There are those who strive to worship God.
And there are those who don’t.
Those who don’t:
It has become my understanding that worship flows from the heart. If a man sins against God by disobeying what God has commanded, that man failed to worship. There is something misfiring in his heart, which was meant to delight in God and his Word. As a result of this failure to worship, God is dishonored and offended.
God was so offended by the Judaizers’ love for the old covenant in the book of Galatians that he inspired Paul to write some harsh words: “I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves.”
God the Father sent God the Son to be killed and to rise from death that those who believe in him would be justified by faith. So Paul, in the book of Galatians, wrote against men who teach and preach the old covenant of justification by circumcision to those who are under the new covenant of justification by faith. God clearly wanted his children to experience the new covenant and was commanding that it be preached to all nations (Matt. 28:16-20). Thus God took umbrage with the men who disobeyed him in this to the point of his desire for their castration.
God saw that, in the hearts of these false teachers, there was greater love and devotion to their religion than there was to him thus they failed to worship.
Likewise, if a man performs an outward act of worship without an inward desire to make much of God, that man has failed to worship him. We see throughout the Bible that God is not happy with those who perform an act that is seemingly worshipful with a heart that does not follow.
At the beginning of Revelation 3, a sacred letter to the church of Sardis states, “I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.”
Many people wear the mask of a worshipper to be praised for their own “greatness”. Likewise, many people see God as a means to an end and not the end and so their worship flows from a heart that wants something besides the Living God. No matter what the false motive may be, its always sinful because its not birthed out of sheer and utter delight in God.
It all comes down to the simple fact that our sin issue is a worship issue.
Those who do:
No one has worshipped God perfectly. We have, at one time or another failed to worship because of sin and/or false motive. Because God is gracious, loving, and good, we are forgiven of our false worship and sanctified to keep pressing on towards worship that is more pure and more beautiful.
It is important for us to realize that our very best worship will never be good enough for God because he is sovereign, holy, and just. However, in his mercy, he chooses to see us through the blood of his Son, Jesus, that was shed on the cross thereby deeming our worship to be acceptable in his sight. Because of this wonderful truth, we can now live as temples of God’s Spirit.
For the people of the old covenant (the Jewish people), the temple was a sacred and holy place where the Spirit of God dwelled. Thus God’s children would go to worship him there. However, now that Christ has died and was raised to life, God’s children have become the temple. This means that those who confess with the mouth and believe in the heart that Jesus is Lord, can worship in all ways, in all places, and at all times.
We as believers can worship God night and day. We can worship on the job, at school, at the fitness center, around a dinner table with family, and in just about any other place imaginable. We worship by serving someone in need, sharing the gospel with unbelievers, enjoying Christian community, repenting of sin, giving financially to our church, going on mission trips, paying our taxes, and loving our families.
So why gather on Sunday morning to sing worship songs?
This is an important act of worship. The songs we sing contain important truths about Jesus that when spoken or sang hold great power because He is our heart’s greatest delight. We sing as an outward expression of a deep longing to please God and see his kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. We sing because it brings God great delight to hear his people confess their love for him. We sing because the truth of the cross stands victoriously over Satan, sin, and death. And because of these things, we won’t stop singing.
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