Worship
By Susan Westering
“Oh come let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker! For He is our God.” Psalm 95:6-7
“Give to the Lord the glory due His name; worship the Lord in the splendor of His Holiness.” Psalm 29:2
There are over 250 verses in the bible about worship! It is obviously very important that we understand all we can about this topic.
WHAT IS WORSHIP?
Worship is honor and adoration directed to God. We worship God because God created us to worship Him, worship is at the center of our existence, at the heart of our reason for being.
John MacArthur, in his book Worship, The Ultimate Priority says the following: “Authentic worship is not a narrowly defined activity relegated to the Sunday morning church service or to a single place. Worship is any essential expression of service rendered unto God by a soul who loves and extols Him for who He is. Real worship should be the full time, nonstop activity of every believer, and the aim of the exercise ought to be to please God, not merely entertain the worshiper. Worship ought to be every Christian’s highest priority.”
WHO DO WE WORSHIP?
The object of our worship must be right if our worship is to be acceptable – we must consider the God we worship. Jesus in His beautiful prayer for us in John 17:3 says “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God.”
How do we get to know God? Thru His Word – studying, praying, meditating, listening to sermons and teachers. Genuine worship is a response to divine truth!
Luke 10:38-42 is the story of Mary and Martha. It shows Martha serving and being distracted, while Mary is listening at Jesus’ feet. Martha comes to Jesus and complains that Mary is not helping her, and Jesus very compassionately says to her “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary.” (vs 41-42)
Our Lord was teaching that Mary had discovered the one needful thing: true worship and devotion of her heart and full attention to Christ. That was a higher priority even than service.
Worship is all that we are, reacting to all that He is.
HOW ARE WE TO WORSHIP?
“Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” Hebrews 10:22.
We come to God in sincerity and humility - Sincerity . . . we must draw near with a true heart, a heart focused on God and His glory. We cannot rush into the presence of God with a heart that is not sincere. And we must come humbly “because of our own unworthiness, knowing we have no right being there without the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And we worship God in everything we do, with thankfulness!
“And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.” Colossians 3:17
Worship involves all that is inside a person (our personal walk with the Lord), all that is outside a person (our service toward others, sharing, giving and loving one another), and all that takes place within the corporate assembly of God’s people, our upward response - Inward – Outward – and Upward.
WHERE DO WE WORSHIP?
We worship not just in a building but everywhere! And when we worship together it’s about building each other up and looking toward the day when we will be in heaven worshipping for eternity.
God gathers – He gathers us to glorify Him! “Let us exalt His name together!” Psalm 34:3
A Life of worship involves being a part of a church – a community of believers.
We join and gather because it is who we are. We don’t “go to church” to worship – we worship because we are the church.
WORSHIPPING GOD IS THE THEME ALL THROUGHOUT SCRIPTURE, THE THEME OF ETERNITY, THE THEME OF REDEMPTIVE HISTORY. The more we KNOW HIM . . . our only response will be to fall down and worship Him.
REFLECTION
Take a moment to get out a notebook or journal and write down every verse reference listed in this article so that you can keep the idea of worship fresh on your mind.
Have you ever thought of worship as a spiritual discipline? How does defining it in that category change your view of how, when, and why we worship?
Challenge: The article mentions that worship is a part of everything we do and ought to be our highest priority in our relationship with God. While worship isn’t just music, this week’s challenge is to spend 15-30 minutes in intentional worship through music. Whether that means taking a walk with your headphones in, blasting worship music on your speaker in your car, or grabbing a guitar, make worship a priority this week.
Need some music to get started? Check out THIS PLAYLIST