Acts 10:4 And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said to him… I. WHAT IS WORSHIP? 1. It will be a sufficient answer to say that love, faith, and obedience are the graces chiefly exercised. We cannot worship whom we do not love, in whom we do not believe, or whom we refuse to obey. All these graces are implied in praise, thanksgiving, confession, supplication, and intercession, and where they exist we have all the essential conditions of acceptable worship. 2. But external acts are required as well as internal conditions. Under the Old Testament the offering of sacrifices, etc.; under the New, the sacraments together with such other forms as may be expressive of this required inward state. 3. That we may not hide our light under bushel — that we may give tangible form to our love, faith, and obedience; that God may be publicly glorified, and that those about us may be benefited, we are required to worship Him in the use of external and visible forms. II. ARE THESE ESSENTIAL CONDITIONS OF WORSHIP EVER FOUND IN ALMSGIVING? Giving is a most natural expression of these graces. They are implied in the word "memorial" — that which brings to remembrance (Leviticus 2:2-16). The same Greek word in the Septuagint. Observe: All giving is not worship. If it is not unto God, if done grudgingly, if done with low conceptions of the duty, it may be offensive. III. ADVANTAGES OF GIVING AS AN ACT OF WORSHIP. 1. It lifts the whole department of Christian duty to a higher plane. It removes it from the region of beggary. It no longer treats God as if He was some Lazarus seeking the crumbs that otherwise we would give to the dogs. 2. It makes giving a joyous service. 3. It makes giving a means of grace. (W. F. Beatty, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. |
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