I am often asked by students "what is worship?" and "why would God want that if He is self-sufficient and doesn't need anything?" Now that is a really great question so what I will do is give an overview today and then come back with some specifics later.
The church exists to fulfill three priorities: worship, edification, and evangelism. Each priority corresponds to a relationship in which we exist:
1) to God,
2) to other believers, and
3) to the world without Christ.
A biblical church exists: to reflect the grace of God back to him in worship, (this is more, but not less, than singing) Romans 12:1-2 , 1 Cor 10. It also exists to apply (teaching and modeling) the grace of God to each other for edification in faith, service and love 1 Cor 14:26, and to extend the grace of God to unbelievers in domestic evangelism and frontier missions (great commission Matt 28:19)
Jesus totally devastated the worship of the most religious people in Israel with these words from the prophet Isaiah: "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines (so teaching is also worship if it is done properly) the precepts of men". Instead of asking for clarification the leaders defended their pride with anger.
Since God inhabits the praises of His people (Ps 22:3) then whether worship is done biblically is the difference between whether the people encounter God or go through dead motions in vain. Since God “opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” it is essential that a church follow biblical precepts with “gifted and called” people leading or the congregation will not encounter God. The responsibility and implications of that are staggering. To withhold the presence of God from the people is a grievous sin. In churches where this happens the people soon become cold, find church boring and eventually let their hearts loose in the world which devastates their faith and destroys their testimony.
The love of God is not God's making much of us, but God's saving us from self-centeredness so that we can enjoy making much of Him forever (worship). And, our love to others is not our making much of them, but helping them to find satisfaction in making much of God. “ “In His presence is fullness of Joy”(Ps 16:11). To not provide a venue for the expression of that joy is like going to the Superbowl to watch your favorite team play and be told you can’t cheer if your team scores. The “cheering” is what makes the game great in the first place. The application to church is obvious.
Psalm 149:1 says, "Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the faithful!" We are commanded to sing God's praises in the assembly of the faithful—in the church! The greatest commandment is simply to love God (Matt 22:38) so worship is the means to express that we are in compliance with that command. If there is no worship then there is no love; if there is no love there is no salvation ( 1 Cor 16:22 “If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed (damned) ).Phil 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice” is not an optional command for the charismatic.
Part of a church’s job is to teach in such a way as to stir affections for God and provide a venue for their expression. Here is just one example of hundreds where you see it played out with the Word evoking worship. Ps 119:9-16 “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. (OK David, what does that look like?) I seek you with all my heart (he feels something); do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Praise be to you, O Lord; teach me your decrees. With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth. I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.” David expresses his delight in God’s Word in worship. To not worship is to fail to truly honor God and His Word.
Matt 4:8-11 “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them; and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." Then Jesus said to him, "Be gone, Satan! for it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.'" Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him". There is one main truth that we should see from this text, namely, that worshiping God is the duty of every human being. The basis of the truth is this: if the Son of God counts it his duty to obey the command to worship God, then how much more must we count it our duty to obey this command? Jesus himself quoted in the book of Hebrews (2:12) “in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises”. Again, if this is a priority of Jesus what does that mean for us as his people?
Worship is an end in itself so that makes it more of a priority than evangelism or edification. The reason it's number one is that everything else churches do are a means to this end. When all other goals serve one goal, that goal is NUMBER ONE.
Edification Is Not the End
The priority of nurture, teaching and edification is not the ultimate end of faith. It is a means of building faith toward God and love toward man. But the reason faith is valuable is because it focuses on God and magnifies His all-sufficiency (Romans 4:20) otherwise what use is it as even the "demons believe and tremble"?. And the reason love is valuable is because it is the overflow and evidence of faith and leads people to give glory to God (Matt 5:16). So spiritual growth is not the ultimate end. It is crucial. But it is not number one.
Evangelism Is Not the End
If growth is not the end then is it evangelism? No, its aim is the ingathering of God's people from every tongue and tribe and people and nation into the joy of worship. So missions and evangelism are not the number one priority. They are a means to the end of number one. Only the priority of worship is not for any greater purpose than itself. It is an end in itself.
Rom 15:8-9 “For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs so that (the goal) the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy, as it is written: "Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to your name."
Rom 15:5-7 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that (the goal) with one heart (affection) and mouth (expression) you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.
What does eternity consist of:
Rev 22:3-4 “no longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.” Rev 7:11-12 “All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God”.
God does not tell us to worship Him because He has self-esteem issues. If God is love then He must promote and give what is best (not sloppy seconds). When He looks around to see what is best He finds there is nothing better than Himself; thus He is ruthlessly self promoting. "For My glory" is the repeated cry of scripture! We can pollute that when we make things such as Calvary a testimony of our worth instead of a testimony to the worth of God who was sinned against (Romans 3).
Christians are to worship because God is glorified towards the creature in two ways:
1) When we think rightly about Him. (the result of line by line accurate teaching of the word)
2) That knowledge moves from the head to the heart and is rejoiced in (worship). To only have the first is to not glorify Him and basically say that He is not “worth being excited about” or “unworthy”.
When churches put “duty of service” over “delight in His person” the train wreck will eventually come. Deut 28:47-48 “Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you”. The joy of a Christian is a reflection of the value of God. God takes this very seriously and thus spends a great deal of His word addressing it.
May all of our hearts be restless until they find Jesus as the treasure He is.
1) When we think rightly about Him. (the result of line by line accurate teaching of the word)
2) That knowledge moves from the head to the heart and is rejoiced in (worship). To only have the first is to not glorify Him and basically say that He is not “worth being excited about” or “unworthy”.
When churches put “duty of service” over “delight in His person” the train wreck will eventually come. Deut 28:47-48 “Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you”. The joy of a Christian is a reflection of the value of God. God takes this very seriously and thus spends a great deal of His word addressing it.
May all of our hearts be restless until they find Jesus as the treasure He is.
