March 29, 2015
Christian Worship
For the past
five weeks we have been considering our worship to God as we gather
together. We have examined the five acts
of worship that we are commanded to observe as we meet in fellowship with our
Christian brethren: We have considered giving,
singing, preaching/teaching, praying, and taking the Lord's Supper.
When we consider our giving, we
must keep in mind Paul's admonition, "Each one must do just as he has
purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a
cheerful giver" (2 Corinthians 9:7). All
that we have is from God and is rightly his. When we give, it should be with happiness in our hearts.
Our worship in song is our
opportunity to join others in "making a joyful noise to the Lord." (Psalm
95:1) We edify and admonish one another
in our worship in song. Paul wrote in
Ephesians 5:19, "Speaking to yourselves
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your
heart to the Lord..."
It is our responsibility to know
God's will for our guidance and edification. Paul admonished Timothy to know God's word so that he could accurately
handle it as he preached to others. (2 Timothy 2:15) Jesus' word will judge us on the last day,
and it is imperative that we know it well. (John 12:48)
We must be a praying and prayerful
people. While on earth Jesus spent much
time in prayer to God, and as his followers, we should too. We should be
thankful to God for his many blessings. We must pray to God for comfort in hard times. We should pray when we are happy or sad, and
as Paul wrote, "pray without ceasing" (2 Thessalonians 5:17).
Jesus' sacrifice on the cross was
for us. He suffered and died that we
might live. As we remember his sacrifice
in the Lord's Supper, we should also remember the love that he has for us. (1
John 4:8)
God commands that we direct our
worship to him and him alone. At Jesus' temptation, the devil offered to give
Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if Jesus would fall down and worship him.
To rebuke the devil, Jesus said, "Go, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall
worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'" (Matthew 4:10). When God is not first in our lives, we are
not worshiping as we should.
Our worship should be both pleasing
to God and beneficial to us. We should
strive to put the cares of the world from our minds as we worship God in order
that we can benefit as much as possible from our service to God.
Perry DeGraw
