In this chapter we need to learn something concerning reality. According to John 4:23-24, we need to be those who worship God, the Father, both in spirit and in reality. Although we may know how to be in spirit, we may not have that much reality. Reality is simply Christ as our experience. The more we experience Christ, the more reality we have. Little by little, we have to gain more reality.
All the positive items in the Old Testament were only “a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ” (Col. 2:16-17). All the items of the ceremonial law were shadows. The body, the solid substance, the reality, of the shadows is Christ. Christ is the reality (John 14:6). Whenever we come to worship God, we have to come with Christ as our reality. In ancient times the children of Israel came to worship God with various kinds of offerings (Deut. 12:5-7; Lev. 1-5). All of those offerings were types of Christ. Moses wrote four long books concerning the worship of God: Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. In these books Moses did not tell the Israelites how to kneel down, how to bow down, or how to prostrate themselves. He did not tell them how to be quiet, how to sing a song, a hymn, or a psalm, or even how to praise. Throughout these books, Moses gave them thorough and detailed instructions on how to handle the offerings. He taught them how to bring the offerings and how to kill the sacrifices. He also taught them how to offer the sacrifices. He told them what part of the sacrifices they had to burn, what part they could keep, what part they could enjoy, what part they had to share with others, and even what part they had to enjoy with others in the presence of God. To worship God is altogether a matter of handling the offerings.
Today in much of Christianity, people worship in a quiet, formal, and organized way. This is the natural, human, religious concept of worship. From the books written by Moses, we can see that the worship God desires is not according to this religious concept. The genuine worship is fully, absolutely, a matter of handling the offerings. We have to worship God with the offerings, and all the offerings are types of the different aspects of Christ. We all must learn how to handle Christ.
In ancient times when an Israelite came to worship God, he had to have an offering (Deut. 16:16). In the same way, we must have something of Christ to bring to God (1 Cor. 14:26). For us to have something of Christ depends upon our daily experiences, our daily laboring on Christ. Every Israelite received a portion of the good land. He had to labor on that land so that he could have some produce, some harvest, and he had to keep the best part of his harvest for the worship of God. The top tenth of the produce of the land, the tithe, had to be kept aside for the worship of God (Deut. 14:22-23). Then when the time of the feast came, they all brought their offerings to God. They put all of these offerings together, offered them to God, and enjoyed them together in God’s presence. How they handled and enjoyed the offerings meant everything. This is a clear picture showing us that the real, genuine worship is nothing other than to handle Christ, offer Christ to God, and share Christ with others.
Having Christ as your offering depends on your daily experiences. If you have not been experiencing Christ in your daily life, you will surely be dead and silent. This is because you have not gained Christ in your daily life. Because you have not gained anything of Christ, you come to the meeting with your hands empty, with nothing in your spirit. You have nothing of Christ to share with others, to please God, or to glorify the Father. Thus, you can only be a religious worshipper, sitting and keeping quiet. If you are laboring on Christ every day, experiencing and enjoying Him, you will surely gain something of Christ. You must gain Christ day by day, bit by bit. This morning you gain a little bit of Christ, this evening a little bit, tomorrow morning a little bit, tomorrow evening a little bit more. Day by day something of Christ is being gained by you. Then you will come to the church meeting with the rich surplus of Christ in your spirit. You will have something of Christ to share with others. You could never remain silent because something is bubbling up from within you. You are filled up and overflowing. You may say: “O, hallelujah! I am so full of Christ. Brothers, last night Christ was so sweet to me.” This is the real worship that God desires. God cannot be satisfied with your being quiet in the church meetings. God can only be satisfied with His dear Son, Christ. We have to have something of Christ to bring to the meeting, to offer to God, and to share with one another. The best worship is to share Christ with others.
I can testify that Christ is my peace offering to God. He is my peace; He is your peace; and He is the peace between us. Without Christ, I could not be at peace with the brothers. How can we be one? Without Christ, we would fight with one another, but Christ is our peacemaker. “He Himself is our peace” (Eph. 2:14). With Christ, there are no problems. He has neutralized every difference between us. There is no room for any natural, religious, or cultural differences in the church as the new man. Only Christ is here. In the new man, “there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman, but Christ is all and in all” (Col. 3:11). Now we can share Christ as our peace with all the saints. To share this kind of genuine experience of Christ is the real worship. The real worship to God is the handling of Christ.
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