Worship Articles - 3

As I began writing this article I heard the song How Great Thou Art. Consider the words of this great hymn:
O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds thy hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power through-out the universe displayed.
Then sings by soul, my Savior God to thee;
How great thou art, how great thou art!

What a way to begin writing an article about Worship. As we look at Scripture we see that we are called to worship. 1 Chronicles 16:29 and Psalm 96:8 tell us to “Give (ascribe) to the Lord the glory due His name and bring an offering.” David wrote in Psalm 51:17 that “The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart O God, you will not despise.” Throughout Scripture
we are invited, we are commanded, we are called to sing to God, offer praise to God, rejoice before God. We are to pray, offer, humble, love… All this is what worship is about.

Our worship is more than an emotional experience just as it is more than just something we show up for. Jesus tells the Samaritan Woman at the well that “Those who worship God must worship in spirit and in truth.” In other words we must worship with all that we are. Worship is more than lip service or going through some ritualistic motions. Worship is what we do in our innermost being. And, worship is something we choose to do.

Worship is a decision that we make as we enter the house of the Lord and as we walk through our daily lives. How many times have we said, “I just couldn’t worship today, the Soprano was off key.” Or, “The preacher was a little off today and it really messed up my worship.” Or, “I wish they would sing [insert your favorite worship song] so I can worship.” It is so easy to blame others for our lack of
worship. We live in a consumerist society where we feel we should be served. If we don’t get what we “pay for” it must be someone else’s fault. As Joe McKeever puts it, the truth is that “No one can eat my food for me, love my cherished ones in my place, or do my worshiping for me.”1 We are the only ones in charge of our decision to worship.

My prayer is that we will make the decision to worship, not only on Sunday but everyday of our life. In fact, I hope we will worship with our life. I’ll see you Sunday where we will continue corporately the worship we have done privately all week.

Peace,
]

1 (McKeever, Joe, “7 Things We Regularly Get Wrong About Worship”,
http://www.crosswalk.com/church/worship/7-things-we-regularly-get-wrong-about-worship.html, May 24, 2011)