A GODLY PERSON IS CAREFUL ABOUT WORSHIP

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A GODLY PERSON IS CAREFUL ABOUT WORSHIP
by Philip Owen

We have a church today that takes little interest in godliness, a situation that is beyond unfortunate for several reasons including the facts that godliness is important to God Himself, Christians are called to be godly, and a Christian devoid of godliness is little more than a corpse—he may have a body, but he has little if any life. But a real believer should be concerned about and engrossed in what is important to God: godliness. Thomas Watson observed that one characteristic a godly person manifests is carefulness about the worship of God.

Volumes could be and have been written on the subject of worship. But considering the brevity of the space allotted here, perhaps we could draw on no better text to summarize God’s will concerning worship than that found in Psalm 96: “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth” (v. 9). Assuming that the would-be worshipper has faith, this verse suggests two key requirements: “holiness” and “fear.” When we realize that the root meaning of “worship” is “to depress” or “to prostrate,” it will come as no surprise that holiness and fear lead the requirements for God-pleasing worship.

The essence of worship is realized when a redeemed sinner prostrates himself before his Savior and God, something that may occur as a literal physical action, such as that seen in Isaiah, Ezekiel, and John when they came into the Presence of the Lord. But at the root of such an action must be an attitude of abject humility and yieldedness, in which lies a true and blessed prostration of the heart, mind, and will. The two essentials of such worship, or prostration, then, are holiness and fear. The former involves separation unto God and separation from sin, the self, and the world. The latter entails reverence in every area of the person, including attitude, attention, attire, and attendant actions.

In other words, godliness entails attention to detail regarding, not what pleases the would-be worshipper, but what pleases God. Or to put it another way, carefulness about the worship of God involves care about God, not self. Anything that aims at prompting primarily a sensual response, whether in matters of ritual, pageantry, music, attire, or even the method of delivering the sermon is out of place in worship. True worship as practiced by a godly person remains God-focused, not man-focused. True worship is concerned with God’s glory, not man’s entertainment. And true worship focuses on things of the heart, mind, and will, not on externalities. Habakkuk observed: “But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him” (2:20). Talking, singing, etc., have their essential place in careful worship, but true worship involves much more listening, meditating, submitting, and confessing of sin than is generally to be found in many religious services.

A godly carefulness about worship includes faith in the Lord and in God’s Word, genuine reverence for the God who is revealed in the Bible, obedience to God’s directives, submission to God’s will, love for the Lord, the Word of God, and the brethren, a spirit of praise and adoration (audible when appropriate, but attitudinal regardless), and a determined forsaking of sin day-by-day. True worship does not begin and end within the walls of a church building but is the culmination of a life lived both in the Presence of and for the glory of the Lord. John observed that “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). That requirement can be met only by yielding to the indwelling Holy Spirit and submitting to the Word of God. The godly person delights to do so.

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A GODLY PERSON IS CAREFUL ABOUT WORSHIP by Philip Owen

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A GODLY PERSON IS CAREFUL ABOUT WORSHIP
by Philip Owen