“The Bill of Worship” (Ready to Worship S4E1)

August 12, 2016

Season 4, Episode 1
For Friday, August 12, 2016
“The Bill of Worship”

HOST: Wade Webster

Show Notes:

Every week we get bills in the mail that contain the little word “due.” Usually, the word due is connected with other things. For example, the bill often specifies a person or organization, an amount, a date, and any amount that is overdue. In the Psalms, David used the word “due” in connection with worship. He wrote, “Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts” (Psa. 96:8). The bill of worship also contains a person, an amount, a date, and any amount that is overdue. The difference in the bill of worship and other bills is that we should long to pay this bill. After all, God has already paid the much larger debt of sin for us.

Episode Transcript:

David declared, “Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts” (Psa. 96:8). What does the word “due” call to mind? Likely, it calls to mind a bill. Every week we go to the mail box and open bills that have this little word in them. Usually, the word due is connected to a person or organization, a date, an amount, and other things. I believe that in a very practical way we can learn something about worship from examining a bill.

A Person

Bills come with a specific person to whom payment is due. Certainly, this is true of our worship. Please note the passage with which we started this lesson. David specified the Lord as the person to whom glory is due (Psa. 89:7). Other passages specify the same. When Satan tempted Jesus to fall down and worship him, Jesus answered, “Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” (Mt. 4:10). Can you imagine sending payment to someone other than the person specified on the bill? That would not make sense. Yet, people often do that with worship. They offer worship to men, to Mary, to angels, to idols, to nature, and to a host of other things. Yet, worship is not due to them. It is due to God.

An Amount

Bills come with a certain amount due. This is also true of worship. God is due a certain amount of glory and honor. How much is God due? For sure, the amount is more than we can ever pay. Isaac Watts, in the song When I Survey The Wondrous Cross, expresses what is due very well. He wrote, “Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small; Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all.” We must praise God with all our hearts. David declared, “I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore” (Psa. 86:12). Sometimes bills offer the option of making a minimum payment. Sadly, many try to do this with God. They want to pay only the minimum. However, God will not take less than full payment.

A Date

Bills come with a due date. This date specifies when the payment is due. The person paying the debt does not have the authority to change this date. This is also true of worship. God has specified a certain day. Man doesn’t have the authority to change it. Regarding the collection, Paul wrote, “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come” (1 Cor. 16:1-2). This act of worship is due on the first day of every week. The same is true of the Lord’s Supper. Luke records, “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight” (Acts 20:7). Sadly, many ignore the date that God has given. They change the due date to when it is convenient for them. However, they don’t have the authority to do this.

Past Due

Bills sometimes list a past due or overdue amount. If the amount due isn’t paid by the date specified, it remains on the bill. Often, there are additional charges. The same applies to worship. Many have worship accounts that are past due because they have failed to give God the glory that is due Him on the date that He has specified. The Hebrew writer declared, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins” (Heb. 10:25-26). You may recall that God kept up with the sabbatical years that His people forsook in the Old Testament. Eventually, they were forced to pay. In like manner, God knows when we forsake the assembly. However, the punishment won’t be 70 years this time. It will be for eternity.

This week as we get ready to worship, let’s think about the bill of worship. Let’s think about what is due, when it is due, and to whom it is due. Furthermore, let’s consider the consequences of being overdue. Please understand that I am not trying to make you dread worship. I know that we generally dread receiving and paying bills. However, the bill of worship is a bill that we should long to pay. After all, God has already paid the much larger debt of sin for us.

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