Article - How Are We to Worship God? Pt. 1

Article - How Are We to Worship God? Pt. 1

"God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." -John 4:24

What does it mean to worship God? The Oxford English Dictionary defines worship as the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity. It also describes it as a great admiration or devotion towards another. Both descriptions aptly describe the relationship that Christians should have towards God. While the worship of God should be woven into every aspect of our lives, I hope to explore the issue of public worship (attending church). I believe that the Bible gives us a clear guideline on why and how we are to worship God as a church body. It is my hope that we would all search the scriptures and serve the Lord to the best of our abilities.

First, we must understand that in public worship, the primary focus must be God, not man. When we assemble ourselves together as Christians, the goal is to praise and glorify the Lord. In Psalms 29:1-2 David writes that we are to, "Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength. Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness." Our God is due all of the glory. David had enjoyed many successes as the King of Israel, but he knew that the Lord deserved all glory in worship. As we study both the Old and New Testaments we will notice that God was the center of all proper worship. Any deviation from this pattern constituted idolatry. In Acts 17, the Apostle Paul observed many different types of worship in Athens. Some historians write that there were more altars than people in this city. Verse 16 states that Paul's spirit was stirred in him when he saw Athens wholly given to idolatry. They were a religious people, but they were not worshipping God in spirit and in truth.

Sadly, we are often guilty of not making the Lord the center of our public worship. We become like the Gentiles of Romans 1:25 and worship the creation more than the Creator. Is your public worship Christ-centered? Many today believe that the assembly of believers must be constantly changing to reflect the culture around it. Is this Biblical? There is a great movement in many churches to reinvent themselves to look more appealing to the world. When this becomes our focus, it behooves us to ask: "Are we fulfilling the scriptural mandate to be the light of the world and salt of the earth?" In John 15, Jesus says, "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

The carnal world hated Jesus and it hates those who make Him the center of their worship. However, when the Spirit of God touches one of His children, they begin to love the things that they once hated. Though your public worship offers no appeal to the carnal world, it gives great hope and edification to the children of God. Is your worship centered around expressing reverence and adoration to God Almighty? Or is the focus on entertaining people so they will be drawn into your establishment? Are you focused on fostering a true admiration, love and devotion to your Savior, or are you focused on becoming the most popular and most populated church in town? It is my prayer that God would be the center of our worship when we assemble ourselves together as His visible church.

Michael Green, Jr. is pastor of Palm Chapel Primitive Baptist Church (www.palmchapel.org) in Crestview, FL. Palm Chapel meets every Sunday at 10:30am and Wednesday at 6:00pm. Pastor Green can be contacted at (850) 689-3383 or by email at pastormichael@palmchapel.org. Pastor Green warmly invites you to come and worship at Palm Chapel Primitive Baptist Church.