A man once related the story to me of a shop attendant in a Christian bookstore who would frequently, and indiscriminately, say, “Praise God, praise God!” She said it at the end of sentences, as a way of expressing happiness, or sometimes even just to fill in between silences. One day, a Christian frustrated with this verbal hiccup responded to her “Praise God!” by saying, “Okay, go ahead. Do so.” Of course, she was totally flummoxed. She had been saying “Praise God,” but never for a moment thought of what that would actually be. She thought calling others to worship counted as worship itself.
It’s possible to say “Worship God” and not know what that means. We may say, “We are here to worship God”, and if God said, “Go ahead”, what would we do? Would we know what action follows that intention?
We may say – “All of life is worship,” and God may say – “Well, what does that look like?” It’s possible to say “We are here to worship” and not understand what it means. What is the true worship of God?
We have recently spent time talking about the priority of worship, the basis for worship why worship is not entertainment, and I hope that, by now, you are wanting to get to the core of it – what exactly worship is.
It is easier to define what worship does, than to define what worship is. For example, in I Corinthians 13, The Word does not tell you what love is, it tells you what love does. And we will spend many weeks describing what worship does. But it is not that easy to describe what it is. In fact, often when trying to describe the essence of something, you run the risk of making it harder to understand rather than less. Some concepts people feel in the heart without being able to articulate a definition. Nevertheless, it is important that we venture to define it, or else we will not know what we are aiming at.
I want to suggest a definition, and then read a number of Scriptures together to see if that definition captures the idea. The Scriptures we will read are texts that give a ‘universal, grand, scheme of things’ idea. They are summarising passages – they sum up our whole focus, our whole priority. And since we have seen that we were created to worship – it is safe to say that each of these passage captures something of the idea of what that means. Once we have done that we will take that definition apart to look at it carefully.
Worship is magnifying the glory of God, through the lens of your entire being, with other believers.
Consider these Scriptures:
Deut 10:12-13 And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?
What does God require? – fear Him, walk in His ways, love Him, serve Him, and obey Him.
Mark 12:28-30 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
What is the priority? Love God with all your heart soul and mind.
Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
What must we do? Present our entire selves as a consecrated offering to God – which is our rational service of worship.
1Cor 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
How are we to do all of our deeds? To the glory of God.
Col 3:17 (see also v 23) And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
How are we to do all of our deeds? In the name of Jesus, with thanksgiving.
1 Pet 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
1 Pet 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
Why are we saved? To offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God to show forth His praises.
Phil 1:20-21 According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Why did Paul live? To magnify Christ, by life or by death.
All of those Scriptures carry something of this idea – all of you, all the time, is to be given over to God, to be living for His glory, consecrated to Him as a sacrifice, doing things in his name, delighting in Him, serving Him, fearing Him, obeying Him – so as to show forth His praise, his glory – this is the worship which you offer up and is acceptable to God.
So let’s take that definition apart phrase by phrase.
Worship is “Magnifying The Glory of God”
Magnify. What does magnify mean?
Magnify can mean “Make something that is small appear bigger than it is”. That’s what you do when you look at a tiny insect under a magnifying glass.
That’s not what we mean by magnify the glory of God – that God’s glory is small or little and we must inflate it to look bigger. It isn’t strengthening God – it isn’t complimenting Him or meeting His need out of our own needs. God is self-sufficient, not needing our compliments.
Magnify can also mean “Take what is big, but is not seen as big, and let it be seen as it really is – big.” For example, a star is a massive object. However, they appear so tiny because they are far away. So a telescope magnifies the light of that star so as to help us to see it big – to see it closer to how it really is. That is what we mean when we say magnify the glory of God.
God’s glory is massive; it is the most prominent thing in the universe. It is so big that the Bible says one day:
Hab. 2:14 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
However, like a massive star is far from earth, we are far from God’s glory, so it seems small to sinners. What does that fundamental verse about us all being sinners say?
Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
To magnify the glory of God is to show how magnificent God really is. It reveals, or expresses, how great and glorious He is. It is reflecting His worth – His value.
What do we mean by the glory of God?
That is another thing almost impossible to define. We really mean – ‘All that God is, combined to make up inexpressible value, His surpassing beauty.’ It is all the attributes of God summed up into one word – glory. It is the same as saying the name of God – for it is who He is. The glory of God is who he is – Eternal, Unchanging, Sovereign, All-Wise, All-Powerful, All-present, All-knowing, Gracious, Merciful, Patient, Gentle, Good, Just, Righteous, Faithful, Truthful. The glory of God is what He does – He is the Creator; He is our Redeemer; He is the Sovereign King of the Universe; He is the Judge of all His Creatures; He is the Sustainer of the Universe; He is the Shepherd of His people – who God is, and what He has done.
False worship cannot magnify the glory of God; it makes up a god in its own image. Its telescope is pointed at the wrong star altogether.
Worship is not making His glory bigger than it is, it is displaying it bigger. It is not making it bigger, it is making it clearer. It is a display, an imaging forth of God’s glory.
Adam’s created purpose was to be an image-bearer of Almighty’s worth.
1 Pet 2:9
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light:
“Shew forth His praises.”
Is the idea of ‘magnify’ Biblical?
Psalm 34:3 Oh, magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together.
Phil 1:20-21
according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.
For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Paul wanted to magnify Christ always. He would magnify Christ in life by saying – living is Christ, and he would magnify Christ in death by saying – death brings me to Christ.
“Through the Lens.”
I’m using a metaphor here, comparing your, and my, entire life and being, to a lens.
What does a lens do? A lens functions to take light, and allows it to pass through itself, instead of blocking it. A believer allows the glory of God in; they do not reject the knowledge of God.
That lens then magnifies that light and allows it to pass outside of itself for others to enjoy. A believer magnifies the glory of God for others.
The glory of God must first penetrate your soul, and then radiate out. You are not a postman who delivers the letter but does not know the contents. Knowing God is not something outside of you. It is felt in the heart. It is experienced in life. It is acted out by the will.
Worship begins when the glory of God thrills you in your inner being. You treasure Christ; you prize Him; you cherish Him; you are fully satisfied with Him.
Therefore, worship cannot be something external to you, a ritual you do, with no heartfelt feelings about it. We saw in the sermon entitled ‘Worship vs Entertainment’ that worship with wrong motives is false worship. Worship begins when the glory of God is revealed to you as an individual, and it is satisfies and overawes and amazes and convicts you at your core.
A lens does its best work at its very centre. The glory of God is to be allowed into your deepest soul.
It is popular in conservative circles to say – ‘I’m not here to get, I’m here to give.’ I prefer to say, ‘We are not here to be entertained, we here to be participants;’ or, ‘We are not here to be passive, we are here to be active.’ This is because it isn’t true that worship is an act of selfless giving to God. It is an act of receiving the fullness of God, and returning to Him our delighted responses.
A lens does not distort, but it in fact carries the image. If an image of a beautiful mountain enters the lens – what should come out the other side of a lens? A magnified or clarified image of that mountain should come out. If what comes out the other side is the face of a clown, or the front cover of a romance novel, then the lens is distorting, warping the image.
If the glory of God enters your soul, what must come out must be a reaction fitting with the glory of God. Worship is a true emotion worthy of both God and worshipper. False worship is characterised by approaching and responding to God in inappropriate ways. If what is coming out is sensual, irreverent, worldly, ugly or profane, it is certain that either what came in was not the glory of God, or, perhaps it was, but the lens of our minds are so horribly distorted and unsanctified as to warp God’s glory into something quite unlike it.
C.S Lewis said – “In worship God communicates His presence to men.”
“Of Your Entire Being.”
God has made it clear that the kind of worship that pleases Him is the kind which engages all of us. He does not just want our minds. He doesn’t just want our emotions, without our minds. He does not just want our wills without our minds and emotions. He wants all of us to magnify the glory of God.
Worship engages your whole being.
Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
‘Living sacrifice’ – give yourself wholly and unreservedly for God’s total use.
What displays worth in a human? God created man with personality – intellect, emotions and a will. With that came the capacity to appreciate value and worth and beauty. When a person thinks a car is valuable, what do they do? When a person thinks someone else is beautiful, what do they do? When a person thinks someone is powerful or extremely important, what do they do? When a person thinks a landscape is awesome and amazing, what do they do? When a person thinks someone is very reliable, what do they do?
Worship starts with the mind, engages the emotions, which combine to change the will, heart, soul & mind.
Mark 12:28-30 Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?”
Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.
And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.
See, this is worship; it is the response of a saved soul to the glory of God. Mentally – it means understanding how glorious He is, and learning, and concentrating and meditating on His truth. Your mind learns the truth, concentrates on it, analyses it, reasons, meditates, imagines applications, and gains understanding.
Emotionally, it is responding to the truth of His glory – delighting in Him, rejoicing, praising, giving thanks in him, being astonished and awed by Him, coming with trembling reverence, coming with deep broken sorrow over our sin. Righteous anger, boldness
Your will responds with consecration, surrender, trust, dependence, obedience, service. And it is every part of you using all of its powers.
How much of your heart? How much of your soul? How much of your mind? “All”
John 4:24
God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth
Jesus taught that worship is not centralised in a place. You do not go and ‘do’ worship on a Sunday, and then switch off the worship button.
- It isn’t a once-off event.
- It isn’t a localised event.
- It is a continual offering of your life. It is everything you do. It is both the mundane and the ‘sacred’. All of life becomes sacred.
- It is letting the glory of God penetrate every single part of your life, and letting it pass out magnified to believers, unbelievers alike.
1Cor 10:31
Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Col 3:17
And whatever you do in of word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him
In other words – worship is all of you, all the time.
“With Other Believers.”
Now here is the balancing thought. You worship God all the time. That has led some believers to think – ‘Well, since I worship God anywhere, all the time, what difference does it make if I come to church or not.’ ‘I don’t ‘do’ worship there, so what difference does it make?’
The answer is this: you do worship all the time, but God has commanded that His people gather to combine their individual worship into a unified, glorious voice.
What happens when you line a number of lenses up together? The image is even stronger.
Worship was never meant to terminate on the individual. It was meant to start privately but consummate corporately.
Are the Psalms expressed in plural or singular pronouns?
God intends for worship to have three results:
- It must magnify Him.
- It must edify other believers
- It must testify to the unsaved.
When you seek to allow the glory of God in, it will perform those three things.
That’s why we have chosen as our church focus – ‘Knowing Christ and making Him known.’ Allow the glory of Christ in, through the lens of your entire life; what comes out should please Him, edify other believers and testify to the unsaved what a glorious God He is.
Often in Scripture (thirty seven times) the concept of worship is likened to a fragrance coming up to God – a sweet aroma to the LORD. Now in the New Testament – our entire lives are to be that aroma. It is something God gives, but as it passes through a saved human, it is perfumed into an offering that rises up to God.
1 Pet 2:5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
“Offer up sacrifices.”
Seek to know His glory in every part of you, all the time. Don’t be satisfied with a superficial knowledge, or knowledge from others. Know His glory for yourself. Clean the lens of your life. Let the light of His glory in the Word come in, and allow an increasingly sanctified life magnify His glory to others.