You Are Qualified To Worship God | Chapter Three

What makes us qualified to worship God is not our performance, works or sacrifice. What makes us qualified is the performance, work and sacrifice of Christ! We can approach God in worship anytime because we are qualified to come anytime. 

John 4:23   “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the  Father in  spirit and truth.” 

Worshiping God as a Father is one of the best transitions in the New Covenant; it’s a worship experience like no other. What does it mean to worship the Father in spirit and truth? 

Notice, “true” and “Father” are joined together in this verse. The only true way to worship God in the New Covenant is to worship Him as our Father. God’s children have been given a worship experience beyond that of a servant. We do not worship Him outside of the family as a servant but inside of the Family as His child. Worshiping the Father is a huge upgrade that Jesus provided for us in the New Covenant. Although God is our Lord and King, we can now worship Him as Daddy. 

Our worship is unique even from the angels. Our worship experience is on a higher level than them. Angels cannot worship Him as a Father but strictly as the King and Lord. Angels worship God as a servant, never as a child. Our experience is the opposite: we worship God as a child, never as a servant. It is not that we are better than the angels but we are created differently. 

What does it mean to worship Him as a Father but not as a servant? As a child of God, we can laugh, dance and fellowship when worshiping Him. How about sitting on His lap?After all, we are His children. Can this happen? Is God too sovereign for His children to sit on His lap? Well, He would step out of His sovereignty for that experience if He had to! 

When I think about worshiping God as a child this perception enters my mind. I can imagine God on the throne and Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, millions of angels worshiping laying face down. 

Suddenly, God’s child enters the throne room and Daddy God rises and waves to His child with joy to sit with Him. His child runs to Him, steps across the angels who are face down worshiping and sits with His Daddy. Revelation 3:21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 

When I was a little boy, my dad would allow me to sit on his lap when he drove his tractor. It was funny because I never saw any of his employees or friends sitting on his lap. Likewise, our Daddy in Heaven will let us sit with Him on His throne. 

Does this type of worship disrespect Him as our Lord and King? No! This honors Jesus and what He did on the cross more than anything so we can be close to the Father like this in worship. Are you catching this? Yes, worship Him as King and Lord but as you worship Him, say to yourself, "I can’t believe that the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is my Daddy. 1 John 3:1 "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!" 

Many times we picture God as an old man with a gray beard on a throne that never moves. Does He have crippling arthritis that He must be confined to a throne eternally? No! Age is a result of the fallen world. Our Father is eternally young and radiant with life. Age does not reside with Him. 

The Bible speaks much about the throne of God but surprisingly most of the time, He is not sitting on it. Our Daddy God does not sit still very much. He is extremely active! Is this disrespectful of His sovereignty? No! He remains God whether He sits on the throne or active with His children. Jesus never lost His Lordship when He was around His disciples or children. 

Matthew 21:15-16 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” They were indignant, and they said to Him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, “‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?” Children were not silent but crying out, “Hosanna to the Son of David.” 

There was a lot of celebration in that worship service. Jesus, who is the revelation of the Father, is young, full of life, active and approachable. Our Father is not boring, lifeless or too serious to relate to.

Why Does The Father Sit On The Throne?

David and Solomon are examples for us to understand regarding the function of a throne since they were both kings in their time. Both of their thrones displayed authority and justice. When people walk into their palace, people could see the throne and reverence of the authority and justice in the kingdom. 

At a certain time, the King would sit on the throne to judge different cases in the kingdom. A king is not sitting on the throne majority of the time but only when He is to judge cases. In fact, Solomon prayed for wisdom to know how to judge people with these different cases presented before him. 

Regarding God's children, the throne is not about the fearful judgment that would take place upon them. Because of the cross, it’s now a reminder of how judgment will never come upon us. For God’s children, this is not the throne of judgment but Grace! Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of Grace, that we may obtain mercy and find Grace to help in time of need. When a servant sees the throne of God they see judgment. 

When the child of God sees the Father's throne they see grace and get to declare, “Look, this is my Daddy’s throne.” In the Bible, most of the time, when our Daddy sits on the throne, He is in judgment referring to the wicked. No doubt our God is a righteous judge. But to us, His children, our judge is our Daddy. Unfortunately, those who reject Jesus will have to face Him as judge, not their Father on the last day ( John 12:48). 

Let's observe all the following verses regarding God sitting on the throne when He judges. Psalms 9:7-8 But the LORD shall endure forever; He has prepared His throne for judgment. He shall judge the world in righteousness, And He shall administer judgment for the people in uprightness. 

Psalms 9:4 For You have maintained my right and my cause; You sat on the throne judging in righteousness. 

Matthew 25:31-32 “When the Son of Man comes in His Glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His Glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 

When we worship the Father as children of God, He is not on the throne judging. He is off the throne celebrating with His children. Our worship will completely go to another level when we recognize this. We no longer worship Him as unfit servants but as valuable children. Our God is not stuck on a throne and is so sovereign He is unapproachable.

Slaves worship God in a shameful downward position. Children worship the Father in a high-worthy position. When a slave worships, they lay face down because they feel inappropriate to look upon and stand before the King. 

The worship of a child is amazingly different. Their worship is more of a worthy bold position. They approach the Father with boldness and confidence. Children normally don’t lay face down before their King in an unworthiness. Why? Because their King is their Daddy. They approach the Father in a particular way by sitting with Him in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). 

If my children started to cry out how undeserving they are and lay prostrate before me, I would tell them, “Get up! Your identity is not in your unworthiness on the floor with the dirt. You’re not a servant but my son!”Likewise, our Father does not want us to be lowly servants, identifying how undeserving we are. Let’s look to the cross, how worthy Christ is and our identity being in Christ. That is a better way to worship that glorifies Christ’s worthiness vs our unworthiness. 

The greatest way to dishonor the cross is not receiving what the cross did for us. Imagine you wanted to give your children a gift that cost you lots of money. Instead of receiving the gift they resisted it. They kept saying, “I am too unworthy to accept it”. Would this be honoring the parent? No, it would be rejecting the parents' goodness. When we do not accept this great gift of knowing and worshiping God as our daddy we likewise reject the goodness of Jesus. 

One afternoon I was lying face down and praying. The Father spoke to my heart and said, "Get up son and have fellowship with me." I knew what He meant. How can the Father fellowship with me and pour out His goodness if I approach Him like a servant trying to pour out my own goodness to Him? How can the Father give me His all if I give Him my all like a servant? 

If I keep explaining to the Father how unworthy I am, how can I obtain the worthiness of being His son? Don’t misunderstand me; there is nothing wrong with lying face down before the Father. It’s not the position of the body but the position of the heart. Some like to lay face down, face-up, sit down or kneel. Because of the joy I experienced with the Father I like to walk around and fellowship with Him. 

The point is, worshiping as a child of God is a worthy upward position not an unworthy downward position like a servant. Let’s observe our position in these following verses as a child of God.

Ephesians 2:6 and raised us up with him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. 

Romans 5:2 through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 

1  Corinthians 15:1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand. 

Philippians 4:1 Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved. 

When my children encounter something dynamic such as fireworks, they will run and shout with excitement. In the life of my kids, fireworks are thrilling. A servant who never experienced fireworks would presumably be afraid and tremble if they saw and heard them. My children would react differently than a servant. They would interpret the fireworks as me trying to show off to them. But a servant might fear the fireworks thinking I may use it to blow them up.

In the Old Covenant, no one could relate to God as a Father but only as an unworthy servant. Numbers 20:6 Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. And the Glory of the LORD appeared to them, 

Leviticus 9:24 And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar, and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces. 

Everyone has their own experience. As for me, I usually can’t be still because of the intensity of joy when I fellowship with Daddy God. The Father enjoys pursuing us as His children. Being a child of God, there is no way I would lay face down in unworthiness, hide myself and not see my Daddy’s Glory! 

Let’s observe the Father’s Glory in the New Covenant! Matthew 17:5-7 He was still speaking when behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.” When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” When the disciples saw and experienced the cloud of glory, they fell on their faces and were terrified. 

Notice Jesus did not leave them terrified in fear. He said, “Rise and have no fear!” Why? Because they are no longer to worship as fearful servants as they did in the old covenant but to rise and worship as confident children of God. 

The Difference Between The Prescence Of God Under The New Covenant vs The Old Covenant

2 Corinthians 3:9 For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.

Although the ministry of righteousness had glory, the ministry of condemnation, which is the law, also had glory. 

Although God’s glory manifested under the law, it’s nothing compared to the New Covenant's exceedingly glory!

The glory under the Old Covenant always produced condemnation. Why? Because of our slave perspective. Condemnation leads us to focus on ourselves. Under the law, when a servant encounters the glory of God, it’s more of an encounter of ourselves, sins and failures. Isaiah 6:5 “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts." 

The encounters many had under the Old Covenant were good. But under the New Covenant glory, it's a much better experience! This glory exceeds the glory in the Old Covenant. The word exceeds in the greek translation means to super-abound. Under the law with a servant mentality, we never abound, we are incomplete and undone in God’s glory. It’s impossible to have a relationship with God in this type of encounter. The truth is we have more of a encounter with ourselves, short coming, flaws and sins than we do with God. A servant’s encounter with God is very demanding and many times depressing. The problem is not God’s glory but our religious flesh.

A servant constantly prays that God would take their heart, mind, and emotions. Although this is a good prayer, it's still not the upgraded prayer of the New Covenant. Why? In the Old Covenant, God is not in our hearts and minds. Because of this, we drift from Him, and we need to give our hearts and minds constantly. 

There is no need for this type of prayer under the New Covenant because we already have a new heart and mind (Ezekiel 11:19), (1 Corinthians 2:16). Why do we ask God to take something that He already has? A child relates to the Father through constant receiving, not constant giving of themselves, like a servant. They receive the outpouring of the Father’s love and fellowship continually. 

2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. 

In the New Covenant, our focus is to behold the glory of our Lord not the glory of our sin. Imagine if we are driving a car and we never focus on the road. The danger will never be focusing too much on the road but it’s when we focus on other things. A few years ago, I was driving and looking for a particular house. I almost had many wrecks because my focus was not on the road. I actually did have one wreck. I hit an electric post and almost knocked it down. 

When we focus on Jesus, it’s far more effective living a holy life. Why? Because Jesus and sin are going in two opposite directions. Notice in verse (2 Corinthians 3:18) we are also beholding this glory in a mirror, not a window. When we behold the mirror of the law, we see ourselves (sin). When we behold the mirror of the Spirit, we see Christ in us (righteousness). We can see the fruits of the Spirit in us, which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 

We were sinners then, but not anymore. We are children of God! If we do not believe what our Father says about us, we have no other choice but to believe what the accuser, the devil, says about us. Which one will we believe? The law will never pronounce us clean. It’s an endless well of the revelation of our sins even if we are saved. As a Christian this is why we must come out from under the law and come under Grace (Romans 6:14). 

The more we drink from the well of the law, the more we get a revelation of how sinful we are. Because the slave feels unworthy, they drink from this well in hopes of feeling worthy again. It’s an endless cycle of being righteous one day and a sinner the next. The worst part is that they believe this is a normal way to relate to God. Let’s no longer drink death from this well. 2 Corinthians 3:6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the New Covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 

The good News is the Holy Spirit pronounces us clean by the blood of Jesus. The Spirit is an endless well of the revelation of how righteous we are in Christ. The deeper we drink from this well, the more we see ourselves as the righteousness of Christ, for this is the well of life! John 4:14 but whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."