Revelations 4:8,11
"Worship is the human response to the self-revelation of the triune God, which involves: (1) divine initiation in which God graciously reveals himself, his purposes, and will; (2) a spiritual and personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ enabled by the ministry of the Holy Spirit; and (3) a response by the worshiper of joyful adoration, reverence, humility, submission and obedience"1
Is God worthy of our worship?
The passage gives us a view from Heaven which gives us an idea of what awaits us there: it is eternal worship to God who is truly worthy of worship because He is God. Every glimpse of Heaven that we have in the Bible is always a glimpse of worship and rejoicing because God is who He is.2
Truly, there is none like Him who deserves our all in worship. But before worshiping the Bible also at the same time instructs us that the God who deserves our worship should be the God that we must know on the basis of a personal relationship with Him.
In fact, Acts 17:22-31 tells of the story in which the Apostle Paul praised the religiosity of the Greeks in Athens but at the same time admonished them to give worship only to the one true God whom we can only approach on the basis of our response to: “Him whom He has raised from the dead.” (Acts 17:31).
That person is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ who was born of a virgin, suffered under Pontious Pilate, died on the Cross and rose from the grave to make worshipers out of rebels3 We are brought to God and to faith and to salvation that we might worship and adore Him.
God has provided His salvation that we might be individually and personally be vibrant children of God, loving God with all our hearts and worshiping Him in the beauty of holiness.4
So to answer the question of whether God is truly of our worship can only be answered with a simple 'yes!'. Yes because He is God! The greater question lies more on what is true worship?
The late A.W. Tozer once defined 'true worship' as being: “personally and hopelessly in love with God.”5
Now the question would be is that have we ever been that hopelessly in love with the God who saved us?
We can only answer that on the basis of our personal response to the Gospel of Christ who compels us to come to Him as we are as poor sinners, in need of a Saviour.
Reflection:
How do I view worship? Do I look at it in light of a personal relationship with my Creator, Redeemer and Lord?
How do I view my salvation? Do I look at it merely as my ticket to Heaven? Or do I look at it as God's work so that I may commune with Him in the beauty of who He is?
The Lord of all being is far more than the Lord of all beings. He is the Lord of all actual existence. He is the Lord of all kinds of beings--spiritual being, natural being, physical being. Therefore, when we rightly worship Him we encompass all being. 6
1David Nelson (2002), Authentic Worship, p. 149
2A.W. Tozer (1985) Whatever Happened to Worship p.14
3Ibid
4Ibid
5Ibid
6A.W. Tozer, http://www.worldofquotes.com/author/A.-W.-Tozer/1/index.html
No comments:
Post a Comment