Do you understand that from a worldly perspective, what we are doing here on Sunday morning is absolutely ridiculous? I was recently asked, why don’t more people come to worship? Why would they? To most people worship gathering is a waste of time. Why would I go to church when I could sleep in on my day off, when I could do my favorite hobby or sport, or spend time with family? Attending worship makes no logical sense. Why should we worship God?
We have been in a series focused on growing spiritually, by that we mean growing closer to Christ, allowing God to change us to reflect him. Spiritual growth is an act of God, but it doesn’t happen by accident, God doesn’t just suddenly change us one day to be more loving, or kind, or patient, or joyful. God helps us grow gradually through intentional practices or disciplines God has given us, like prayer, reading and reflecting on Scripture, living simply and generously, serving others, confession, and worship. It is very simple, if we want to grow closer to God, then we will intentionally practice these disciples, if we don’t than we won’t. That’s not to say they are a magic bullet for spiritual growth, rather they make us available to God to be changed by him. It is the only way we will truly experience abundant life on this earth. One day we’re going to leave this earth and the only thing which is going to matter is the closeness of our relationship with God and the godly character He formed in us while we’re here, you can’t take anything else with you except perhaps your relationships with other people. So I believe it’s important to focus on these practices for our formation as disciples of Jesus Christ.
Since worship is one of the practices which helps us draw closer to God, I believe I can say that you are not likely growing closer to God if you are not worshipping him regularly, including Sunday morning worship gatherings. Your spiritual life is directly impacted by the practices you choose to do, or not do. You may not like me saying that but it’s true. How we prioritize our worship of God demonstrates the truth about our relationship and commitment to God.
Too often the thoughts can creep in, “It’s okay if I just miss this one week,” or “I didn’t get much out of the service last week,” or, “it’s boring,” or “it isn’t meeting my needs,” or “I don’t really like the people, the pastor, music, etc.” When these thoughts have crept in, and we don’t worship God we’ve missed the point of worship. Worship is not about what we receive. It’s not about us, it’s about God. Worship, biblically speaking, is our response to what God has done, is doing, and will do for us.
What is Worship?
In other words, worship is our response to God’s initiative. Worship is our response to what God has already done for us in creating us, and then giving us abundant and eternal life through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. Worship is our response to God’s love. Worship is about what I have to offer God and His children because of what God has done for me through Jesus Christ. If God does nothing other than those things, we must worship him.
The problem in our culture is that we have been programmed to think everything is about me and my preferences, what I get, and we bring this into worship. We come to the church service like we would pull our car into a full service gas station or a restaurant drive thru. We put in our order for what we want, we ask someone to “fill ‘er up.” And then we pay our money and go home. We come with the attitude of, ‘what do I get out of it,’ rather than ‘what God gets out of it.’ There is a big difference because if worship is what I get out of it, it doesn’t matter if I go or not, I just won’t fill up the spiritual tank this week I’ll run on 1/3 tank for a while. If it’s about what I have to offer to God, then worship is essential. Rather than asking, “what does worship do for me,” we should ask, “what does my worship do for God?” How did I honor God this morning? What did I give him? It may require us to change our thoughts and attitude about what worship is.
The two most commonly used Greek words in the Bible for worship are latreia and proskunew. Latreia refers to duty. Worship is a religious duty to God. Worship is something we do because God deserves it, it is our religious service to God. If you choose not to worship, you are not honoring God in the way he desires. The second and more commonly used word in the NT is proskunew, pros meaning “to come forward,” and kunew meaning “to kiss.” “To come forward to kiss,” probably referring to the hand or the cheek in their culture. The word usually connotes coming before, to bow down, to kneel, or to lay prostrate before another. It is a sign of honor and reverence to the one being worshipped. In fact, the English word “worship” means “to attribute worth.” We worship the Lord because he is worthy, he deserved it.
Worship is a Verb
Notice in these definitions of worship, worship is not a spectator sport, like going to a football game or a play or musical where we sit on the sidelines watching others perform for our enjoyment. A worship service is not, serve-us, it is not about others doing the worship for us and we give our money and call it good. The musicians are not there to entertain us and sing for us, the pastor is not there to feed us our sole spiritual nourishment for the week. The Apostle Paul reminds us that worship is a verb, an action verb, where everyone participates and uses their gifts. Listen to Paul’s instructions on worship for the church at Corinth:
NIV 1 Corinthians 14:26 What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.
Notice how people were participants, everyone came prepared to share, whether it was a song, a word of instruction (teaching), a revelation (revealing something from God), a tongue or its interpretation. There were no spectators in a worship gathering, they were all expected to participate using their gifts to the glory of God and the strengthening of the God’s children, the church. When Jesus went to worship at the synagogue notice how many times he was given the opportunity to speak. In Jewish synagogue worship, which our Christian worship is originally based upon, anyone in good standing could come and read Scripture and expound upon it. Worship is a living drama in which we are all the active participants.
Do we come to worship with an attitude of how we can honor God and actively demonstrate our love to him on Sunday morning?
Worship as Praise
According to Scripture there are several ways we actively demonstrate our love and honor to God in worship. One of the ways we do this is through our praise.
NIV Hebrews 13:15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise-- the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
Before Jesus’ death and resurrection, the primary act of worship for a God fearing person was to offer an animal sacrifice as an atonement for sin. Since Jesus became the sacrificial Lamb, he was the perfect offering God provided to take away the sin of the world. Now, the author of Hebrews reminds us, one of our primary responses in worship is offering a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to God.
We think of praise as being primarily singing, although singing is just one medium of expressing our praise to God. 41 Psalms in the OT command us to sing to the Lord. Singing has the ability to transcend loving God with just our mind to loving God with our heart and soul, it is a way of expressing our love and thanks to God in a way words alone cannot express.
Eph. 5:19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Praising God through music is an offering to God. We can also praise God through our actions or posture, which might include raising holy hands, kneeling, bowing down, laying prostrate (which means laying on the floor with your hands and face on the ground). Praise could include the sharing the testimony of what God has done in our life. Unfortunately we don’t always do these because we are afraid of what other people will think of us. We are concerned more with what people think than what God thinks.
Worship as Giving
Giving is another act of worship.
16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
We give back to the Lord out of thanksgiving for what God has done for us. Giving makes our love for God real and tangible. If you want to know what you really love, track your money and where you spend it. When I give to God or his children who are in need, I am telling God he is the most important person in my life. It is also an act of faith as we give tithes and offerings to care for those in need, and financially supporting the work of building God’s kingdom on earth.
Giving our talents and spiritual gifts is another act of worship. Using these in the community of faith.
If we are to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, shouldn’t our worship do likewise? We should also be able to worship God with all of our being, our thoughts, our bodies/actions, our emotions,
Worship as Encouraging one another
While worship is primarily about what we offer to God, we also come together to encourage one another in the Lord.
NIV Hebrews 10:25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-- and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
God loves us, his children, and wants us to love each other, encourage each other, to help each other grow spiritually, and worship gatherings give us that opportunity as we hear the word of God spoken, as we share testimonies about how God has touched our lives, as we pray for each other and our needs. Although it may not be directed at God, God is pleased when we gather together to encourage each other. Jesus said, whatever you have done for the least of these you have done for me. We get to experience the presence and power of the risen Christ through his Spirit. There is no greater Encourager than the Holy Spirit.
People sometimes wonder why they should come to church, can’t you worship God at home? Indeed you can, and should as I will cover in a minute, but if we truly desire to worship God in a way that pleases him, where we can offer ourselves to him it needs to happen among the community of the faithful.
Let me give you a visual image to drive it home. When we come together to worship in the Spirit of the Lord it is like a burning coal joined with several other coals. The more there are the hotter they burn. The coals feed off the heat of each other. The same is true of a candle. When you have one candle, it shines fairly bright, perhaps enough to read by, but what happens when many candles comes together? They shine brightly in the darkness. The same is true for us, when we come together our coals burn hotter, the candles burn brighter, the fire of the Holy Spirit, comes together in one place it burns brightly , and it pleases God when his people come together, and His power and presence becomes tangible.
Worshipping Through the Week/Worship as a Lifestyle
While worship happens as a faith community together at least once a week, we should be worshipping all during the week. I heard a pastor/speaker (Terry Tekyl) remark that people should enter the Sunday morning service already having worshipped that morning and throughout the week. If we have narrowed worship into something which only happens on Sunday morning at a specific place we call “church”, we are depriving God of the worship he deserves and we are depriving ourselves of the sustaining power and presence of God’s Spirit.
If we come together on Sunday morning having already worshipped during the week and perhaps even that morning before the gathering, our worship as the body of Christ is enhanced because the Spirit of God is present. Do you have worship music, whether hymn, chorus, or praise music which you listen to during the week which allows you to center on God. When we worship privately during the week Sunday becomes a continuation and enhancement of worship on Sunday morning. Instead of treating the worship service like a once a week fill up, try coming to worship with your cup already full because you have been filling yourself with God throughout the week as you worship him. When we come together we aren’t coming to receive but to pour ourselves out as an offering to the Lord. We are not concerned about the particulars of the worship service because we are already worshipped to the music we enjoy, we have already been feasting on the word of God, we have already been in prayer for the persons we know.
Conclusion
Have you made the practice of worship a priority or has it just become a ritual? What do you come here to offer to God? How are you demonstrating your love for God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength?
