Monday September 5

Monday September 5

Worship and Serve
“And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” (Luke 4:5–.
Imagine Jesus, after 40 full days of hunger, weariness, self-denial, and privation, now facing the open and blatant temptations of the devil. It is not hard to imagine just how beautiful all “the kingdoms of the world” in their “power” and their “glory” must have appeared to Jesus in this temptation. Satan has been a master at making the things of this world always look so charming, so pleasant, so fulfilling, which is why people so readily fall for the deception this world presents.
Read the above verses carefully, especially Jesus’ response. What does Jesus mean by linking together the verbs “worship” and “serve”? How are they related?
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All throughout the Old Testament, the concept of worshiping false gods is linked with serving them. “And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven” (Deut. 4:19; see also Deut. 11:16, Ps. 97:7, Dan. 3:12). Basically, you serve what you worship; hence, how important it is that you worship only the Lord.
Thus, we see a crucial point about worship. It is hard to imagine someone who worships the Lord in faith, in surrender, in humility and love and fear, while at the same time serving other gods, in whatever form they may come. Worship, then, can be a protection for us against idolatry. The more we worship the Lord, even in our private devotion, the better protected we are against serving self, sin, and all the other forces vying for our service.
Think about this idea more: what we worship is what we serve. How have you seen that principle manifested in your own life? How can your worship experience help you to stay focused on serving only the Lord?