What it means to worship God

The name of Jesus has been misused and maligned to the degree that many people have an aversion when they hear the name, whether they will admit it or not. Still, this example is key to understanding what worship is and what it means to worship God.

Revelation 19:10 highlights one of the critical roles that Jesus played on earth. That role was to demonstrate how to worship God. Paul explains in speak where he differentiates between the body (flesh) and the Spirit (Romans 8:8-9). This Spirit that he refers to, comes from God, which dwells in everyone; each person has their own personal share of God. You the person is the soul, an individual with a mind and free will which sits between those two poles. The Body and the Spirit.

Each one tugs at us, but we have the option of choosing whose call we welcome. In order to worship God in the Spirit, we must listen to His Spirit and follow its instructions.

Sin & the Body

The sins of this earth have established themselves in the people’s hearts. The man of sin sits in the temple of God as if he were God (2 Thessalonians 2:1-10). Sin is prevalent and is pushed with a vengeance, unceasingly on us every day. Without the Spirit of God, which he has given to us, none of us could escape this onslaught.

The Temple

The body is the temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16-17, 1 Corinthians 6:15-20). We should rejoice in the destruction of the physical sanctuary (Matthew 24:2, John 4:21-23) since those remnants of the need for men on earth to intercede with God for us has been removed.

Ezekiel 44:7 and Ezekiel 44:9 shows the importance that God places on keeping our body undefiled where being defiled falls under breaking his instructions.

The Testimony

Every instruction written in the scriptures for Jesus to accomplish was fulfilled (Luke 24:44) by him and thus every instruction written in the scriptures for us must be kept. This is the example of Jesus. Therefore, by keeping our soul clean, by doing the will of God, we indeed worship God in the Spirit.

Worship God

To listen to the Spirit is to listen to God and to follow his instructions. The Spirit, as did Jesus, testifies of God.

Jesus never prostrated himself and performed all sorts of antics in the name of worship. Jesus didn’t dwell on “worship songs”, which subtly redefine worship. Jesus also never defined “good” in his terms since there is only one good, and that is God (Luke 18:19). We must do good, but according to God’s definition of good.

^13. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.^14. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.^15.  If ye love me, keep my commandments.

John 14:13-15

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

1 John 5:3

Conclusion

To worship God is to do God’s will and thus, to worship anything is to do the will of that thing. Worshipping Satan is to do his will, to honour yourself is to do your own will (if that’s possible since our identity is defined as either for God or against Him) and to worship anyone is to do their will. If we do the will of this world, then we are indeed worshipping this world.