I’ve attended many Christian conferences
and conventions where I experienced dynamic, Spirit-filled worship services. Recently
during a local church service, the worship leader said, “Worship like you’ve
never worshipped before!” His words were an attempt to solicitant an emotional
response, but I really didn’t know what to do with them. By charismatic standards,
the approximately 50 worshippers seemed subdued and the praise song selections just
didn’t match the motivational words of the leader. Jesus said, “Yet a time is
coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in
spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in
truth” (John 4:23-24 NIV).
1 comment:
Gail;
-----Strong’s Hebrew dictionary says the Hebrew word for worship is to “bow (self) down, crouch, fall down (flat,) humbly beseech, do (make) obeisance, do reverence, make to stoop, worship.” Crouching, bowing down, falling flat, and stooping are good physical orientations for worship. Although such body postures generate thoughts, emotions, and attitudes within the soul, they are really the products of true worship. Please don’t get me wrong. They are important to learning worship. But they are not themselves worship. They are generated by worship, well, at least once worship is learned.
-----Humbly beseeching is a good lead indicator of true worship. Humble is a word with connotations similar to these body postures of worship. Humble is a response to truth. It changes the self when it finds the self different from the truth, because humble entails an element of searching for truth. Humility is about self-correction. That’s why it is an important way of beseeching. Beseeching exceeds requesting by the addition of much urgency. So worship will contain an element of imploring for the purpose self-correction according to what is worshipped, amongst other purposes,. Obeisance is the mentality in which humility exists. It elevates the worshipped one’s relevance above self relevance; indeed, it places self relevance within the relevance of the worshipped one. It is the orientation humility produces. Humility and obeisance are then a blessed circle; they produce each other. Merriam-Webster says reverence is profound adoring, awed respect. Who does not become like what he profoundly adores? Who is not influenced by what he deeply respects?
-----This is why Jesus said true worshippers will worship in spirit and truth. Worship is not worship unless it is shaping your core beliefs like our Father’s core beliefs. How did God make us? That’s right: in His image. Worship isn’t for church time alone. Sin musses up the image. Repentance redirects our course. Worship corrects the image. Since sin is an ever present element of our mortal being, worship is for every waking moment of our days.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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