Sunday, December 16, 2012

THE ESSENCE OF WORSHIP

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song.

For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. In His hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to Him. The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land.

Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for He is our God and we are the people of His pasture, the flock under His care.

Psalm 95:1-7

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I remember a great pastor once say that we were created to worship the Lord Most High. At our very essence, we were made adore, revere, and love our Maker.

Maybe this is why I love Sundays so much. Because it is the one day a week I get to come to church and fully immerse myself in worshipping the Lord.

I love the music that streams from the organ and piano at our traditional services or the chords of our praise instruments during the contemporary services. I love the opportunity to lift my voice in song whether singing hymns or more modern praise and worship music. I love being in the midst of communal prayer as the congregation lifts their hearts together to the Lord. I love watching people commit their loves to Christ and become baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And I love listening and learning from the inspired messages the Lord gives our pastor, messages intended to help us become more and more like Christ for this is what we should be striving for daily if we’re going to call ourselves Christian.

Yes, worship is amazing and elevates my heart and spirit to the highest plains of joy and peace and hope. As I read the opening verses of the 95th Psalm, I found that the psalmist felt the same way. Look at his words and feel his passion and excitement about worship:

Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song.

For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. In His hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to Him. The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land.

Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for He is our God and we are the people of His pasture, the flock under His care.

 It’s clear that the writer of this psalm adored and cherished worship and through his words we can see key elements that compose the essence of worship. They include:

1. Song.

Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord. Let us extol Him with music and song.

2. Proclamation.

Let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.

3. Thanksgiving.

Let us come before Him with thanksgiving.

4. Reverent, humble prayer.

Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker

The Lord and the Lord alone is worthy of this. No one else deserves to be exalted with all our worship and praise. For the Lord is indeed the great God, the great King above all gods. Because of His creation power, he holds the depths of the earth in His hands; every mountain peak is His as well as the seas. His hands formed them all, no one or nothing else did. Again, only the Lord is worthy of all our honor, praise, and worship.

In the end translation, the psalmist says it well. God is our God. He is Emmanuel, God with us, and we are the people of His pasture, the flock under His care.

Let us ever worship the Lord God Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, on Sunday and on every single day He blesses us with, now and forever.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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