Euanthe's Monday Memo
by Scott Hamilton on Tuesday, 14th August 2012
Vertical Church: Unashamed Worship
Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord all the earth!
Psalm 96:1
I feel pretty repetitive in saying this, but once again Sunday was another great day spent together as a church family.
This week we looked at Psalm 96 as we continued on with our Vertical Church series and our second pillar: Worship
The past couple of weeks, its been Olympic mania and every one is cheering on their team. Lets face it, its so easy to get worked up about the horizontal things of life. We'll jump, shout, and celebrate when our team wins, and yet on a Sunday when we come to worship the Lord, we don't have that same level of excitement. As Scott said, Christ has won but we stand there and sing with our hands in our pockets. How tragic is it when we're more excited about the horizontal and not the vertical?
When we gather as a church family on Sunday, it ought to always be a life changing day. We get the privilege to freely worship our God for who he is and all that he has done and we should not reduce this down to something smaller than it is. God is working in us today bringing new changes and deepening our faith in him, he's put a new song in our hearts and we need to be singing our praises to him. We need to be fully engaged in our worship of God and not let anything hold us back in doing so. Our worship is to exceed our prideful reserve and our popularity reputation. When we worship in spirit and in truth, its all about God and we shouldn't be concerned about what others around us are doing or thinking.
I just recently read a blog on worship posted on the Vertical Church website. Consider the following:
Worship is the actual act of ascribing worth directly to God. Worshipful actions may do this indirectly, but when the Bible commands and commends worship as our highest expression, it is not talking about anything other than direct, intentional, Vertical outpouring of adoration. While that does not have to be put to music, it does have to be direct and not indirect to rise above the “worshipful” and actually ascribe worth to God. First Chronicles 16, Psalm 29, and Psalm 96 define worship with surgical precision: “Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name” (Psalm 29:1–2). Worship is mind, emotions, and will engaged in whole-person ascription of worth.
God reigns and he saves. He is the one who makes worship possible. He is the reason we're here and the reason we're singing!
Already looking forward to next Sunday,
You are Loved
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