Reverence for God

Exodus 20:3-7; Matthew 4:10; 6:9; John 4:23, 24

GOLDEN TEXT: “God is a Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”—John 4:24

THE God of Israel, who will yet be the God of all mankind, is the Creator, the great First Cause of all things that exist. His unchangeable laws govern the universe. The sun, the moon and the stars are obedient to Him. The tides ebb and flow in keeping with forces which He has ordained. Vegetation springs forth in response to life principles which He controls. Animals, birds and fish enjoy life which He provides. With all of these, however, there is no moral responsibility to the Creator; yet if we could imagine one or more of the planets, for example, deciding to yield to some other influence than that which God has ordained, what great chaos would result.

Man, who was originally created in the image of God, is endowed with the ability and desire to worship his Creator, and render intelligent obedience to Him. He is not compelled to obey divine law, but it is for his own best interests that he do so. Hence, when the Lord said to Israel, “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me,” He did so in their interests, rather than His own. The allegiance to God of one small nation here upon this planet, or of all the nations, adds little to His riches; nor does the withholding of it make Him poor.

Nevertheless, God does appreciate our devotion. All things were created by Him for His pleasure. (Revelation 4:11) His pleasure, however, is in the fact that He can bestow His favors upon His creatures, and that they might share in His beneficence. But He cannot continue blessing those who resist His will, and render their allegiance to other gods; whether they be the imaginary gods of the heaven or the idols which we set up our own wayward hearts. To the extent that we worship any of these false gods, we deny the Creator the pleasure of blessing us.

The making of images to represent deity is of very ancient origin, but has always been condemned by Jehovah. It requires the sum-total of meaning revealed in all creation, plus the understanding of His character as portrayed in the written Word, to give us even a limited vision of the Creator. How hopelessly inadequate, therefore, must be even the best of manmade imagery to accomplish this for us.

Our Golden Text ties in well with the lesson. “God is a Spirit,” that is, to the eyes of fleshly beings, He is invisible. Those who worship Him acceptably are those who worship Him “in spirit and in truth.” We are not to think of God as being merely a principle, but as a being. He is so far above us that we cannot visualize His appearance, hence our worship of Him must be “in spirit.” But we can also worship God “in truth.” Through His written Word of truth God has revealed to us the wisdom, justice, love and power of His glorious character. Our worship of Him, therefore, is not blind in the sense that we know nothing of His attitude toward His children.

We know that He loves His earthly creatures so much that He gave His beloved Son to be their Redeemer. We know that His power will yet be exerted for the restoration of the fallen and dying race. We know that He has a special concern for and exercises a special supervision over the affairs of true Christians now, causing all things to work together for their eternal good. (Romans 8:28-30) We know, therefore, that when we pray to Him in harmony with His revealed plan for us and for the world, He will hear us and answer us in keeping with His infinite wisdom and the abundance of His grace.

The woman of Samaria to whom the words of our Golden Text were spoken was hampered in her understanding of true worship, by supposing that God could be contacted only from a certain location. Millions still labor under this handicap. There are many “mountains” even today which, instead of aiding worshipers to approach God, really stand in their way. These centers of worship are made by men, and recognizing this, we should be careful not to encourage the making of additional ones. Our influence, as Christians, should be in the direction of the full liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.

God also admonished Israel not to take His name in vain. This admonition has been erroneously limited to the use of God’s name in profanity, which certainly is a vulgar habit; yet the taking of the Lord’s name in vain means much more than merely that. Taking the Lord’s name signifies becoming His people. Devotees of the various religions of the earth are identified by the name of the god which they worship. Followers of Christ are known as Christians. As Christians, we now can take the Lord’s name in vain by being unfaithful to that name, and all that is represents. That name is a sacred trust. Let us be faithful to it!

QUESTIONS:

Does God seek the worship of His creatures particularly for His own benefit?

What does it mean to worship God “in spirit and in truth”?

What does it mean to take the Lord’s name in vain?

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