What Does the Bible Say about Worship? part 2

Last month I posed the question, "What does the Bible say about worship?” and laid some foundation for how, we might organize a response to such a question.  We’ll begin with a question about the nature of the object of our worship, God Himself.  To be sure, that’s no small question, and the answers are not always simple.  However, for the purposes of this article, I’ll make some assumptions that we all agree that God is in fact the One whom we worship, He alone receives worship, and He has made Himself known to us through His scriptures.

God is the Creator of all things (Genesis 1).  God walked with Adam in the garden and had relationship with Him there.  With Abraham, God made known His intentions to reconcile all of mankind back to Himself (Genesis 15).  Through Moses, God delivered the nation from slavery that would serve as an example to all other nations in hopes that they would too follow Him (Exodus 6).  He instituted the Law and the sacrificial system in order to demonstrate the consequences of sin, and the cost of redemption (Exodus 20).

Through the Kings and Judges of Israel, God continued to teach His people of His love, and the demands of His justice.  It was finally revealed for all time, once and for all (Hebrews 9), in the person of Jesus, who was “God With Us” (Matthew 1).  Through Jesus, His sinless life, His sacrificial death, and His power over the grave itself, God once and for all made it possible for sinful man to be reconciled to God (Romans 5).

God’s story of love for man now continues in His work in the Church, His Kingdom here on earth.  The presence of His Holy Spirit among us reminds us of His love, our fellowship as a community, and our need for Him.  The Scriptures give us glimpses of the completion of the narrative and our ultimate destination: eternity spent in worship and in loving relationship with God (Revelation 5).

It is by understanding God that we can then begin to understand how we may approach Him in worship.  So this still begs the questions, “Who are we?”  For the object of worship is certainly God, yet we (mankind) are the subjects.  How do we relate to God?  This will be the topic of next month’s article.  From there we will begin to examine what we might actually do when we approach Him in worship.

I will be posting these articles, not only on my blog (www.erictunes.blogspot.com), but in the New Spirit (Greenwood Christian's monthly print newsletter) as well.  Please follow along, subscribe to the blog, share your pertinent and well though-out comments, questions, and responses as we go.