Now I want to show you a portrait of the true worship of God in the New Testament so that you may have a clear vision. When the Lord Jesus was thirty years old, He came out to fulfill His ministry for God. He went back and forth between Galilee and Judea leading people to know God. In those three and a half years, the Jews were there worshipping God in the temple in Jerusalem as usual in an orderly manner according to the rituals and regulations of the Old Testament. Yet the Lord Jesus had nothing to do with their worship. Although sometimes He went to the temple in Jerusalem, He did not go to attend the services of the Jews. Rather, when everyone came together for worship, He took a whip of cords to cast out all those who were buying and selling in the temple and He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who were selling the doves (Matt. 21:12). Those who were buying and selling in the temple were related to the worship of God, but the Lord Jesus cast them out one by one. This shows us clearly that He was outside of the worship in the temple.
Suppose you were there at that time. Would you be following Jesus the Nazarene to know God, or would you be going to the temple of Judaism to worship God? I do not believe that any among the ones seated here could break the traditional concept, would cease going to the orthodox temple to worship God, but instead, would follow Jesus to know God, and even would follow Jesus to the temple to cast out those buying and selling with a whip. I am afraid that you might instead condemn the Lord Jesus for going to the place of worship to disturb the order for worshipping God. However, you have to realize that in those three and a half years, God was not in the temple in Jerusalem to be worshipped, but was following Jesus, and was with Jesus, to be worshipped by man.
In the three and a half years of His work on the earth, the Lord did not go to attend any church services; He did not even have any sequence or order to His work; He seemed to be at ease under any circumstance. When the disciples went into the boat, He also went into the boat. When the boat was near the shore, and the disciples left the boat, He also left the boat. When He saw someone possessed by demons, He went to cast them out. When He knew people were trying to force Him to be king, He stayed away from them. There was a time when many were following Him, and after having been with Him for three days in the wilderness with nothing to eat, He was moved with compassion, and performed a miracle. He used seven loaves and a few fishes to feed them (Matt. 15:32-37). On another occasion, the disciples were in a boat crossing over the sea at night, and due to the contrary winds the boat was under attack by the waves. Suddenly Jesus was walking on the sea toward them. The disciples thought it was a phantom and cried out. “But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, Have courage; It is I; do not fear. And Peter answered Him and said, Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the waters. And He said, Come. And Peter, coming down from the boat, walked on the waters and came toward Jesus. But seeing the strong wind, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, Lord, save me! And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him....And when they went up into the boat, the wind ceased. And those who were in the boat worshipped Him, saying, Truly You are the Son of God” (Matt. 14:24-33). Do you know that this is the worship to God? The genuine worship to God is to have His presence. It does not matter whether you are in the wilderness, at the seashore, or on the sea. As long as you have the presence of God, and you enjoy Him and He enjoys you, that is the genuine worship. This Jesus Christ is just God Himself. He was the very God whom the Jews were trying to worship in the temple, but He was not there with them. In the temple they only had the name of God in vain, void of His presence. The presence of God was with the walking on the waves; the presence of God was with the distribution of bread and fish to the multitude in the wilderness. If you were in that situation, you were in the presence of God. In that situation, God came to give Himself to be received and enjoyed by men. We should receive and enjoy Him in His presence that He may be happy and that we may be satisfied. This is the best worship in the universe.