I believe that the chief purpose for the church's existence is to glorify and worship
God. My reasoning comes from what will take place in the presence of
God at the end of time which is recorded in Revelation 4:8-11 "Holy,
holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!"..."You
are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You
created all things, and by Your pleasure they exist and were created." Notice
that worship is directed towards God alone. What I mean is that if we
look at many of the hymns of old and most of what we call contemporary
Christian music of today, we will find that the majority of the lyrics
are not focused on God but on the believer. For instance, many hymns put
everything that believers are entitled to in this life off until they
leave this life for the next. Also, the larger portion of the lyrics of
contemporary Christian music tend to be beggarly prayers, that is,
pleading with God by asking Him to do something that He has already done
and made available to believers through Christ. Some other lyrics have
taken scripture out of context or have declarations that are never acted
upon and sadly, the lyrics almost never mentions the Name of Jesus.
Neither the Old or New Testament reveal a specific form or order of worship,
but there is a way that God is to be worshiped. In John's gospel Jesus
encounters a woman from a city called Sychar near the plot of ground
that Jacob gave to his son Joseph, by a well. Although she insisted that
she, a Samaritan (basically backslidden Israelites) worshiped the same
God as the Jews worshiped, Jesus gives her a revelation of true worship,
"Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you
will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You
worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is
of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true
worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father
is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him
must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:21-24)
Jesus reveals to the woman that God is Spirit. This removes any concept
that God is an image or relic of any type. He also reveals that true
worship of God will only be accomplished by worshiping Him in spirit and
truth. Any other worship is actually idolatry. To worship
in spirit believers must understand that God is Spirit and relates to
humanity in the spiritual realm. With this knowledge, the believer then
yields to the Holy Spirit who moves upon and energizes the believers
recreated spirit to connect with God. God's Word is truth (John 17:17)
so to worship God in truth means to worship according to His Word. In
other words, the Bible records various ways to worship God, singing and
speaking praise, shouting, lifting hands, clap, stand, bow, dance and
playing a variety of instruments.
The bottom line is, worship
is not just songs to sing that contain nice lyrics, but an attitude of
the heart, exalting, honoring and adoring God Himself. The Holy Spirit
speaking through the apostle Paul says, "For we are the circumcision, (Christians, circumcision of the heart) who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." (Philippians
3:3) This too should challenge believers to lay aside all the songs
that take the focus off of God and causes believers to petition God for
all their needs, wants, worries and concerns that He has already met and
provided for His children through Christ. We should also consider
eliminating songs that put all the promises that God has made available
to His children off until we reach heaven as well as songs that have
taken scripture out of context. These things may sound callous and even
difficult to do, but they are necessary if the church is to truly
worship God. Let's look once again at the revelation that John received
concerning true worship.
"And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four
living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as
though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are
the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Then He came and
took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. Now
when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the
twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and
golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And
they sang a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the scroll, and to
open its seals; For You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your
blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made
us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth." Then
I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the
living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten
thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a
loud voice, worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches
and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing! And every
creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and
such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying,
blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb, forever and ever. Then the four living creatures said,
"Amen!" And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who
lives forever and ever." (Revelation 5:6-14)
This my friends is worship!!!
Monday, May 24, 2021
We Have Purpose - Worship
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