Why Do I Worship?

Psalm 86: 9&10

All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. For you are great and do wondrous things; you are God alone. 

Yesterday morning I opened up our church service and I began talking about why we worship God. I said something like; He redeemed us, healed us, set us free and so much more. 

You know, I was born again in November of 1999. To my knowledge nobody showed me how to worship God, it's just something I did. I have always been in Pentecostal or charismatic churches so I guess you can say I have been prepared. I have seen people jump and shout, raise their hands, cry, speak in other tongues, roll around on the floor nd moore so worship has always been expressive around me, even as a kid. When I became born again, lifting my hands, kneeling before the Lord, crying and shouting all seemed natural. 

Here is my question; Why is it that praise and worship leaders or even Pastors sometimes seem to be a lot like a cheerleaders? Was this always the case and if not when did it begin? Now to be fair I get when we have new people or new to church and stuff and they haven't been around Pentecostal circles that you may not be so expressive but for people who have been around God for a while and they know what God has done and they just sit there like a lump on a log. 

I will say another thing here because I really want to be fair. I have seen non charismatic people praise and worship God, lift their hands, cry, kneel and worship but my point is we see this much more in charismatic circles. Here is my main point; why must we be cheerleaders? Why does it take all that? I get sometimes we start out in the flesh and all that but praise and worship should just be something we do, regardless if it's charismatic circles or not, we should just do it! 

What if God blessed us according to our praise and our worship to Him? Would it change? You say Troy what's with all the questions? But these are questions that must be asked to people who are born again believers. Praise and worship should be automatic, not something we should be primed into doing. This is the God of the universe here not a President... not a Governor... but the Creator of the world. I respect the President because of the office but I don't praise and worship Him. I like sports and I cheer and maybe I can say kind of praise but worship goes to God! 

Jesus came and died on a cross for us. Jesus came and took not only my sins, but He took my penalty also. When I die I should have to suffer for the sins that I have committed throughout my life. In a spiritual court of law myself, and all humanity deserves hell. Is that harsh? It's true because we deserve it, but what's awesome is Jesus paid the ultimate price for all of us. He took not only our sin but He took our punishment. He took the banishment and absence of God's presence for us so that we can stand in the presence of God forever. 

If you can't find a reason to worship after that something is wrong with you. Not only that but all the times God had your back, sent His angels to watch over you when you weren't even serving Him. He saved you from the car wreck you should have died in. He saved you from the disease that should have killed you. He broke all the chains that should have ensnared you like it has generation after generation in your family. Am I hitting home yet? If not than what I want you to do is ask yourself this question: Why should I worship God? Then take a look at your life and see how it could have gone, that's why you worship. 

So as I end this bit this morning, I want you to take some time to reflect on why you worship God and what can you do to make your worship better. This isn't about emotionalism, this is about reality on worship. Next time your in church or in your car or whatever, don't wait for the preacher or woship leader to prime you to worship, just do it because the Lord is great, and He deserves it all. 

Be Blessed!