“Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12.28 ESV
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Mark 12.30 ESV
Day 13 of 40: Offering “God acceptable worship” is worshiping in a way that pleases God. What pleases God in worship? It’s not so much a question of “what” as “how.”
“Our God is a consuming fire”… so tread carefully – with reverence and awe. Our God wants us to love Him with all we have – “heart… soul… mind… and strength”… so give Him all you’ve got.
Today’s reading is instructive and practical. Warren notes that God-pleasing worship has four characteristics:
- It’s accurate – truthful, as revealed in the Bible
- It’s authentic – spirit-filled, as an expression of love from my heart and my soul
- It’s thoughtful – edifying, engages my mind in an orderly, helpful way
- It’s practical – requires me to offer myself (all I am/have) to God
Here are some quotes:
“Real worship happens when your spirit responds to God.”
Another way of thinking about this is – being aware of God’s presence in an almost tangible way. I can think of numerous times and settings when I was aware that God was in that place. Tears, tongues, stand up, sit down, fall on my face, sing from my heart, kneel, raise my hands… all of the above and more. The point is – I was keenly aware of God’s presence and responded appropriately.
Yes – I realize that God is always present when two or three gather in His name… but sometimes His presence is palpable. And that’s a worship “game-changer.”
“The best style of worship is one that most authentically represents your love for God, based on the background and personality God gave you.”
As a pastor of inter-generational and cross cultural churches over the years, designing “authentic worship” opportunities while respecting a congregation’s internal “background and personality” differences was a real challenge. Young and old, new believer and seasoned saint, along with cultural, ethnic and socio-economic diversity… all in one congregation.
And what about the people who weren’t there that we wanted to attract? Do you design a worship experience for people who aren’t there, but might come sometime? Where does that leave the “saints” who have been faithful for years? Should they just “suck it up” for the sake of the unchurched?
The best I ever did was to offer three different styles of worship opportunities on Sunday am for broad segments of the congregation. But that was “back in the time.”
I confess that my typical knee-jerk response was – “suck it up.” Not very sensitive to the folks who were there before me and remained long after I was gone. But now I’m walking in their shoes, and my perspective is changing.
Today’s question is challenging for me: “Which is more pleasing to God right now – my public worship or my private worship? What will I do about it?”
I can’t to expect public worship to fit my background and personality… I represent a very small percentage of any worshiping congregation. It’s not going to happen anywhere…. But I do think it’s reasonable to expect “reverence and awe” in the palpable presence of God and “help and hope” for the journey ahead.
In private, however, I can begin to design worship experiences that do utilize my background and personality to the glory of God. I’ll work on that.
The Peanut Gallery 