By Barbara Westberg
What is missing in this recipe for biscuits?
2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
½ c. shortening
¾ c. milk
Mix the above ingredients, drop on a greased baking sheet, and bake. What will you have? Biscuits so heavy that even the dogs will scorn them. Why? Because a basic ingredient is missing.
A new subject has been added to the schedules at music and teacher's training seminars: "Teaching Children to Worship." Can we teach children to worship? We teach them to pray, to be honest, to love God. Yes, we can and should teach them to worship, by what we say and what we do. We should teach them not only to worship, but why we worship and how to worship.
What are the ingredients of worship?
A. Thankful heart
B. Loud voice
C. Praise band
D. Worship choruses
E. Body language
F. All of the above
The answer is F, all of the above. As we teach our children to "shout to the Lord with the voice of triumph," "clap your hands all ye people," "praise his name in the dance," is something missing? Has worship become fun and games for children? It wasn't fun and games for Abraham's son.
"Stop. Make camp here," Abraham instructed the young men. As he lifted his eyes to the mountain before them, he sighed. With heavy heart and trembling fingers, He untied the wood from the donkey's backpack and handed it to Isaac. He picked up the knife and the fire. "My son and I are going to a workshop on worship," he could have said. "Wait here. We'll be back."
As they trudged up the mountain, Isaac realized that something was missing. "Father," he said, "we have fire and wood." He may have even noticed that Abraham had a knife. "But where is the sacrifice?"
"That's why we are going to this workshop, Son."
At the top Abraham could have turned to Isaac and said, "Welcome to Worship 101. Open your syllabus and look at the outline."
I. Worship costs.
Costs? No problem, Dad. You are a wealthy man. You can pay.
We live in America. We are rich. We can pay. We will do without essential to give our children trivial things. We want them to be happy, so whatever it costs, we pay-even if we have to pay with plastic. So if worship costs, we'll pay the price so our kids can dance, sing, and shout. But wait. Can we pay for someone else's worship, even our children's? Or is this a personal thing, like salvation?
King David told Araunah, "I will not offer unto the Lord that which cost me nothing." (See II Samuel 24:24.)
Are we teaching our children to offer to God that which cost them nothing? When it is time to raise money for missions, do we organize a skate-a-thon? Then they play and we pay? When they drop the money in the offering, the money we gave them for skating, have they given? Has this helped them relate to the sacrifice of the missionaries?
Has the materialistic mentality of our society bled into our worship? Sing and shout, run and dance, whoop it up. Have fun. Enjoy God. But wait. Is something missing?
Let's look at the outline again.
II. Worship hurts.
Hurts? Now wait a minute, Dad. You said we were coming up here to a workshop on worship; nothing was said about hurting. Pain? What does suffering have to do with worship?
Another word for worship, Son, is sacrifice.
Sacrifice? I asked you about that on the way up here. By the way where is the sacrifice? You said God would provide.
That's your role in this workshop, Son, and that's what hurts. It hurts unbearably.
Me? You aren't saying that I'm the sacrifice, are you, Dad? Say, what's this all about?
That day on Mount Moriah Abraham was obeying God and laying down his dreams. Isaac, a young man in his early twenties, was submitting to his father and giving his life. Both were sacrificing. Both were hurting.
"Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service" (Romans 12:1).
Being a living sacrifice costs and it hurts. Ask the missionary who is saying good-bye to his aged parents as he boards a plane for a foreign land. Ask the teen who resists the coach's pleas and promises of a spectacular sports career. Ask the girl who turns her back on the attention of the school's most popular boy.
Based on what we have learned in Worship 101 so far, who would even want to worship? But look again at your syllabus.
III. Worship exalts.
A second before Abraham's knife plunged into Isaac's heart, the angel of the Lord said, "Freeze." It was enough. Abraham had proved his love for God. Isaac had proved his submission to his father.
As Abraham released his son's bonds and offered the substitute ram on the altar, tears of joy must have flowed. No doubt, Abraham and Isaac raised their voices in shouts of triumph as they ran around the altar and danced before the Lord.
First, the sacrifice; then the rejoicing. It is the order of worship.
So we agree that we should teach our children to worship, but do we try to revise the order? To cover Point I, worship costs, do we give them a few dollars to drop in the offering? Then do we skip Point II, worship hurts, and move straight to Point III, worship exalts?
Without sacrifice, worship, like biscuits without baking powder, falls flat. But when sacrifice is mixed with praise, it lifts our praises before the throne. True worship exalts God and lifts us, the worshippers, into heavenly places.
So as we teach our children to worship, both by our words and our actions, let's remember to mix in the baking powder, oops, sacrifice.
The Missing Ingredient
Week 1 - Sowing 
Put on the Whole Armor of God
