Would it seem strange to you to hear me say that God wants you to love worship? Do not think that I’m talking about some sort of showy, theatrical, high-energy concert of Christian music when I say that. I am simply meaning the regular, week-to-week, simple gathering of the people of God in the presence of God for the glory of God. I’m talking about the ordinary, often broken, weak, struggling, growing people of God gathering to hear the word, to pray, to sing, to participate in ceremony like Lord’s Supper, and to encourage one another.
If you look at the way many churches shape the services of worship or at the way many Christians look at the week-to-week services, I think you would find that it is a surprise to consider that God wants us to love that gathering. God wants us to love worship.
Look at what David said in Psalm 26.
Psalm 26:8
O Lord, I love the habitation of your house
and the place where your glory dwells.
David said he loves the place of God’s habitation. He was speaking in context about the place where God was worshipped. He was talking about the altar and acts of formal worship. David said to God that he loved being where God is biblically worshipped.
And I think that concept is often lost. Some churches shape their entire services for entertainment, trying to spin up a feeling among the people so they feel like they got something out of the gathering. Others try to put on a show so that lost people will think that Christians are doing something cool and worth seeing another time. I fear that many who are believers look at the services as obligations to check off their list from Sunday to Sunday.
But when David wrote this Psalm, in a section where David was trying to express his genuine devotion to God, he simply declared that he loves the habitation of God’s house, the place of God’s worship. David loved to be where God was actually honored in accord with his commands. It did not require extra technology. It did not require a type of creativity that God did not command. It was not focused on enticing the lost outsider to enter in. It was simply glorifying God for the purpose of glorifying God. It was rejoicing in the forgiveness of God.
So, Christian, do you love the habitation of God? Do you love the glory of God? Are you able to rejoice at the opportunity that you have from Sunday to Sunday to gather together with the people of God for the purpose of displaying the glory of God? Do you love hearing God’s word proclaimed? Do you love glorifying God in song, simple and true song? It is good to love the worship of the Lord.
Pastor Travis Peterson 