1 Chronicles 7-9

May 3

1 Chronicles 7-9

The administration of the temple was complicated business. So many people so many jobs to attend. There were gatekeepers to guard the entrances into the temple and before the temple was built to guard the entrances into the Tent of Meeting. Others were responsible for the articles used for worship. These articles had to be put out in the morning and put away in the evening. The temple had to be locked up and secured in the evenings. Someone had to take care of the bread, the wine, the incense, the spices used in worship. Some mixed the spices and others made bread. Still others provided music for worship.

The Levites were responsible for these duties, but even among the Levites certain families took responsibility for different jobs around the temple. Worship is not a solitary activity. Worship involves the community. Old Testament worship involved more than just the priest. In many ways, all the people were involved in worship. Worship is not something we observe, worship is participatory.

We worship as a body of believers. We each have gifts God has given us to assist the entire Body in worship. "Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others." (Romans 12:4-5, NIV)

Worship is a part of the way we live. When we use the gifts God has given us to assist the Body in worship, we are giving glory to God. We are being living sacrifices holy and pleasing to God. We are participating in our spiritual act of worship. We worship when we use the gifts God gives us to strengthen His body and to point others toward Him.