FOURTH QUARTER 2020

SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #7

NOVEMBER 14, 2020

“WORSHIP IN EDUCATION”

 

Our lesson is entitled, “worship in education”, calling our attention to the truth that in true education, worship should spring forth naturally. “To know God is to love Him” (DA 22.1).

 

To know God = education

IS

To love Him = worship

 

There it is, worship in education.  Most of the Biblical characters lived this reality of “to know God is to love Him”, i.e. education in worship. Enoch’s experience was to “walk with God” (education) resulting in a relationship of worship so elevated, that God took him so that Enoch could “know (God) even as he (Enoch) was known” (1 Corinthians 13:12). Paul, John, Abraham, Elijah, Moses, etc, all went through the process of worship via education. As they grew in their knowledge of God’s character and methods, they fell more deeply in love (worship) with Him.

“Love, the basis of creation and redemption, is the basis of true education” (ED 16.1). True worship cannot occur in the absence of love. Behavioral forms and habits and rituals that have the appearance of worship, can occur in love’s absence, but true worship is undergirded by a love and affection and appreciation for the object of worship. And, when one loves someone or something, the process of being educated about that thing or person, is the process of education. Thus, rightly understood, education is a manifestation of worship.

This makes an important point about worship. Why does God care about our worship? Is it because God wants all the attention and affection and adoration directed selfishly towards Himself? Are the Biblical calls to worship God based on God’s desire for self-exaltation and self-promotion?

After all, God is the Creator, and He’s extremely powerful! And we are indebted to Him for our existence and redemption, therefore we “ought” to worship Him – right?

Even the 1st angel’s message, can be looked at through this lens. “Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters” (Revelation 14:7). Does God want us to worship Him because He’s judging us, therefore we better worship Him or we won’t like the consequence of NOT worshiping Him – see the 3rd angel’s message for the appropriate fearful motivation.

Can actual, true, from the heart, worship, actually occur out of an experience of fear or obligation or compulsion? Just because someone is your creator, or pro-creator, doesn’t make them worthy of respect of honor. What if God created the human race so that He could have a race of slaves, or servants, or mindless automatons who spend day and night telling Him how wonderful He is. Have you ever heard of parents that decided to have kids to help them deal with their own insecurities or unfulfilled hopes and goals? Dad never made it to the “big-leagues” but he hopes his son will. Mom never fulfilled her goals so she has kids hoping that she can feel fulfilled in their achievements.

Did God create, and is therefore worthy of worship – or not, based on His desire to give love, or to receive love? Now, granted, the result of God’s loving us, He hopes will be a response of love back towards Him, but was His fundamental motive, to give, or to receive? Was God’s basic reason for creating, unselfish or selfish?

“Unselfishness, the principle of God's kingdom, is the principle that Satan hates; its very existence he denies. From the beginning of the great controversy he has endeavored to prove God's principles of action to be selfish (ED 154.3). Satan denies that God’s motive in creation is to give and bless and share and love. Satan has portrayed God’s motive in creation as to enslave and control and exalt Himself. And only the cross fully and finally disproves Satan’s lies about God.

God’s motive in creation, and thus the purpose of education, was, in fact, to bless and uplift and love. The “commandments” in the Bible to worship God such as in the first two commandments in Exodus 20:3-5, are for our primary benefit.

“It is a law both of the intellectual and the spiritual nature that by beholding we become changed. The mind gradually adapts itself to the subjects upon which it is allowed to dwell. It becomes assimilated to that which it is accustomed to love and reverence. Man will never rise higher than his standard of purity or goodness or truth. If self is his loftiest ideal, he will never attain to anything more exalted. Rather, he will constantly sink lower and lower. The grace of God alone has power to exalt man. Left to himself, his course must inevitably be downward. “{GC 555.1}

God calls for us to worship Him foundationally for our benefit. When we see Him, we will love Him, and we will gradually become like Him. This transformation by perceiving and understanding God’s goodness, will cause us to more and more reflect that same goodness. We will grow more and more blessed and happy as we “worship” Him. God’s calls for worship are not the self-centered commands of an attention seeking narcissist, but are selfless calls to behold a love for us that will cause us to live in love for others, to the benefit of others, and ourselves, and God also.

So, God’s motivation is not selfish, but the result of His unselfishness and love, is that we will want to love and worship Him, and thus can speak on His behalf in the judgement in how we reveal His character to others including the on-looking universe. “Unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God” (Ephesians 3:10).

Worship in education = to love God is to know Him. May our education at home, at our educational institutions, and at church produce in us a heart appreciation for the goodness and love of God that will cause us to reveal that same love and goodness, and vindicate God when He is judged, and thus hasten the resolution of the great conflict between good and evil.

 

~Bob Hunsaker