Have you ever sat through a sermon or lecture and thought to yourself: “So what?” A speaker can do a great job explaining the content, but if he doesn’t show why it’s relevant, then it won’t make a difference. As we’ve discussed God’s attributes, this same question should be on our minds. How do we respond to who God is? What should we do with this information? God demands a response from us. And we see that response in the final attribute that we will examine. God is worthy of worship.
To worship means to humble yourself and bow in submission to someone. Worship involves praise, service, and devotion. Scripture teaches that God alone is worthy of our worship. Revelation 4:11 says, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” God is worthy of our worship simply because He created us. We exist by His will and for His purpose and glory. This attribute is exclusive to God. Only God is worthy of worship (Matt. 4:10). The first and second commandments forbid the worship of any other god or idol (Exod. 20:3-6). The last verse in the book of Psalms says, “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!” (Psa. 150:6). So if you’re breathing right now, then you’re commanded to praise the Lord. This is the proper response that God expects from us.
So what should worship look like? If you visit ten different churches, you will probably see ten different styles of worship. So what does Scripture say? We learn a lot about worship in the book of Psalms. That’s why we begin every Sunday service with a call to worship from the Psalms. If you read through this collection of songs, you’ll learn what God desires in our worship. First, we discover that worship must focus on God. It’s not man-centered or shallow. The Psalms are rich in theology. They speak about real-life issues but always draw our attention back to God. For this reason, it’s a good exercise to grab a journal and write down all the attributes of God that you can find in this book. The Psalms teach profound truths about God and the world He created.
From this, we see secondly that worship involves spirit and truth. For instance, when David says in Psalm 8:1, “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.” I doubt his face looks like Grumpy from the Seven Dwarves. David’s emotions are evident in his worship of God. We cannot divorce emotion from worship. However, there should always be a balance with truth. As Jesus says in John 4:24, “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The truth should stir our affections (the spirit). Our emotions should be excited by the character of God. So we worship God in spirit and truth.
Third, we observe that proper worship should have variety. Some Psalms are happy and exciting (see Psalm 100). And others are solemn and heavy (see Psalm 53 or 63). Some of the Psalms focus on God’s justice (see Psalm 2). At the same time, others focus on His mercy (see Psalm 51). Our worship should have variety. At Cambria, we sing a mix of hymns and modern songs that range from exciting to solemn themes to provide a variety for our worship. To pretend that life is always happy is dishonest. To always look sorrowful is a misrepresentation of God’s blessings. Therefore, our worship should contain various themes and moods to express the whole scope of life in submission to God. God is worthy of all your heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30).