1. Worship is a Lifestyle. It’s not limited to scheduled times or corporate gatherings in facilities dedicated to that expressed purpose. It’s the way I live life day by day and moment by moment.
2. Worship is a Verb. It involves action. One of the reasons our worship feels lifeless and inanimate is because we’ve taken a verb and made it a noun.
3. My daily practice of worship as a lifestyle is an investment I reap in corporate worship. Too many times Christians walk into church with unrealistic expectations. They make no preparation for worship during the week. They make no investment of heart and soul Monday through Saturday and expect the music and the message to cover them for another week. If you’re not getting anything out of corporate worship, it’s because you’ve invested little if anything throughout the week.
4. Worship is the ultimate priority of the Christian life. You’ve been created with the capacity and will to worship, and you’ve been saved to worship God. Worship energizes the Christian mission. Furthermore, worship informs the Christian mission. In his book Let the Nations Be Glad, John Piper writes, “Missions exists where worship does not.” There will be a day when we will no longer have mission. But there will never be a day when we no longer have worship.
Thoughts on Worship
Last week I wrote about the challenge of idols and why idolatry diminishes our ability to connect with God. It goes without saying that idols have to be ruthlessly eradicated from our lives. But it’s not enough to eradicate the idols from our lives. We have to take the next step and enthrone God as the pre-eminent object of our worship. As I’ve stated before, worship is our appropriate response to the self revelation of God. As God reveals himself to us, we respond appropriately. That response is our worship to God. Here are some thoughts that I think about worship.
