This article is based on Pastor Adrian Rogers' message, Faithful in Worship.
Why is worship important? Simply this: we become like what we worship.
You will never be what you were intended to be, you will never know true joy or fulfillment or understand what life is about, until you learn how to worship.
Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, “You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22).
Many people today worship in vain, because they do not understand the meaning of worship.
For you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God…
Anything that you love, fear, enjoy, praise, or spend time with more than you do with God, is to you an idol.
Jesus said, quoting the prophet Isaiah, “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8).
We glibly sing, “All to Jesus I surrender,” and then we live for self as if Christ had never lived, never died, never risen, ashamed even to bow our head and pray in a restaurant.
That is, trying to worship God with unconfessed, unrepentant sin in our hearts. Do you think you can ascend to the holy hill of God with a double heart and filthy hands?
God told the people of Israel,
Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings. Take away from Me the noise of your songs, for I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments. But let justice run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream. (Emphasis added)
So what is true worship?
Worship is the adoring contemplation of God through Jesus Christ. True worship is all that you are, responding to all that He is.
Our English word worship comes from an old English combination: worth-ship. If you want to measure how much you value God, you will see it in your worship.
God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.
In order to worship truly, you must be regenerated by God the Father.
God is not your Father merely because you are a human being. (See John 8:44.) How does God become your Father? By you being born again, into His family, through Christ. (See John 14:6.)
To worship in truth, you must worship the Father. To worship the Father, you must know the Son.
And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord…
The work of the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. So it is the Holy Spirit of God who energizes your spiritual act of worship.
“In spirit and in truth.” One is not a substitute for the other.
If you worship in truth and not in spirit, you become a legalist.
Some people want all spirit. They come together and sing, clap their hands, and testify, but they do not study the Word of God. This is why an integral part of a worship service is Bible study.
You come to church seeking something, don’t you? That is good. But God comes seeking something, also.
But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
God wants us to worship because of what worship does for Him, but also because of what worship does for us.
And worship does not end when you leave the church building.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. (Emphasis added)
“And” is a conjunction, tying together what comes before and after it. Real worship extends to all of life.
Worship is doing everything in the name of Jesus, and giving God thanks for it.
There is no ground that is not holy, no time that is not sacred. In all natural things you can be spiritual, and in all spiritual things God’s faithful servants will be natural. We live in God’s presence as a living and holy sacrifice.
If you want to know that what you are doing on Monday is in the name of Jesus, there are three questions to ask.
If someone puts their name to something, they are endorsing it as consistent with the standards they hold.
So—is what you are thinking about doing something that Jesus Christ could put His name on? Is it consistent with His character?
The Bible is not primarily a book of minute rules, but of great principles. You can find loopholes in laws, but you cannot find loopholes in the character of Jesus Christ.
Can you imagine Jesus watching that film? Would you go dressed that way if Jesus was your companion? Would Christ put His name on that business contract, accompany you on that vacation, subscribe to that magazine?
A person’s name stands not only for their personality, but for their authority. Remember what Jesus said: “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it” (John 14:14).
He did not say that He would help you to do it. He does help, but the way He helps is by doing it through us. So He literally says, “I will do it.”
When you put your name on a check, the person who has that little piece of paper can take it to the bank and the teller will give him some of your money—because you put your name on it. If the check bounces, they don’t put the piece of paper in jail, they put you in jail, because your name represents you.
Jesus told His disciples, “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you” (Luke 10:19). When we have the power of authority, we do not need the power of strength.
To do something in Jesus name means to do it for His praise.
Students, are you doing your homework to the glory of God, so that your teachers have that testimony?
Wives, you may be praying for your husbands to be saved, but are you living in such a way that Jesus is praised?
Is Jesus glorified by what you do? Jesus can be glorified by the way you vacation, by the way you keep your yard, by the way you dress, by the way you smile.
John 4:22-24, 8:44, 14:4-6; Colossians 3:16-17; Exodus 34:14; Matthew 15:8; Amos 5:22-24; Ephesians 5:18-19; Luke 10:19
Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
Give unto the LORD, O you mighty ones, give unto the LORD glory and strength. Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.
Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist,” says the LORD. “But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.”
