We Need to Worship

God made everything to display all that he is. Psalm 19 directs us to see God’s wonders and glory in all he created. When we see how wonderful God is we should thank him and worship him. The Bible tells us how we should worship.

The words translated as “worship” in the Bible mean to bow down to someone, to show reverence, submission, and respect. Literally bowing down was how this honor was shown in those ancient times. This is brought out clearly when Psalm 95:6 says, “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.”

In other cultures, and particularly in the world of this age, actual bowing to the ground is not how we display that. Often this respect and submission is simplay a bowing of the head or no outward body positions at all. The attitude in our heart is the most central and important part of worship.

Our worship must always honor the one true God and him alone. This is one of the imporant ways where we can show how much we love and respect our Creator, Savior, and Lord over all that is. This is what the first four of the Ten Commandments teach us.

We show how much we honor God by doing things in worship that his written word tells us please him. When we worship we should sincerely pray to God. We should repentantly and humbly admit our sins. We should openly confess our trust in all God has made known to us in his word. We should sing about the wonderful things he is, has promised, and done. We are told to attentively read his word, and listen to lessons from those called to be our teachers and Pastors in the church.

When we gather for worship as a church we come together as a congregation to take part in the Sacraments. When we see someone baptized we should remember that we who were baptized must renew our trust in Jesus as our Savior and that we are part of the covenant family of Christ. When we partake of the Lord’s Supper together we should keep our thoughts centered on God’s grace in shedding his blood on the cross where our Savior’s body was offered as a sacrifice for our own sins. We should humbly receive the blessings promised to us when the leader of worship pronounces the benediction at the end of our times of gathered worship.

Worship on our own, as a family, or as a gathered church, should send us forth to faithfully live for our Heavenly Father, to bear the title “Christian” responsibly as lights shining in our sin darkened world, and to daily care for and encourage one another as God’s children. God promises special blessings to his people when they worship him in these ways. It helps us to be spiritually healthy.

We can worship God at any time by praying to him, singing his praises, and thinking about the wonderful things God tells us in the Bible. 1 Chronicles 16:29, Psalm 29:2, and Psalm 96:9 all say, “worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness!”

(Bible verses are quoted from the New King James Version of the Bible)
Lesson 11: We Need to Help Other Believers
Index of all our lessons on Bible Basics