Thoughts On Worship

In Nehemiah 8 verse 6 the Bible tells us that “Ezra praised the LORD, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, ‘Amen! Amen!’ Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.”

Worship is always active, never passive. Worship always calls for a response. You may try to straddle the fence; but you can’t find a fence. You either move toward Jesus or away.

Worship above all else, is the central activity of the church. Everything rises out of worship. Worship is the source of spiritual renewal and revival for God‘s people. While worship is not for lost people (only the redeemed may worship), worship drives the engine of evangelism and missions!

Worship abides forever. Missions, education, benevolence and whatnot, ends with the coming of Christ in glory. Worship, on the other hand, is the chief industry of heaven.

There is a dichotomy in worship:
1. Worship is in spirit and in truth;
2. Worship is public and private;
3. Worship is metaphysical and physical;
4. Worship occurs corporately or singly.
All this is said to say, we need to pay close attention to how and Who we worship. "Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land." Deuteronomy 6:13-15

Worship is not a sentimental feeling of nostalgia; rather, it is an engagement of one’s total being with the triune God.

William Temple (1881–1944), though I do not ascribe to some of his theology, described worship well: “To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God.”