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Music & Worship

True Worship

Offer unto God thanksgiving: and pay thy vows unto the Most High: and call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee and thou shall glorify me. Psalm 50:14,15

Three weeks after Resurrection Sunday we continue to live in the greatness of that wonderful day. For as we think upon all that our God accomplished, we can do no less than live our lives in the brilliant light of our Risen Savior. This, then, is why we look to the above verses for help and encouragement as we worship our Lord from Sunday to Sunday.

We were created, and then saved, for worship. It is the central calling of the Christian's daily life. In the New Testament, Jesus said: God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him."

Incredibly, our God, the Father, seeks worshippers. Therefore, it is the heart's desire of all true believers to worship God. The music and the words of Easter Sunday are powerful; but no matter how great the effort, unless our hearts are continually bowed in worship to God, it is all for naught. Outward worship looks great, but it is not a true indicator of true worship.

The verses from Ps. 50 are a powerful aid for the understanding of how Holy Scripture describes "True Worship". Here are four thoughts from this passage that will help us strengthen our devotion and worship:

1. Worshippers "offer thanksgiving to God."
   True worshippers live a continual life of thankfulness to the Lord. We deserve death; He gives life! He brought us to the "fountain filled with blood." Therefore, we live in the light of thankfulness to Him and offer to Him a continual song of praise.


2. Worshippers "pay their vows to God."
   Originally sung in a Jewish legal context, it is now the obligation of all Christian worshippers who live in and by His grace. They are servants of Jesus: He died for them. They are not their own for they have been bought with a price. In every situation, true believers are called to "take up their cross" and follow Jesus. They no longer live, but Christ lives in them. They are filled with joy and power; they are blood-bought recipients of God's great grace.


3. Worshippers 'call upon God in the day of trouble..."
   Is there a better example of true worship than when going through incredible difficulty, true believers display His grace and "glorify God"? For it is precisely when things look most bleak that true worshippers are able to praise and glorify the Lord. And this is what the Lord desires--and loves: to have those who truly worship Him, trust and obey Him. It is praise in its most sublime form.


4. Finally, the last verse of Psalm 50 states: 'Whoever offers praise, glorifies me..."
   True worshippers offer heart-felt praise to God, and in so doing, give Him glory! When we love the Lord with all our being, we become true worshippers of the high and holy God. He smiles and accepts our worship an praise. As we rehearse for our eternal occupation of praise to God in song, may "true worship" be the defining mark of our existence on this side of the divide!

To God be the glory!