On Purpose in Worship

Weekly Update – July 22nd, 2021

What should be our focus in worship? Now that may seem like a vague question. Regardless, consider the first things that come to your mind. Many would say that the way you feel ought to be priority, or the songs that you sing, or even the mood of the room in which you gather in for worship. We even have a tendency to personalize it a bit by saying, “Well, for me to worship, I have to hear the guitar, or I have to hear the organ, I have to hear this song, or I must be able to clap.” The world around us would like to make us think that in every decision we make, we are the center of it, and that mindset can easily creep into how we think we ought to approach God.

Last week, we saw that the focus of Ezra 3:1-6 was the returned exiles of Judah coming back to Jerusalem to rebuild the alter. This was key for them and of first priority, because without an alter to sacrifice a bull, goat or lamb upon, there was no worship of God. These returned exiles knew their own nature of sin, and they knew that no man or woman could approach God without the shedding of the blood from another to cover their sin. Therefore the alter was the first thing they rebuilt in their reestablishment of the worship of God.

Along with the returned exiles of Ezra, we too must remember that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Heb. 9:22). At the same time, we don’t need to continually offer sacrifices as they did, because all those in Christ have been forever redeemed “through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all” (Heb. 10:10). That means that for us, the focus of our worship before God is not an alter, but a person, Jesus Christ.

Under our vision and mission, we have 7 priorities. Consider what priority #3 says about how we as a church view worship:

Our main purpose in worship is to contemplate and celebrate the glory of God in Christ Jesus. Our gatherings focus on hearing from God and responding to Him. We know the Lord through His Word, and so we come together corporately to pursue Him through reading, preaching, singing, praying, and “seeing” the truth of the Scripture. As His Holy Spirit leads us in understanding and pondering the seriousness of our sin, we are also reminded of what a great Savior we have in Jesus and the joy of living for His Kingdom in the fellowship of other believers.  All true worship is to be grounded in the word of God, as Scripture is our guiding principle and the means by which the Holy Spirit produces a sense of joy and awe before God.  This means that worship must be God-centered, not man-centered.

You can read our vision, mission and 7 priorities for our church HERE.

This week we will be in Ezra 3:8-13 as we continue in our series, “Longing for a Place.” I hope you will join us in person or via live stream. 

Serving Him with You,
Pastor Michael