Psalm 29:2 “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.”

Worship is the occupation and the overflow of the heart, not with its need or even with its blessing, but simply with God. Overflow is the resulting residue of what occupies the heart, if fear is what occupies then fretting will be reflected in the overflow.  When we are occupied with God worship will be spontaneous as it flows from a grateful heart. David spoke of this when he sang, “My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.” Psalm 45:1. “My heart is stirred literally means his heart boils, or bubbles up. In the twenty-third Psalms David speaks of worship saying, “You anoint my head with oil, my cup runs over.” Worship is the outpouring of the soul in the presence of the Savior, what occupies me flows out of me. When we enter into true worship we will find that the things of this life become less important, as we focus on Him the rest becomes peripheral. Today as we look at the five “W”s of worship, Who, What, Where, When and Why we must remember that the overflow of the heart is in response to the Redeemer.

• WHO

The first and greatest question of worship is the Who? God is the “who” of worship because at the heart of worship it is all about Him. This is made clear in 2 Kings 17:35 “When the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites, he commanded them: ‘Do not worship any other gods or bow down to them, serve them or sacrifice to them.” The Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 begin with who we worship and also who we do not: “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. 5 You must not bow down to them or worship them.” Who is at the heart of your worship?

• WHAT

“Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name” To ascribe means to give the credit to and recognize who is the authority, the “what” of worship is submission. Worship requires us to surrender and submit to the authority of God and because submission is at the heart of worship it is in direct competition with our culture. Our culture teaches us be in control, to compete instead of surrender, to never give up and never give in. We live in a culture that prizes winning above everything else, we value success and succeeding not surrendering. Our world philosophy is built on overcoming and conquering not yielding, submitting, obeying, and surrendering. When we view worship from a worldly prospective we value worship only for what it can bring us instead of what it ascribes to God. We begin to value worship only in the context of winning, what’s in it for us, instead of its wonder. Until we submit to His authority we will never fully ascribe to God the praise He is due. Surrender is when we give ourselves to Him, not out of fear or duty, but in response to God’s amazing love and mercy, ‘Because he first loved us.’ Today we come into His presence desiring worship to free us when in reality what we really need is for it to capture us. Today do your words speak of worship or winning, succeeding or surrender?

• WHERE

Where does our worship, our surrender to God occur? This question was posed to Jesus 2,000 years ago by a Samaritan woman at a well, John 4:20. This woman said that her fathers worshiped on “this mountain” likely referring to Mt. Gerizim which is where the Samaritans had built a temple. Because the Samaritans were not welcome in the temple at Jerusalem they built their own temple. They have a rival place of worship and we see how the origins of their worship are already convoluted and distorted. Their worship originated as some kind of rivalry and statement against the temple in Jerusalem. Jesus however says that worship takes place in spirit and in truth and in a physical sense, the “where” for worship is everywhere. Today would you stop where you are and worship Him in the splendor of His holiness?

• WHEN

When should we ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name, should it be limited to half an hour once a week as we gather with other believers? Psalm 27:4 says, “One thing I have desired of the Lord. That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord. And to inquire in His temple.” When do we worship? Always! Today regardless of your circumstances will you focus on the praise instead of the problems?

• WHY

Worship goes against our worldly ways, why in the world would people make it all about someone other than themselves? Why would they surrender themselves to someone else, let alone someone they can’t see? Why would they want to spend their lives, everywhere they go at all times, worshiping God? Why, because He is Worthy. “Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” (Revelation 4:9-11) Today we waste our worship on worthless things when God alone is worthy of our worship. When I read Revelation 5:11-12 I am reminded of the weight and worth of worship: “Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” Today would you choose to give weight to His worth in the way that you live? Let your walk be one of worship.

Genesis 22:15-18

15 Then the angel of the Lord called again to Abraham from heaven. 16 “This is what the Lord says: Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that 17 I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies. 18 And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me.”

• Service of Worship Vs. 16-18

Abraham took the fire and the knife and put the wood on his son and climbing the mountain together he bound him and placed him on the altar. Then he raised the knife fully intending to sacrifice his son to the Lord, willing to hold nothing back, Abraham yielded every ounce of self to the perfect will of God. God intervened and provided a ram for Abraham to sacrifice in the place of his son Isaac and in the end, Abraham’s worship served to glorify God alone. Abraham’s faith and act of selfless worship delighted the heart of God and brought a statement of appreciation from Him. When we devote ourselves to selfless worship we bring glory to God. Psalm 50:23 quotes God as saying, “But giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors me. If you keep to my path, I will reveal to you the salvation of God.”  True biblical worship gives God the place of absolute preeminence in our lives.  He alone is glorified in genuine worship and that is how worship serves the Lord.

• Satisfaction of Worship Vs. 16-18

God will be no man’s debtor and after Abraham’s demonstration of absolute faith He gave Isaac back to him. Abraham ascended the mountain with a heavy heart knowing the high cost of honoring God yet his obedience was rewarded.  He might have climbed that mountain questioning the ways of God, but he came down with a deeper understanding of God. He might have climbed that mountain expecting to give yet he received, instead of taking there was thanksgiving. When Abraham placed Isaac on the altar, God gave him back and Isaac became even more precious than before. One of the greatest blessings of real worship is that it brings the manifold blessings of God back to the giver. God will honor those who honor Him through worship but this is not why we worship. When we are willing to sacrifice all that we have, all that we are, and all that we care about on the altar of His glory, He will respond by blessing us and using us in greater ways than we could have ever imagined. Abraham learned the reality that the sacred mountain of sacrifice always brings satisfaction. God’s power and presence is manifested in our lives through real worship, if we would only be willing to take all that we are and yield it to all that He is. When we respond in worship to all that Jesus is, as He is revealed in the Word of God, God responds by doing for us what he did for Abraham. He gives us the Son in greater measure, giving us a greater appreciation for the Person of Christ. When we worship Christ in light of His death on the cross, the cross becomes more precious. As we worship Him in His resurrection, His resurrection becomes more precious. As we worship Him for grace, love, salvation, eternal life, heaven, the Holy Spirit, the Bible, the church, and everything else He has given to us in Christ, those things become infinitely more precious to us.

Ephesians 1:3 tells us that God has already “blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.” When we give God pure worship for Who He is and what He has done for us, He responds by giving those things back to us in greater degree. It is not that we have more of those things, it is that those things become more real and precious to us. One of the greatest benefits and blessings of true worship is that it enriches that which we already have.

Abraham’s worship involved placing all that he was and all that he had on the altar of submission. Today we need to ask ourselves a question that may help us to reflect and discover where we are at. Only the Holy Spirit can search our hearts, so cultivating, carving out, and creating a space for this to happen as we ask this question is vital: When you examined your worship in light of what you have discovered from Abraham are you

•         Worshiping Him as He is revealed to you in the Word of God, the source of worship?

•         Absolutely submissive to His will?

•         Is your worship sacrificial?

•         Are you practicing self-denial and separation?

•         Does your worship serve the Lord by glorifying Him?

•         Does your worship provide satisfaction as he becomes more precious to you?

Sadly for many today we have reduced worship to a half hour of music but worship is more than a time slot and it is not about the lyrics it is about our lives. When worship becomes a performance it becomes a problem, nothing more than a chore and a means to an end. Powerful worship lives in the moments, every moment where we discover a God who loves us. Has God spoken to you about your worship, will you come to Him today and let Him work in your heart to bring you to a place of powerful and pleasing worship?