What's Our Why? Worship

Why Should We Worship?

When asked to share a few thoughts on why we worship, I immediately looked into the book of Psalms to get inspiration. Psalm 146 has captured my attention for the last couple of weeks so let’s look at these words and see if it sheds light on the “why we worship?” question.

Why Should We Worship? Psalm 146

The God of Compassion
1 Hallelujah! My soul, praise the Lord.
2 I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing to my God as long as I live.
3 Do not trust in nobles, in a son of man, who cannot save.
4 When his breath leaves him, he returns to the ground; on that day his plans die.
5 Happy is the one whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God,
6 the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them. He remains faithful forever,
7 executing justice for the exploited and giving food to the hungry. The Lord frees prisoners.
8 The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord raises up those who are oppressed.
The Lord loves the righteous.
9 The Lord protects resident aliens and helps the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
10 The Lord reigns forever; Zion, your God reigns for all generations.
Hallelujah!
  • I choose to praise the Lord, to offer my life as a vessel for His exaltation forever because… (verse 1-2)
  • There is no one like Jesus! There is no other name in which I can be saved. I am naturally selfish and I mess up daily.  Only Christ can redeem a nature in me that wavers, is unfaithful, and wicked. Only Christ in me causes me to be good versus deplorable. I am so thankful for his mercy and help in my life. (verse 3-5)
  • I can count on Him; He is consistent when I am not. (verse 6)
  • He’s our provider and He breaks the sin cycle in our lives. (verse 7)
  • He teaches me the truth in this culture that tries to offer so many answers. He helps those that are beaten down and struggle. He loves us because we are saved through Jesus and He is our righteousness. (verse 8)
  • He protects His people. We are not of this world but belong to God’s kingdom. He protects the orphan and the widows. I have seen His goodness to those who have lost everything! (verse 9)
  • His kingdom will never fail! That gives us hope as we walk in this world.

How Should We Worship? Psalm 150

Praise the Lord
1 Hallelujah!
Praise God in his sanctuary.
Praise him in his mighty expanse.
2 Praise him for his powerful acts;
praise him for his abundant greatness.
3 Praise him with the blast of a ram’s horn;
praise him with harp and lyre.
4 Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and flute.
5 Praise him with resounding cymbals;
praise him with clashing cymbals.
6 Let everything that breathes praise the Lord.
Hallelujah!

We should praise Him inside and outside the church walls. We should think and meditate on all of His mighty miracles, His beautiful creation, and our salvation through the finished work of Jesus our Lord. We ought to praise Him with the instruments that make music including brass, woodwinds, percussion, string instruments, and keyboards. The Word of God says to praise Him with resounding cymbals and clashing cymbals! That would probably be pretty loud in my opinion based on what I hear in the classroom teaching music! We ought to sing and lift our voices in unison (melodies) and with varied parts (harmonies).

We need to sing corporately.  Ephesians 5:18-20 says, “...be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Singing together combats the individualism that is so pervasive in our culture today. We combat divisiveness when we sing together the truths included in the songs and hymns we sing. It is not about our personal stylistic preferences when we sing corporately in a service either! It’s about exalting God and responding to the revelation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All believers have this in common and we show unity when we practice singing in corporate worship. So sing!!

Everything that has breath should exalt the Lord Most High because He alone is worthy. He is our Creator, Sustainer, our Deliverer, and our Protector. Most importantly Jesus is our Savior. Scripture commands us to worship, so make music and sing to the Lord! This is why we should worship. Amen.
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