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Rethinking Worship


Rethinking Worship ~ Psalm 145
By Paw Liang The


What is worship? Some people will relate worship with sermons. In some places, people will come to church mainly for Holy Communion. Some churches believe that worship is a time to win more souls for Christ so there must be an altar call in every worship service. For many young people today, worship is similar to music and praises that will create a certain atmosphere or emotion to make the worshippers feel good and lead them into God’s presence. Those who are focused on ‘seekers’ will try to add more entertainment and make the worship services look fun and enjoyable.

What is worship? What does worship mean to you?

First and foremost, the act of worship is not the most important. We can do anything in worship, but worship is ultimately about God. It takes place when our spirits feel at home in God’s presence. As such, we can draw out some characteristics of true worship:
  • Worship is determined by our relationship with God
  • Worship should be genuine and natural. Worship is not something that we can make people do.
  • Whatever is outward in worship must come as a direct result of what is inward

From Psalm 145 we can identify: When our heart is full of God, we will be full of awe and reverence (v.3). We will take God seriously and will not be casual in our attitude. When our heart is full of God, we can’t stop praising Him. We will “bless” Him every day and every moment in our lives(vv. 1 – 3). Charles Spurgeon (1834 – 1892) defined the word “bless” as: “to praise him with a personal affection for him, and a wishing well to him: this is a growingly easy exercise as we advance in experience and grow in grace.” When our heart is full of God, we can’t stop talking / preaching about Him (vv. 4-7). It is like when we are in love with someone. We will talk about him / her to everyone we meet. This is very obvious from the experience of those who have just come to know Jesus Christ. Like the Samaritan woman, no one can stop her from talking about her encounter with Jesus, the Living Water. Or like the leper, who was so grateful and kept telling everyone how Jesus had healed him even though Jesus had asked him not to mention about him. When our heart is full of God – we can’t stop pleasing Him (v.21). We will give our best to Him like the woman who gave Jesus her most expensive perfume and wiped Jesus’ feet with her hair. Worship must be as great as its object – God – Great praise for a great God.

            Now, you may ask, “how about me?” Worship is determined by our relationship with God. I believe that it is God’s desire to bless us. So, when we submit ourselves wholly to God in Worship – God’s Spirit will also work in our hearts. Based on William Temple’s (1881 – 1944, the 98th Archbishop of Canterbury) definition of worship, when our worship is focus on God, at least five elements in our lives will be transformed:

1) Our conscience will be quicken by the Holiness of God. We will be able to differentiate between right and wrong. We will have power to resist sinful actions.
2) Our mind will be fed with the truth of God. We will be more receptive to the teaching. Each time we come to God we will have a message to take home.
3) Our imagination will be purged with the beauty of God. We begin to see and to enjoy the beauty in people and around us.
4) Our heart will be filled with the love of God. As we meditate on His unconditional love, it will be easier for us to love others and to accept people from different backgrounds.
5). It will be easier for us to surrender our will to the purpose of God and continue to walk with Him.

            So, “since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe” (Hebrew 12:28). Come let us worship the Lord! We may start with Psalm 145. In the ancient time, the Israelites cited this psalm twice in the morning and once in the afternoon. It is believed that by keep repeating and meditating this psalm, the words will touch our hearts and help us to become more and more worshipful. Thus worship is not merely a duty but it will become a joyful lifestyle.

Questions for discussion:
1. What is your understanding of worship? How does it differ from the above teaching?

2. Let’s examine our personal / family worship life using Psalm 145 ~ we can identify a few elements of worship: adoration and praise, proclamation / telling, confirmation/assurance and commitment. What is your strength and which area of worship that you are lacking? And how would you like to improve?

3. How about our Sunday Worship?  Do you think that we have covered all these aspects of worship well? How can we improve it?

4. What do you think about our Sunday Worship? Does this corporate worship help to nurture your relationship with God? And enable you to experience the transformation of life (conscience, mind, heart, imagination, and will) as taught by William Temple? How can we help each other to experience this transformation of life?

GMC- Jakarta 8 October 2006

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