Worship is the one main event in the life of a church. It happens every week, sometimes twice a week (for those with a Sunday evening service).
- It is the most attended event during the week.
- It is the largest gathering in the life of most any church.
- It is often the gateway event that brings people into the church, who hopefully will get connected to the Body of Christ that meets in this place.
When people outside the church think about “church,” they likely refer to the event that happens (generally) at 11:00 on any given Sunday morning.
But my question today is, “Do we really worship when we are gathered at King’s Grant Baptist Church at 8:30 or 11:00 on any given Sunday?” Perhaps we just show up out of habit, or to see our friends, or because parents make us attend. I used that word (attend) on purpose. How often do we simply attend (for whatever reason) and never really participate in worship.
By “participating,” I’m not talking about doing anything on the platform. I think is was Soren Kierkegaard who said that, during worship, the people are not the audience, and those on the stage are not the performers; but rather all those in attendance are the performers, those on the stage are the prompters, and the audience is God. We have an audience of ONE.
“For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24).
“God is spirit” means he is not a physical being limited to one place. He is present everywhere and he can be worshiped anywhere, at any time. I don’t advocate skipping “church,” like, since we can worship God anywhere, we can do it at home or on the beach instead of gathering together as a congregation. There is something about the community of faith getting together that brings strength and focus. My point is, it is not where we worship that counts, but how we worship. Perhaps evaluate what happens at church during a worship experience.
- Is your worship genuine and true?
- Do you have the Holy Spirit’s help to worship?
- How does the Holy Spirit help us worship?
- How does the Holy Spirit help YOU to worship?
The Holy Spirit does a lot of things in the life of the believer, so it is so important to allow the Spirit to take up residence in our lives:
- The Holy Spirit prays for us (Romans 8:26)
- Reminds us of and teaches us the words of Christ (John 14:26)
- Will guide us in all truth (John 16:13)
- Gives us special abilities (1 Corinthians 14:1)
- Produces fruit in our lives (Galatians 5:22)
- Tells us we are loved (Romans 5:5)
Let’s worship God in Spirit and in truth. We have an audience of ONE; let’s do everything we can to make our worship pleasing to HIM.
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