Who Do You Worship

Psalms 29:1-3 (KJV)

• 1 Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength. 
• 2 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. 
• 3 The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the LORD is upon many waters.

Have you ever heard any of these sayings. "I didn’t get anything out of that today.” “I didn’t get anything out of the sermon.” “I didn’t get anything out of that service.” “I guess her song was all right, but I didn’t get anything out of it.”

Sound familiar? Not only have I heard it countless times over these nearly fifty years in the ministry, I probably have said it a few times myself. This is like dry rot in a congregation; like a termite infestation in the building; like an epidemic afflicting the people of the Lord, one which we seem helpless to stop.

It seems that we have forgotten what worship is all about. Worship is not about you and me. It’s not about “getting our needs met.” It’s not about a performance from the pastor and singer and choir and musicians—not in the least.

When we come into God's presence, we are suppose to give, not  get. We are giving glory to God, not to man. We know that. At least we say we do. How many times have we recited, “...for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory”? And how often have we sung, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow” in a Sunday service?

We do so because glory is His right. He is worthy of worship. This is the theme of the final book of the Bible. “Who is worthy?” (Rev. 5:2) “You are worthy...for you were slain, and have redeemed us” (Rev. 5:9). “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain” (Rev. 5:12).

If my focus is on myself when I enter the church—getting my needs met, learning something, hearing a lesson that blesses me, being lifted by the singing—then Christ has no part in it. He becomes my servant, and the pastor (with all the other so-called performers) is there only for me. It’s all about me.

We have strayed so far from the biblical concept of worship—giving God His due in all the ways He has commanded—.

Evangelism, Discipleship, Giving, and Praying Grow out of Worship.

• The disciples were worshiping on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit filled them and drove them into the streets to bear a witness to the living Christ (Acts 2). 
• Isaiah was in the Temple worshiping when God appeared to him, forgave his sins, and called him as a prophet to the people (Isaiah 6). 
• It was in the act of worship that the two distraught disciples had their eyes opened to recognize Jesus at their table (Luke 24).

“Give to the Lord the glory due His name and bring an offering.” So command 1 Chronicles 16:29 and Psalm 96:8. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart—these, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51:17). Singing, praise, rejoicing, praying, offering, humbling, loving—all these are commanded in worship at various places in Scripture.

The Lord Jesus told the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, “Those who worship God must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). That is, with their inner being, the totality of themselves, their spirit, not just their lips or their bodies going through the motions, and in truth—the revealed truth of how God has prescribed worship to take place. He is not pleased with “just anything” that we claim as worship. We must balance our worship between spirit (the subjective part: body, soul, emotions) and truth (the objective aspect: all that God has revealed in His word).

Worship Is a Verb, and it’s an active verb at that. Worship is something we do, not something done to us.