God wants us to worship Him. Jesus instructed the woman at the well in John 4:23-24 “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” We can worship God by praising and glorifying Him.
But just saying words of praise to God is not enough. Jesus was highly critical of the scribes and Pharisees of His day. Matthew 15:7-9 “Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” It is critical that we worship God not only with our lips, but also from our hearts and with our actions.
Many people believe that the main way that they worship God today is by attending the worship service of the church. Interestingly enough, there is no mention in the New Testament of a “worship service”. There is not even any instruction telling us to meet together to worship God. If the assembly is not the main way of worshiping God, what is the main way? Those under the law of Moses worshiped God by offering animal sacrifices. The Christian sacrifice is different. Romans 12:1 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” Other translations render this last phrase as “which is your spiritual act of worship” or “which is your spiritual service of worship”. We are urged to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God; in that way, we worship God.
By offering our bodies as living sacrifices to God, everything we do is done to please God and follow His will. In my mind, that is the ultimate worship of our God! In the church assembly we do everything as we are instructed as part of our living sacrifice; we therefore worship Him in the assembly. Moreover, in the assembly we also worship Him when we give thanks for what He has done for us with the sacrifice of His Son and we praise Him in song and bow before Him in prayer. But our worship of Him is not limited to the assembly. In our daily lives we worship God by living as He has instructed us to live; for example, husbands love their wives, wives respect their husbands, children obey their parents, workers obey their bosses and bosses treat their employees with respect (Ephesians 5:22-6:9). The Bible is filled with instruction for our daily lives. When we give our whole lives as sacrifices to God and live as He desires us to live, we worship Him.
Hebrews 9:13-14 “For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” Before, they worshiped God with animal sacrifices. I encourage you to now worship God with a holy life – your body as a living sacrifice in service to Him.