Worship: Not Just a Once-A-Week Thing

[intro]All of us have been to a church service where a band leader steps up onto the stage, guitar in hand, and utters these words: “Would you please stand with me as we worship the Lord?” Now, this isn’t an inappropriate or inaccurate thing for the leader to say, but it is incomplete. The singing part of a service is worship, but so is the teaching, the offering, the prayers, the team making coffee, and every other bit. And it doesn’t stop there! Worship continues into our homes, offices, and classrooms.[/intro]

What then is worship? Simply, worship is our response to who God is and what He has done. That means true worship is done in both a corporate, specific gathering of believers and also as a personal “all the time” act of true believers in Jesus.

The prophet Isaiah understood worship in a way that we won’t until we actually see God because he was given a vision of God, sitting on his throne, surrounded by angels worshipping Him.

And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”

Isaiah 6:4-8

When faced with the reality of a perfect and righteous God, Isaiah realized how sinful he was; he realized how sinful his lips were. He was unclean when he compared himself with God. He had the realization that he was “lost” in his sin. But then something crazy happened—God initiated with him. As God cleansed him, forgave him, and made him clean, what was his response? Worship. “Send me” he said. Isaiah couldn’t just pretend like nothing happened. He’d been set free to live for God. He was liberated and instead of feeling inadequate because of his sin, he was motivated by grace. This is where we stand as well. We have been given the liberating power of the Gospel which frees us from our sin. And so when we understand the depth our our sin and the depth of God’s grace, we can worship.

Worship is our right response to who God is and what He’s done.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

1 Peter 2:9

You might wonder what this passage has to do with worship. This verse is showing us that one of the benefits of our salvation is that we are now part of the priesthood of believers. In the Old Testament the priest’s main function was to carry out the worship of God for all the people through the offering of sacrifices. The New Testament tells us that there is no need to make sacrifices anymore because we have the benefit of Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins. Because we have that benefit and are now part of the priesthood, we can worship God directly. This is why we don’t consider pastors as mediators between God and people. Their responsibilities include teaching the Bible faithfully and leading the church, but pastors don’t stand between christians and God as a “filter” for worship. Each believer has the right to approach God and worship individually in prayer, belief and in obedience.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 12:1-2

Our spiritual act of worship is giving up all of ourselves, our bodies, our will, our minds to the transformation that God grants us through the spirit. John 4:23-24 tells us that God desires those who worship in spirit and in truth. To worship in the spirit means that we are submitting our will to God’s spirit, which produces the spirit’s fruit.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23

When we let God’s spirit and truth guide us, there is a known outcome in our lives. We see evidence of what Galatians tells us. These actions are acts of worship. In them we are giving our old ways up for God’s ways.

So worship isn’t just a once a week act. It’s not a way to become clean before God. But because we are clean before him already, we now have the ability to worship Him for who He is and what He’s done, whether we are gathered with other believers at a church service, or scattered throughout the week.

This has been excerpted from the book Credo. DOWNLOAD A COPY, or get a physical copy for free at your venue’s info center!