As we conclude this unit, we revisit our Big Picture Question: What is worship?
Answer: Worship is celebrating the greatness of God.
Through the past four weeks, we have seen how God makes ways for His people, even in seemingly impossible situations. When the people were hungry and food was scarce, God provided manna and quail. When the people complained that there was no water to drink, God quenched their thirst by leading Moses to strike out water from a rock. After coming out of such heavy oppression in Egypt, God gave His people Ten Commandments to follow so that they may not go astray. Though it may have seemed restricting for the Israelites to have to follow rules after being freed from slavery, this was actually God’s way of protecting His people, restoring order when they were bound in chaos, and keeping their hearts oriented to our good, loving, and holy God who loves and cares for His people. Worship is celebrating the greatness of God, and God deserves our whole-hearted worship. Still, the Israelites grew impatient, they lacked gratitude and faithfulness, and they even ended up making an idol after God commanded them not to! In all these situations, we see God’s faithfulness, His mercy, His patience, and His long-suffering as He continued to make ways for His people to repent and draw near to Him. Despite Israel’s unfaithfulness, God taught the people how to carefully build the tabernacle so that He could dwell among them still.
FaithKids were asked to design a medal or a trophy for a kind of competition they would want to win. Some drew soccer trophies, others designed prizes for being the best gaming champion, some made pig trophies or medals for being the best horseback rider. Whatever race or competition we enter, the winner is usually awarded a trophy or medal that they deserve to give honour to them. FaithKids were then asked to read and write Colossians 3:23 next to their drawings, which says: “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.” God is so great, and He is deserving of all our worship. We discussed how Colossians tells us to do all things as if we are doing them for God, not for people. So whether we do our homework, we can do it for God, not just for our teacher; when we complete our chores, we can do them for God, not just our parents; when we play a game with our friends, we can do it for God and not just for our friends…if we celebrate God’s greatness in everything we do, we are giving Him glory and the worship that He deserves.
Today we jumped into the book of Leviticus, where we got to learn about God’s very careful and specific instructions that explain how different sacrifices could be offered in a pleasing and acceptable way to God.
FaithKids recalled that our God is a holy God who wants to be near to His people. But because of the fall of Adam and Eve, sin broke our relationship with God. Since the punishment of sin is death and the consequence of sin is eternal separation from God, these sacrifices were a way for the Israelites to offer a substitute payment of their sins, repent of their sins, make peace with God, give thanks to God, and to atone for any other unintentional sins that were found in any individual or collective members of the camp in order to keep themselves pure before the LORD.
As we discussed the different kinds of animal sacrifices that were offered for different purposes, FaithKids got to meet our furry rabbit friend, Q.
FaithKids got to take turns holding, feeding, and petting Q. In the very beginning, our job was to take care of God’s creation, to subdue the earth and have dominion over every living thing that moves on the earth. Our sin caused death, destruction, and disorder. Animals became regular substitutionary offerings in place of us. But thanks be to Jesus, who became the ultimate perfect and sinless sacrifice for us. He who had no sin became sin for us and bore the wrath and punishment that we deserved once and for all. Now we no longer need to offer any more animal sacrifices because Jesus’ sacrifice was enough to cover anyone’s sin. Now all who believe in Jesus can live with God forever and are forever forgiven of all their sin.
Follow our blog to see more of our FaithKids adventures and take part in being discipled with us each week!