Worship

As we walk on the ancient paths with the Lord there are certain disciplines of the heart that we can practice which will build up our spirits. Our daily habits will become our lifestyle and we will be transformed to be more like Christ. Last week we looked into the importance of forming the habit of daily reading the Bible. Just a few chapters a day, little by little, we will begin to orient our lives to the things that matter to the Lord.

Today I want to talk about worship. Taking the time to worship God each week is so important. You can worship in church, you can worship at home alone. Worship does not have to be reserved for one hour on Sunday morning, you can turn in your heart to God’s heart in worship when you wake up in the middle of the night. Worship can be part of your lifestyle.

There is a verse in the gospel of John that always gets me. In John 4:23-24 Jesus was talking with the woman at the well when He said, “ …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.” Now think about this, our heavenly Father has all the resources in the universe, He is over all, creator, Lord, King, He owns everything, He doesn’t need anything and yet, He is seeking something. Really He is seeking someone. He is searching for someone who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. Whoa. God is on the search, He is seeking someone to worship Him in spirit and truth! Let us be that person.

Both the Hebrew and Greek words for worship describe reverence shown by our body position, bowing of the head, falling on the knees, bowing low to the ground and touching the ground with the forehead. Our bodies will demonstrate profound reverence and respect. However, worship is not merely an outward show. Worship begins in our spirits, it is first and foremost our heart attitude. And if it is in our heart, worship will most surely come out through our bodies as we bow low to worship.

Worship is what we were made for. Satan wants to wrestle it away for himself. One of the temptations of Christ was, “If you will just worship me, I will give you all the kingdoms of the world.” Worship is the foundation of the ten commandments. The first two commandments deal with worship. “You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God.” The story of Daniel’s three friends Shadrack, Mesheck and Abednego in Daniel 3 hinges on whether they will fall down and worship the golden statue. The very layout of the tabernacle and temple instruct us in how to draw near to God in worship. When you look at the early church in Acts, they were often focused on worship. When we get rare glimpses into heaven in the Bible, we see worship taking place before the throne of God, Worship is what the antichrist will demand in the last days; worship is what the Lord says we must reserve exclusively for Him. We are told to worship individually and to worship corporately. Take this seriously, worship is a big deal.

When we grasp the goodness and the greatness of our God, we are moved to worship . We adore him, we admire him. We enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Then, in the words of A.W. Tozer, we place our inward gaze upon God. This is worship. I cannot exactly tell you how to do it, but worship is more than singing two songs just before hearing a sermon. Worship is “placing your inner gaze upon God,” then it is getting lost in His beauty. Worship is communion with God. It is our spirit communing with His spirit. In worship we bring something as an offering, we bring ourselves.

Blaise Pascal was a famous 17th century French scientist. He was considered one of the greatest intellects of his time. Math, science, philosophy, he excelled in them all. One night he had a personal encounter with the living God that changed his life, A.W. Tozer writes about this in Whatever Happened to Worship?

Pascal wrote about this encounter on a piece of paper that he folded and carried in his breast pocket the rest of his life. At his death, his attendants found the worn paper written in his own hand: From about half past ten at night to about half after midnight —— fire! O God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob —not the God of the philosophers and the wise. The God of Jesus Christ who can be known only in the ways of the Gospel. Security, feeling, peace, joy, tears of joy. Amen.

One of the greatest minds that ever existed experienced the living God in pure worship. He could only describe this encounter with one word, fire.

Tozer closes his description of this encounter by saying, “Understand that this was not a statement in sentences for others to read. It was the ecstatic utterance of a yielded man during two awesome hours in the presence of his God. There was no human engineering or manipulation. There was only wonder and awe and adoration wrought by the presence of the Holy Spirit of God as Pascal worshiped. What we need among us is a genuine visitation of the Spirit. We need a sudden bestowment of the spirit of worship among God’s people.”

May God give us a taste of true worship this week. We are made to worship. And God’s word says above all, we are to reserve our worship for the One true living God and no one else. It is an exclusive relationship. O come let us adore Him.

Dear Heavenly Father,
We are on holy ground as we talk about worship. Help us to not just talk about it but experience it. Give us an encounter with the living God, a genuine encounter of the Spirit. May our hearts connect with His heart in authentic worship.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen