course we can. But our focus should be on Him, always Him.
We need to look at everything against a backdrop of the glory of God. How will this glorify God? Whether it's helping someone on the Sabbath, focusing on the words of the songs sung during worship, or anything we do throughout our ordinary days - that should be our focus, that should be our filter.
Tomorrow's passage: Job 25-27, Matthew 12:24-50
4 comments:
Good points, Tammy, especially about the worship. We feel like we're not worshipping as well when we're not "into" the music that's being played. Sometimes it's more important to concentrate on the words and what we're actually saying to God and sometimes that's easier to do if it's a song that isn't quite as familiar... that we can't sing without paying attention.
Over the last couple of years, I have worked hard on my attitude about church for exactly the reasons you state here ~ it's NOT. ABOUT. ME!! As a result, I think I've grown to love church a lot more. I no longer focus on what I'm getting out of it, but what I'm putting into it and for Whom.
And you'd be amazed what all "putting into it" can entail, even if you're not involved in the service or teaching classes ~ for a great little checklist on things you can do to serve your church, check out this Challies article: http://www.challies.com/christian-living/serving-on-sunday-morning
I enjoyed that worship video form church as well,and I looked and couldn't find it either. Thanks for the great link Tammi.
"Worship is about focusing on God, glorifying God, praising God." Great point! Putting emphasis on the words being sung, not how they are sung, or by whom... awesome reminder to apply every Sunday, or even listening to the radio!
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