Worship the Lord your God

“You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.”  Luke 4:8 

While reading over the writings of some various theologians, I found it interesting that many of them confined their definition of worship to an activity in the church of prayer and praise to God.  This is quite a narrow definition of something that should encompass all of our life.  As I said a few weeks ago, worship is so much more than just singing and prayer.  Worship is not an activity in the church, it is the activity OF the church and as such it should be the activity of every Christians life.  

W.E. Vine says this about worship: “(Though) the worship of God is nowhere defined in Scripture, a consideration of (the words used for worship) shows that it is not confined to praise; broadly it may be regarded as the direct acknowledgment to God, of His nature, attributes, ways, and claims, whether by the outgoing of the heart in praise and thanksgiving or by deed done in such acknowledgment.” 

Worship is the activity of glorifying God in all that we do.  What does it mean to glorify God?  To glorify means to magnify, extol, praise, and/or give honor to.  Simply put, to glorify God means to exalt Him and draw others attention to Him.  We glorify God when others see God (His work, control, and character) in and through our daily lives.  Glorifying God cannot be manufactured; it cannot be forced.  It happens when we are truly worshipping – adoring, surrendering, following – Him and when we obey Him no matter what is happening in and around our lives. 

When we are worshipping God we focus all that we are and do on Him and as we do others begin to focus on Him as well.  Much of what is called worship today in the church at large may not be focused on God at all.  People gather on Sunday mornings to sing their worship to God but the focus is often on the blessings that God gives or the feelings that ones enjoy and not on God Himself.  Many Christians make a habit of carving out time in their daily schedules to read the Bible and instead of it being a time in which they are communing with their Creator – taking in the living words of God and truly listening to Him – it just becomes another thing to check off their daily list of duties.  We get alone with God for the purpose of prayer but often find ourselves leaving the time more discouraged than when we began!  Why?  This is often because we spend the time talking to ourselves about our problems and trials instead of adoring the One who is sovereign, gracious, merciful, loving, holy, just, and in control of all our circumstances.  Everyday of every year ministry, service projects, and missions are done in the name of God that leave people burnt out, discouraged, and questioning their significance in the body of Christ.   Why is this?  Could it be that though we may have begun with a genuine desire to please and honor God, over time we end up doing it just to feed our own egos or to get the recognition and approval of man?  O my brethren, this should not be!  Our significance is not in what we do but in who we are – we are IN Christ!  Our significance and worth is Jesus Christ Himself!  He is the One who makes us significant and He is the One we should worship as a result. 

Again, I remind you that worship is the activity of glorifying God in all that we do.  We worship God when we follow and obey Him regardless if any sees or knows it (I think this is a true test of our worship of God: Do we obey Him in all things especially when no one sees or knows?!).  We worship God when we adore Him regardless of what others say or think.  We worship God when we keep entrusting ourselves to Him and remain silent when others are slandering us and saying false things about us.  We worship God when we lay aside our own interests and itineraries for the sake of helping and assisting others that are in need.  We worship God when all that we do is done, not in an effort to earn favor with God, but because we know that God’s favor is on us through Christ.  We worship God when through the daily activity of life we bring attention to God and not to ourselves. 

The Scriptures are full of excellent examples of ones that worshipped God even with all of their failures, faults, and fumbles.  Abraham worshipped God when he stepped out in faith by obeying God and went out not knowing where God would take him (Genesis 12:1-4).  David worshipped God when, after grossly sinning against God, he confessed and genuinely repented of his sin (2 Samuel 11&12; Psalm 51).  The prophets worshipped God when they spoke the word of God even though no one listened and they were ridiculed, scorned, and rejected.  The prophets worshipped God when they continued to preach the word of God even though there was seemingly little to no results.  Peter worshipped God when, faced with a decision (and opportunity) to stop following Jesus, he instead acknowledged Christ’s Lordship over his life by surrendering to Him (John 6:66-69).  Mary of Bethany worshipped God when she sat at Jesus’ feet, blocking out the cares and distractions of the world, and listened to Him (Luke 10:38-42).  The widow worshipped God when she gave sacrificially to Him even if it meant she would be left with nothing (Mark 12:41-44).  Bartimaeus worshipped God when he kept calling out to Jesus and believing in Him even though people were trying to make him stop (Luke 18:35-43).  Paul worshipped God when he chose to pursue in life that which really mattered and put behind him the vain and empty pursuits of the world (Philippians 3:7-17). 

The list goes on and on not only in Scripture but throughout history as well.  Tyndale, Wycliffe, Luther, Calvin, Huss, and countless other men and women who have gone before us who worshipped God by glorifying Him in all that they did.  O my brethren in Christ!  May we follow in the steps of these men and women by worshipping God and serving Him alone.  May the result of our worshipping God bring glory to Him in all that we do.

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

Chuck Long

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