Worship in the Church

The Focus of Worship

Worship is our response to the revelation of our God. That is the most important and biblical statement about worship I can make. We all worship in different ways with different styles. We are created as worshippers, always worshipping someone or something. The question everyone needs to ask and answer is, “What or who are we worshipping?”

Something that I have observed recently was how differently men will worship on a men’s retreat. When all the walls are down and space has been created for men to worship, THEY WORSHIP! Why would that be? Is there something special about being away from it all and in the middle of nowhere? Maybe, but I think it is more about the men not feeling hindered by anyone around them. The perception may have been built up in their minds that they need to keep their emotions and actions in check when around the usual people they interact with or stand next to in church. The effects of taking our eyes off the Lord, of being afraid of what other people might think if they worshiped differently, can have a dramatic and negative impact on worship. I challenged the men on the retreat this year, to think through what it would look like if we worshiped this way every Sunday.

Some Questions Worth Considering

Why does a person worship differently around certain people?
Why do we find it easy to cheer and shout for temporal things?
Aren’t we worshipping the same God no matter where we are or who we are around?
Shouldn’t our worship of the Creator be more exciting than our worship of the created?
What needs to change in our hearts, minds, and lives so that our worship when just men are around is the same as when the whole body of Christ is around?
These questions and challenges are not just for the men of Terra Nova but also for the “Capital C” Church. We need to be men, women, and children that are not ashamed of who or how we worship. God is worthy of our worship.

We find it easy to scream, yell and cheer for our favorite bands, teams or celebrities but we seem to have a hard time showing the same excitement when it comes to worshiping the Creator of the universe. Where have we gone wrong in our journeys of faith when we find ourselves embarrassed to sing, raise our hands, and get down on our knees before our God because of our fear of what others might think of us?

Eternal Revelation and Eternal Worship

If Revelation 4 shows us a glimpse into our future in heaven, then we should start our practice of this on earth!

And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will, they existed and were created.”

Should our corporate gatherings be exciting? Absolutely. We’re remembering and celebrating the fact that Jesus, the Son of God, has clothed himself in our flesh, received God’s wrath in our place, risen from the dead, and is now reigning and interceding for his own until he returns to vanquish evil and spend eternity with his Bride, the Church.

No matter how many times we’re reminded – or in what ways we are reminded – it is exciting, life giving, and worthy of our excited response. Our worship.