Today’s post was written by Sam Hohman. When I was in Bible College he was part of the staff and one of his more obvious roles was worship leading. I greatly respect Sam and believe that we share a similar heart for worship. He wrote this post for his Facebook account. When I asked if I could repost it here he was gracious enough to allow me. Sam currently serves as Worship Pastor for Faith Memorial Church in Sandusky, Ohio.
I am reading today out of Leviticus 22:17 and on… and the online verses sent to me from www.biblegateway.com entitle this section: “Unacceptable Sacrifices”. It describes specifically what kind of animal must be brought as a sacrifice (a “freewill offering” or to fulfill a vow) – one without any defect, and a male (and it describes the possible defects).
Those of you who, like me, grew up in a church that was Assemblies of God or similar, probably remember the song way back in the 80’s, “We bring the sacrifice of praise, into the house, of the Lord; we bring the sacrifice of praise, into the house, of the Lord! And we offer up to You, the sacrifices of thanksgiving; and we offer up to You, the sacrifices of joy!” Admit it. You just sang that in your head. And you also did the motions in your head. Come on, you know you did… you may have even continued in your mind to “This Is the Day” or “What a Mighty God We Serve”. If so, man, were you an A/G person! You can stop grinning now, ‘cause you are the one I’m talking about, you know who you are.
I know that in Leviticus, the instructions given by God were not referring to worship and praise, especially not as we practice it today, with music, usually at the beginning of our church services. But the word “sacrifice” got me thinking, and, more specifically, “unacceptable” got me really thinking. Continue reading “Guest Post: “Unacceptable” Worship”