Most Sunday evenings we’ve been looking at the Psalms. In all there are 150 Psalms divided into 5 distinct sections. While just about any Psalm could be included as a part of worship, certain Psalms focus almost entirely on worship and praise of God. Some of those Psalms include: Psalm 8, 29, 100, 117, 145, 146, 150, and Psalm 95.
As we start a new series of sermons based upon Mark 12:29-31 about loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and loving your neighbor as yourself, it’s important to understand that the Christian’s primary response to God’s love for us is worship.
Worship is the recognition of our partnership, sharing, and mutual engagement as we come before God collectively as His church. While worship does involve submission, God desires for us to enjoy a close and personal relationship with Him. Understanding this, we can observe that worship is really about relationships. There is our relationship with God (the vertical) and our relationship with our fellow worshippers (the horizontal).
The heart of Christianity is to know God and to know Jesus Christ whom He has sent. Our understanding of God and our relationship with Him is not simply a matter of curriculum, study, or practice. Knowing God is about having a personal relationship (an intimate connection) with Him. It’s during worship that we respond to God’s love for us. The more we understand and appreciate our relationship with God, the more it will be evident in our worship.
The vertical element of worship allows for the horizontal. As God has sought and made a relationship with Him possible, we accept that connection and acknowledge our relationships with others. These connections affirm that we are here for God, who is the audience, while we are the ones “performing.” This means that worship is not for our sake, but for His. Yet, we find encouragement, purpose, and drive as we recognize God’s influence upon us through worship.
In Psalm 95 we read words of rejoicing! We are to sing, shout, come with thanksgiving, and be joyful to the Lord! Some Christians experience frustration as they sense something “missing” in worship. This is because we genuinely long for God’s guidance in our lives, our ministries, and our service to Him. We desire to comprehend our struggles, but we feel lost in the turmoil of our shattered lives, not knowing what actions to take or where to seek help.
In worship, we can hear God and listen to God. As we do, we find that worship includes a repentance, rethinking, and reorienting of our lives to conform to God’s will. This means that worship facilitates a change of mindset helping to reinforce God’s presence in my life. Worship allows me to understand the path that God is guiding my life on and what He intends to accomplish through me. This realization highlights the authenticity of worship helping us to understand what we might be “missing” in worship.
God takes the first step in showing Himself to us through His actions, His Word, His will, His people, and the beauty of His creation. As we deepen our relationship with Him, we are inspired to offer our praise, gratitude, and worship. We acknowledge His presence, His might, His essence, His promises, His community, His intentions, His safeguarding, and His generosity.
