What Should Happen At Worship

Better a single day within thy courts than a thousand days outside!

Psalm 84:10

Worship is an act of the soul. There are certain expediencies we use in worship (e.g., songbooks, church building, etc.), that are not essential to worship, but the soul is indispensable. God is a spirit, and they who worship Him must do so in spirit and in truth. Singing is worthless, praying is worthless, eating the Lord’s supper is worthless unless the soul of the worshipper is going out to God in them.

By use of a memorable phrase, the psalmist tells us that he saw value in worship. He believed time spent in worship is the best time. Time spent in scientific research, secular engagements, social fellowship, and innocent recreation has its place, but all these take a back seat to time spent in true worship. Here are three reasons why.

Worship is an intelligent act that allows for the development of the highest thoughts. As iron sharpens iron, so mind quickens mind. And the greater the mind with which ours comes in contact, the greater the possibility that our thoughts will be raised to higher ground. Contact with God’s mind is the strongest impulse to noble thought. Our mind struggles with little things; but when our mind comes to the mind of Him who brought life and immortality to light through the gospel (2 Tim. 1.10), our life can rise to greater things. Worship is a time when our thinking, which affects our all, is engaged, challenged, and enlightened.

Worship is an emotional act that puts us in motion. In the Jewish temple, the fires on the altar were never allowed to go out. On the altar that is our heart, the fire must not be quenched (see Lk. 24.21,32). Times of worship should stir our devotion to where the cold winds of worldly influence are kept at bay. The preaching, teaching, and fellowshipping that occur at worship should always remind us of who the Lord is and what He has done for us, for only in this way can we keep the fire in our heart lit.

Worship allows for the growth of the soul. When God created the world he placed in earth the seeds of all vegetable and plant life and provided the means for them to grow (rain, photosynthesis, etc.). God has done the same with the human soul. The seeds of spirituality and eternity (Eccl. 311) and the wherewithal to enable them to “grow up in all things unto Him who is the head—Christ” (Eph. 4.15) have been placed within us. They may be slumbering, they may yet be embryonic, but they are there. Worship is a time for turning these seeds into fruit. “It is only as the earth turns its face to the sun that its seeds of life are quickened, and it is only as the soul turns itself into conscious contact with God, that its unbounded potentialities are quickened into vitality and stimulated to growth” (David Thomas). When the power of worship is understood, the psalmist’s enthusiasm for worship is understood. Worship should never be lost time but the very best use of the time we have.              ~Kenny