By Not Known
The first place to study worship is in the last book of the Bible. The worship of ,
heaven is the model for the church on earth, for heaven’s worship is perfect (Heb
8:1-2;9:11,23-24). All earthly worship is flawed, for we always bring imperfect
hearts in worship of a God who deserves perfection.
Heaven’s worship is directed towards God the Father and the Son (Rev 5:13). The
Spirit’s presence is however vital. It is only ‘in him‘ that we can worship (Jn 4:23;
Rev 1:10). Do we have this balance in our worship!
Heavenly worship involves a variety of acts. They have a common purpose of
ascribing worth to God (Rev 4:10,14). The acts include saying words (Rev 4:8,11),
singing (Rev 5:9,12,13), physical postures of submission (Rev 4:10; 5:8,14) and
prayers (Rev 5:8). Note what heaven’s elders do (Rev 4: 10). This is a powerful
recognition that God is Lord and not them. Does our Worship have a variety of
activities all directed to the one great purpose of bringing worth to God?
There is abundance to heaven’s worship. Rev 4-5 paint a picture of extravagance in
sound and sight as elders, creatures and angels give their all in worship. This is not
lame and timid, but worship with vigour.
Why should we worship God with vigour? The ‘why’ lies in the ‘who’. God is
worshipped as the one who was; and is and is to come (Rev 4:8). He is worshipped
as Creator (Rev 4:11), Lord (Rev 5:13) and Saviour (Rev 5:12).
In short, heaven worships the Lord with extravagance from a deep persuasion that
he is worthy. That persuasion arises from a big sense of who God is and what he
does. The root of worship lies in appreciation of the God whom we worship.
This has an immediate application. If worship seems dull and listless we do well to
step back and rekindle our inner persuasion of God’s worthiness. This rekindling of
our passion for God is far more important than changing our style of worship or
lifting our standard of ‘performance’. Is our worship focused on God and does it
arise from a sense of his greatness!
So let us worship the Lord with thanksgiving, music and song, for the Lord is the
great God (Ps 95:2-3).