What is worship? And what does it mean to be a worshipper?
After teaching through the Book of Acts for the past two years, and relishing in the years we studied and taught through Genesis and Exodus, and seeing this Truth throughout the narrative of the Story of God in a book known to us as the Bible, it has become clear[er] to me what worship is.
Worship is acknowledging that not only is there a God but that this God, the one True God, the Infinite God…is not just merely propositional but personal. We know that this God is personal because we know that this God becomes personal when God chooses to be consumed by the very flesh and bone that consume our essence and chooses to become anthropos.
He chooses to become one of us though His Son, Jesus Christ, and in a world of constant and extravagant upward mobility, God does the unthinkable and becomes one of us, dwells with us, walks with us, and ultimately, dies for us. Jesus…Amazing. Truly amazing.
Worship then is acknowledging that not only is there this Personal and Infinite God but one of the primary attributes of this God is that He is a Revealer. He brings Light into darkness.
God illuminates. God elaborates. God elucidates. God reveals. God speaks.
The God we worship is a God of Revelation. The Bible, in essence, is a God who pours out His Revelation; Beckoning His Creation to Know His Story and Revelations.
Worship then is:
Acknowledging God.
Believing that God is Revealing and Speaking – yesterday, today, tomorrow, and for eternity.
And finally but not lastly,
we as the created orders of the Magnificent Creator choose to Respond to the Revelations of God.
Worship = Response to the Revelations of God.
Here’s the sermon I preached at Quest couple weeks ago for the purpose of not just merely summarizing the book of Acts (to mark our 2 year conclusion) but to explain the essence of Worship and the distinction of being a Consumer of Revelation and a Responder to the Revelations of God = aka // being a Worshipper.
We live in world of Hyper-Information. We are gluttons for data, knowledge, stuff, info, and “revelations.”
And this is why we can be so prone to becoming religious with our cacophonous clangs: Because we grow gluttonous with receiving revelation and forget that Responding to the Revelations of God is what makes us True Worshippers.
May we all grow to be worshippers of God. Take some time to “listen” for God is revealing and speaking. Listen and Respond. Worship God.
Filed under: christianity, seattle, bible, church, Holy Spirit, Jesus, worship
this is great, eugene!
if i could push it a little further, much of the discussions surrounding “worship” is often centered around this very notion of response -the relationship between receiving and doing…what exactly is it that we are “doing?” understanding what we are doing and why we are doing it must be a confessional reality….more on this: http://gailsongbantum.wordpress.com/2009/07/09/the-issue-with-doing-worship-an-excerpt/
Thanks for this sermon. It was one of the best chats I’ve heard from you and I felt really convicted that I’ve become the person you were describing that was only gathering information and not responding.
Awesome, Eugene. I’m really interested in narrative as theology here in Africa. Propositional, rhetorical preaching doesn’t work well here. But revelation, mystery and story are as obvious to Africans as they are incomprehensible to us.
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this is such an urgent, important and ultimately a beautiful message. i am so grateful to have heard it from you. it’s sad to admit that I just never thought about these things in the way you explained them until now.
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