AAEVS - The Importance of Worship (Part 2)

The Nature of God

All humanity knows that the Creator has revealed Himself in creation: His intelligent design, His just morality, His logical thoughts, and His direct revelation. So what makes God who He is? Of all of His wonderful attributes, it is His holiness that distinguishes Him as God. Holiness is not an easy word to define, so let me give my own definition: A holy being is righteously, majestically, and beautifully separated from elements that are sinful, chaotic, and/or mundane.

All three of those characteristics are intertwined; in a way they refer to the same thing. Righteousness exalts those who live by it; it is pleasing when it is established among God's people. Majesty is upheld by just standards; it invokes awe and joy in those that contemplate it. Beauty is molded by righteous consideration and contemplation; it commands respect and awe in those that behold it. God is the only one who is perfectly all three: righteous, majestic, and beautiful.

Because of this, God has a right to be regarded as our standard, our praise, and our joy. It would be senseless to reject Him for idols that have to borrow from Him to give any pleasure at all.

God's Revealed Will

Because we have been bought by the blood of Christ, we are under His Lordship; and because of our sinful tendency to become self-preoccupied and disinterested in God, He finds it necessary to remind us that He is worthy of our time and energy spend to His honor and praise. This is not because He needs it but because we need it; what He commands is for our best interest. (Deuteronomy 10:13)

That said, Christ is our Lord; and throughout Scripture He orders us to worship Him in spirit and in truth. In the first five books of the Bible, He shows us how seriously we must take His worship. In the historical books, He expresses how important obedience is in worship. In the Psalms, He calls us to praise Him always and remember what He has done. In the prophets, He rebukes those who take the worship of God lightly and formally. In the Gospels, He emphasizes the importance of the heart in worship. In Acts, the belief of the gospel is supposed to lead people to worship Christ. In the Epistles of Paul, He urges us to uphold New Covenant worship by the Spirit in truth. In Revelation, He unveils for us the worship of Christ in heaven; He shows us how through the means of worship He conquers the world.

Because of this, He can assure us that we will be rewarded and He will be glorified.

Our Joy (Christian Hedonism)       

If you don't get this, read Desiring God, particularly the introduction and the chapter on worship. God is not ashamed if His people are seeking their enjoyment in Him; that's why they are created. He has put in everyone a hunger for joy which only He can give; thus whom or what we worship is what we delight in. Does this mean that Christians must chemically enjoy Theology, Bible Studies, and Church services in order to worship God? No, because those things are meant to bring us closer in fellowship with God, not to be enjoyed in of themselves; those things, as God tends to work, overflow into our daily observations and give them meaning.

If this is hard to grasp, let me give the motto of the Christian Hedonist: "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him." When we delight in the being of God, we are expressing His worth. How do we delight in God? By remembering that "every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." (James 1:17) By looking at the revelation of His word and of the person of Christ.

Because of this, worship is a feast for us; we partake of His happiness because He is happy and when we are in Him, we too are blessed. If we do not rejoice in Christ, we need to examine ourselves for idols to crush and put in their proper place.

Our Stability

As the Spirit said through the prophet Haggai, our livelihood is dependent on our worship. If our lives are miserable and dry, it is likely that we are neglecting the public worship of God and the advancement of His Kingdom. This is not to say that our well-being and happiness are to be our top priority; we know our Lord's requirements of His disciples to let go of all earthy attachments to follow Him. But when we have by confession given up everything for Him, He entrusts to us our stuff to be richly enjoyed to His glory.

However, when our priority shifts from His house of worship to our daily attempts to find pleasure outside of His Kingdom, He chastens us by leaving us discontent and bitter; and when we are self-preoccupied, we are never content with our circumstances so we are left with a black hole of desire that only God can fill and overflow.

But when we repent and prioritize the worship of God and the advancement of His Kingdom, He blesses us with peace with Him and with one another. We can be content with our circumstances yet not complacent with our relationship with God and with the spiritual state of the nations.

Because of this, we cannot afford to neglect the public assembly of God's people and the ministry to the community; we need to beware of the deceitfulness of our heart that distorts our view of our relationship to God and one another.

Conclusion      

Now you may be saying, "This section doesn't look like what the paragraph is about." No it does not, but we cannot move forward with those things in that paragraph if we do not see the need for worship; how can we order our services - how can we practice family-integrated worship - how can we set apart Sunday for celebration and rejoicing - if we miss the significance and blessing of being in the Lord's presence?

When we can willingly submit to His call to worship, we can offer our bodies as living sacrifices for our reasonable worship, knowing that they will be given back to us in the resurrection on the last day. We can order our services according to the Scriptures, knowing the promise that the glory of the Lord will appear. We can raise our children in the worship of God, knowing that the promise of the Gospel is not only for us but also our children and whomever the Lord may call. We can view the Lord's day as a occasion to celebrate and rejoice in the victorious work of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and the grace that is bestowed upon us when we believed, knowing that it is always true and relevant.

And we can prepare for the coming Lord's Day, knowing that it is an awesome and sober event to participate in and to come before the presence of the Creator and Redeemer of the universe; and that preparation is the topic of the next section.