Why Do We Worship?

For me, Sunday morning worship and the quiet, personal times I spend before the Lord alone are precious times. Shortly after I got saved, I learned the value of both types of worship (time with the Lord in praise and thanks, lifting Him up in song, prayer and praise). They've been an important part of my relationship with the Father ever since. I realize that all folks don't feel the same way.

From time to time, I hear comments like, "Why do we have to sing so many songs?" or, "I don't really like this style or that sound." I'm not surprised by any of this as most people think that worship is "music". Music is certainly a part of worship but worship is certainly not limited to music. We could go on for hours talking about the nuances of worship, our attitudes and our approach but that's not why I'm addressing this question.

Someone (not from WBF) asked me a few days ago, "Why do we worship? Why don't you just get up and preach on Sunday mornings? What's the purpose of the music portion of church services?"

I used to think that our corporate worship was a kind of "practice", getting us ready for our time in heaven.

Then I ran across Psalm 115

Here, we find the Lord warning His people not to construct idols because….

4 Their idols are silver and gold,

The work of man's hands.

5 They have mouths, but they cannot speak;

They have eyes, but they cannot see;

6 They have ears, but they cannot hear;

They have noses, but they cannot smell;

7 They have hands, but they cannot feel;

They have feet, but they cannot walk;

They cannot make a sound with their throat.

8 Those who make them will become like them,

Everyone who trusts in them.

The earlier verses of this passage are pretty much self-explanatory. "Idols aren't real gods, they have no power and are inanimate. The intriguing verse is vs 8. We should see a Biblical principal here that tell us that we become like the object of our worship. We worship because our devotion, dedication and concentration on our object of worship begins to make us like that object.

This concept isn't difficult to comprehend when we apply it to our jobs, our hobbies or any other worldly focus that consumes us. But we have a rough time applying this idea to our time before the Lord. We get bored, tired or picky about how we worship God and it interferes with why we worship Him.

Psalm 115 tells us that worship is one of God's tools for sanctification. We should embrace it, look forward to it and offer our praise up to Him in thanks for His perfect design of it.