Worship
Course: The Higher Calling to Worship
Lesson Seventeen:
Lesson
Title: Worshipping in the Holy Spirit
Text: 'But
the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father
in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him
must worship him in spirit and in truth.'
(John 4:23-24)
The body of Christ is called to be
worshipping witnesses to the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Great Commission to preach the gospel to all nations can only be fulfilled
by those who have hearts filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit, and have no
other desire except to gain Christ.
Effective evangelism must always be motivated by the love of Christ, and
the message of salvation will 'cut to the heart' when it is presented to the
world by worshippers who are anointed of the Holy Spirit with the 'oil of
gladness'.
The nature of Christ will be seen in the life
of the worshipper. This is produced by
the fruit of the Spirit. A worshipper
will bring forth the sweet fruit of holiness, 'love,
joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self
control', (Galatians
Main Points:
He or she must leave the cares and concerns
of the world behind, having one desire; to know Christ. We cannot approach God on the basis of our
own righteousness, but only through the righteousness of Christ. True worship requires the worshipper to
approach God in a right manner in obedience, in holiness and with godly fear and
reverence. Yet many believers have never
gone up to worship. The concerns and
affairs of everyday life keep them from ever going up to worship.
Worship is not singing songs, but singing is
a wonderful means of being able to express our worship. The worshipper sings out of a relationship
with Christ. Singing songs of praise is worship when our hearts are full of the
joy of the Lord. This joy is not
dependent upon favourable circumstances.
The joy of the Holy Spirit will be present when there is nothing
hindering our relationship with the Lord, and the desire of our heart is to
know Christ.
The Holy Spirit enables the worshipper to
become more aware of the beauty of Jesus through worship. We should ask ourselves the question, How
much does Jesus mean to me? Worshippers
are excited about Jesus. They are
excited about who He is and what He has done.
They are excited about doing His will.
They are excited about being witnesses to Him. They are excited about being able to show
their love through being counted as a 'fool for Christ'. They are excited about being part of His
great eternal plan and purpose. They are
excited that one day they will see Him face to face.
Worship is perfected in weakness. The power of God is manifested in those who
are weak in the flesh. Anointed
worshippers boldly stand for truth in meekness, but never compromise their love
for the Lord. They refuse to be
contentious, and joyfully lay down their lives as a love offering to the
Lord. Many wonderful Christians have
been prevented from moving into the anointing because they are not willing to
be broken by the Holy Spirit.
A worshipper must not grieve the Holy
Spirit. We must be tender hearted
towards one another or we may go down from worship to being in conflict with
other believers. If we hold particular
teachings with a form of 'hardness of heart' then we can become more eager to
defend our beliefs than to be worshippers who glorify the Lord. Our relationship with Christ must never be
affected by our standing for the truth.
The Lord never compromised His relationship with the Father when the
religious leaders attacked His teaching.
Joy always characterises worshippers who
regard every situation and circumstance as an opportunity for worship. They face trials, persecutions, and
afflictions with joy because they can express their love for the Lord in
them. They rejoice when people say all
kinds of evil things against them. They
pray for those who persecute them and their prayers lead to rebels becoming
part of the family of God. They rejoice when suffering shame for the name of
Jesus because they are united with Him in sufferings. They rejoice because they know that they are
united with Christ in the eternal plan and purpose of God. They desire to fulfil the higher calling to
worship, and through worship to be led into the place of intercession. The Father is seeking worshippers.