2 Samuel 24:22-23- Worship Out of Love and Faith
We shouldn’t offer worship to the King which costs us nothing. But it’s important to say as well that our worship is not acceptable to him simply because it’s costly. 1st Corinthians 13 reminds us that if we give away all that we have, and we deliver up our bodies to be burned, but have not love, we gain nothing. Service of God which doesn’t spring from a sense of his goodness doesn’t honour him. The Apostle Paul says in 2nd Corinthians 5:14 that it’s ‘the love of Christ [which] compels us’. There’s a difference between serving God out of love, and serving him out of a slavish fear. When we serve out of love, we serve because we want to, because we get to. But when we serve out of a slavish fear, we serve him reluctantly. Because we feel we have to. When Jacob had to serve 7 years to marry Rachel, we’re told that it seemed to him but a few days, because of the love he had for her. If we serve God out of slavish fear, we’ll do the bare minimum and begrudge even doing that. But if we serve him out of love, then it doesn’t seem like a burden. What does costly service look like? It’s motivated by love. It is labour. But it’s a labour of love. Now sometimes we just have to do things because we should. And in the same way, there are times we don’t feel like doing things in the service of God. But we do them, simply because they’re the right thing to do. At times it has to be like that. But if that’s the only reason we ever do things for God, then there’s a big problem. Costly worship is motivated by love.
Costly worship also springs from faith. Hebrews chapter 11 describes people who did amazing things in their service for God, who counted the cost, who paid a high price. And how did they do it? ‘By faith’. Without love it’s all pointless. And without faith, it’s impossible to please God. And we see David’s faith on display in 2nd Samuel 24. When he says: ‘I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD MY God which cost me nothing’. For him, God is not just ‘God’. That name which speaks of power and majesty. Nor is he even just ‘the LORD’. That name which speaks of God’s covenant relationship with his people. But he is ‘the LORD my God’. And that little word ‘my’ changes everything. That word ‘my’ speaks of his faith. Not just empty faith the way our world talks about ‘people of faith’ – but faith in a person. Throughout his life, David had been able to say: ‘The LORD is MY Shepherd’. What does costly worship look like? It’s motivated by love and it springs from faith.
Question
- Why does worship need to be motivated by love?
Prayer Points
- Pray that our worship would come from hearts of love and faith.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.