PART B: Worshipping God Today

General understanding of worship today

Oftentimes, the first thing that comes to mind on the subject of worshipping God is attending the Church Sunday service.  Upon entering a church, hallow feelings are invoked and the peaceful church music puts us into a reverential mood. The service normally includes congregational prayers and singing of hymns. In some churches, communion is served but in others, it is only done occasionally. 

The worship session may end with a ministry of God’s words by a brother. The manner of worship mentioned here is a good practice for most of us. However, I would like to probe a bit further on this important subject and the best way to study how we worship today is to review what the New Testament teaches.

The sacrifice is over

The hymn, “No blood no altar now” succinctly teaches us how we worship today. The lyrics are as follow: 

No blood, no altar now,

The sacrifice is o’er!

No flame, no smoke ascends on high,

The lamb is slain no more,

But richer blood has flowed from nobler veins,

To purge the soul from guilt, and cleanse the reddest stains.

The antitype of the lamb that was slain is the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no further need to shed blood after the sinless blood of the Son of God was shed on the cross for our sins (Hebrews 10:1-18). When we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the efficacious blood of Christ cleanses us from our sins and God’s wrath towards us is appeased. 

The verses in Romans 5:8-9 confirmed it as follow: 

v.8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 

v.9: Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.  

The manner of worship: worshipping in Spirit and Truth

The Lord Jesus today has reconciled us to God the Father through his blood shed on the cross. When we believe the Lord, we are cleansed and can have access to God’s presence and worship Him.  When the Lord spoke on the subject of worship, we have to take heed to the directions and teachings carefully. Other than the prerequisite to believe on His Son, there are two important aspects on the subject of worship: we must worship Him in spirit, and in truth (as mentioned in John 4:19-24 below).

John 4

v. 19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. 

v. 20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. 

v. 21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 

v. 22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. 

v. 23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 

v. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

1) Worshipping in spirit

Collins Dictionary definition of “in spirit” is as follows:

“If you say you are somewhere in spirit or with someone in spirit, you mean that although you are not with them, you feel as though you are with them because you are thinking about them a lot”. 

I like the above definition because it teaches us how to worship God appropriately, as taught by the Lord Jesus. When we replace the words “someone” and “them” with “God” it would read, “If you say you are somewhere in spirit or with God in spirit, you mean that although you are not with God, you feel as though you are with God because you are thinking about God a lot”. 

Unfortunately, some Christians worship God in bodily presence, but not in spirit. Although they are in the church, their thoughts are far from God.

2) Worshipping in truth

John 17:17 

Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

2 Peter 3:16      

As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

In addition to worshipping in the ‘spirit’, we must worship God in truth. In the quote above, truth is not ‘what we think’, but ‘what the Bible, the word of God' says. Some professing Christians believe that they do not even need to worship God at all. They think that believe Him in our hearts is sufficient and there is no necessity to assemble with the other believers in the church. 

Is this ‘truth’? God forbids! This is just a person’s personal opinions.  The Bible is very clear on how we should worship God today. When anyone fails to worship God in the manner stipulated in the Bible, it is just their refusal to heed His words. Therefore, it is dangerous to use our self-will to interpret the word of God (as warned by the Apostle Peter in 2 Peter 3:16 above). 

Breaking of Bread

The advent of the Lord Jesus ushers a new dispensation: the dispensation of grace. 

As mentioned earlier, the sacrifice is over and the special occasions of worship are now confined to one: the breaking of bread service.  

In the breaking of bread, we worship God by giving our thanksgivings and deep remembrance of all His goodness to us in songs, prayers of thanksgivings and partaking of the bread and cup. Since His presence is with us, we observe strictly His headship in the church as in 1 Corinthians 11:1-16.

The continuity of perennial worship

Today, some Christians think that they have done their duties of worshipping God when they attended the Sunday breaking of bread service. However, as in the past, worship is not confined to one occasion or occasions. Frances Crosby hymn below reminds us to live our lives in perennial worship of Him.

“Every day, every hour,

Let me feel Thy cleansing pow’r;

May Thy tender love to me

Bind me closer, closer, Lord to Thee”.

I was informed by a person that perennial worship seems difficult. I asked the person some questions below:

•    Do you lie constantly?

•    Do you justify yourself when you cheat your friends or business associates?

•    Do you think evil of others?

•    Do you want to do the things of God, sharing the Gospel, helping His church?

The person answers ‘no’ in the first three questions and said ‘yes’ for the last. I told her that she has unknowingly been engaged in perennial worship. However, we may fail occasionally in moments of anger and engage in evil thoughts. All of us are not perfectly sinless, but when we sin, we should repent and ask for forgiveness from our Advocate (i.e., the Lord Jesus Christ) who forgives us. 

1 John 1:9: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Let us not neglect to live our lives in perennial worship of Him. 

With God’s Blessings,

CL