Saturday, March 8, 2014

The Meaning of Worship, Ralph Gilmore


 

Worship is a special combination of gifts from the mind and heart poured out in the presence of God. Thus worship should have motivations: (1) making obeisance (reverence, respect, honor) to someone greater; (2) of feeling awe in His presence; (3) reverently bowing our knees before Him; (4) humbly offering our lives in sacrificial service to Him; and (5) establishing a pattern of life consistent with our worship.

 

Despite whatever conceptions we may have concerning worship, that is what true worship to God is all about. The modern church is falling shamefully short of obeisance. We are missing that sense of awe in the presence of the Almighty.

 

But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship hi must worship him I spirit and in truth.” John 4 23-24.

 

When Jesus speaks about true worship, He implies that there is such a thing as false worship. Second, true worship is offered to God. Third, it must be offered in Spirit, and fourth, it must be offered in truth.

 

This idea of true worship and the inference of false worship should be of concern. It is important to be a true worshiper of God. One reason is because Jesus said this is the kind of worshiper the Father seeks to worship him.  God does not respect anything and everything, any kind of worship that is offered to Him.  That is what Paul meant when he said God was not worshiped with men’s hand’s (Acts 17:25), meaning God is not worshiped with man’s inventiveness and ingenuity as if he is deficient in some way in defining true worship.

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