Winnowing the Will to Worship
Come, Let us Worship God
John Hubley
My subject is: Winnowing the will to worship. To start with: What in the world does winnowing have to do with worship? As a matter of fact, what is winnowing anyway? First of all, it’s an ancient term. It meant separating the chaff from the grain. Today, it simply means separating what’s worthy from what’s worthless. What’s worthless often gets in the way when we seek to worship our God.
The theme didn’t just pop into my head. It came right from the third chapter of Matthew. There are three events that Matthew tethered concerning the worship of God: I really mean the will to worship God. First, John the Baptist came preaching willful worship in the wilderness. Second, Jesus came with a will to worship under John’s ministry. Third, Satan tempted Jesus to break his bond of willful worship to the Father. Each event dealt with the will to worship. Worship doesn’t happen just around us but profoundly within us—it’s the product of our will—it’s our will to worship the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit.
Let’s start with John. He baptized people unto repentance. Such baptism with repentance involved penitents submitting themselves in obedience to God. Actually, bowing in facedown obeisance to God was the Hebrew medium of worship. So you see, John zealously promoted true biblical worship in the wilderness. Here are his engaging words: “I baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry, He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
Baptism is more than worship. Baptism is a will to worship. It turn us away from self-will to live for the will of the Father. That’s true repentance. However, John went beyond repentance. He promised that when the Christ came, He would baptize with the Spirit and with fire. He would ignite a fervent fire, kindle an intense will, in their hearts, to winnow worthless ways during their worship. The prophets Amos and Micah had years before warned people about equating worship with attending to attend the temple sacrifices; dancing to just dance lively to their favorite songs and lyrics during festivals.
Matthew continued: Jesus came from Galilee to be baptized by John. He was moved by the promise of the Holy Spirit and fire associated with baptism. He sought to bow in facedown obeisance to his Father at the start of his mission. But something went awry. John refused to baptize him. Instead, he pleaded, “I need to be baptized by You.” Jesus’ will to worship spiked like fermenting wine. He cried out: “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”
Wow! Jesus was tenacious. “Get with it, John! It’s what’s required right now! I must do what my will compels me to do: Worship the Father as His beloved and obeisant Son.” Quickly, John relented. When Jesus came up out of the water “the heavens were opened to Him, And He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.’” Jesus was enthralled.
To recapitulate: John preached the baptism of repentance, the proclamation of the will to worship; to bury ones self-will in baptism; and to bow in facedown obeisance to the Father’s will. We perceived how Jesus pursued his passion for the Father, denying his self-will through baptism, and bowing in face down obeisance to the Father. Now we’ll examine what our role becomes in light of how Jesus dealt with Satan—ourselves responding in the same manner.
Matthew continued: Immediately, the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Jesus had declared his utter obeisance to the Father, and received His pleasure and delight. Jesus knew when he faced the devil he must uphold his obeisance, and maintain his integrity. Then, Satan taunted him about turning stones into bread, and falling from great heights without injury. Even though these were challenges to Jesus, they were not obstacles to sustaining his godly stature and his well-being. They were simply Satan’s slick preludes to undermine Jesus’ integrity, and destroy his mission as the Son of God.
Satan’s real clincher came with this enticing carrot: “All the kingdoms of the world are absolutely yours, Jesus, “If You will fall down and worship me” “You who declared your awesome obeisance to the Father in baptism: Renounce your baptismal commitment to the Father; retract your calling as Messiah; abandon your mission to bear the sin of many and make intercession for transgressors.
Satan put everything of redemptive value up for grabs in his wicked effort to ravage the Father and degrade his Son. But comes a surprise! Satan was amazed at Jesus’ response. Although Satan might have been prepared for the jolting surprise had he paid closer attention to Jesus’ awesome baptism.
Jesus exclaimed with the passion of his entire being: “Out of my sight, Satan, “You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only shall you serve”. What was Jesus doing? Did he simply demand the obvious: That Satan back off and bow down in obeisance to God? There’s much more to this than that. Let’s back up for a moment. Jesus’ viewed his worship of the Father as the ultimate will and moral fiber of his mission. He publicly presented himself as the ultimate and willful Worshiper. This is what he meant when he said: “I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will but the will of Him who sent me” (John 6:38).
Was Jesus making an example of his baptism, or was he going much deeper, was he implying that we believers also participate in his obeisance to the Father through our own moment of baptism? Responding to his example is easy in its impact. Participating willfully in his submission to the Father is encompassing in its impact. He boldly challenged Satan to participate with the Son in his ultimate obeisance to the Father—to forsake his selfish desire to dominate the world, and boldly embrace the Son’s obeisance to the Father in both mission and justice.
Our will to worship becomes our participation in his will to worship. Participation involves much more than imitating his obeisance to the Father, although that’s certainly possible. But it’s willfully sharing with Him, it’s participating with Him, in our regenerate minds and imaginations, in his absolute obeisance to the Father, as if his submission becomes our own–for by faith through grace it surely does.
By participating in Jesus’ will to worship the Father, we actually winnow the self will from our worship. The wind of the Spirit effectively sweeps away our self will with its choking stress on outward forms and styles, and graciously frees us to make facedown obeisance to the Father through the Son in our lifestyle forever.