Back to Basics
Worship is obedience to God. Our entire lives should be lived as an act of worship. When we worship in church, we glorify God with our hearts and our words. We also glorify Him with our voices through song. In worship, we are to delight in God, recognise that He delights in us, draw near to God, recognise that He draws near to us, and be open to Him ministering to us (Grudem, pp. 1005-1008).
In worship, unbelievers should recognise that they are in the presence of the divine. We worship in the spiritual realm and worship itself is eternal. We will continue to worship in God’s presence in the Eternal State.
A worship service should focus on Christ as the central character of our affections. He is our Saviour and Lord, and it is through Him that we have access to the Father.
A worship service should focus on Christ as the central character of our affections
In worship, we should spend time reading God’s Word, learning to understand it and listening to the conviction of the Spirit as we seek to apply the Word to our lives. We should also spend time in prayer and song.
There is no standard right or wrong order to worship, but worship services are for the community of believers. As such, we should seek to make all feel included in the time of worship we have together. It is to be a communal experience, not an individual experience.
Worship in community reminds us that we are not alone in our walk of faith. It reminds us that God is the Saviour of all who believe. It reminds us that we are equal in Christ, regardless of our position in this world. Worship provides spiritual nourishment and prepares us to go out and live our faith in a world that does not know God. It prepares us for the work of ministry God calls us to do each week.
We attend worship because we do not want to forsake meeting with the body of Christ, but also, as we worship, we find that it is exactly where we need to be. Worship helps us to be still and focus, specifically on the Lord. It allows us to grow in our relationship with God and it facilitates our communion with Him for the week to come. God calls us to worship because He knows what is best for us as His children.
Dr. Scott Shiffer has a Ph.D. in Christian Theology from the B.H. Carroll Theological Institute and has been teaching religion classes since 2006. He leads Faith and Culture Now, an organization to help believers think biblically about culture in America. Scott has given numerous presentations, including one at Oxford. He has spoken at church retreats, youth retreats, conferences, and has taught discipleship classes for many years. Scott is married and has four children. He has a heart for helping believers draw closer to God and for aiding them as they are faced with new challenges every day.
Universal peace has never existed at any point in history. And yet, we are struggling to understand and respond to the situation in Ukraine
Transparency is important in any marriage. It goes hand-in-hand with trust. But how much should one divulge before one ties the knot?
A weekly brief of new resources and Scripture-based insights from our editorial team.