"The Principle of Worship"

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Thanks so much for being here today.

Chapter 4 were in a short series entitling handling money. God's way. Remember the deal a major deal when we started the deal was to talk about money for couple weeks but I'm not going to ask you for a sense that deal still goes because the purpose of this series is not to raise money for McLean Bible church. The purpose of this series is to educate you and me as the principles in the Bible for handling money in a way that honors God and that brings maximum blessing to our lives in so well were trying to educate ourselves here. We working out in Philippians chapter 4. Remember, Paul was in jail in Rome. The Philippian sentiment offering.

In response he writes them back a thank you letter we call it today. The book of Philippians and in chapter 4 he gives us all the principles we need to build a biblical system of resource management therefore principles are your number one. The principle of contentment. We've already covered that principle number two. The principle of investment we've already covered that today were going to cover the principal of worship in the next week we finish it up and were done okay so let's dig in verse 18 Philippians chapter 4, I have received everything in full and have an abundance. Paul writes, I am amply supplied, having received from a copper guide us the gifts that you sent now I.

This is a man is the individual who carried this offering from the Philippians to Rome and gave it to Paul and Paul says he's given me your generous offering and because of that I am amply supplied but I want you to see how Paul goes on and describes this offering of the Philippians he says in the end of the verse say that is the monetary gift you sent me are a fragrance offering an acceptable sacrifice well pleasing to God. This is kind of a strange way to describe it, offering that it is a fragrant offering and acceptable sacrifice well pleasing to God. Is that why does Paul use language like that. Well, it's because he's using the imagery of the Old Testament sacrificial system. These are terms that come out of the Old Testament, describing in the Old Testament when a worshiper would bring an offering to the temple in Jerusalem. They would take the animal kill the animal burned its meat as a sacrifice to the Lord.

And as that aroma drifted up into the heavens. The Old Testament referred to it as a fragrant aroma of fragrant offering and acceptable sacrifice well pleasing to God in all this reminds me of the Chinese food restaurant right near the gym where I go to the I love Chinese food and reason.

I love Chinese food is because I'm Jewish you laugh Asian people do not keep Chinese food restaurant in business Jewish people do you believe that's true you walking to PF Chang's any day at lunch and just yell model top, and 30 people will yell back. Thank you very much. You are in fact over in Bethesda in the most kosher neighborhood anywhere in Washington there is right in the middle of this neighborhood. A Chinese restaurant to coach a Chinese restaurant in the name of the restaurant is moisture Dragon nonmarket areas moisture Dragon is good food. You go to the needs of anyway Chinese restaurant right near my gym, I'm walking across the parking lot and I mean I don't know what their cooking but sometimes I have literally stop in my tracks and said on believable. That is the best thing I've ever smelled my whole life that haven't you ever been walking somewhere by restaurant and you smell some aroma coming out and it just stopped dead in your tracks and you and well that is awesome what the Bible is telling us is that this is exactly how Almighty God felt about the sacrifices in the Old Testament is the aroma went up into heaven and the apostle Paul tells us here in Philippians 4 that when we as followers of Christ give to the work of God here on earth.

The way the Philippians and Don are giving is a fragrant offering of pleasing aroma, just like these Old Testament sacrifices were that brings enormous joy to the heart of God knows sacrifices for sin are needed any longer. The reason you and I as followers of Christ today. Don't get on airplanes and father Jerusalem and have goats and bulls and lambs in the cargo section with those that were taken over there to sacrifice.

The reason we don't do that anymore is because our hearts in our offenses have been paid for in full by what the Lord Jesus Christ did for us on the cross.. M. Will need to do this anymore. That's why God refers to Jesus in the Bible as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world because what he did on the cross. If you're here today and you never trusted Christ as your real and personal Savior. Let me just say to you that not only are animal sacrifices no longer needed for our offenses to be forgiven before God, but animal sacrifices won't even work anymore. Ever since the Lord Jesus, the ultimate Lamb of God shed his blood on the cross to pay for our offenses. That's the only price God accepts anymore. So if you're trying to reach of a situation where your offenses are forgiven by God in the breach between you and God is repaired. Nothing would make God happier than for you to get there but friends you got offering the payment that works religious works don't work. Being a good person… The payment God accepts animal sacrifices in Jerusalem. That's not the payment. God accepts anymore is Jesus Christ and what he did on the cross and our willingness to trust and embrace that as our own. Now there's another kind of animal sacrifice that was practiced in the Old Testament, and these were worship, sacrifices. This is what a person wanted to thank God, praise God. Tell God how much they loved him and how devoted they were to him. They would also bring an animal to the temple, but the priest when he killed this animal instead of taking his blood and putting it on the altar. He didn't do that. Instead, he took the meat of this animal and he burned it and the fragrant aroma for the filet mignon you know cooking drafted on up into heaven, and this was a worship offering that the Bible says would be a fragrant aroma in the nostrils of Almighty God. That brought real joy was well pleasing to God. Not today in New Testament times, these worship sacrifices are still around is just if they change for they change the format, Peter says, first Peter 25. Today we are to offer up to God's spiritual sacrifices of worship, we don't offer literal sacrifices anymore physical sacrifices.

We don't take animals to Jerusalem and tell them anymore. We now offer spiritual sacrifices inherent Philippians 4, the apostle Paul tells us that one of the spiritual sacrifices of worship, and we can offer God today is financial giving to God and to the work of God, is it Juan, why is giving to God, an act of worship.

I don't understand what because friends when we as followers of Christ give money to the Lord will be given freely voluntarily cheerfully gladly worshiping, because were telling God that he's number one in our life that is more important to us than money itself, and this is what worship is all about worship is just about telling somebody or something that their number one in your life, we find is true throughout the Bible, the giving to God is a form of spiritual worship.

For example, Matthew chapter 2 member the story, the three wise men coming to see baby Jesus. What is it say it says and when they saw the child with his mother Mary.

They bowed down and they worship him now. Did they do this with a single little town of Bethlehem. No, they did.

They opened their treasures and presented Jesus with gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. They gave him the most valuable items they had with them and what is the Bible call this call to worship about Mark 14 while Jesus was in Bethany, a woman came with an alabaster box of very expensive perfume made from pure nor had she broke the drawer and poured the perfume on the Lord to some of those present were saying indignantly to one another. Why this waste of perfume. It could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor and they rebuke the woman harshly and Jesus said leave her alone. Why are you bothering her, for she is done a beautiful thing for me is okay I think I got I got the point today is when ever I give financially to the Lord that God sees that is worship right.

That's the point will almost almost as one little caveat, we have to add them to do that. I want to show you one other passage of Scripture Mark 12 says verse 41, Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watch the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury, you get the picture. Your