Worship????

There is a lot of talk about right now regarding worship.
Styles of worship and importance of worship, and how we should go about worship, and how important worship is for a church and for Christians.

Well the other day in my daily reading I came across Mark chapter 5 and I noticed something in that passage that had escaped me previously.

Mark 5:1-13
(1)  And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.
(2)  And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,
(3)  Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains:
(4)  Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.
(5)  And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.
(6)  But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him,
(7)  And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.
(8)  For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.
(9)  And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.
(10)  And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country.
(11)  Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.
(12)  And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.
(13)  And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.

Jesus and the Disciples had just cross the sea overnight with the storm and Jesus calming that storm, and they came to Gadarea. When they got out of the ship and walked onto the land, a man came running up to them. This man was possessed with devils.

But the interesting thing I find about this passage is that it says in vs 6;

(6)  But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him,

When he saw Jesus he ran and worshipped him. Now I had always read it as the man who was possessed ran and worshipped the Lord, as I read it the other day I noticed  something about this account.
The "he" spoken of in vs 6 is the same "he"spoken of in vs 7 through to vs 10.

You see, I had always read it as the man who was possessed ran to Jesus for help, but it was not the man that confronted Jesus and worshipped Him, it was the devil in him.

The devil is the one talking, the devil is the one begging (I adjure thee...), the devil is the one WORSHIPPING the Lord.
Let's look at this a moment: the devil calls Jesus "...the son of the most high God..." recognising exactly who the Lord is, and ascribing that honour to the Lord.
The devil recognises also the authority of Jesus, when he "Adjures" Him, or begs Him - this devil certainly knows that Jesus has the authority and the power.

The thing about all of this is that these devils - there were many for their name was legion (A Roman legion by the way was normally 5000 men plus support staff, and they affected 2000 pigs when cast into the herd), these devils are said in vs 6 to have worshipped the Lord Jesus Christ.

In that, they ascribed to Him the proper attributes, the proper authority, the proper power, and His proper position.
They cried out loud about who He is and what He can do.
No-one standing there that day could have missed that these devils recognised Jesus as the son of the most high God, or that He was stronger in power, and of greater authority than these devils - that at least 2000 of them too.

The Bible clearly says that they "worshipped" Him.

Now back to our present day emphasis on worship and the importance of it in our churches.
It occurred to me that not only Christians can worship - if these devils can worship the Lord, then there is no inherent need for the one worshipping the Lord to actually love the Lord.
These devils did not love the Lord, but they did worship Him.

James 2:19
(19)  Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

There is no requirement of saving faith for worship to happen.

In fact there will be a load of people who think they are doing various things for the Lord who will find out one day that their service was in vain:

Matthew 7:20-24
(20)  Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
(21)  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
(22)  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
(23)  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
(24)  Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

Many will say to Him "Have we not done all these great things in your name?", but Jesus will say "I never knew you".

I wonder how many people are caught up in this current flow of "worship focussed" ministry who actually have never trusted Jesus Christ as their Saviour?

They think they are serving and honouring the Lord because they "Worship" the Lord, but these devils also worshipped the Lord.

No, worship does not make a person saved.

Romans 10:9-13
(9)  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
(10)  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
(11)  For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
(12)  For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
(13)  For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

That is what makes a person saved - believing in thine heart and confessing (to God) that Jesus raised from the dead.

Those people who think they are honouring God by what is often called "good worship" (a subjective view anyway), may very possibly be wrong. You don't have to love the Lord to worship Him.

Also, recently I have been looking again at the Great Commission and strangely enough I don't find anywhere in the various statements of the Great Commission a call to worship the Lord in that work.

We are told to teach all nations, to baptise, and teach them what Jesus taught - but there is no mention of worshipping the Lord in those calls - it is SERVING HIM, in the way that He calls or commissions us to that He wants.