Whether or not we’d like to admit it, we all worship something or someone in our life. What or who we worship might be based on whatever we think on or act on the most or on the other side of the coin, whatever we would be distraught over if it was taken away from us, that is the object of our worship.
As followers of Jesus, Christians worship God. He is the ultimate Authority in our lives and if you reflect on what Jesus has done for us…He absolutely is worthy to receive glory, honor, power, and worship.
Be reminded today that God is who you should worship and nothing or no one should get in the way of that. We come together and gather as the Church to worship God, and we also worship Him every other day during the week with our relationship with Him.
Here’s a great list from Kevin DeYoung featured over at The Gospel Coalition on 10 ways why we as followers of Jesus worship the way we do when we gather together.
Glory to God
Worship is ultimately for Him. He is the most important audience at every gathering.
Edifying to God’s People
Gathering together in worship must build up the body of Christ. Believers should be equipped, comforted, and exhorted.
Understandable
New words and concepts may be introduced, but the service should be intelligible to both Christians and non-Christians.
Biblical
The whole service teaches God’s people, so everything—the prayers, the songs, the preaching—must be biblical. We like the saying: in worship we read the Bible, preach the Bible, pray the Bible, sing the Bible, and see the Bible in the sacraments.
Emphasizing the Ordinary Means of Grace
God can work in many ways, but he has committed to being with us and transforming us through certain “means of grace.” He communes with us through prayer, through the word, and through the sacraments of the Lord’s Supper and Baptism. Our services emphasize these ordinary means whereby God promises to give us more grace.
Expositional Preaching
The central act in the worship service is the preaching of God’s word. We believe this is best accomplished through the careful, Spirit-filled exposition of Scripture. Normally, this means we work systematically through a book of the Bible, verse by verse. No matter the approach, every sermon should flow from Scripture and proclaim the gospel of Christ’s death and resurrection.
Thoughtful
Every church has an order of service. Our service has four parts: praise, renewal, proclamation, response. We see this pattern in the covenant renewal ceremonies of Scripture and in various divine encounters. In Isaiah 6, for example, Isaiah comes before God and praises him; then he confesses sin and seeks renewal; God then speaks his word to Isaiah; and finally Isaiah responds with commitment to God. This is also a gospel pattern: approach God in awe, see our sin, hear the good news, respond in faith and obedience.
Historical
The Church has been thinking about how to worship for centuries. We want to learn from our spiritual ancestors and build on their models. To that end, we regularly employ creeds, confessions, catechisms, responsive readings, and other forms that have been common in church history.
Mixing Old And New
We believe there are new songs to be sung to Jesus. We also believe there is a great heritage of church music that we should embrace. You’ll find that our services use music from different genres and different centuries. It can be fast, loud, slow, or soft. We use a variety of instruments, everything from guitars and drums to the organ. In all this, the most important sound is that of the congregation singing.
Prayerful
Our services include many different prayers. Often you will find a prayer of confession because we sin every week and need the Gospel every week. We usually have a longer congregational prayer, which is an important time to pray for the needs of our church family and for the world.
Questions: What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with any of these from Kevin? Please comment below and join the discussion.
