Do you know how to worship God? Sounds like a silly question, especially in a series on gratitude. But this is a vital question, “Do you really know how to worship?”
Seventy years ago A.W. Tozer lamented that Christians had more resources for knowing about God than ever in the history of the Church. Yet, worship had become a ritualistic program. Twenty-five years ago, James Boice lamented that the problem had become even worse.
Neither of these authors could’ve predicted the explosion of worship resources we’ve seen in the last two decades. We have more worship songs, websites, training courses and books than you can image. Worship leaders can even obtain degrees in worship from many different colleges and seminaries.
You could say we’re more educated about worship. Yet, I still ask the question, “Do we know HOW to worship?”
The Church’s View of Psalm 95
The Church has used Psalm 95 as a call to worship (called the venite) since at least the 4th century. Many traditions even see Psalm 95 as creating a form for worship based on the three Hebrew words for the word “come.”
All this familiarity can cause one of two mistakes: 1) we just look for what makes us feel good in worship, and thereby ignore God’s stiff warnings in verses 7b and following; or 2) we miss God’s voice speaking to us and we start to worship the forms and rituals of worship (a most serious case of misplaced affections).
5 Ways Psalm 95 Teaches Us How to Worship
There are many things we can learn about worship from the 11 verses found in Psalm 95, but I want to focus on five:
For the full show notes, go here: https://maninthepew.com/gc80