Worship as Communion

 Last week we started to answer the question of what worship is, and we did so by looking at the Hebrew word, “Abad”, and how it is used in the Bible. We saw that worship is the act of aligning the whole of our lives under the rule of our Lord Jesus Christ. I said last week that there are two Hebrew words that we translate into our English word, “worship”, and today I want to begin to look at the second Hebrew word, “Saha”. “Saha” is used far more than “Abad”, and it is also translated much more closely to what we typically think of when we use the word, “worship”. There are essentially three different ways that the word, “Saha”, is used, so over the next three weeks, I want to define this word by looking at that from the book of Genesis.

This morning let’s consider what the word, “Saha”, means by studying Genesis 18:1-15. As we break down this text this morning, I want you to understand that worship is the act of reverently communing with God through the presence of His Spirit. There are three points that I want you to see from our text today: The Covenant of God results in the presence of God, Right Worship reverences the Presence of God, and The Presence of God reveals the Promises of God.

First, let’s consider the fact that the covenant of God results in the presence of God. This story of Abraham’s encounter with God in which God, for the fourth time, reiterates the covenant that he made with Abraham way back in chapter 12. Chapter 17 is significant for two reasons. First, God changes the names of Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah. Second, God commands Abraham to circumcise all of the males of his tribe as a sign of the covenant. Abraham is obedient to carry out this sign of the covenant, and then he waits. Chapter 18 picks up after some unspecified amount of time, and we find Abraham sitting right where God had left him, waiting and watching. Verse 2 says that Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw three men standing in front of him. These are obviously not three ordinary men, though. For one, notice the way Abraham responds. In verse 2, it says that Abraham “bowed himself to the earth” in front of them. The Hebrew word that is translated as “bowed” there is the word, “Saha”. Abraham immediately recognizes these men to be different, and his first reaction is to bow down before them in worship. We can also tell that these men are different because Abraham calls one of them “Lord” and he sets about preparing this feast for them. We also know that they are different because of the way they talk. Notice, down in verse 10, one of the three answers as “The Lord”, which is the covenant name for God himself. 

So, what Abraham is experiencing is the very presence of God in human form. Theologians call this a “theophany”, which means a physical representation of God’s presence. We see it in numerous places in the Bible: the burning bush that first called Moses, the pillar of fire and smoke that led the people through the wilderness, the fire that descended on mount Sinai, or the cloud that filled the tabernacle and temple. Each one of these theophanies has a common thread: they all happen as a result of the covenant that God made with the people of Israel. Sure, God’s mighty works are seen by those who are outside of the covenant, but it is only within the covenant that God made to his people Israel that we find the special presence of God. In fact, you could say that to know God’s presence outside of the covenant is to know his judgment, but to know God’s presence within the covenant is to know his love and blessing.

Second, from Genesis 18 we find that right worship reverences the presence of God. As I’ve already mentioned, in verse 2, the only response that Abraham could muster to the presence of God was to fall down and worship. This act of reverent worship is a consistent response throughout the Old Testament. In Joshua 5:14, when he comes face to face with the Commander of the Lord’s Army, Joshua “saha’s” or bows before him. In Psalm 5:7, motivated by the love of God, the Psalmist “saha’s” or bows in the temple. In Psalm 95:6, the Psalmist says, “come let us ‘saha’ (worship) and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our God our maker.”

Third, the presence of God reveals the promise of God. In verses 9-15, the Lord reveals his purpose for visiting Abraham in person, and that is to make a very specific promise as to when his son will be born. At this promise, Sarah laughs, because not only has she been barren her whole life, but she has now hit menopause. Even though she is hidden, the Lord knows that she has laughed and why, so he calls her out. In verse 14 he reiterates the promise by asking this question: “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” The Lord had promised time and again, and each time he promised, he had assured Abraham with some sort of sign. And now, with this last promise, he gives the surest sign that he could, his very presence with Abraham and Sarah.

Now, if you’ve been paying close attention, you might have noticed that we have a problem here. The fact that Abraham and Sarah have a covenant with God that brings them into close communion with him is all fine and well and good, but what about the rest of humanity? What about we Gentiles who were born outside of the Abrahamic covenant? Are we left to only know the presence of God in his wrath that he said he would pour out on the nations? Oh friend, hold on! There is good news!

In Matt. 2 we read about some wisemen who come from the East because they had seen a star that they believed announced the birth of the promised Messiah of Israel. So, they come to the palace in Jerusalem and they ask King Herod, “where is the one who has been born king of the Jews, for we have seen his star in the east, and we have come to worship him.” They go and find Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, and what do they do? They bow down and worship, just like Abraham. And, like Abraham, who brought his very best to his heavenly visitors, the wise men bring gold, frankincense and myrrh. Later on, as Jesus is carrying out his ministry, a demon possessed man runs up to him in Mark 5:6 and bows down and worships him. Jesus casts the demon out and sets the man free. In John 9, Jesus heals a man that had been born blind, and it says in verse 38 that the man bowed down and worshipped him. Oh, brothers and sisters don’t you see that all of these were broken off from the covenant of God, and yet through Jesus they were ushered into the very presence of God and their only reaction was to worship in reverence! The wisemen were pagans from a foreign land, likely from Babylon, the great enemy of Israel. The demon possessed man of Mark 5 had been driven out of town and left to wander naked through the graveyard until Jesus came near to him. The blind man was not allowed in the temple because he had a condition that made him ceremonially unclean, and the Pharisees taught that it was probably because of some sin that he had committed in the womb, but when Jesus came near to him, he was restored.

Eph. 2:13-18 says “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.” Paul says that it is because of the blood of Christ that we have a new covenant with God that brings us into his very presence. It is through Jesus that we have been made a part of the covenant family that stretches all the way back to Abraham. And, it is by the Spirit of God that we have access to the Father, right now, in this very place, and every minute of every day! Remember, back in Eph. 1:14, Paul told us that the Holy Spirit was the guarantee of the inheritance that is to come. Just as God gave Abraham the sign of his presence as a guarantee that he would fulfill his promise, so God has given us the sign of his presence through his Holy Spirit so that we can know, regardless of what we face in this life, God will keep his promise to bring about our resurrection.

Oh, friend, don’t you long to know the real presence of the God who made you and who loves you? Don’t you long for that real, covenant relationship that only God can provide? Through Jesus Christ you can be brought near to God. Won’t you trust in Christ today?

Brothers and sisters, our right response to the presence of God in our lives is the reverent worship of him. Historically, the church tends to oscillate between two extremes when it comes to the worship of God. In one generation, the church will emphasize the transcendence of God (his holiness, sovereignty, justice) and the next will swing in the other direction to emphasize the eminence of God (his love, presence, fatherliness). I think the present attitude of the church has swung hard in the direction of God’s eminence. Many churches today take a lackadaisical approach to worship. The pulpit is gone and in its place is a couch. The hymns are gone, and in their place is a concert. Gone are the sermons that focus on the greatness and wonder of God, and in their place are found sermons that provide practical advice (five steps for success, three steps to a happier marriage). I understand that churches want to make sure people know that God is loving and accessible but let me be clear - from Genesis to Revelation, worship is always depicted through the act of bowing in reverence to the God of the universe. So, our worship here should always have an air of reverence. That doesn’t mean we can’t laugh or fellowship, but the overall attitude should be one of reverence and awe because we know that we are in the presence of God. And, because the Holy Spirit lives within us, we are always in the presence of God. That means that our lives should be lived in reverence. The whole of our lives is under the rule of God, and the whole of our lives should reverence God as an act of worship.