WHY WORSHIP

Some 15+ years ago I came across a wonderful song written by Lynn DeShazo entitle “Be Magnified”. The opening line drove me to my knees.

“I have made You to small in my eyes, oh Lord, forgive me”

That phrase linked up in my memory with a book I’d read several years prior to hearing Lynn’s song. It was titled “Your God Is Too Small” written by J. B. Phillips. Such a concept is humbling to consider.

The idea of viewing God from a narrowed, and shallow perspective can create a seemingly insurmountable problem for saints both individually as well as corporately. Such a limited vista of God and His kingdom has stifled believers and derailed numbers of fellowships over the years.

There are several things that can cause one's perspective to turn inwardly myopic. Addressing them would take far more time and consideration than is appropriate in a format such as this one. So, for now, I’ll only comment on one in particular which tends to try and squeeze God into our little boxes of belief. In specific I'm addressing our worship theology or lack thereof --- the study of why we believe as we do about matters related to the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. The stuff of God's kingdom. Know what I mean?

“Without a solid foundational theology, worship becomes an exercise in self-expression”(Enthroned On Our Praise / T. Pierce).

Here’s what I see taking place within our churches in the U.S. and throughout the nations-at-large. In the process of going contemporary we’ve learned the how and what of worship well, but we’ve discarded much of the why. In other words, we’ve figured out how worship should manifest in our congregations and we know what to do to make that happen. But, we no longer give much thought to why we worship.

In essence we’ve allowed our “too small” view of God to restrict our ability to reach out beyond ourselves and our limited and temporal understanding of Him. In doing so, we are (in a sense) restraining the Lord’s ability to increase within us.

The end result of such a process is that much of the mystery of the kingdom and the world of wonder(s) that life in the Spirit affords us has been diminished.

We need a bigger God than the one we currently worship. So, for the sake of enlargement consider the following passages from Scripture:

“He spreads the skies over unformed space,
hangs the earth out in empty space.
He pours water into cumulus cloud-bags
and the bags don't burst.
He makes the moon wax and wane,
putting it through its phases.
He draws the horizon out over the ocean,
sets a boundary between light and darkness.
The thunder crashes and rumbles in the skies.
Listen! It's God raising his voice!
By his power he stills sea storms,
by his wisdom he tames sea monsters.
With one breath he clears the sky,
with one finger he crushes the sea serpent.
And this is only the beginning, a mere whisper of his rule.”
(Job 26:5-14 / The Message Bible)

Selah…