If a runner gets a new personal best in his mile time, then his old and slower time is not good enough anymore. That is the case in almost any area. When you improve to a new level, then the old level is just not going to be satisfying. You and to move in the direction of improvement.
When someone gets really close with God, they reach a new depth in their relationship with God, and they would not be satisfied to continue at the old level. This is part of our spiritual growth that happens. It can happen to us as individuals, and it can happen to fellowships corporately too. The local body of Christ is healthy when it is growing in worship.
Psalm 100 is one of the shortest chapters of the Bible, but it packs a powerful worship punch. In boxing there is the pound for pound best. That way you can compare the lightweight and the heavyweight. This Psalm is the verse for verse best worship chapter of the Bible.
Looking at Psalm 100 can prepare you spiritually for this new level of closeness in your walk with God and it can prepare our fellowship to grow in worship. Prepare to be challenged by Psalm 100. By new level of worship I am not referring to better music. I am referring to a spiritual experience with Lord God Almighty.
Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Worship the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations. (Psalm 100)
I desire to see our church move deeper into our worship of God. We have upgraded our worship facilities in a big way, but there is something more important. We need to grow in our worship of God. We need to grow in our individual quiet times with God and in our worship together as a people of God.
True Worship is Fellowship with God
When we become a Christian through faith in Jesus Christ, we have fellowship with God. Adam and Eve had fellowship with God in the Garden of Edan, but when they disobeyed God they sinned. God is holy and Adam and Eve became unholy. You cannot mix the two. The fellowship was broken. We have all sinned, like Adam and Eve. It may be a big sin or a small sin, but our sin separates us from God. Everyone in all religions knows this and have set up a religious system to become pure to have fellowship with God.
We cannot become pure enough. If we could the Old Testament system of Jewish law would have worked. There is no other way to restore fellowship between God and man except through the cross of Jesus. That is why Jesus prayed three times in the Garden of Gethsemane. Lord is there any other way? The answer, no the cross is the only way.
When we put our faith in Jesus Christ and ask that his death on the cross be the payment for our sins, then our relationship with God, that was broken by sin, is restored. Our worship is the continuation of that blessed fellowship with God that begins at our initial salvation.
When Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well, he made reference to true worship that will come as a result of faith in Jesus Christ after his death on the cross. Our salvation produces “true worshipers” who worship God in Spirit and in truth.
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24)
We are redeemed by God to worship God. Our worship is our response to God for who He is and how he has revealed himself to us. We need to keep in our mind what a great privilege true worship is. Our prayer and our praise brings us to a fellowship with the living God.
Worshiping our Lord requires commitment. We must come before the Lord with prepared hearts. God inhabits the praise of his people. You may not feel the presence of God at every moment, but He is always present. The Holy Spirit is moving, and ministry lives when we as believers worship God.
Our worship should exalt God and draw us to Him. I think God for our worship leader. There is a vast difference between a song leader and a worship leader. There is evidence of God moving in the area of His people worshiping Him.
Worship meets the need of the believer in Christ.
People have a built-in desire to worship. As a matter of fact, we find that all people express a long to worship. People outside of faith in Christ fulfill this desire in misguided ways. But as a believer in Christ, we worship in Spirit and truth. We are able to worship God in a way that fulfills the intent of God.
We worship God through our Quiet Time personal time with God. Another aspect of our worship is fulfilled through our corporate worship. Both are part of meeting the desire God has placed in our heart for worship. The outflow of our worship is expressed in Ephesians 5:19.
Speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:19)
The most important factor of worship is our God focused priority. The style of worship is significant to different kinds of people and different age groups. The traditions can be upheld, but they are secondary to the focus on our fellowship with God. The priority is that we worship God, not on the how. If God is worshipped, then you will find the need to worship being met.
True worship requires integrity.
In our worship we recognize that we worship a holy God. We only worship God when we worship no one or thing but God. We must regard God as holy.
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’ (Luke 4:8)
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, (Hebrews 12:8)
We worship God with an awareness that our sin grieves God. We need to keep in mind that worship is a time of order, not a time of chaos. Our heart must be right when we worship God. We are just making noise if our worship is not offered with the right heart. This is not a time to be a hypocrite faking piety. Worship is a time for integrity.
Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. (Amos 5:23)
Worship leads us to commitment. As we worship God, the Holy Spirit moves and ministers in our hearts. As we worship, we are led into the presence of God. People will be drawn to a deeper commitment to God. When we worship there is something in the heart of an unbeliever that cries out. They want the same experience with God the believer has.
