Worship - conclusion of the first purpose of church

Worship, what is it really? Jesus once had this to say about it.

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” -John 4:23-24

This certainly reenforces the idea that worship should be a sincere act, and not a systematic obligatory act done by some formula or checklist. Jesus also has this to say. 

“If you love me, keep my commands.” -John 14:15

Keeping his commands is part of holiness, and as we already revealed pursuing holiness is part of worship. Yet, what does Jesus reveal in this verse about what should motivate us in all this? Love. Worship should all be done with the motivation of love. It may begin with fear of the Lord or familiarity (Psalm 111:10) but it shouldn’t stop there. As the apostle John said, perfect love drives out fear. (1 John 4:18) That’s the goal, to worship in love. To show honor out of love. To show gratitude out of love. To pursue holiness out of love. If you wanted to summarize the definition of worship into one phrase, it would be, expressing love for God.There has been much talk about the concept of the love languages these days. Well worship is God’s love language. In our everyday relationships expressing love can be tricky, for not everybody is the same, consistent, or even clear on how to do that for them. However, God is so very different.  He is always the same and spells out the language he receives love by quite clearly to those willing to seek it from his word. Yet just like our everyday relationships we often try to make it about us, not the other person. We try to express ourselves in a way that makes us happy or comfortable. We just love the feelings they spark in us, not the person. That’s where love goes wrong, and it’s where worship goes wrong. All because of selfishness, and love is a selfless act, not a selfish one. (1 John 3:16) There is a rather famous praise song called The Heart of Worship. In it, there is a line “I’m sorry for the thing I’ve made it.” What have we unconsciously made worship indeed? Is it what it should be? I think we would all do well to ask ourselves those questions. 

In the Spirit