Yesterday I suggested two definitions for worship. Today, I’ll unpack the first.
“Christian worship is the response of God’s redeemed people to His self-revelation that exalts God’s glory in Christ in our minds, affections, and wills, in the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Christian worship…is different from every kind of worship because it has been made possible through Jesus Christ. ( Rev. 5:9-10Revelation 5:9-10
[9]And they sang a new song, saying,
"Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people
for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
[10]and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our
God,
and they shall reign on the earth."
)
Is the response…God has already done something outside of us and inside of us that enables us to worship Him. We are not the initiators of worship; God is. ( Acts 17:24-31Acts 17:24-31
[24]The God who made the world and everything in it,
being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples
made by man, [25]nor is he served by human hands, as though
he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind
life and breath and everything. [26]And he made from one
man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the
earth, having determined allotted periods and the
boundaries of their dwelling place, [27]that they should
seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward
him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one
of us, [28]for
"'In him we live and move and have our being';
as even some of your own poets have said,
"'For we are indeed his offspring.'
[29]Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that
the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image
formed by the art and imagination of man. [30]The times of
ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people
everywhere to repent, [31]because he has fixed a day on
which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man
whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance
to all by raising him from the dead." (ESV)
)
Of God’s redeemed people…Just as God delivered the nation of Israel from Egypt to worship Him ( Ex. 8:1Exodus 8:1
[8:1] Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go in to Pharaoh and
say to him, 'Thus says the LORD, "Let my people go, that
they may serve me. (ESV)
), so He has redeemed us as a holy nation to declare His praises. ( 1 Pet. 2:91 Peter 2:9
[9]But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, a people for his own possession, that you may
proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of
darkness into his marvelous light. (ESV)
) Worship of God is intended to be …
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