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.