What a powerful moment it can be when the right melody and lyrics strike a chord in our hearts and we feel a powerful sense of God’s presence in our worship services.  We might leave that gathering saying that God was really present or that we could really feel Him moving today.  It is a high that many people want to chase from week to week.  We try to recreate that experience with every song in every service, but we often feel let down that we didn’t quite feel the Spirit in the same way we did last week.  The desire to feel that feeling every single Sunday will often lead us to leave our less exciting churches behind in favor of a church we think will give us the tingles every time we gather.  But is this feeling of spiritual ecstasy what worship is really all about?  Have we not worshiped if we haven’t felt God move powerfully in this way?  Is worship about giving us a feeling, or is it about giving what we have to God?  A biblical theology of worship is important if we are to honor God and not use Him for an emotional experience.  Let’s understand some biblical truths about worship:

Worship Is Exaltation

To “exalt” someone or something is to honor them above all else.  When we gather to worship, our goal should be to make much of Jesus…  To speak and sing of His beautiful and powerful attributes…  To thank Him for His incredible sacrifice…  To glorify Him as our True King with our songs, prayers, and gifts.  Worship is not about God saying something good and encouraging to me, but about me saying something true and honoring to Him.  Certainly we receive guidance and encouragement back from God through the moving of His Spirit and the preaching of His Word, but these are ancillary to our worship.  They are a blessing, but should not be the reason that we came.  At its core, worship must be about exalting God, not about expecting Him to exalt us.

Worship Is Celebration

What wonderful blessings God has poured into our lives!  Beginning with the blessing of life, God has put breath in our lungs and ideas in our minds and ability in our bones.  And the blessing of salvation brings fulfillment and purpose to our lives as we are reconciled to God through Christ Jesus.  And the blessing of His presence through the Holy Spirit who convicts us, teaches us, guides us, and empowers us as we faithfully live to glorify God.  O the reasons we have to stand and praise God!

When I attend a birthday party, I have to be comfortable with the idea that this celebration is about the birthday boy or girl, not about me.  I shouldn’t go in expecting my own cake and presents.  My goal should be to celebrate the focus of the gathering.  And the same is true every week when I come for worship.  We have to get comfortable celebrating Jesus without expecting Jesus to celebrate us.  I might leave the gathering with a gift of insight or guidance for my week; I might leave encouraged;  or I might leave convicted of my sin.  These are the effects of having spent time in the presence of God and in the truth of His Word.  And while I might “get fed” from the proclamation of God’s Word, I have to understand that every meal is not going to be a big slab of birthday cake.  There will be times I leave confused, convicted, or complacent about what was preached.  That’s because the message of God is for the Body of believers, not just for me.  I must be willing to celebrate when others are nourished from God’s Word and not just myself.  In the end, it’s not much of a celebration if I’m the only one at the party.

Worship Is Sacrifice

Perhaps the most maligned and overlooked part of any worship service is the receiving of offerings.  We don’t like the idea of collecting worldly money to support the Lord’s work.  Or maybe we just don’t like parting with our hard-earned dollars and cents.  Either way, we tend to minimize or apologize for the offering, seeing it as an imposition or insult to have to ask for a donation.  And, unfortunately, the misdeeds of many pastors and churches with the offerings of God’s people makes much news and erodes the trust many worshipers have when giving money to their churches.

But let’s understand the most fundamental aspect of worship as it’s presented in the Bible:  Worship Is Giving.  The very first act of worship recorded in the Bible is in Genesis 4 where Cain and Abel bring offerings to God.  And we see in that story that Abel gave the best of what he had to God while Cain simply gave whatever he wanted.  God was pleased with Abel’s offering and displeased with Cain’s.  Throughout the Old Testament the regular worship of God’s people was not equated with singing songs or listening to a preacher, but with the bringing of sacrifices to the temple.  For much of the history of God’s interaction with human beings, worship was exclusively tied to giving an offering to the Lord.  Giving is the heart of worship – giving our tithes and offerings; giving God our praises; giving more of ourselves to Him as we respond to His conviction.

At our church, the offering is collected during the middle of the worship service.  I find this to be a great time to receive the harvest from the Lord’s people.  Our worship services are structured very purposefully.  We spend half the service singing, praying, reading Scripture, and giving our offerings – these are ways we show and tell God how much we love Him.  Then we spend some time hearing back from God’s Word through a sermon – this is a way that God speaks back to His people.  Our worship is like a conversation the Body of Christ gets to have with God every week.  We speak to Him in prayers and songs and actions, then He speaks back to us through His Word, and then we offer an invitation to respond to God’s guidance at the end of the service.  What a powerful conversation we get to have with God each week when we curb our pride, approach Him obediently with our spiritual family, let Him know how much we love Him with our words and songs and gifts, and respond to His instruction by confessing and repenting and committing to follow Him more closely.  When we meet with God with an eye toward bringing Him our gifts of praise, possessions, and obedience, we can truly say we have been with the Lord.