Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
WHAT IS WORSHIP?
Webster Dictionary: reverence offered a divine being or supernatural power; extravagant respect or admiration for or devotion to an object of esteem.
The English word "worship" comes from two Old English words: weorth, which means "worth," and scipe or ship, which means something like shape or "quality." So worship means to attribute worth. When we worship, we are saying that God has worth, that he is worthy. It carries the idea of doing something for God — making a sacrifice or carrying out his instructions.
WHO DO WE WORSHIP?
Who’s the most important Person or thing in our lives? As people who profess to be Christians, the conscious answer is an automatic God, however take a moment and reflect on the following questions and meditate on whether God is truly the most important person in our lives:
· Who is the person that centers your existence?
· Where is your passion?
· Who would you be willing to make sacrifices for in order to be with them
· Who are you most obedient to?
WHY DO WE WORSHIP?
“…in view of God’s mercy…”
When we look at secular forms of worship of “idols”, from worshipping a basketball player, a rap star, a movie star, etc… We look at who they are and the characteristics about them that puts us in awe of them. We look at a Michael Jordan and give his due honor because he’s unquestionably the best basketball player of all time. People see him they go crazy, they make sacrifices to go see him. Similar with a movie star; People line up just to get a glimpse of them going by, to be able to say I was in the same place as Beyonce. People have been known to faint while in the presence of someone they deem to be worthy of praise and would sacrifice allot to know them. The false worship of these stars is all based on who the person is and what feelings the person brings out of them.
Let’s give honor where honor is truly due. Only God is worthy of worship – Rev 19:10. We worship Him because of who He is. He is God. Revelation 4:11 tells us,
“You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created”
In addition, because of his endless mercies towards us, we worship Him. He has blessed us with the Holy Spirit, love, grace, peace, joy, wisdom, hope, patience, kindness, honor, glory, righteousness, security, eternal life, forgiveness, reconciliation, justification, sanctification, freedom, intercession and much more. As we sit or stand in participation of a worship service and we think of these things we are to be inspired and motivated to bow down and give praise, honor and glory to God. We ought to be in awe to be in His presence in spirit and truth.
HOW DO WE WORSHIP:
John 4:24 - 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks
God is not a physical person where we can go bow down and show reverence to. He is a spirit and as such, we cannot worship him with things of this world. We have to worship him in spirit and in truth.
Going to worship service on Sunday does not equal true worship of God. True worship involves giving up ourselves as a sacrifice to God. For our worship to be pleasing and acceptable to God we must have lives that are obedient to Him. The Sunday morning routine is not enough. You can’t just go through the motions of worship and say “yep, I worshipped today” to please God. If worship means that God has value and is worthy, it must come from the heart and reflected in our actions.
Characteristics of worship – “…to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God…”
1. Humility – we humble ourselves and recognize that we are beneath God in all His glory. We acknowledge that we are not worthy to know and have access to Him.
2. Sacrifice – Because of who He is, we make sacrifices in order to be in His presence.
3. Obedience – We are to be obedient to His words because of the reverence we have for Him.
FINAL WORD:
True worship is not confined to what we do in church or open praise (although these things are both good and we are told in the Bible to do them). It is the acknowledgment of God and all His power and glory in everything we do. The highest form of praise and worship is obedience to Him and His Word. To do this, we must know God; we cannot be ignorant of Him (Acts 17:23-31).
Worship is to glorify and exalt God. This is not done only while we are in church but comes from the heart and is acknowledgment that God has a hand in everything we do. The highest form of worship is obedience to God and His Word.
Take a minute and take inventory of your life and ask yourself if the things you think, say, or do if they all glorify God. If they’re done out of honor and respect for God, then you are a worshiper of God. If the things in your life are done out of respect and honor to friends, family members, your pastor, your president or other things then you are a worshiper of those people or things.
I pray that you are all worshipers of God. And if you’ve determined that the facts of your life has not been one that Glorifies God, stop and make the changes to give the Glory to whom is worthy – God.
NEXT TIME: Spiritual Disciplines: SERVICE
References: http://www.gci.org/God/worship
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