Worship is not so much about God needing us to remind Him how great He is, but rather us needing to remind ourselves how needy we are. God is Almighty whether we recognize Him as such or not. We, on the other hand are not, but often think as if we are. In this way, worship and salvation are linked. Although the Bible doesn't really talk a lot about worship in the context of a local church, it certainly does not fail to emphasize the importance of worship to believers. In fact, the first 4 of God's Top Ten speak of worship.
“You shall have no other gods before me.The message is simple. God will not share his throne. When the rich man ignored all dignity and ran to Jesus, he fell to his knees asked how he too could enter God's kingdom. Jesus answers him by directing him to the ten commandments. The man excitedly responds, "I have kept all these!" But Jesus then says he still lacks one thing and tells him to go and sell all his possessions. The man of course couldn't and thus revealed the object of his worship. So while the man did pretty well at keeping half the commandments, he failed to keep the first few, specifically the first.“You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water below. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold guiltless anyone who takes his name in vain.“Remember the Sabbath day to set it apart as holy.
Throughout the OT, worship is pictured by a burnt sacrifice. In the NT, Paul replaces the sacrificial animal with self. We are to 'present our bodies as a sacrifice - alive, holy, and pleasing to God - which is our reasonable service (worship)." Once again, in both cases, the sacrifice is not for the benefit of God, but for the benefit of the worshipers. Through the act of sacrifice, whether it be of your crops, livestock, time, or goals, the worshiper recognizes that God is supreme and he is not. It's not that God needs things or people, but worshipers by the act of worship recognize that "from him and through him and to him are all things."
So what does this have to do with worship in the church? Worship reminds us that God alone is on the throne and that He alone deserves to be there. The activities of Sunday morning worship should lead the worshiper to that realization. A Worship Service that fails to do this fails to qualify itself as worship.
At least that's what I think.
~Krook
Now that my undies are untwisted, let me say, I do agree that worship is about us. However, only in the sense that it is the puruit of our own joy. It is where we are finding that joy that in the end, ultimately, makes worship all about him.
ReplyDeleteWe are giving God the highest praise possible by coming to a place of enjoying him for all that he is. For example, the highest praise that I can give my wife is to enjoy who she is, to find joy in all that makes her her. And in the same way, we are, in true worship, finding our satisfaction and joy in enjoying who God is.
So in the end, is worship about me. Yes and no. Yes, in that I am pursuing my own joy, but no, in that God is receiving the highest praise through my enjoyment of Him.
True worship, in many ways, is not about me. It should never be focused on myself, but the focus is always God.
You made the statement that worship in the Bible is not for the benefit of God. I agree to a certain extent. While God's independence does tell us that he doesn't need anyone for anything, he nevertheless does take great pleasure in the worship offered by his saints. Not because he needs it, but because he chooses to delight in it.
Response (Part 1)
ReplyDeleteI once heard a quote that went like this . . . . . "our need for Him [Christ] far exceeds our awareness". I remember when I heard that for the first time. It cut me straight to the heart. Revelation 3:17 came to mind, "For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked."
In response to your post, yes I do think that we can designate a portion of worship to ourselves in that it should expose our neediness before a capable God . . . . . so that it then gets our eyes off of ourselves and onto Him.
~Smitty (see Response Part 2)
Response (Part 2)
ReplyDeleteThe following is from a sermon outline I sketched up for a study in the book of Malachi. The following definition of "Worship" is from John Piper, as well as much of the content (expounded on and added to by none other than yours truly). I think it depicts perfectly what worship is truly supposed to be about, and why we miss out on it so often. . . . .
-Definition of Worship - The American Heritage Dictionary defines worship as "the reverent love and allegiance accorded a deity, idol, or sacred object." The Greek words for worship combine the ideas of "falling down before," "paying homage to," and "serving." From these definitions it is obvious that worship involves recognition of worth in God, and the offering of our honor, praise, and adoration to the One who is altogether worthy. In other words, worship is primarily a matter of God receiving something from us: our praise, adoration, and confession of dependence on Him as our Sovereign. It is recognizing, seeing, and feeling the greatness of God.
-Not a Definition of Worship - Many Christians misunderstand the purpose of congregational worship. Many times our congregational worship has become an experience in which man is the focus. Worship has deteriorated into an "I didn't get anything out of that sermon" experience. Man has become the object of his own worship. He is there to be entertained and spiritually massaged. It hardly occurs to some that worship is primarily a matter of God receiving something from us our praise, adoration, and confession of dependence on Him as our Sovereign.
In many churches Christians feel that they have been cheated at the services. Many Christians might say that a walk in the woods or a walk by a stream would have drawn them closer to God than did the services of the church.
Misunderstandings about the real purpose of worship have contributed to sterile congregational worship and have devastated the potential for growth in many churches. What are some of the factors that account for our misunderstandings concerning worship?
Our culture is largely to blame. This is perhaps the first reason many misunderstand the real purpose of worship. We live at a frantic pace. We live in an "instant" age. Television has taught us to expect instant gratification of our every desire and need. Patience in our society is a scarce commodity. It is hard to be patient even in "fast food" restaurants; somehow they are not fast enough. This characteristic of our culture has carried over into our spiritual lives and particularly in our worship, and in insidious ways.
The Bible repeatedly teaches us that we must "wait" upon the Lord in order to be blessed by Him (Ps 40:1; 37:7; Isa 40:31). Many times we rush into our congregational worship services. Worship by its very nature demands a preparation of heart. It involves refocusing our mind and heart from self, others, and cares of this life to God.
Physically we may be quiet but our minds are still racing. They are occupied with what went on before the services.
When we do mentally adjust to a quieter atmosphere, we may not focus upon God. We may look around us to see who is there or not there, we determine whether or not the singing is "on" or "off," or we fight drowsiness. Then we settle down to listen to the "main event" the sermon. We may or may not follow the outline closely, but we do listen eagerly for the words "won't you come while we stand and sing." These words signal an end. We look approvingly or disapprovingly at our watches. We walk out. We greet people. We get in our car and discuss the merits or demerits of the sermon.
How tragic! We have gone and been sung to, preached at, and informed about coming events, but we have not worshiped because God did not receive anything from us. We were in a hurry. We were not prepared. We evaluated our experience by how much we received. . . . .end quote.
~Smitty (see Response Part 3)
Response (Part 3)
ReplyDeleteTodd, I think that the portion of worship that belongs to us is the part that involves the preparation of our own heart. In the moments leading up to worship, the time we spend in the car, whether we say a prayer or not before we leave for services and ask the Lord to cancel out the world and cares around us, . . . .this is our part of worship. Seeing and recognizing our neediness, and in response, directing our praise to Him.
~Smitty (finally done!)