Sunday worship is a sacred duty not drugery
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| Grace Community Church Worship Center (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
and truth” (v. 24).
Worship is perhaps the most comprehensive of all the means of grace our Father has given to us. When we come together to praise our sovereign Lord, we have the privilege of engaging in Bible study by hearing the preached Word of God, praying as a corporate body, exercising stewardship as we give our tithes and offerings, and meeting with Christ as we partake in the sacraments.
Regrettably, too many churches today have forgotten the awesome privilege and sacred duty of worship, preferring to create “seeker-friendly” services that
often cater more to our culture and its love of entertainment than to the
adoration of our Creator. In the “seeker-sensitive” model, worship has become
a means to attract the unchurched through the means of marketing with little
regard as to whether such a model is proper for worshiping God. Yet Scripture
is clear that the Lord does not view worship as something indifferent or
subject to the fanciful whims of sinful men. God is the one who determines
proper worship (Lev. 10:1–3). Our fallenness makes us all prone to idolatry
(Rom. 1:18–32), and none of us is above disobeying His commands against
worshiping other gods and crafting false images of Him (Ex. 20:3–6). Most of
us do not construct deities of wood and stone; our idolatry is much more
sophisticated. We tend to make increasing the size of the congregation our
chief priority. We like to proclaim to the world how “hip” and “with it” we
Christians really are. We love to deny those attributes of God that make us
uncomfortable.
Today’s passage tells us that our Father desires those who will worship Him
“in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). Worship in truth means worship that is
structured according to His Word. We must praise the Lord revealed in
Scripture, who is the embodiment of holiness and justice as well as love and
mercy. The whole counsel of God must guide our worship of Him.
Worshiping the Lord in spirit means that we praise God with our whole being,
taking delight in the opportunity to praise His name. Spending time preparing
ourselves before we come to church will help us “enter his gates with
thanksgiving” in our hearts and into “his courts with praise” (Ps. 100:4).
Do you find Sunday morning worship to be a delight or dull and dreary? Do you
spend the service thinking about all the things you could be doing if you were
not at church? Take time today to repent for those times you have not devoted proper attention to the Lord in worship. Remember that He is truly present among us when we gather together (Matt. 18:20) and let that be a compellingmotivation to delight in Him in the presence of His people.
