Higher Calling to Worship
Introduction
There are times when the Holy
Spirit opens up the scriptures to us in a special way, (John 16:13)
Some years ago when I was in the Faroe Islands, I went into the church hall
to spend some time alone thinking about what I should say at the young people's
meeting that evening. As I walked around
the hall, my thoughts were directed towards worship, and in a very short time
the message of the ‘higher calling to worship’ opened up in my mind. I was brought into a new understanding of
worship in just a few moments.
This experience not only changed
my understanding of worship but it also caused me to see the Baptism with Holy
Spirit in a new light. I had always
associated the Baptism with the Holy Spirit with the power to witness because
Jesus said to His disciples, ‘You
shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you: and you shall
be witnesses unto Me…’ (Acts 1:8). I realised that on the Day of Pentecost in
Acts2, the disciples were worshipping.
The Holy Spirit empowered the disciples for worship and their witness
was a development of their worship. When
I saw this I realised that the Baptism with the Holy Spirit is an empowerment
that brings the believer into the higher realm of anointed worship out of which
comes the power to be witnesses to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Discovering worship is like
finding oil. We come into a huge
reservoir of God’s resources. The scriptures come alive to us when we
understand the higher realms of worship.
Christians who have become worshippers and experienced the 'oil of
gladness' in the Holy Spirit will never be satisfied with less. If we lose the anointing it is because we
have not remained in the place of anointed worship. Sometimes we can be moved away from worship by
something that in itself is very good but when it dominates our thoughts we become
captivated by it and led away from the Lord.
The Ephesian
believers in Revelation chapter 2 had a great love for the scriptures but they
lost their first love (2:4). They were
eager to defend the faith but in doing so they had allowed the enemy to steal
their worship. The Lord told the
Ephesians to go back to the first works (2:5). I wondered what was meant by the
first works and so I looked in the first chapter of Ephesians and there I found
the answer, ‘love for one another’ and ‘faith in the Lord Jesus Christ’
(Ephesians 1:15). The Ephesians had
become staunch defenders of the faith but in doing so they had lost their fellowship
with one another and with the Lord. They needed to go back to this place of
fellowship so they could once again go up to worship in the joy of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit leads us into higher
realms of worship.
Everything falls into place when
we see the wonderful path of worship that God has prepared for us. There are higher places of worship that we
should always be seeking to reach, and no matter how high we climb there is
always more. The teaching in this book
divides worship into five categories.
1.
Worship that rejoices in thankfulness
and praise (Luke 17:15-16)
2.
Worship that rejoices through a
surrendered life (John 12:3)
3.
Worship with joy in the Holy Spirit
(Acts 2:4)
4.
Worship that rejoices in being counted worthy to suffer shame for His name
(Acts 5:41)
5.
Worship that is united with joy in His
eternal plan and purpose (Acts 4:24-30).
The angels always worship on the
highest level of worship but the angels cannot worship like us. The angels have never experienced salvation or
known what it is to be redeemed from the depths of human depravity (Ephesians
2:3). But there is an even greater reason why our worship is higher than the
angels. The angels have never been
lifted to the heights of becoming heirs of the Father and joint heirs with
Christ (Romans 8:17). We have a
relationship with the Father through Jesus Christ that the angels do not have. We have been brought into union with God
through Jesus Christ so that we are one with Him (John 17:21). We worship as
the sons and daughters of the living of God. When the Holy Spirit lifts us to
the heights of anointed worship, we are able to worship like a great symphony
orchestra that is in perfect unity with God and perfect unity with each other.
Our worship is best described as being the life of Christ in us; anointed by
the Holy Spirit; worshipping the Father in spirit and in truth. It is this kind
of worship that the Father is seeking.
Then we ask a question, won’t it be more glorious to
worship in heaven? Of course, worship in
heaven will be more glorious than worship now because the believer will have a
glorified body and will see the Lord, face to face. But the highest realm of worship can be
reached now. Our one desire should be to worship on the highest level; united
with Him in His eternal plan and purpose. Death for the worshipper is a continuation
of worship from time into eternity. There is no end to true worship.