WHY WE WORSHIP

Worship – The Golden Thread of Scripture

We may summarize worship as living in the blessed presence of God, beholding His glory, and enjoying Him as the height of human life and the goal of our lives. This glorious reality existed in the very beginning when mankind was made by God and put in the Garden to know and live with Him. Sadly, that presence was lost when the first man rebelled against God, seeking to go his own way rather than the way of his Maker. Adam and Even where driven away from God’s presence and the way back was shut.

From that point forward, the story of the Scriptures and the question of mankind was, ‘How do we get back? How might we regain what was lost?’. We see the Psalmist asking this question, “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?” (Psalm 24:3). He then gives the answer—the one who is righteous. This is not good news, for we know that we are not perfectly righteous before a holy God. The answer leaves us in despair for how could we ever live again safely with God?

The good news, however, is this is not the end of the story! God, being rich in mercy, came as one of us—Jesus, the Righteous One. He came to live the righteous life we are suppose to live but do not. Jesus took on our condemnation that judgement might be taken away and leaving us only with God’s pleasure. And He rose from the grave to open up the way for us to return once again to the blessed presence of God.

The sure hope of the Christian is that one day we will stand face-to-face with God, beholding his glory not by faith, but by sight; and there we will enjoy Him for all eternity. Until that day comes, we live by faith and practice now what will be true of us then—we worship. We gather together before the Lord each week to encounter His glory, His holiness, and His grace in the person and work of Jesus Christ; and from this corporate worship service we go out and continue our worship by living our lives entirely for the glory of God.