This past Sunday I (Blake) had the opportunity to speak at our home church, St. Mark's, for the morning services. I gave a talk called “Worship and Coffee”.
Over the years as a worship leader I’ve been studying worship in a broader sense. The songs we sing, the sermons we preach, the offerings we give...none of these acts of worship are worship in themselves. It's so easy to get caught up in the activities we do and consider them worship. It's not HOW we worship, it's WHO we worship.
In his book, Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster said, “We can use all the right techniques and methods, we can have the best possible liturgy, but we have not worshipped the Lord until Spirit touches spirit.”
So what it worship? Worship is the response of our spirit to the Spirit of God.
However...
Foster continues by saying, "We must have ‘wineskins’ that will embody our experience of worship. But the forms are not the worship; they only lead us into the worship.”
Worship is the coffee. All the things we do to worship are the mug. The mug exists for the coffee. Our songs, sermons, offerings, and sacrifices are vessels in which to carry our worship. The heart that fuels our actions is worship at its core.
Foster continues, “If worship does not propel us into greater obedience, it has not been worship.”
As our obedience increases, our response to God increases. In a never-ending cycle of worship, we will be caught up as followers of Christ living lives of worship to the King of Kings.
I encourage you to take time today to respond to God's Spirit. Worship Him. Let’s ask Him to bring us to a greater obedience.
Amen.