Currently, we’re in a messages series entitled “Worship Can Change Your Life.” You were created to worship God and that innate desire to worship is inside of every human being. If you don’t worship God, then you will worship something that He created. Worship can change your life because when you worship God you become like Him. When your worship pleases God, it will change your life. If you worship something other than God, you will become like it and that’s not good.
So today, I want to teach on the topic “How To Worship.” Unfortunately, although worship is a hot topic in many churches, either the teaching is bad or people are just not getting what worship is all about. A recent Barna poll shows that most people think worship is primarily for their benefit. However, the purpose of worship is not first and foremost for your benefit, we are to worship in order to please God. You exist for God’s pleasure, you were created for God to enjoy. That’s the attitude that we must enter into worship with.
Most people, according to that poll, look at worship as something for them. If it makes me feel good, it must be good worship. If the music and band are awesome, it must be good worship. If everyone raises their hands or sings on key or dances or claps or whatever, then that is good worship. But those common opinions aren’t correct, they’re not biblical. True worship cannot be determined by outward appearances because worship is a matter of the heart. True worship is worship that pleases God first of all. TEV Hebrews 12:28 Let us be grateful and worship God in a way that will please him, with reverence and awe.
So there are basically only two kinds of worship, worship that pleases God and worship that doesn’t please Him. There are all kinds of styles of worship, but what is going on in the heart is what is important to God. NIV 1 Samuel 16:7 Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. So the very best worship in St Louis this week, the worship that pleases God the most, may not be going on in a church of thousands with paid professional musicians. The best worship in St Louis this week may go on in a small group meeting in someone’s living room or it may be happening in a middle school gym like this. Today, let’s take a more in depth look at “How To Worship” in a way that pleases God.
To hear more about this topic, listen to my March 26, 2006 message entitled How To Worship