by Jacob Ninan
There are several people who teach about how to be a worship leader and how to conduct a worship team. But this message is not another one like that but one that will hopefully encourage individuals to become worshippers. It is not about what we do externally such as lifting our hands or clapping, but what goes on inside us! And, I want to look not at how we can participate in worship in the church, even though that is important, but about learning to truly worship God from our heart.
Many people nowadays associate worship only with singing. But even those who have no musical ability can worship God, and it is not to be limited by place or time.
We know the passage where Jesus was having a dialogue with a Samaritan woman at the well (Jn.4:20-24). Her question was whether worship should be at their mountain or only in Jerusalem. Jesus' reply was that it was not really about where it was done but that it should come from our heart and in truth. It is not with the external factors that we should be concerned about when we think of worship, but if it is coming from our heart in all sincerity and truth. It does not have to be in the 'church' or on Sunday mornings. Jesus said that the Father was looking for true worshippers who could worship Him any time and anywhere in spirit and in truth.
When the charismatic movement started many years ago, one of the trends was to emphasise 'praise' as a means to get what we want from God, just as some people used to look at fasting, paying some 'seed' money, etc. The teaching was that, whatever our situation was, if only we would start praising God He would give us what we needed! People quoted the examples of Jehoshaphat sending a choir praising God in front of the army, and the people shouting praise to God after walking around Jericho! Whenever we turn an action as a technique to get something from God, we must remember that God who looks for truth in our heart cannot be fooled. We should not turn 'worship' into another technique!
What is worship? It is an overwhelming sense of admiration and appreciation for God when we remember who He is and what He has done for us. When we think of God in His perfection, His almighty power, His complete wisdom, His great love towards us, and all His other characteristics, worship will rise from our heart. Praise and thanksgiving will follow. Worship comes out of our love for God. When we worship God we may raise our hands or do other similar things, but the essence of our worship must still be in our spirit and not in what we do externally.
Forgiveness for sins in the Old Testament was through blood sacrifices. Yet this was only a temporary arrangement till Jesus shed His blood for the forgiveness of all mankind. In the old covenant, sin was only 'covered' (Psa.32:1,2), and now the blood of Jesus washes us from all sin (1Jn.1:7). Yet the psalmist called it a great blessing to get sins forgiven. For us under the new covenant, it is not only forgiveness of our sins that God offers but also deliverance from our sins and bondages, and also transformation of our character to that of Jesus! How much worship should rise from our heart!
Some great people in the Old Testament used to erect an altar and worship God whenever there was a great event in their lives such as a great deliverance. Moses built a tabernacle and Solomon built a temple to enable people to worship God. Even then, people could stay only in the outer court at a distance away from the Most Holy Place. Now it is not about making stone altars or offering animal sacrifices. When Jesus died for our sins on the cross, the Most Holy Place was thrown open to all. Now one way we can express our worship to God is by offering our bodies as 'living sacrifices' (Rom.12:1). What we now offer as sacrifice is our body with which to do God's will (Heb.10:5-7). Whenever our will comes up against the will of God, we sacrifice our will in order to do the will of God. In Rom.12:1 the NASB uses the phrase 'spiritual service of worship' as defining the sacrifice of our bodies, and the KJV uses 'reasonable service'. God has bought us with the price of the blood of His Son, and now our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1Cor.6:19,20).
Every time we 'worship', this is the dedication we have to make of our bodies—to be living sacrifices for God.
When we consider God and worship Him, we also see ourselves a little more as we are compared to Him. Then we can humble ourselves before Him and acknowledge His great grace towards us. Then our worship for Him becomes deeper and more true, resulting in the transformation of our practical lives to become more pleasing to Him (2Cor.5:14,15). Then our prayer becomes, "Lord, I just want to be what You want me to be, and I want to do just what You want me to do." We are no longer to be conformed to the way people of the world live or even the way many believers live.
When we understand true worship as God wants it, we can worship Him any time anywhere we are. We can worship Him not only when we are feeling good, but also after He has washed us from our failures and sins. Worship becomes an occasion when we can get back to God from our backsliding or from our busy preoccupation with our daily life. It gives us an opportunity to renew our commitment to Him as living sacrifices.
It is not that God wants our worship in order to feel good about Himself! It is for our good. Is is in order that we might learn to take the proper place before Him, recognising who He is and who we are.
There are certain attitudes we have to avoid if we are to worship God in spirit and truth. When we stand before God worshipping Him, if we remember that we have done wrong to someone and have not settled it yet, Jesus said it would be better to postpone the worship till after we settle it (Matt.5:23,24). At least, we can decide that we are going to settle it as soon as possible. (This does not mean that if someone gets upset with us based on some false assumption about us, we have to go around settling all such things!) Another thing is that if we are nurturing sin in any form in our life, we cannot really worship God (Psa.66:18). At the same time, especially if we are the sensitive type, we must remember that God is greater than our heart—He knows our heart and will not unnecessarily condemn us (1Jn.3:19-21). On the other hand, if we deserve condemnation because we have not set things right, we have the opportunity to confess our sins and get right with God.
Worship can become a familiar part of our daily life, as we snatch moments to offer our worship to God, presenting our body as a living sacrifice to Him. It will help us to remember God, and make sure that we keep our life right before Him all the time.