Everyone is wired to worship something
Everyone in the world is wired for worship. We are created to give our praise, attention, admiration, and affection to something. We will either give our worship to temporal things like idols, money, possessions, sports, and people, or we will give our hearts in worship to the God who created and loves us.
Worship is a natural response to God’s goodness
One of the main reasons why followers of Jesus gather together is to worship God. That makes sense because followers of Jesus have every reason to worship God. We’ve been saved, forgiven, adopted, and redeemed by His goodness, grace, and love. In light of all that God has done for us, worship is a natural response. While it’s true that God wants us to worship Him privately, it’s also true that He loves to inhabit the worship of His people when they come together.
Our worship on earth joins the worship in heaven
Our worship takes on greater significance when we remember that our worship on earth is joined with the worship that is happening in heaven. Revelation 5.11-12 NLT says, “Then I looked again, and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and of the living beings and the elders. And they sang in a mighty chorus: ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered – to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.”
God is seeking true worshipers on earth
While the worship of angels fills the halls of heaven, God is also looking for worshipers on earth. Jesus said, “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” John 4.23 NIV. So, what does it look like when we gather together for worship?
What worship looks like when we gather
We worship through music. “Come, let us sing to the LORD! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come to him with thanksgiving. Let us sing psalms of praise to him” Psalm 95.1-2 NLT.
We worship through giving. “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” 2 Corinthians 9.7 NIV.
We worship through serving God and giving Him our whole lives. “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” Romans 12.1 NLT.
We worship through teaching the Bible. “And every day, in the Temple and from house to house, they continued to teach and preaching this message: ‘Jesus is the Messiah’” Acts 5.42 NLT.
We worship through praying. “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people” 1 Timothy 2.1 NIV.
We worship through Communion. “All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper) and to prayer” Acts 2.42 NLT.
This blog features an excerpt from one of our Student Series books, Walk With God.
