Some Helpful Thoughts About Worship

Yesterday Rick Schupp, Pastor at the Amman International Church (AIC), commented on a series the elders at the church have begun on worship. You may read his thoughts at his blog, A Voice in the Desert, in a post entitled A Recipe for Worship. Here is a brief preview offering some Biblical perspective on worship:

We are in the middle of a series of messages on worship at AIC. (I encourage you to listen to the first two if you haven’t already. Links to the podcasts are available at http://www.ammanchurch.org/) Worship is defined in so many ways – many of which are not helpful. Jeff Townsend [a fellow-elder at AIC] suggested a great definition of worship this past Saturday. He said: “Worship is the heart response to the supreme worth of God, expressed in all we say, think or do.”

That definition may seem too broad to some. There has been a tendency to define “worship” as singing or the singing portion of a church service. Certainly music and song can be worship. But the New Testament specifically and the Bible as a whole seem to have something bigger in mind. Worship is our whole-life response to God. He is our creator and sustainer. He is our Lord and redeemer. He is our rock and our fortress.

Paul wrote in Romans 12:1, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Some translations say “reasonable worship” instead of “spiritual worship”. Paul’s point is that in light of all God has done for us in showing mercy through the cross, the only reasonable, spiritual thing we could possibly do is offer ourselves back to him. All we are and all we will become…everything…should be offered to him. Our heart response should be to offer our lives to him who gave his life for us.

I am glad to see that Rick has entered the blogosphere, and I recommend reading his blog on a regular basis.