3D Worship Part 16 – Worship is Love: NT Parallels
May 10, 2026
Introduction
Priscilla Sitienei (pronounced, si‑shuhnay) lived in Kenya. She was a midwife for
65 years in her town, constantly helping young mothers birth their children and
then training them how to nurture their newborns. She was a loving mother,
grandmother, great grandmother, and even great, great grandmother. Priscilla
was a follower of Jesus and sought to show the love of Christ to all around.
Despite her wonderful life of influence and impact on her family and town, she
had one regret: she could not read and write, for she was never allowed to go to
school. She wished she could read the bible for herself and write notes of
encouragement to her family.
When one of her great, great granddaughters was unable to finish elementary
school she jokingly invited Priscilla to take her place. Priscilla was amused by the
idea and decided to see if she could attend the school. Soon after, at the age of
90 years old, Priscilla had become the oldest elementary school student in the
world. Pricilla had a long a productive life, yet she decided that it was never too
late to learn something new. (see https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-
30935874)
Series Recap
Our definition of Worship: exaltation and prioritization of the object of your
highest love in any given moment
o Part 1: Deuteronomy 6:4-6 “4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord
is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you
today shall be on your heart.”
“Love” (Heb. ‘āhaḇ) = expresses the covenantal commitment of loyalty
and submission to one who is greater because the greater one loves you; to
desire, devote, and delight yourself in the object of your focus – to love
God is to worship God
o John 4:23 “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true
worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is
seeking such people to worship him.”
Part 2+3: Worshipping in Spirit and Truth = Zeal-filled exaltation of
God from the heart, soul, and strength (see Deut. 6:4-6) led by the
Holy Spirit, focused on the one true God as He has revealed Himself,
in the way He desires.
Devotion + Desire = Delight in the Lord, worship in Truth and Spirit
1 st Commandment: Deuteronomy 5:6-7 “6 I am the Lord your God, who brought
you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 7 You shall have no
other gods before me.”
o Part 4: Worship is our response to who God is and what He has done.
2 nd Commandment: Deuteronomy 5:8-10 “8 You shall not make for yourself a
carved image…”
o Part 5: Worship is our nature; we will always worship something – will we
direct that worship to the One True God or to ourselves or the things of this
world.
3rd Commandment: Deuteronomy 5:11 “You shall not take the name of the Lord
your God in vain…”
o Part 7: Worship is our responsibility as we are sent out to bring glory to our
God, bearing His name upon us….and we will either empty it of power and
meaning or glorify it through our repentant submission and reliance upon
Him.
4th Commandment: Deuteronomy 5:12-15 “12 Observe the Sabbath day, to
keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor
and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your
God…”
o Part 8+9: Worship is obedience as we patiently work hard for our God and
then rest in Him and in all that He provides, not taking matters into our own
hands but waiting on the Lord.
5th Commandment: Deuteronomy 5:16 “Honor your father and your mother…”
o Part 10: Worship is humility as we honor those who the Lord has placed
over us with dignity and worth even if we disagree with them, showing
kindness as worship to our God who has placed them over us.
6th Commandment: Deuteronomy 5:17 “You shall not murder.”
o Part 11: Worship is an expression of value and control as the more we
value our God and the people made in His image, the less we will seek to
control every situation to our liking and trust God to be in control according
to His values and purposes as we reflect His goodness and love to those
around us.
7th Commandment: Deuteronomy 5:18 “You shall not commit adultery.”
o Part 13: Worship is a commitment to God who we have covenanted with by
faith that we would remain pure as His children enjoying the good gifts that
He gives us.
8th Commandment: Deuteronomy 5:19 “You shall not steal”
o Part 14: Worship is trust as we look to the Lord to provide our every need,
not living in anxiety and generously stewarding that with which we have
been trusted.
9th Commandment: Deuteronomy 5:20 “You shall not bear false witness
against your neighbor”
o Part 12: Worship is reflected in our speech so speak truthfully regardless of
the lies and accusations against you.
10th Commandment: Deuteronomy 5:21 “You shall not covet…”
o Part 15: Worship is contented desire as we find our satisfaction in the Lord.
NT Parallels
Greatest Commandment
o Mark 12:28-31 “28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them
disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked
him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus
answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the
Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The
second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other
commandment greater than these.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 “4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast;
it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or
resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things
there is no law.”
o “…against such things there is no law” = law of love transcends everything
- See Slide download for chart of commandment and NT parallels
Conclusion
After several years of elementary school, Priscilla was able to fully read and
write…she loved reading scripture and she loved being able to write her own text
messages to her family. Her favorite message to send them were three simple
words “I love you”
Priscilla became an inspiration to her village all over again as she encouraged
people of all ages to seek education, especially young women. She urged them
to take the opportunity to learn and grow and then to share that knowledge with
those around them. In fact, Priscilla’s example and encouragement was so
powerful that a movie was made about her in 2020 called Gogo, which means
grandmother in her local language.
As we are winding up this series (next week it last week), I know many of us
have read the 10 commandments more times than we can count. But I pray that
this series has provided a new lens through which to view them, a lens of
worship; and, as we saw today, a lens of love.
Like Priscilla, I hope we are excited to continually learn to worship our God more
deeply and to love Him more fully – that our devotion to Him and our Desire for
Him would grow and that our ultimate Delight would always be in Him alone.
Amen. Amen.