Worship 

“You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.”  Matthew 4:10 

The first question of the Westminster Catechism asks, “What is the chief end of man?”  The answer to this question is “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”  I believe this is a good summation of what worship is.  Worship is not primarily a church service, singing, prayer, or hearing the Word of God taught (although these are all components of worship).  We worship God when we are glorifying Him and enjoying Him always. 

I like what the Wycliffe Bible Dictionary says about worship: 

“Pure worship expresses adoration and veneration (reverence) without making petition, and predicates self-renunciation and sacrificial giving to God.  Strictly speaking, worship is the occupation of the soul with God himself and does not include prayer for needs and thanksgiving’s for blessings.” 

Did you catch that?  Worship is the occupation of the soul with God himself and does not include prayer for needs and thanksgivings for blessings.  We worship God – we adore Him – no matter what!  We worship God with our life even if we get no benefit from it.  Why?  Because He is God!  He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.  He is the creator of our very being and as our creator we are to be occupied with Him and Him alone.  Worship is not a once a week event to be planned into our schedules in order to satisfy the “spiritual” goals of our life.  Worship involves our entire being.  Worship is a daily choice. 

How do we do this?  More importantly, how do we worship the one and only true God?  The Westminster and London Baptist Confessions of faith point us in the right direction to answer this question: 

“The light of nature shows that there is a God, who has Lordship and Sovereignty over all; is just, good and does good to all; and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served, with all the heart, and all the soul, and with all the might.  But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God, is instituted by Himself, and so limited by His own revealed will, that He may not be worshipped according to the imagination and devices of men, nor the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representations, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures.” 

Yes, we are to worship the only true God but we are to do so according to the Scriptures not according to the whims, feelings, imaginations, and devices of men.  What do the Scriptures say about our worship of God?  First of all, throughout the Bible, the “worship” refers to many different things.  Consider some of the following: 

·         “to bow down” (Genesis 22:5)

·         “to work/serve” (Exodus 3:12)

·         “to guard/watch” (Nehemiah 12:45)

·         “to do homage” (Daniel 3:28)

·         “to do reverence” (Matthew 2:8; 4:10)

·         “to show piety” (Acts 17:23)

·         “service” (Romans 12:1; Hebrews 9:1, 6) 

From these few Scriptural references we quickly see that worship is more than just an event in our week.  Worship is the very essence of the believer’s life.  Before we get into how we worship the one and only true God let me give some foundational truths about worship. 

1.      God does not need humans to worship Him. 

“The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things.”  Acts 17:24, 25 

“If I were hungry, I would not tell you; For the world is Mine, and all it contains.”  Psalm 50:12 

God does not need us to worship Him because God is self-sufficient.  This means that God has no influence outside of Himself, He has no necessary relationships, and He has no needs.  A.W. Tozer, in his book Knowledge of the Holy, says this “Were all human beings suddenly to become blind, still the sun would shine by day and the stars by night, for these owe nothing to the millions who benefit from their light.  So, were every man on earth to become an atheist, it could not affect God in any way: He is what He is in Himself without regard to any others.  To believe in Him adds nothing to His perfection’s; to doubt Him takes nothing away.” 

This truth can often be hard for us as humans to accept.  We have the audacity to think that God really does need us – that God really does benefit from our allegiance and worship to Him.  The sooner we realize how untrue this is the sooner we will be on the path of true worship.  It is our privilege to worship God; not His privilege that we worship Him.   

2.      God desires genuine worshippers. 

“But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.  God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”  John 4:23, 24 

God does not need us to worship Him but He desires us to do so because this is what He created us for and we can only find true joy and purpose when we do that which we were created to do.  J.I. Packer, in his book Knowing God, writes, “God was happy without man before man was made; He would have continued happy had He simply destroyed man after man had sinned; but as it is He has set His love upon particular sinners, and this means that, by His own free voluntary choice, He will not know perfect and unmixed happiness again till He has brought every one of them to heaven…thus God saves, not only for His glory, but also for His gladness.” 

God desires us to worship Him because He is the only One worth worshipping.  When we do worship Him with our lives, we experience His gladness. 

3.      God is the One who makes genuine worship possible. 

“Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near 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 10:19-22 

As we read in the previous point God desires genuine worshippers, in John 4:23 we read that God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.  A person cannot all of a sudden decide that they are going to worship God.  Many people think they are worshipping God and yet they are not doing so in spirit and truth therefore they are not true worshippers.  Now don’t get me wrong.  I’m not promoting some type of spiritual elitism – far from it.  But the truth of the matter is, that unless God opens a person’s eyes to His holiness and their sinfulness and then reveals the atoning work of Jesus Christ to them and they are regenerated as a result they cannot worship God.  God is the One who makes worship possible and He made it possible through the cross of Jesus Christ.  This should not make us feel more important; it should humble our socks off and cause us to truly worship Him. 

4.      Worship involves our entire being 

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the great and foremost commandment.”  Matthew 22:37, 38 

“I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”  Romans 12:1 

As I said earlier, worship is not to be just a part of our life – a once or twice a week thing – it is to be our entire life.  In light of what God has done for us through Jesus Christ, He is worthy of our life, our all! 

The Apostle Paul makes it clear after spending the first 11 chapters of Romans describing the wonderful gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ with the admonition in chapter twelve, verse one.  Let me paraphrase it.  “Brothers and sisters in Christ, in light of what God has done for us through Jesus Christ; realizing the fact that we were worthless sinners who had no desire or thought of God and we were enemies with Him; in view of His wonderful love and mercy towards us, I command you to live your lives daily to the glory of God.  I admonish you to submit every part of your body to God daily in a way that is honoring and glorifying to Him.  This is worship my brethren, to live our lives daily in obedience to His wonderful grace.” 

How do we do this practically?  By simply offering to God, every day when we wake up, every part of our body.  God, today, I give You my mind, may everything I think about be pleasing to You.  God, I give You my eyes, may everything that I look at be honoring to You.  God, I give You my mouth, may everything I say be a blessing to You and to others.  God….you get the idea. 

In the weeks ahead we will be looking at various men and women in the Bible and gleaning from their lives and examples how we can worship God.  Until then, if God has opened your eyes to the wonderful riches of His grace then offer yourself to him and discover what He has created you for – to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever.  Worship Him and Him alone, for He is worthy!

By God's Grace ~ Through God's Word ~ For God's Glory!

Chuck Long

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