Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Some Thoughts On Worship

Some Thoughts On Worship

June 19, 2011 at 2:32pm
SOME THOUGHTS ON WORSHIP
by Tuese C. Ahkiong, Director of Always Ready Ministries last updated 2-4-05
  • Worship: To give honor, reverence, respect, homage or veneration.  2. Extreme devotion; intense love or adoration 3. To show dignity, worthiness, admiration, wonder and awe
  • The chief end of man is to serve, (know, worship,) glorify, and enjoy God forever. (Westminster catechism)
  • Love The Lord with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. Mk 12:30  Loving God with your entire being.
  • Corum Deo: To live life before the face of God.  In the presence of God; Under the Authority of God; To the Honor and Glory of God.
  • All of life is to be lived out for God’s Glory Alone: Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone Be The Glory!)

Worship is the quickening of the conscience by the holiness of God; the feeding of the mind by the truth of God; the purging of the imagination by the beauty of God; the opening of the heart to the love of God; the devotion of the will to the purpose of God. (William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1942-44).

Worship is...
1)     For believers/ Christians only.
2)     Largely Responding to God for who He is, what He has done and what He has said.  God Initiates worship.  The emotions and the will can be more sincerely and intentionally directed toward God if the mind has been given the chance to recall, understand, or reflect on Truth.
3)     Intentionally Ascribing Great Reverence of who God is.  Acknowledgement of his Authority, Love, Power, Worthiness, Holiness, Greatness, Sovereignty, Majesty, Beauty...
4)    Adoration—Attributing to God the glory due His Name.
5)    Service—Living in and for Christ.
6)     Giving Offerings of Excellence to God—the sacrifice of praise, our lives, thanksgiving, gifts.
7)     First an inward Attitude of the heart that demonstrates humility, reverence and dependence (surrender/submission) upon Almighty God.  Second, worship flows outward into a deeply devoted life.
8)     Knowing God intimately through obedience to His Word.  Therefore, spiritual songs act as a teaching tool to reinforce the Scripture.
9)    A Foretaste of heaven.
10)   What we have been Designed to do; it is our Purpose.  It is the Will of God!
11)   An aspect of our Growing Fellowship with a personal God.
12)   What we Owe God.  It is the Glory Due His Name.  God receiving Justice (what HeDeserves).
13)   God-Centered, God-Directed, God-Focused. 
14)   The Lord is most glorified when we are most happy and completely satisfied in Jesus.  J.Piper
15)   Being a Christian Hedonist; one who lives for the pleasure and enjoyment of God.  J.Piper
16)   Seeing Jesus Christ crucified and risen and reigning and bearing your sin as the infinite treasure of your life.  J.Piper

Worship is paralleled with the physical relationship of a husband with his wife.  In the O.T., God calls idolatry- adultery.  In the N.T., the union in Eph 5 between a man and his wife is a model of the union of Christ and His Bride, the Church.  There is a very close connection between the parallels of the type of intimacy and oneness that takes place in marriage and the kind of oneness that is suppose to take place when people are loving God by expressing affection to Him in worship.

Hymns—help to be reflective on theology; they reinforce the knowledge and Truth of who God is, what He has done and said.
Praise Songs—function to have a person relax and enter into an atmosphere or closeness with God.
Individual, Private, Corporate and/or Public Worship is the act of glorifying God in His presence through psalms, hymns, praise and spiritual songs; through the reading and exposition of Scripture; through observance of the sacraments; and through individual and corporate living in holiness and service.

Results of Genuine Worship (Grudem’s Systematic Theology): a) We delight in God. b) God delights in us. c) We draw near to God. d) God draws near to us. e) God ministers to us. f) The Lord’s enemies flee. g) Unbelievers know they are in God’s Presence.

Ephesians 5:18-20, 31-32  18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

31“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers toChrist and the church.

Colossians 3:15-17  15Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. 

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