Why should I spend my time worshipping?

Why Worship?

Worship is always a response to the revelation of God’s character and/or His works.  When God reveals His compassion, salvation, His holiness, etc. our appropriate response is to worship Him.

Revelation 4:8-11 

          And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY IS  THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, who was and is and who is to come.”  And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne saying, “Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they existed, and were created.”

What caused the twenty-four elders to worship here?

Revelation 5:8-14

          And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.  And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to break its seals; for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase for God with Thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.  "And Thou hast made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth."  And I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands,  saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing."  And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, " To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever."  And the four living creatures kept saying, "Amen." And the elders fell down and worshiped.

Revelation 7:10-12

          and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."  And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,  saying, "Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen."

Revelation 11:15-18

          And the seventh angel sounded; and there arose loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever."  And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, "We give Thee thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who art and who wast, because Thou hast taken Thy great power and hast begun to reign.  "And the nations were enraged, and Thy wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to give their reward to Thy bond-servants the prophets and to the saints and to those who fear Thy name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth."

God’s power (THE Almighty), sovereignty, and eternality is cause for us to worship Him.

Revelation 14:7b

          “…and worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters.”

God’s creation screams out of His power and greatness.  The command here is to worship Him for this.  Cross-reference Romans 1:19,20,25.

Revelation 19:1-4

          After these things I heard, as it were, a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; BECAUSE HIS JUDGMENTS ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and HE HAS AVENGED THE BLOOD OF HIS BOND-SERVANTS ON HER."  And a second time they said, "Hallelujah! HER SMOKE RISES UP FOREVER AND EVER."  And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, "Amen. Hallelujah!"

The character of God (His salvation, glory, power, truth, and righteousness) as well as His works (avenging the blood of His bond-servants) causes the elders to fall down and worship.

Too often we come into a worship service, or worship setting, expecting to receive from God; for Him to give to us.  Worship is not an act of receiving.  It is an act of giving.  Look at the above Revelation passages again.  After every declaration of God’s worthiness there is a phrase that shows His worthiness to receive, i.e. “to receive blessing, glory, honor, etc.” or “We give Thee thanks…” We give, He receives in worship.  That is what worship involves, a giving of our adoration, an acknowledgment of our unworthiness in  our humanity, and His worthiness because of His perfect character and works.

We will worship that which we hold in the highest reverence.  Whatever is most important to us is what we worship.  In all truth and reality the only object worthy of our worship is the one and only God.  He alone is worthy.

Exodus 20:2-5

          "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.  "You shall have no other gods before Me.  "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.  "You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,

Deuteronomy 6:13

          "You shall fear only the LORD your God; and you shall worship Him, and swear by His name.”

Matthew 4:10

          Then Jesus said^ to him, "Begone, Satan! For it is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.'"

Revelation 4-5/John 9

          Jesus is repeatedly worshiped by the angels as well as by men.

I figure that it's like this. If Worship is going to be a main theme in Heaven, though not the only one in Heaven, (there are plenty more things that we will do!), shouldn't we learn how to worship. Shouldn't we learn why we need to worship.
And lastly, shouldn't we know HOW to worship. The next few blogs I will dig deeply into this.