Worship | Christian Ministry Training Blog

Worship a Priority?

Posted on April 22, 2020 by Ministry Tools Resource Center — 2 Comments ↓

Loving God Make Worship a Priority

How can we love God with all of who we are (Matt. 22:37) and not spend time telling Him what we think of Him, how much we adore Him? Making worship a priority seems to be the logical response.

9 Biblical Reasons to Make Worship a Priority

A walk through the Bible shows how much of a priority worship should be for God’s people.

Refusal to worship caused Satan’s fall. (Isa. 14:12-14)

Worship was central in the Old Testament law. (Ex. 20:1-7; 34:14)

God gave Moses detailed plans for tabernacle worship. (Ex. 25-30)

God gave David detailed plans for temple worship. (1 Chron. 22-26)

Israel was judged because they did not worship God. (2 Chron. 7:21-22; 24:18; Jer. 16:10-11; 22:8-9)

People have risked their lives rather than stop worshiping God. (Dan. 3:10-18, 28; 6:1-28)

Jesus lived to glorify the Father. (Jn. 2:13-17; 8:29; 13:31-32; 17:1)

Worship was an integral part of early church life. (Acts 2:42-47)

Worship will continue into eternity. (Rev. 4:10-11; 7:11-12; 11:16-17; 19:4-8)

As we see throughout Scripture, we will put no other God before Him when we love Him with ALL of our affection, ALL of our very being — now and forevermore.

This content on worship, along with some other thoughts on worship, is included in the Church Purpose Manual, as one of the ways we fulfill our purpose to love God.

Some resources on worship:

How Can We Worship Our God?

Posted on February 12, 2020 by Ministry Tools Resource Center — No Comments ↓

Reflecting on who God is, as we did in the previous post, leads to responding to who He is in worship and praise. What a difference it makes in our worship when the reason we worship grows out of knowing the One we worship. It’s hard to simply go through the motions when we truly reflect on Him.

Know and Worship Our God - How To

Respond: How We Worship Our God

Some of the same verses used to reflect on who God is, give an appropriate, and logical, way to respond.

Be thankful and praise His name.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. (Ps. 100:4-5)

Bow before Him in reverence and submission.

Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker, for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. (Ps. 95:6-7)

Offer praise even if it requires sacrifice on our part.

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise –the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. (Heb. 13:15-16)

Give all of who we are to His glory.

Who has ever given to God that God should repay him? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen. Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. (Rom. 11:35-12:1)

Notice that worship goes beyond our words, songs, and motions to our attitude toward Him. What’s in our heart matters! And, worshiping goes beyond the worship service to the whole of our lives.

Learn more about worshiping our God:

The Truth About Worship Discussion Guide (for adults)
Children Learn to Worship

Learn more about the implications in leading this kind of worship:

Worship Ministry Manual

Biblical Worship

Posted on April 3, 2019 by Ministry Tools Resource Center — 2 Comments ↓

Paging through the Bible we find some differences in how God instructed His people, Israel, to worship in the Old Testament, and how He instructed the Church, in the New Testament.

Though worship before Christ changed after Christ, the essence of worshiping remained the same, making those realities of worship applicable for us today.

Worship in the Old Testament

For the Israelites, worship centered around God’s presence and glory in the temple with other specific locations prior to the building of the temple (Jn. 4:21). The Israelites worshiped through scheduled and regulated feasts and literal sacrifices (Leviticus).

Though they put great importance on place and method, we still find instances of individual, spontaneous, and varied means of expression.

Worship in the New Testament

For the Church, worship centered around God’s presence at any location, where even two or three gathered (Matt. 18:20) and was to be done in spirit and in truth (Jn. 4:21-24). Worship involved the whole of life and spiritual sacrifices (Rom. 12:1).

Though great importance was put on the heart, we still find instances of meeting in a place and planning for a specific or designated means of expression.

Essence of Biblical Worship Today

While differences existed between the Old and New Testament worship, some truths about worship weave though both Testaments. Certainly these must be truths that take us to the essence of biblical worship and should affect worship through all times.

God’s presence could never be contained in a building or place (2 Chron. 2:6; 6:18). Though God met with the Israelites in a set place, the place was not the source of glory. He was and still is the focus no matter where we worship.

God’s character never changes (Ps. 102:25-27; Heb. 13:8; James 1:17). We worship the same God. Though the form of worship might change, He doesn’t. He is still totally worthy of all we can offer Him.

He desires a heart response from His people and not mere outward conformity. Jesus quoted from an Old Testament passage when He said, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” (Matt. 9:13; 12:7; Mic. 6:6-8; Hos. 6:6). Though it may be expressed outwardly, God looks for worship that flows from the inside out.

When we hold to these eternal truths, no matter what the style or location, we can still worship.

Truths About Worship

Posted on December 13, 2017 by Ministry Tools Resource Center — 1 Comment ↓

We all have preferences on how to worship, often based on our personalities and backgrounds. Through the years this has produced tension, even controversy, in coming together as the Church to worship. We can have people on opposite sides of a spectrum, making it difficult to please everyone.

Tensions in Corporate Worship

Many of the tension points in corporate worship revolve around the following spectrums:

Traditional versus Contemporary
Volume & Beat versus Reverence & Awe
Spirit-led versus Planned

When our personalities or backgrounds take our preferences in worship to a different end of the spectrum than what’s happening in the worship service, we can learn to be content, still able to truly worship God, when we separate out form from substance or principles from precepts. We need to get to the real essence of worship.

Biblical Truths to Remember About Worship

Since we worship God, we should seek to please Him. Biblical truths, therefore, not our preferences based on our personalities or backgrounds, should form our priorities in worship.

1) Worship is about the Lord, not about us and not about the form or medium used to worship.

Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of things that were to come; the reality (substance), however, is found in Christ. (Col. 2:16-17)

2) What’s in the heart matters more to God than outward appearance or style.

With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy with and to walk humbly with your God. (Mic. 6:6-8)

3) God seeks those who worship in spirit AND truth, not either/or.

But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. (Jn. 4:23)

4) Worship is more than a Sunday affair, more than something we do at church or in our quiet times. It involves the whole of our lives, every day.

Therefore I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God –this is your spiritual act of worship. (Rom. 12:1)

Click on the links below to learn about resources on worship produced by Ministry Tools Resource Center:

True Worship Defined by the Lord, Not Our Traditions

Posted on October 14, 2015 by Ministry Tools Resource Center — 7 Comments ↓

“true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” (Jn. 4:23)

In speaking these words to the woman at the well, Jesus was trying to help her understand that true worship goes beyond traditions. How the Samaritans worshiped versus how the Jews worshiped was not the real issue. Worship is about meeting God where He is, not where we are, which requires worshiping Him in spirit and in truth. The focus of worship is God, not us.

Jesus’ words provide two cues as to why we too must define true worship in this way:

1) The essence of who we worship

Worship in Spirit & in Truth — (Click to enlarge image in Pinterest & repin.)

Look at the next verse for why Jesus defined true worship the way He did — “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

If God is spirit, it only makes sense that we relate to Him on that level. As a spirit, He is not confined to one location. Consequently, we are able to worship Him anywhere and at any time. We must not try to confine Him to a certain place nor to one set tradition of worship.

God must, however, be distinguished from any other kind of created spirit. He alone is eternal, without beginning or end. He alone in infinite, not limited by any constraints. Consequently, we must worship Him not only in spirit, as He is spirit, but also in truth as the One of whom there is none greater whose very being not only defines worship but also life itself.

2) Who spoke these words

Jesus elsewhere claimed, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matt. 28:18). Certainly Jesus knew what He was talking about. He came from the Father and would be going back to the Father. Jesus took on flesh so people could relate to Him but His true essence is spirit as He and the Father are one (Jn. 17). While on earth, He connected with the Father in spirit and truth, leaving us with an example to follow.

Not only does Jesus have the authority to tell us how we should worship but He also provided the way for us to do so through the Holy Spirit. The Spirit within us enables us to relate to God on the spiritual level so we don’t have to be stuck in our outward traditions and narrow understandings (1 Cor. 2:9-16).

Are You the Kind of Worshiper God Seeks?

If you are so locked into one set way of worshiping God that you judge others who worship differently than you or you can’t worship God unless following that tradition, perhaps it is time to ask if you are a true worshiper. Yes, we can embrace certain traditions as meaningful expressions of love and adoration, but let’s be careful we don’t become so exclusively entrenched in those traditions that we put more emphasis on them than the God we worship.

For More on Worship: Worship Ministry That’s God-Centered

True Worship Transcends Cultural Barriers & Traditions

Posted on October 7, 2015 by Ministry Tools Resource Center — No Comments ↓

“true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” (Jn. 4:23)

The context in which we find the familiar words of John 4:23 shows Jesus asking a Samaritan woman at a well for a drink of water. Her first reaction was, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?”

Initially Jesus avoided the distinction she made and brought her attention to who it was that was asking her for water and how He was the source of living water.

After Jesus informed her of details about her life, she again fell back to their differences saying, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” To that Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

Once again, Jesus broke through the distinctions between them and emphasized that which would unify them — true worship based on who God is. Worship is about connecting with God on His plain, not our traditions.

Are You the Kind of Worshiper God Seeks?

If you are unable to worship God with a group of fellow believers because they do things different than you are accustomed to, perhaps it is time to ask if you are a true worshiper. Yes, we all have preferences in our mode and expression of worship based on our upbringing and/or personalities, but worship isn’t about the place or means but rather about the Person being worshiped. Let’s get beyond our differences and come together in true worship!

For More: Worship Resources