Let‘a briefly recap the previous post - Worship is Fruitfulness:
The original picture of worship is cultivating a field so that it brings forth it's fruitfulness. The Hebrew word for "work", "cultivate", or "till" is the word that is also translated throughout the Bible as worship . Genesis 2:5 - Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the LORD God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground.
This is the task He gave to Adam: be fruitful and multiply. Adam's job was to grow the garden and the family. The garden was meant to feed the family. The family was meant to care for the garden. And both would grow and multiply together, becoming increasingly fruitful and bringing greater and greater glory to God.
John 15:8 - By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
Ok, now let’s move on...
Worship is connected to fruitfulness and fruitfulness is connected to discipleship. In other words, God wanted Adam to learn how to be fruitful and multiply through discipleship.
God envisioned a process that required time and experience through which Adam would ultimately learn to relate to God and through relationship grow in love for Him. In this we see the wonderful strategy of God: Adam was to do the work of cultivating the garden while God did the work of cultivating Adam! Notice what the writer of Hebrews says about God's training program: Hebrews 5:14 - But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. So we see that God was not intent on withholding the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil from Adam; rather, He was training Adam for it. But by eating from the forbidden tree Adam immaturely reached for something for which he was not yet ready. Furthermore, He violated his relationship with God; therefore bringing an end to his training, his maturity, and ultimately his life. We have the same freedom to choose. Knowing that God wants to give us good things like someone to love, a home, a family, meaningful work, peace, prosperity, and a life of fulfillment and happiness, we each come to our own moment of decision - do we grasp for those things on our own terms or do we submit to God's discipleship as we patiently learn how to relate to Him in love? Adam's failure to remain in God's training program meant that he was no longer able to be fruitful. But Christ has restored us to discipleship and the ability to be fruitful by leading us in submission to Gods ways. Jesus says it this way: John 15:5 - I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. Abiding in Christ is a picture of remaining in God's training program. Worship is fruitfulness and fruitfulness comes from from abiding in Christ's discipleship. Jesus the Sovereign King is restoring worship in the earth and this worship looks like discipleship.