Have you ever wondered about why God commands His people to worship Him? Is it because God is needy? Does worship mean the gathering of God’s people to add to God’s glory and praise that He lacks or doesn’t have? To ask the question directly and in a different way, is worship doing God a favor?
The answer, of course, is no. According to the Scripture, God is a self-sufficient God (Acts 17:24-25) and does not stand in need of any creatures which He has made to derive any glory from them (Job 22:2-3)
Hence, when His people worship Him they don’t make Him more glorious than He is already. Man cannot make God glorious, for He is not capable of any additional glory because He is infinitely glorious in Himself. “If you are righteous what do you give to him? Or what does he receive from your hand?” Job 34:7. Again, the answer is nothing, because God gets no advantage to Himself by the best works of men. If that is true, why then does God demand worship from His people? If He doesn’t get any advantage from the worship of His people, then why worship? And what happens in worship?
First, God’s people worship God because God is worthy to be worshiped. The moment a person is saved by grace and through faith in Jesus Christ alone, the salvation (new spiritual life) that he receives in his life produces the worship of God inside of him. In other words, the reason you have been saved is worship. Wasn’t that what the Lord did after he delivered his people Israel from the hands of the Egyptians? Following their redemption, He commanded them to worship Him— and Him alone (Exodus 20:1-7).
It was the same in the New Testament. In 1 Peter 2:5 we read, “You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” So you see, both the Old Testament and New Testament shows you that the reason why God saved you was to worship him. To leave (forsake) all other false gods, including yourself and your worldly desires, and worship him over all other things. The only difference was, in the Old Testament the people offered to Him bulls as a sacrifice of their worship, but now the sacrifice of worship of God’s people is the praise of their lips to God in Christ Jesus. We see that reality in Hebrews 13:15, where the writer said, “Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God that is the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.” Therefore we worship God because, as our Creator and Redeemer, He is worthy to be worshiped by us and also the Scripture commands us to worship him.
Let me share two portions from the New Testament that attest to this reality about worship.
- John 4: 23-24, “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth”
This is what our Lord Jesus Christ told the Samaritan woman. And what was it that our Lord was instructing the woman about worship? That God the Father seeks or desires people to worship Him, and the way He wants them to worship Him is not through the sacrifice of an animal or based on a special place, but in spirit and truth. That means through a true spiritual worship that excludes the worship of false gods, worshiping God in a wrong form not prescribed in His word, and with a wrong attitude of heart. True spiritual acts of worship are acceptable in the sight of God and are done in the knowledge of what the Holy Spirit teaches about who God is and how He must be worshiped, and the truth of who Christ is (Christ being the way, the truth and the life).
- Romans 12:1, “ 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”
Here Paul teaches and exhorts believers not to offer an empty and superficial worship to God, but true and renewed inner spiritual worship which is not conformed to the things of this world.
Everything that I have been pointing you to so far makes worship the number one priority of a true follower of Christ. Scripture calls for worship as the priority. That’s why your salvation made you to a worshiper of God. Every Sunday that you join the gathering of God’s people for worship, you declare the glory and majesty of your heavenly Father to your own life and the world around you.
In worship God meets with you to bless you with His favor, protection and leading. But remember, your motive for worship should not be to get something from God, but to declare His glory over all things. That’s why Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33) And what does seeking the kingdom first mean? It means to put God and all his spiritual blessings for you first and above all things in life.
My friend, is this what you do every Sunday? Seeking the worship of God above all other things that you do from Monday to Saturday? Is your heart’s desire every Lord’s day to call the Sabbath a delight (Isaiah 58:13), to be with God’s people morning and evening in the business of worshiping the Lord, and giving Him what is due to Him?
Your Pastor’s heart wants to encourage you read this article on the importance and priority of worship for prayer, reflection and action where action is needed.
In the fellowship of the good Shepherd!
Zecharias