Worship // A Lifestyle

As 2015 beckons me forward, with each day of the new year a gift from the Father above, I want to know Christ more. I want to grow ever closer to Him – to live a life worthy of Christ and the incredible things He has done for me out of His great love.

“O sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord, all the earth. Sing unto the Lord, bless His name; show forth His salvation from day to day” (Psalm 96:1-2).

Last Sunday, I attended my sister’s church. Pastor Petterson’s message centered around Psalm 96 and his theme was worship.

“Declare His glory among the heathen, His wonders among all people. For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised: He is to be feared above all the gods” (vs. 3-4).

Pastor Petterson reminded us that worship is all about who Christ is. It’s about praising Him for who He is – great and greatly to be praised. “Too often,” he said, “our worship focuses on what God has done for us…But, though God has blessed David by taking him from the sheep pens to a king’s throne, never once in this Psalm does he worship God for what He has done for him…If God never did a thing for us, He would still be worthy of our worship.”

He would still be worthy of our worship because of Who He is.

“For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the Lord made the heavens. Honour and majesty are before Him: strength and beauty are in His sanctuary” (vs. 5-6).  

God is all-powerful, merciful, Healer, grace, light and life, perfect truth, amazing love, sustainer and Creator. He made us for Himself. He created us to love, obey, and walk in fellowship with Him. He wants our hearts, our praise, our worship, our all.

“Give unto the Lord, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name: bring an offering, and come into His courts” (vs. 7-8).

He wants more of us – He wants all of us. He wants the cry of our hearts to be, “More of you, Lord, and less of me. You must increase, I must decrease.” He desires to bring me to the point of humility where there is nothing between my heart and His. He wants us to worship Him and declare His glory to the world.

“O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: fear before Him, all the earth. Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: He shall judge the people righteously” (vs. 9-10).

How do we worship like that? Worship is not just singing during Sunday morning service – worship is a lifestyle, lived in humble, faithful obedience to God’s Word. That’s how we show Christ to those around us – how we declare His name among the unsaved. When we are focused on Him and praising Him for who He is, then we are transformed into His image and Christ’s glory is reflected to those around us. “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (II Corinthians 3:18).

Hannah Whitall Smith writes, “Our work is to behold, the Lord effects the marvelous transformation, and we are changed into the same image by the Spirit of the Lord. We must live closer and closer to Him. We must become better and better acquainted with His character and His ways; we must look at things through His eyes and judge all things by His standards.”

The practical result of beholding Christ, Amy Carmichael writes, is how the Lord uses us to reach others. “Have you ever felt caged? The need of the great dark sinful world calls to the heart, and the duty of the day closes around and seems to make it quite impossible to do anything for those perishing millions. There are no cage bars for light, any more than for song. If only with unveiled face we receive and reflect the glory of the Lord, He will cause that reflection to be again reflected and so by His marvelous loving grace even we shall reach out to those to whom we cannot go.”

Worship is all about Christ, but if we are not looking at Him, then we will lose sight of who He is and suffer defeat when we trust in ourselves. We need to take our eyes off us and turn our eyes on Christ. Below are two of my favorite musical expressions of this truth. 

The time is short. Eternity will soon be here. Each minute, every hour is another opportunity to live a life worthy of Christ. As Pastor Petterson noted, our worship on earth is the dress rehearsal for eternity, where we will worship Christ forever. Make your life count. Who and how you worship matters.

“Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof. Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord: for He cometh, for He cometh to judge the earth; He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with His truth” (vs. 11-13).