Worship, the overall theme of this blog from day one, is next up on our look at the twelve disciplines of a healthy spiritual life. Worship, one of the disciplines church going people probably feel they know the most about. What is worship, really? Let’s keep an open mind and take a look at Scripture.
Romans 12:1 might just be one of the central verses to the act of woship, if not a key to all the disciplines in this study. “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him.”
What does Paul say is the proper methodology of worship? Give ourselves to God
This is not a lip-service giving of ourselves, but a present tense idea that this offering to God is a continual, habitual thing. Something we do constantly and consistently rather than once a week when it’s convenient.
This is also not a human based idea where the practice is done as we think best, but rather one that needs to be done in a way that is acceptable to Him—a holy, unblemished, pure motive kind of sacrifice. This is also not an offering that God just blandly or tacitly accepts, but rather something God measures, evaluates and considers whether or not it is offered in a way that is pleasing to Him. This tells us the key to worship is not whether or not it is done how we want, but doing it the way God wants it.
So, it comes down to a phrase we seem to be saying a lot over the last few years in regard to worship, “It’s not about us.” Let’s look at a man who literally stood in the Presence of God sitting on His throne, and see is the man’s reaction looks anything like how we worship. Read Revelation 4, and get back with me.
Worship begins with an acknowledgment of who God is.
1. We must acknowledge God is King. Eleven times in eleven verses, John draws our attention to the throne. The first thing he saw was the throne, and the One sitting on it. He then goes on to describe everything else he sees in relation to their position before the throne. Sometimes, when we read Revelation 4, we get so wrapped up in the symbolism of the four living creatures, the lampstands, the 24 elders, the lightning and thunder—but John was most concerned about the throne. John was captivated by the Presence around whom everything revolved.
When we worship, whether individually or corporately, what must captivate our heart is not the preacher, the attendance, the offering, the style of music, the dress of those around us, or anything about the people we happen to be gathered with. Our heart must be held at attention by the throne of God—the sovereignty of God—the One we exist to serve. He is the King, and we are not. We are servants, and servants live to obey their Master.
2. We must acknowledge God’s eternal nature. Look at the words of the song the four living creatures were singing over and over (here’s some lyrical repetition for you). “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.” Here is worship reflective of a God that has not limits. He is not just a god of the mountain or the sea, He is not just a god for a certain people or a certain time, He is the God of all the universe. Before there ever were mountains and ocean, He was. Before the sun first crested the horizon, He was. God Almighty is not limited by time and space, yet limited, temporal man often tries to put God into the box of our understanding. God is the One who lives above all those limitations.
3. We must acknowledge God’s activity. Look at the words of the 24 elders as they fell down in worship. “You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased.” Here is the God who made what ever He wanted, did it effortlessly, and it is recognized by those who worship Him. God, sitting on His throne, spoke a vast cosmos into existence. Galaxies and star systems swirl in the heavens, so large they are hardly within our ability to comprehend their scope.
Yet, this same God, sitting on His throne, spoke man into existence. Man, a being both more simple and more complex than a galaxy. God took care to make sure the same forces that cause a galaxy to turn, and planets to orbit, are also at work on the smallest level. God ensured that electrons would orbit an atomic nucleus properly, and that those same atoms would hold together in such a way that we have our very existence.
These three things alone should be more than enough to make Him worthy of a Romans 12:1 kind of worship, but that’s not all there is to God. No only is this same God our eternal, Creator King, but He is also, in the Person of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. God is also the Kinsman-Redeemer, the Savior, the One who died for our sins and rose again.
Worship happens when we yield to the authority of the Lord.
In Revelation 4 there is not only this three-fold acknowledgement of God, but there is also more importantly an abdication of self before God. John’s vision of God’s throneroom shows a gathering of individuals acting in reverence and submission to their object of worship. They didn’t just stand around singing about how good their object of worship was, they demonstrated with their actions what their lips were saying.
The four living creatures covered their faces, we think in reverence of a Holy God. The 24 elders fell down and prostrated themselves, throwing the rewards (crowns) they had earned at His feet. In fact, this falling down is mention four times throughout the book of Revelation. It was not a one-off submission, but a constant one. Falling down and casting one’s crown at the feet of a king is an ancient and well recognized sign of submission to authority—one that signifies “I am no longer the rule, but you now reign. What was once mine to rule, I recognize and declare is mine no longer, but yours.”
If our worship is to be great, then we must not only acknowledge who God really is, but we must also abdicate our crown. Genuine worship does not happen apart from abdication.
