Why We Worship

DAILY BYTE

So if worship is the most important thing the church does, then the issue of WHY WE WORSHIP becomes very important. Of course we worship because God deserves all the praise we could possibly give him, but we need to know that there is not even a hint of divine arrogance behind God’s call for us to worship. The true question that we need to grapple with is not does God need us to worship him, but rather DO WE NEED to worship?

The Bible is very clear on this matter, we worship because God thoroughly deserves it, but we also worship because we so desperately, desperately need to!

When we worship, we are breathing in and out the breath of God (the Spirit of God). In other words, worship is like taking deep breaths of God’s Spirit – worship brings us life! But even more than that, worship brings us freedom as well. In fact, freedom is at the very heart of why we worship.

There is an amazing scene in the movie ‘The Shawshank Redemption,’ where the main character, who has been unjustly imprisoned, manages to get hold of a classical music record. He locks the warden out of his office and plays this record over the prison sound system. As the strains of the beautiful music fills the air, the prisoners stop wherever they are and whatever they are doing. Some of them close their eyes and you can literally sense their spirits soaring up and beyond the prison concrete high walls and fences along with the music

That’s exactly what worship does for us! It lifts us up and beyond the ‘prisons’ we encounter in daily life such as our addictions or strongly negative emotions like fear, anxiety, anger or hatred. Worship can free us from self-made prisons and culturally imposed prisons. The message of worship is that God created us to be free and that because of God’s all surpassing power and love we CAN live free!

Through song and word, prayer and sacrament, fellowship and togetherness; our spirits are lifted above any and all prison walls. Worship is a protest against death and imprisonment of body and soul, spirit and mind. Worship is gathering all that we have and entrusting it to God. Worship is having our minds transformed to think in new ways, it is being radically changed and transformed.

Like prayer, worship is not an attempt to change God’s mind or sweet talk God into doing things our way, but it is about God changing us and us coming into alignment with God’s way. Worship is that which reminds us that there is something greater than even the worst of our fears and worship reminds us that we are made for love and not for anger or hatred. Worship is breathing in the breath of God and living God’s freedom! For the truth of the matter is that we never stand as tall as when we learn to bend our knees before God.

Ultimately, we worship to be free and we worship to stay free.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Worshipping you Almighty God, is like gulping in the air we need to breathe. We worship you not only because you deserve all the praise we could possibly give you, but we also worship you because that is what we need to do to stay alive and free in your Spirit. Help us to worship you in every possible way and in every moment of every day. Amen.

FOCUS VERSE

Exodus 7:16

The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you to say, ‘Let my people go, so that they may worship in the wilderness.’