What Kind of Worship?

I Chronicles 21:18-30 tell us about an episode involving King David and his worship to God. David was told by the angel of the Lord to, "go and erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite." When David went there he found Ornan at work. David then informed Ornan of what he planned to do. He offered to buy the place from Ornan, "at the full price."

Ornan instead wanted to just give the threshing floor to David along with everything else he had there that David could use; oxen for an offering, tools for the wood to burn and wheat for a grain offering. David as the king could have easily taken Ornan up on that offer but he didn't. The reason is given in verse 24. "I will not take what is your for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings with that which cost me nothing." Why?

David knew that for his worship to be meaningful it had to involve sacrifice; his own sacrifice. The entire concept of salvation is built on sacrifice. Jesus tells us in the New Testament that if we are to follow Him we need to sacrifice. We need to give of ourselves. How meaningful is our worship if we aren't involving ourselves, giving of ourselves, sacrificing?

True, acceptable worship to God needs to involve us giving more than just three hours a week to attend a service. It needs to include us turning all our thoughts, attention and feelings to God. That obviously should extend to more times than just the occasions we're together in congregational worship. It's not an original thought but it's worth repeating that worship is a verb. It's something we do. It's not a noun. It's not a place we go. If we're going to do it, if we're going to worship it needs to be this kind of sacrificial worship. Otherwise we couldn't make the decision David made in this story. We wouldn't really be worshipping. We would only be present. What kind of worship do we present?