Worship is the expression of love and
allegiance to the creator God of our salvation. A Christian worship
service is a formal gathering of the redeemed to personally express their love
and adoration toward God. In worship services the goal is to adore or pay
honor, reverence, and homage to the Sovereign God of the universe. In
these services we declare the “worth-ship” of God. In worship, we see,
hear, and understand how God reveals Himself as deity; we agree with God’s
assessment of Himself; and we give God what He is due, our full-fledged love
and devotion, all praise, honor, and glory. Worship is essential for our
love of God to become more passionate, intimate, and fulfilling. These
truths concerning formal worship are beautifully communicated to us in Psalm
92:1-4, “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, And to sing praises
to Your name, O Most High; To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning,
And Your faithfulness every night, On an instrument of ten strings, On the
lute, And on the harp, With harmonious sound. For You, Lord, have made me
glad through Your work; I will triumph in the works of Your hands.
Our love relationship with the Lord will
not grow and flourish if we withhold ourselves from corporate worship. We
are told in the book of Hebrews to not forsake assembling ourselves
together. This truth that is spoken of in Hebrews is spoken of in the negative.
If we state this truth in the positive, we would say, “Assemble yourselves
together regularly for worship! The redeemed have been saved for the
purpose of worshiping the Savior. I Peter 2:9 tells us that the redeemed
have been called out of darkness to proclaim the praises of their saving God.
Worship of the Lord is pleasing to Him
when it is done properly. Worship of the Lord blesses our love
relationship with the Lord when it is done properly.
God’s Word communicates the principles of
how to properly worship the Lord. Today, and over the coming weeks we
will explore five key principles of worship done properly. They
are: Worship is to be God-centered and God-directed, Worship is to be
Christ-focused, Worship is to be Spirit-filled and Spirit-led, Worship is to be
according to and filled with the Word of God, Worship is to embrace every
aspect of our life.
Worship is to be God-Centered and
God–Directed
All of our worship should have God as the
center. All our praise and adoration should be lifted up to Him.
When worship is truly directed to God, it comes from humble worshipers.
The tax collector of Luke 18 stood and beat his chest and cried, “God be
merciful to me a sinner.” The tax collector approached God humbly, and
His worship was acceptable to God. The Pharisee of this same parable in
Luke 18 prayed “with himself.” The Pharisee’s worship was not
God-centered worship, it was not humble, and it was not acceptable to God.
Our worship is never to be centered on us, but rather, always centered on
God. Psalm 115:1 captures the essential requirement of all true worship
being directed to God, not to us, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us,
But to Your name give glory, Because of Your mercy, Because of Your truth.”
Worship that is God-centered is a response
to Him. We grow in our love relationship with Him because we are totally
focused on Him and what He has done to us and for us. Worship that is
God-directed is a dialog with Him. We openly respond to Him and tell Him
of our love. Psalm 9:1-2, “I will praise You, O Lord, with
my whole heart; I will tell of all Your marvelous works. I will be glad
and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.”