SPIRITUAL FORMATION: "WORSHIP IN TODAY'S LIFE"

INTRODUCTION
There are so many means of grace in our spiritual life. Some of these means includes, prayer, fasting, solitude, meditation and among others. In this paper, I would like to explore Worship as one of the means of grace which also play a great role in our walk in Christian life. Worship is broad in the sense that it incorporates some of the spiritual disciplines such as prayer as well as sacraments. Tracy argued that worship is so crucial to any pattern of spiritual formation. It is a revolutionary and subversive activity in our contemporary world. This paper explores worship as a spiritual discipline in different areas such as definition, biblical perspectives, elements of worship, as well as consequences of worship and how this discipline impacts my life.

DEFINITION OF WORSHIP
There is always a clear debate when it comes to defining the act of worship. In most cases churches have equated worship to the Sunday service or programs. The failure to understand the definition of worship brings slow spiritual development in one’s life. William Temple as quoted by Tracy proposed some definitions of worship. “To worship God is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, feed the mind with the truth of God, purge the imagination by the beauty of God, open the heart to the love of God and devote the will to the purpose of God” In this definition we can see that worship is broad and focus to God as object of worship “The audience in Christian worship is God. We as the worshipers offer to God sacrifices that we will be acceptable.”
It is an active response to God where we declare His worth. The word worship comes from Anglo-Saxon- worth ship i.e. God’s worthiness. Worship is not passive, but participative. In most cases we try to draw a thin line between worship and performances, however worship is a response not just feeling. “To worship God is to ascribe to Him supreme worth, for He alone is worthy” The essence of worship is also related to cerebration. “Christian worship is always cerebration; this is so because of victory is the basis of Christian worship. Whatever is done in Christian worship is done as participation in God’s victory through Jesus Christ” Worship could be the act of an individual as well as corporate. The understanding of the former makes the latter to be effective.

BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVES OF WORSHIP
The Bible has given us both stipulations that talks about worship as well as the practical aspects of worship. Both old and new testaments communities are invited to worship God. The biblical approach to worship is the fact that God is actively seeking true worshipers. In the Old Testament Cain and Abel gives an idea of worship the Lord with true heart attitude. It is more likely that Abel’s offering was accepted by God because of his heart attitude. Besides that, the events of worship in the Old Testament are clearly seen in the meeting that took place between God and people after God had miraculously delivered them from the hands of Pharaoh. “The Old testament if filled with invitations to worship. The holy God calls for a holy people to worship Him in fear and trembling” . “sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord all the earth……Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before Him, all the earth. Say among the nations, ‘The Lord reigns’” (Psalm 96:1, 9, 10).
The writer of Hebrews encourages also believers to worship the Lord with the sincere heart. “Let us draw near to God with sincere heart in full assurance of faith.” (Heb.10:22). Words like bow down, serve, make sacrifice or offering, reverence and fear are used in relating to worship in both old as well as new testaments . Paul in his letter to the church at Corinth gives an idea that there is no distinction between worship and everyday life. “For me to live is Christ” Worship according to the bible is the offering of the whole life to God. “The failure to prepare soul and mind for worship is to render oneself tone deaf to the things of the spirit” Worship is the highest form of Love. The Bibles says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul with your entire mind, and with all your strength.” (Mark. 12:30). In this case our worship should be rest on love. And addition to this, believers are called to worship the lord in truth and spirit. “But an hour is coming and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth…” (John.4:42)

ELEMENTS OF WORSHIP
The book of Acts gives us several clues elements of worship followed by the church during its first decades. Everyday they continued to meet as a group in the Temple, and they had their meals together in their homes, eating the food with glad and humble hearts, praising God and enjoying the will of all people. There are so many elements that are incorporated in worship service.

Praise and Singing

“Worship begins with praise to God who has lavished His grace upon us in Christ Jesus. Worship that does not result in praise is not worthy of His name” . Music prays a great role in worship. God has provided human beings with voices and songs to sing for the Lord. Again and again in Scriptures we are commanded and admonished to sing to the Lord. “Singing for those redeemed by the grace of God should not be an obligation; rather, it is a freely given expression.” Music is one of the church’s very best means of extolling God for who He is and what He has done. In this case it may be perfect corporate or individual expression. It allows any and all of the people to say something of real importance to and about God. God gave us this gift of music that we might develop it and use it to express our creativity in praise and worship.
“It is good to praise Yahweh and make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night” (Psalms 92:1-3). “Music is one of the very best ways to teach biblical truth. God’s word, both directly and conceptually to set of music, can penetrate the mind and heart to stay there. What we sing we remember because we have combined power of intellect with emotion” . “Praise has the power to transform the pain. But, conversely, the present pain keeps the act of praise honest” . Through music, Christians have proclaimed to one another and to their Creator their assurance of the truth of God’s love. Music is the best expression of our deepest spiritual experiences.

Praying/

Authentic worship includes some moments of prayers. “Prayer begins by intellectual adjustment. By thinking of God earnestly and humble to the exclusion of other objects of thoughts, by deliberately surrendering the mind to spiritual things, by preparing the consciousness for the inflow of new life.” Prayer is not just an ordinary conversation. It is a special mode of communication, because it is reserved for and given wholly to God. Yes, God is always present. But through prayer, we place ourselves deep within that presence by turning our full attention to it. “During the conversation of prayer, we surrender to the moment and rise above limited notions of time and space. We see things for what they are, and attain the bigger picture of what’s truly important” . Through prayer, the individual becomes God-centered, not self-centered. It is at this point that transformation takes place. All of a sudden, the material world is less important. Prayer involves cooperating and working with God to make changes in our lives and in the world. “When the congregation joins together in the prayer our lord taught us to pray, there’s a blending of minds and hearts that is not found outside the worship experience”


Preaching of the word of God
The proclamation of the word of God is one of essential part of the worship. The worship service without the preaching of word is considered as incomplete. The subject matter to be preached is here called "the word of God. The Psalmist said, “The word is a lamb to my feet, and light to my path” (119:105). The preaching of word is not always pleasant to hear, but it is for our own good. Timothy was told in 2 Timothy 4:2-4, "Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort… and they will turn their ears from hearing the truth." Preaching the Word of God must be from an honest heart. The authority is in the Word, not the preacher. We are to follow Jesus not the preacher.
“Preaching is the cerebration of God’s presence in the living Jesus Christ. There is no true preaching where God’s presence is not cerebrated, where Christ is not acknowledged” The preaching of word during worship must convince, rebuke, and exhort. We must be careful that we do not turn our ears from hearing the truth by having someone preach what sounds good to us, but contradicts what God says in the Bible. All things preached must come from the word of God. We are told in 1 Peter 4:11, "If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God." Preaching should never consist of presenting unrelated thoughts in an incoherent way. When God’s word is preached and taught, God is honored and glorified. The grace of God is mediated to us through the preaching of His Word. “The proclaimed Word is the incarnate Christ himself… the preached Christ is the historical Christ and the present Christ” . Preaching that is joyous cerebration of God’s presence in Jesus Christ is a necessary and integral part of corporate worship. It declares the love of God in such way that all who hears may know that God is claiming them.

THE SACRAMENTS

Lord’s Supper

It is an integral part of Christian worship. It causes us to remember our Lord’s death and resurrection and to look for His glorious return in the future. Jesus gives His followers symbols of remembrance for His body and His blood sacrificed on behalf of all mankind. "And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them saying, 'This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me'" (Luke 22:19). Jesus provides a very important principle for living a Christian life: the greatest are those who serve others, not those who expect to be served (Luke 22:26). “In fact grace of God is powerfully present at the Lord’s Table. As we participate in this rehearsal of God’s definitive acts in Christ, we open ourselves for God to floor our lives a new with grace” It is the risen, living Christ who presides at his table. He is the Host and all that he has done his self-giving life. The supper, then, after his resurrection become the cerebration of his victory. Our participative during Lord’ supper portrays communion with Christ when we are at his table. It is upon our union with Christ and the offering of Christ’s self-giving to God as our self-giving and obedience.

Baptism

Baptism is another sacrament which is incorporated in our cerebration and acknowledgement of God’s presence. It is a means of grace through which a believer is symbolically die and rise with Jesus Christ. Through baptism we publicly and corporately declare what God has done. Since is a public act showing forth what God has done and is doing, it belongs to the corporate worship of the people of God. Baptism as a sacrament announces that the life of man rests upon God’s initiative of grace. It is the proclamation of the unmerited grace of God. Baptism points to the centrality for faith of Christ’ death and resurrection. This is the point of Paul’s argument in Romans 6:3-4: “Do you know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus where baptized into his death?” To be baptized into Christ is to share with him the victory over sin and death that he has accomplished. “When a believer is baptized, the church declares thereby that another life is brought under the power of Christ’s work”
Consequences of worship
If our worship does not lead us into something positive that God can be pleased with it loses its meaning. “And every day God added to their group those who were being saved” (Act.2:46-47). Our worship should propel an action, brings people to respond to God’s call and able to appreciate his divine works. Foster, in his book, Cerebration of discipline, pointed out that if worship does not change us, it has been not worship. To stand before the Holy One of eternity is to change. In worship an increased power steals its way into the hearts sanctuary, an increased compassion grows in the soul. To worship is to change. True worship propels a believer into greater obedience. Just worship begins in holy expectancy it ends in holy obedience. It enables us to hear the call to service clearly so that we respond, “Here I am Send me” (Isaiah 6:8). Authentic worship will impel us to join in the Lamb’s war against demonic powers everywhere, on the personal level, social level, as well as institutional level”
Personal Applications
Worship has been one of the spiritual disciplines that I have been embracing in my spiritual walk. As an expressive and supporter, it became a challenge to understand the essence of worship without relating it with any entertaining aspect. In most cases, I used to equate worship with songs and Sunday services only. But as time goes in my spiritual walk, I had to make some adjustment on my personality styles in order to embrace the essence of worship in my life. The first thing that I have come to realize is that its not good for me to change the worship that God intends it to be for the interest of my ego or personality lifestyle. In contrast it has been my responsibility in adjusting my personality style so that I could render worthy reverence to God as He expects me to do. The Bible is clear that “let everything that has got breath praise the Lord”. The fact that I am alive; it’s an adequate and legitimate reason for my act of worship. For this reason I define worship as my personal lifestyle purposely opening my heart to the love of God.
With passion, I would like to say that when I imagine, feel, sense, meditate the glory of God, love and His presence I have no any other reason for not entering into the reality of His glory. Personally, I perceive worship as my response to God’s love and goodness. As an expressive, I feel good during the corporate worship which includes prayers, songs, rituals, dances, preaching of the word and among other cooperate worship activities. However, this does not mean that I ignore personal worship. One thing that I have discovered is that Holy Spirit has been working within me and helping me to adjust my personality style without frustrating me. I always put God forth as object of my worship. My responsibility during worship is to focus on God with pure heart and pure motive. I normally believe that God seeks true worshippers who can worship Him in truth and spirit not pretenses or performers. Often when I am in the presence of the Lord, I set forth my heart in a holy expectancy situation. This implies that I normally become desperate for God’s holiness in my worship. Before I attend any worship service, I make sure that worship begins in me as I enter into the reality of His Shekinah. Worship makes sense to me when I live out my bodily desires and demands of my day and ready to be filled with the inward worship and adoration. True worship generally brings change in my heart. I always have a response after worship the Lord. When I am worshiping the Lord either corporately or individually, I consider myself as presenting my body to God as a living sacrifice. During worshiping, I put myself in a situation of cerebrating the redemptive work of God through Christ Jesus as well as the beauty of His creation. Despite my personality style, I gaze at worship as priority of my living and a spiritual discipline which brings glory to God and helps me to grow spiritually.

Conclusion

As we have seen worship is an act of everyday life. It is a deliberate and disciplined adventure in reality. God does not invite only Christians to worship but every creature that has got breath. God is looking the true worshipers who can worship Him in truth and in spirit. As we worship God, we cerebrate to His goodness as we acknowledge his presence. Either individual or corporate worship, the object of worship should be God. All the elements which are incorporated in our worship such as, sacraments, praying, preaching as well as praising and singing should focus on the name of Jesus as we respond to divine initiative. Worship should be our response to God’s love as well as goodness. The true worship which starts with holy expectancy brings change in the heart of worshipers as it ends with holy obedience.


Bibliography

Bible: New International Version: Study Bible
Allen, Ronald. Worship: Rediscovering the Missing Jewel: Portland, Oregon: Multnoman press, 1978.
Robert, Webber E.: Worship Old and New: Grand Rapid, Michigan: Zondervan publishing House. 1994
Foster, Richard J. Cerebration of Discipline: The path to Spiritual Growth: San Francisco: New York: Harper & Row Publishers: 1978
Groenfeldt, John S. We Gather Together: The Church Worships God: Virginia, CLC Press: 1971.
Tracy, Wesley D, Weigelt, Morris A: The Up ward call: Spiritual Formation and Holy Life: Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1994
Torrey, R.A. The importance of Prayer: retrieved from http//www.uncornerstone.org on 20th February 2010
Foster, Richard J and Smith, James Brian: Devotional Classics: USA, Renovare Inc: 1993