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Happenings around Antioch

Come let us worship

November 15, 2010

The people in Acts 12, listening to Herod give a speech, shouted, “The voice of a god and not a man!” They were in the flesh and so was he and soon he was in
the grave. When he received the praise of men, an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died. Here’s a good thing to remember: Wrong worship leads to worms. I am not being funny. When men choose instead to worship the created being (or thing) rather than the Creator, that worship stinks. It is wormy and corrupt, good for nothing.
Read Psalm 95 for a primer on how and why we worship. The verbs tell the story in the first few verses. Come. There is a movement on the part of the worshiper from where he is to a place where he will worship. If you are driving down the road on the way to work and your mind is filled with many things, you can “come” to worship right there and begin to praise God. Do it. Also, don’t neglect to “come” to worship with the saints in the house of God.
Sing. Worship and music are made for each other. And notice in Psalm 95, the invitation is corporate: let us sing. Worship is contagious. I am lifted higher in my worship when I am standing with people singing with all their might to the Lord. When I am surrounded by my brothers and sisters in Christ, I am moved by the power of God working in their lives as they worship.
Shout joyfully. This takes freedom. It doesn’t take freedom to shout for men. People do that all the time, at ballgames or political rallies, but those who belong to God are called to shout joyfully for him. Can you do it? Is it even allowed in your church?
C.S. Lewis said, “I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment.” I like that. Our open exuberance for Christ makes our delight for him even more enjoyable.
We are also to come before his presence with thanksgiving.
Do you ever think about the fact that when we believers are gathered for worship, God is also there? We are joined by the One we worship. When one of my sons was about 4 years old, he tugged on Cindy’s shirtsleeve one Sunday during the singing and said, “Momma, God and the angels are here!” He was right. Perhaps a child’s vision for the unseen is greater than ours that has been clouded by years of “learning.”
By the way, here’s a side-note. I am so thankful my children have been standing beside me in worship for the past 26 years and not off in another part of the church building. They are better worshipers for it.
A.W. Tozer wrote 50 years ago: “To great sections of the church the art of worship has been lost entirely, and in its place has come that strange and foreign thing called the ‘program.’ This word has been borrowed from the stage and applied with sad wisdom to the type of public service that now passes for worship among us.”
When we come to watch instead of to worship, we are in trouble and the church is, too. When we come to be entertained rather than invited into God’s presence, maybe we need to reexamine what worship is.
Come, let us worship and bow down!