WORSHIP, A VIEW OF GOD
What is Worship? Ask that question to ten different people and your are probably going to get ten different answers. It is also interesting to note that often our view of God affects our view of worship. Indeed we can see how different groups seem to emphasize one part of the Godhead in their theology, morality, and doxology (Praise.)
Some emphasize God the Father, but God as He reveals himself in the Old Testament often as a distant transcended God. Catholics, Lutherans, and other similar groups worship services have much in common with the services that were performed by the Jews in the Temple. Their robes certainly imitate the robes of the Old Testament Priests, and the “altar” takes center stage in the Church building just as the altar occupied center stage in the Jerusalem Temple.
Others emphasize God the Spirit, this include groups of a “Pentecostal” or “Charismatic” persuasion. These groups tend to focus on the ecstatic workings of the Holy Spirit, and then proceed to use such ecstatic workings as the norm and pattern for their theology and their assemblies.
Still others emphasis God the Son, Jesus. This would include the group which is called evangelical. Here the alter is replaced by the pulpit, and the Holy Spirit is often replaced by cold logic.
When we divide God up and worship Him in such myopic ways we miss so much. God is a awesome holy transcendent God, yet the incarnation also reveals God as a close and personal God.
When we divide our lives into times of worships we also miss much. Do you realize that New Testament never calls the Sunday Morning Assembly Worship. The New Testament does call Christians to live each and every day of their lives to be worship to God, (Rom. 12:1-2). Thus the Sunday Assembly is where Christians worship together, but for the Christian worship must not end with the final Amen of the Sunday Assembly.
What is Worship? Worship occurs when we surrender our lives to God, and place Him on the throne of our lives. Worship occurs when every decision we make, every word we speak, and every action we take is influenced by our relationship with God.
Some emphasize God the Father, but God as He reveals himself in the Old Testament often as a distant transcended God. Catholics, Lutherans, and other similar groups worship services have much in common with the services that were performed by the Jews in the Temple. Their robes certainly imitate the robes of the Old Testament Priests, and the “altar” takes center stage in the Church building just as the altar occupied center stage in the Jerusalem Temple.
Others emphasize God the Spirit, this include groups of a “Pentecostal” or “Charismatic” persuasion. These groups tend to focus on the ecstatic workings of the Holy Spirit, and then proceed to use such ecstatic workings as the norm and pattern for their theology and their assemblies.
Still others emphasis God the Son, Jesus. This would include the group which is called evangelical. Here the alter is replaced by the pulpit, and the Holy Spirit is often replaced by cold logic.
When we divide God up and worship Him in such myopic ways we miss so much. God is a awesome holy transcendent God, yet the incarnation also reveals God as a close and personal God.
When we divide our lives into times of worships we also miss much. Do you realize that New Testament never calls the Sunday Morning Assembly Worship. The New Testament does call Christians to live each and every day of their lives to be worship to God, (Rom. 12:1-2). Thus the Sunday Assembly is where Christians worship together, but for the Christian worship must not end with the final Amen of the Sunday Assembly.
What is Worship? Worship occurs when we surrender our lives to God, and place Him on the throne of our lives. Worship occurs when every decision we make, every word we speak, and every action we take is influenced by our relationship with God.
posted by Derek McNamara at
11:07 AM
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