The priest was to take the offering and place it before the altar of Jehovah their God (v. 4). Then the children of Israel were to respond and relate before Him their history, how Jehovah had rescued them from the Egyptians' oppression, delivering them out of Egypt, and had brought them to the good land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and how they had just brought the first of the fruit of the ground of the good land, which Jehovah their God had given them (vv. 5-10a). Then they were to place this fruit before Jehovah their God and bow down to Him (v. 10b). They could not enjoy the first fruit of the land until they had offered it to God.
"You and the Levite and the sojourner in your midst shall rejoice in all the good which Jehovah your God has given to you and your household" (v. 11). They were to remember God and all that He had given to them.
The seven points covered in this message show us the proper way to worship God. Today we need to worship God with Christ. This is the reason the Lord Jesus said that we must worship the Father in spirit and in reality (John 4:23-24). For us to worship God in our spirit means that we worship Him in the mingled spirit, in our spirit mingled with the divine Spirit. For us to worship God in reality means that we worship Him with Christ as the reality of all the offerings.
To take care of the proper worship of God is to take care of God's need. God is hungry and thirsty for real worship. John 4 reveals that the Father is seeking real worshippers, those who will worship Him in a proper way. We in the Lord's recovery should all be such worshippers.
If we would worship God properly, we need to honor His name, meet in the place of His habitation, and worship in the place where the altar (the cross) is. When we meet for worship, we should be gathered into the Lord's name (Matt. 18:20) and be kept in His name. We should not have any other name. Since the Lord's dwelling place is in our regenerated spirit (Eph. 2:22), we also need to exercise our spirit, which is mingled with the divine Spirit. Here in the mingled spirit we may offer Christ to God for His enjoyment and also for our enjoyment. This enjoyment satisfies God and makes Him happy. We will be satisfied also, and thus there will be a mutual satisfaction. Furthermore, under the Lord's grace, we need to learn the lessons of the cross, not doing anything by ourselves but realizing that we have been crucified with Christ and that Christ lives in us (Gal. 2:20). In every meeting we should be able to declare that we live in the Lord's name and in the mingled spirit and that we do everything through the cross. In this way we become a living testimony to the God in whom we believe and whom we worship. This is the proper worship of God in the Lord's recovery.