The first commandment the Lord spoke to Moses: “…you shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:2-3), contains within it the implication that we are creatures who, by our very nature, worship. In fact, as image-bearers of God, we continuously outpour expressions of worship in both thought and deed. In short, our continual outpouring of worship is multifaceted. A central aspect of worship is an awe-inspired beholding of and a fascination with God’s glory. It is an inner heartfelt response of adoration, praise, and magnification of the object of our worship.
Besides this inner heart posture, the Bible teaches that evidence of who or what we worship is displayed through sacrifice. We see literal sacrifice of animals under the mosaic covenant, but biblical sacrifice is not limited to mere physical offerings, it is an all-encompassing understanding of this continual outpouring attribute that we all possess. Our worship is evidenced in the ways we sacrifice to spend our time, our treasures, and employ our talents. This fruit from our worshipful outpouring surfaces as thoughts and words of gratitude for Calvary, forgiveness, and the Gospel as well as selfless service and seeking God’s Kingdom first and not our own.
In his book, Discipleship Begins with Beholding, Samuel Whitefield makes the case that we become like what we behold. The key words he uses in his statement are “become like” rather than “behave like.” The true message of Christianity is not that we would merely behave like God and outwardly conform to a set of moral laws, but that we would become more like Jesus and know Him personally. The behavior modification emphasis in our culture misses the true source of genuine change: transformation through a
Spirit-born, regenerated heart.
This principle of beholding and being captivated by God’s glory, leading to greater conformity to His likeness, is a repeated pattern in scripture. This “behold-become” pattern can be observed in both the Old and New Testaments. For example, we see dramatic “becoming” in Isaiah’s vision that utterly transforms him to cry out, “Lord send me!” in Isaiah 6. In Paul’s conversion in Acts 9, we see a former persecutor of Christians radically transform to become one of the first ones willing to suffer and die as a martyr. These transformation stories and others in scripture came not through more information about God, but through revelation and a beholding of the living God. Paul goes on to write: “And we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” (2 Corinthians 3:18a, ESV)
In conclusion, as John Piper famously writes in Let the Nations Be Glad: “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the Church. Worship is…worship is ultimate.” Because God’s beauty is inexhaustible, our infinite desires find eternal satisfaction and fulfillment in divine worship. Worship of the only One who is worthy is eternally pleasurable and satisfying because only worship of God leads us on an unending journey of discovery of His delights (Psalm 16:11).
In all of our worship and prayer gatherings, our hope and aim is to inspire an awe-filled response of wonder and fascination with the person and work of Jesus Christ, His magnificent attributes, eternal power, glorious character, and divine nature. We also seek to instill in our community that the answer to our collective “why” is that Jesus alone is worthy (Revelation 5:9-14). He is worthy of the highest sacrifice we can offer. As the chorus in Revelation exclaims: He is worthy “to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:12b, ESV) If we can answer our root “why” question we can rightly steer the ship of our fickle motivation and ultimately persevere in faith throughout the course of a lifetime.
Through our work we often are gifted foretastes of this heavenly worship. Beholding God’s glory together is a tremendous joy and delight. We would be honored to have you join us on this journey! Click the join us link to learn more!
“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” Habakkuk 2:14, ESV
