In our Sunday morning Bible class series on “What God Wants,” we had an insightful study this past Sunday on “God Wants Your Worship.” (I encourage you to go to our website, listen to the class and download the PowerPoint slides.) While we always have good discussions, I thought the comments made by folks in the class this last Sunday were particularly intuitive. So, I thought I would share some of them here (with the understanding that I cannot print them all, but only a few).
“Worship is a verb; it requires action.”
“Someone’s love grows cold for another (including God) by not spending time with them.”
“The fact that it is the first day of the week and the first thing we do, it is a way of setting your spiritual focus in the right direction in order to get you through the rest of the week.”
“It’s so different because I’ve watched the services on the internet after all my surgeries. To sit through and watch somebody give you a lesson on the computer, it’s very beneficial. But, it’s not the same as being here! It’s like the difference between somebody sending you a virtual hug on the internet or somebody actually holding you and hugging you.”
“The word ‘forsake’ in Hebrews 10:25 is tied to the word ‘willful’ in verse 26. The idea is that you choose to do this—you choose to not assemble.”
“Since the word ‘forsake’ means ’abandon,’ we’re talking about worship abandonment. In today’s terms, if you think of child abandonment, it’s leaving something you should love. If you think of worship abandonment in that same way, it’s the irreconcilable idea of leaving something you should love.”
“It shouldn’t be, ‘I have to go to church.’ It should be, ‘I get to go to church, I get to go and be with my brethren.’”
“There’s a reason in our society that we can fill sports’ stadiums.”
“Seems like those with Nascar or football games or fishing or home decorating or whatever it might be—they love it, they just love it. Some of them are so passionate that they wouldn’t miss it for anything. That’s the same love and passion that Jesus said, ‘If you love me, keep my commandments.’”
The Psalmist contemplated worship in these words—“God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, And to be held in reverence by all those around Him” (89:7).