Balanced // Chapter 3 - Worship

This message is part of the 3-a-day balanced diet guide/series. As believers in Christ, we are meant to be feeding our spirit a 3-a-day balanced diet which is made up of worship, prayer and the Word. You can find the introduction down below. It’s chapter 2 of the A Relationship With God guide. Make sure you also read The Word which is chapter 3 and Prayer - chapter 4.

What is worship?

As a Christian or someone who has been to church you’ve probably often heard the term ‘worship’ connected to music e.g praise and worship with praise being the more up beat, high tempo, joyful type of music and the worship section being more slow in tempo and more “emotional” and heartfelt. What if I told you that worship is more than than just a type or genre of music? Or that worship is more than just what happens during a church service or even more than the act of prayer. What worship truly is you ask?

Worship is:

• gestures and expressions

• a heart posture

• a way of living/ life style

Definition of Worship

The oxford dictionary defines worship as “the feeling or expression of reference and adoration for a deity.”

Pastor Michael Todd defines worship as: “Our love expressed to God in response to His grace towards us.”

When you put all of these definitions together, you come to the understanding that worship is engaging in an act that expresses: love, reverence, adoration and humility towards God.

Now let’s look what Jesus says about worship:

“Jesus replied, “Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.””John‬ ‭4:21-24‬ ‭NKJV

Where should you worship God?

“Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem.”

John 4:21 NKJV

Through Jesus Christ our worship is no longer confined or limited to a designated place of worship. We are now able to worship God at any place and anytime. This means that worship or how you experience worship is not just restricted to the church. You can worship God at home, in the shower, at work, in school etc. Wherever you are able to connect yourself to God and express your love towards Him, becomes your place of worship at that moment in time as worship starts from within your heart.

“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.”

Psalms‬ ‭24:3-5‬ ‭NKJV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Whenever you come before God with genuine reverence and adoration and a pure heart; you’re not thinking of evil against anyone, you’re not idolising anything else but God at that moment in time. Then you are truly worshiping God, wherever it is that you are.

Who Can Worship God?

He said “You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews.”

John‬ ‭4:22‬ ‭NLT‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

If worship is one engaging in an act that expresses love, reverence, adoration and humility towards God, how are you able to do these things adequately if you do not know who you are worshiping. You can only have salvation if you know the God are worshiping. Your worship becomes meaningful when you begin to seek God deeper each day. Read Act 8:26-39. The Ethiopian Eunuch asked Peter to teach him who prophet Isaiah was talking about – if it was about himself or someone else. And Peter began to teach him about Christ. After learning about who Christ is, the Eunuch asked Peter to baptise him, because at that moment he knew who Christ was and was then able to gain salvation through baptism. Therefore, you must be eager to know the God you are worshiping so that your worship can give you salvation through Christ.

How Should You Worship God?

He says: “true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.”

John 4:23 NLT

Now let’s look at the two keywords in that verse; ”spirit” and ”truth”. Truth in the Greek translates to ’Alethia’ which means to be unconcealed, open, transparent. Therefore, when you are worshipping God, you must come before Him withholding nothing, hiding nothing, as your true self, come to Him openly. Don’t come before God acting as if everything is okay with you when you are hurting on the inside, put that pain before Him so he can touch it. Don’t come before God acting like you’re not weak towards certain habitual sins that you are struggling to overcome, bring that before Him. He sees all, so do not hide it. Worship Him as your true self.

“You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not wan a burnt offering. The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭51:16-17‬ ‭NLT‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

In this Psalm (which are songs), David is singing to God which is a form worship. And in his worship he is offering his broken spirit and his repentant heart unto God as his sacrifice. God doesn’t care about the money you offer unto Him, or the things you bring to him as thanksgiving, if you have not given Him your broken spirit, your shame, your weaknesses, your insecurities, the pain you’re hiding from the world but you are suffering from in silence. Worship must be in truth which is openness and transparency.

Your worship means nothing if you don’t offer God a repentant heart. What does that mean? The Hebrew word for repentance is ‘Teshuvah‘ which means to return and go back. When you have sinned it means you have gone the wrong way and have missed the mark. Therefore, offering a repentant heart in worship, is being transparent about what you may have done wrong and being willing to turn back to the ways of God.

Jesus went on to explain what He meant by spirit in the next verse. “For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” John 4:24 NLT

Jesus is saying that your worship must not be limited to the flesh and what happens in the physical. You need to connect yourself to the spirit of God or the Holy Spirit when you are truly worshipping Him. In essence what that means is that there must be an exchange and a connection taking place in the spirit when you are worshipping.

“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.” ERV says “And the Spirit himself speaks to our spirits” Romans‬ ‭8:14-16‬ ‭NLT‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

This means that when you are worshipping in spirit and in truth, you are being transparent about who you are, and you are allowing yourself to get connected to the living Spirit of God, mainly so that He can give you the power to overcome the sins, weaknesses and the desires of the flesh and you can fulfil the desires of God in the way you live. It says:

“you have received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children”. Having the Spirit comes with becoming a child of God. When you begin to live for Him and as you are growing in your relationship with Him there must be evidence of that relationship in the spirit. This evidence is shown by the growth of your spiritual fruits and gifts, your change in character, your submission to the Spirit of God, etc. This is because, you need the Spirit of God to help you in your walk with Christ. You walk can’t be progressive without the Spirit of God.

“For his Spirit joins with our Spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.” Romans 8:16 It is an affirmation of sonship in Christ when you receive the Spirit of God. And this Spirit becomes most evident or feels most tangible when you are in worship.

There are many example in the Bible that demonstrate what actually takes place when you worship God and we will be going into them in the next chapter - the Power of Worship.

Summary

“O God, we meditate on your unfailing love as we worship in your Temple.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭48:9‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Prayer

Gracious Father in the name of Jesus,

Lord I Worship you just because you are Lord, just because you are King and just because you are God and I am nothing without you. Lord I ask you to teach me how to worship you in spirit and in truth. Teach me how to give you the worship that you deserve each and everyday. Let your divine Spirit lead me to know you more and more each and every day so I can know and appreciate the God that I am worshiping. May Your name forever be glorified.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen!