Response

“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” Luke 19:40 (NIV)

Worship is our Right-Response to God and who HE is.  Last week I blogged, facebooked, and twittered out “Define Worship”.  I had some great response.  One being from a friend of mine, Theda, who is also on the praise team at Church by the Glades.  She had this to say about Worship:

Worship is bestowed upon many but worship belongs to ONE. It is not just about singing songs that sound good, raising our hands, or dancing around a building–worship is about a life that pants for God like a dying person longs for life sustaining water. Worship is about honoring God with the truth of our lives. Cain and Saul made sacrifices and called it worship but both accounts were bogus and dishonest because it was not about God but about their egos. “But the time is coming—it has, in fact, come—when what you’re called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter. It’s who you are and the way you live that counts before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being Itself—Spirit…(I am that I am). Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves…in adoration.”~John 4:23-24

POWERFUL!  Thank You Theda.

Define Worship…

Comment Below and tell me what you think of when you think about Worship…
In other words… what is worship to you?

The How To of Worship

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.                                                             Hebrews 13: 15-16 NIV

Religious leaders, denominations, churches, religious books, all give different answers to what worship is and how it should be done.  With so many varying thoughts on the subject trying to figure out how to best worship God can be so confusing.  The author of Hebrews gives clear direction in chapter 13 as to what true worship is that pleases God.  Here are a few things to take note of:

1.  Worship should be through Jesus.
2.  Worship should be continual  (whether at home, at work, or outside)
3.  Worship should be a sacrifice of praise (meant to honor God, not self)
4.  Worship should be a Christ-like lifestyle that blesses God and others in need.

I think sometimes we limit our selves to the HOW TO’s of worship:  How to decide where to worship, how to decide what style of music we should sing, how to decide what group of people to worship with.  Truthfully I think we limit our ability and even our calling to live a life of worshiping God.  I love how the message paraphrases this whole text.  Check this out…

Hebrews 13:13-16 (The Message)

^13-15So let’sgo outside, where Jesus is, where the action is—not trying to be
privileged insiders, but taking our share in the abuse of Jesus. This
“insider world” is not our home. We have our eyes peeled for the City
about to come. Let’s take our place outside with Jesus, no longer
pouring out the sacrificial blood of animals but pouring out
sacrificial praises from our lips to God in Jesus’ name.

¹⁶Make sure you don’t take things for granted and go slack in working for the
common good; share what you have with others. God takes particular
pleasure in acts of worship—a different kind of “sacrifice”—that take
place in kitchen and workplace and on the streets.

I think so much of the time we place too many stipulations on what worship should or should not be.  Every moment we stop living for ourselves and are intentionally living our lives for God we act in worship.

Worship isn’t so much about trying to figure out the how to as much as understanding WHO IT’S FOR and the WHAT IT IS that pleases HIM.

It’s most important that you DO worship HIM!!!