Most people reading this statement would immediately lean towards the truth that “Worship is for God” and I personally would agree. The moment you start thinking it’s for people alone, you start shifting gears into possible error.
Scripture makes it clear that the reasonable response for a follower of Christ for his incredible mercy & grace, is to offer ourselves as living sacrifices to Him – and this is worship (Romans 12:1) – and on the basis of this alone, one could confidently say that worship is for God.
Yet we must be careful and not get caught up with thinking that God requires our worship – He deserves and demands it but he is not looking for worship. He is seeking, not worship, but worshipers who engage their spirit in truth as they worship. And that’s important. God is not looking for worship, but worshippers. (John 4:24)
So, God doesn’t need our worship to make Him God, to help Him feel better about Himself, or to enlarge his sense of well being. God is complete and perfect in Himself and doesn’t need us at all to affirm Him. We can’t make Him any more God by our worship, or any less God by our lack of worship. In that sense, he stands complete, perfect and alone.
So our worship is for God in one sense, but primarily to Him, but not so much to benefit Him. Confused?
If we say that worship is for people, we can make the mistake of producing an experience that doesn’t reflect the heart of God. We can err in drifting into worshipping worship, the experience itself rather than Christ – who he is and what he has done.
Worship does however, benefit those who engage with God fully in Spirit and in truth. When we worship corporately, or privately for that matter, worship has the power to grab our attention, and focus it away from ourselves and onto our incredible God, and by doing that, we get a greater revelation of God, we draw closer to Him, and we are transformed by His presence. That’s why worship is for people as as well as our God, for when we truly worship, we are changed from glory to glory, we are transformed by His presence, we are more open to get onto His agenda and off our own and get His perspective on our lives and personal issues. As we truly worship, we begin saying “Yes” to Christ. Indeed, I know of people have come to Christ during a time of worship. How good is that!
As one who preachers almost every week, worship has the potential to position people’s heart to say yes to God before I start. Worship can prepare the hearts of the people to be soft and pliable to the truth of God’s word and the work of His Spirit.
Understanding this is vital as we write songs that pave the way to engage with God; as leaders of worship, prepare services that help God’s people journey towards engaging with God, and enable real transformation that is life giving and purposeful. I hope that in whatever capacity you serve in, people will be transformed by their worship of God.
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