Celebrating the Grace of God through Worship

Posted by Pastor Pat on March 8, 2009

(1)   Praise the LORD! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty expanse. (2) Praise Him for His mighty deeds; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. (3)  Praise Him with trumpet sound; Praise Him with harp and lyre. (4)  Praise Him with timbrel and dancing; Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe.  (5)  Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with resounding cymbals.  (6) Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.  Praise the LORD!”       (Psalm 150)

The Psalm before us accents four truths about worship.

First, we see the place of worship (v.1).  Both within the “sanctuary” and without the “sanctuary” our God is to be praised.  Corporate worship is a wonderful time of coming together to praise our God, yet regardless as to our location He is to be praised.  Worship is the vehicle enabling the worshipper to glorify God.  True worship is a fruit of the Spirit.  It is not something I can do apart from Him.  God is served in the unexpected, the mundane and the routine expressions of a life humbly lived (Mark 9:41; 1 Cor. 10:31).  It is not the size of the service, but the motive of love for Christ that is worship

(1 Cor. 13:1-3).  It is safe to say that worship is more of an attitude than an action, though worship is verbal and visual.

People verbalized their worship and visualized their worship in both word and works.  True worship is an attitude that seeks expression in an action.

True worship has a result of moving the worshipper’s emotions.

Second, we see the power for worship (v.2).  God is to be praised because of His mighty deeds and His excellent greatness.  His actions and His attributes give us ample cause to praise Him. To worship God is to affirm who He is what He has done and His inherent and intrinsic right to rule over all things created.  True worship declares God’s majesty of being and manner of doing.

Third, we see the process to worship (vv.3-5).  I am not convinced the list is exclusive or exhaustive.  I believe the list is a representation of what can be used in the worship of our God.  The means of worship are as diversified as individual personalities and as limitless as our infinite God.

The only standard is God.  Our benefit from worship is unavoidable.

When true worship takes place the hurting ones are healed, the lonely are loved and the broken are anointed.  One of our problems is that we use music and worship as synonyms.  Music however is a vehicle for worship, but is not synonymous with worship.  Worship is dependent on the heart and mind of the individual, not on the vehicle used by the individual.

Worship is not dependent on music, but music can be used to worship.

Fourth, we see the participants in worship (v.6).  Every one and everything is to praise the Lord.  How inclusive is this statement?  Consider Psalm 19:1 where “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.”  Also note Luke 19:40, “But Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!”  Friend, we could not stop the worship of God even if we wanted to.

Worship is about Him not us.  Anything that accentuates the individual and detracts from Him is to be avoided.  Herod’s tragic end highlights the folly of receiving that which is only proper for God (Acts 12:21).  It is without question that every facet of our corporate worship must reflect an accurate image of who God is what He has done and His right to rule over all things created.  Every effort should be made to downplay our role in the worship service.  We are not there to be seen, but to see Him who is God Almighty.  We are not there to be heard, but to hear Him whose voice brings healing to the hurting.

God is worshipped through our fellowship.  He is worshipped through our financial giving.  God is worshipped through our singing.  But all of these “things” are means to an end. They are tools to be used in our desire to declare to Him our pleasure in Him.    When the “things” become our focus, then to that degree God is not worshipped.  We come not to be entertained, but to affirm.

Corporate worship is the church gathered to affirm her complete and utter dependency on Him for her satisfaction through the systematic study of His Words to her and then to share that message with every tribe, tongue, people and nation.   To say to all who hear and see that Jesus Christ is enough.  He means more to me than my livelihood, my loyalties, my loved ones and my own life.    True worship is culturally relevant and though preference and personality is present it must be secondary.  Sectarianism must yield to unity in true worship.  True worship is not distracted by form or style.  The method of worship was significant in the Old Testament.  In this dispensation there is only a two-fold criterion for worship: spirit and truth.

True worship acknowledges God in our midst.

We gather to receive from Him, Him.  We give God nothing He lacks.

We get from God everything we need.

As I meditate on corporate worship my thoughts turn to worshiping with the people of WBC during the Resurrection Season.  What an absolute joy to experience with all of my senses what God is choosing to do during our time of corporate worship.  May His presence continue to be “felt” and His voice “heard” as we open up His Word and our hearts to Him.

I thank God for you and the blessing that was mine in worshiping Him with you.  May grace continue to reign at WBC.

By Pastor Patrick J. Griffiths.  For more information see the Waukesha Bible Church site.