Holy Spirit and Worship
Captivating moment
What is worship?
originally referred to the action of human beings in expressing homage to God because he is worthy of it.
Worship is human response to a gracious God, and it needs to be placed in this context if it is to be properly understood.
What are you worshipping?
How do we worship?
An elderly gentleman at a midweek meeting offered this prayer: “O Lord, we will praise Thee; we will praise Thee with an instrument of ten strings!” People wondered what he meant, but understood when he continued, “We will praise Thee with our two eyes by looking only unto Thee. We will exalt Thee with our two ears by listening only to Thy voice. We will extol Thee with our two hands by working in Thy service. We will honor Thee with our own two feet by walking in the way of Thy statutes. We will magnify Thee with our tongue by bearing testimony to Thy loving kindness. We will worship Thee with our heart by loving only Thee. We thank Thee for this instrument, Lord; keep it in tune. Play upon it as Thou wilt and ring out the melodies of Thy grace! May its harmonies always express Thy glory!”
The expression in spirit refers to the human spirit—the immaterial, inner being in each person, the God-breathed entity that corresponds to the nature of God himself, who is Spirit. Using the terms of Jesus’ conversation, worship involves the person’s awareness of that personal “spring of living water” that God has planted in him or her. God indwells believers—that is where true worship takes place. Our body can be anywhere, yet worship occurs as our attention and praise are turned toward God. We need to consciously focus on God when we are in a house of worship because we easily assume that our presence in church is all that we need in order to worship. We can usually remember how long the worship service lasted, but can we remember exactly when we actually worshiped the Lord?
15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.
A story is told in which a man went to church with an angel as his guide. Every seat in the church was filled, but there was something strange about it all. The organist moved his fingers over the keys but no music came forth from the pipes. The choir arose to sing, and their lips moved, but not a sound was to be heard. The pastor stepped to the pulpit to read the Scriptures, but not a sound was heard.
The congregation joined in repeating the prayer, but not a single sound was heard. The pastor again stepped to the pulpit, and went through all the motions of preaching, but the man with the angel heard nothing. So he turned to the angel and said,
“What does this mean? I see that a service is being held, but I hear nothing.”
The angel replied, “You hear nothing because there is nothing to be heard. You see this service just as God sees it. These are not putting their hearts into it, and so God hears nothing. He hears only that which comes from the heart, and not that which comes from the lips only.”
As the angel was speaking, back in the last pew they heard a child saying, “Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,” etc. The angel said, “You are hearing the only part of this service that God hears. He hears this little child’s prayer because she means what she says, and put her heart and soul in it.”
Can your praise be heard by God? Or are you talking to yourself?
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.