Call to Worship: Priority of Worship

To being this series Call to Worship, I want to start with discussing the importance of proper worship and the priority of worship. This posting will not fully develop the each thing mentioned here, simply because much of what I will mention here will be addressed in greater depth later.

Have you spent time pondering upon the first four of the Ten Commandments lately. Read Exodus 20:1-11 (Scripture reference below). After you read the text, spend some time reflecting how these four commandments are related to worship. Re-read the text more than once if necessarily. It is crucial that you understand the significance of this passage.

Importance of Proper Worship

Exodus 20:1-11

"Then God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain. “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy" (Exodus 20:1-11, NASB95).

Exodus 20:1-3 declares that the Lord is our God and that we shall not have any other gods. We must acknowledge God for who He is and what He has done. Because our God is the one true God, He demands that we do not worship any other gods. Are you worshiping a god besides the one true God? Are putting something in your life before God? Is it work? Is it money?

In Exodus 20:4-6 we are told that we are not to create in idols and that we are not to worship those idols. Have you made something into an idol in your life? Have you created God in your own image instead of recognizing him as the God who is as found in Scripture.

Exodus 20:7 tells us that we are to honor the name of the Lord. Are you honoring the name of the Lord in your speech? Are you are honoring the name of the Lord in your thoughts?

Exodus 20:8-11 informs us that we are to remember the Sabbath and to keep it holy. Are you honoring the Sabbath? Are you honoring God in how you keeping the Sabbath?

It is clear that the first four commandments of the Ten Commandments deal with the importance of proper worship. If you do not have a proper prespective of these four commandments, you will not have a proper prespective of biblical worship.

Priority of Worship

1. Our chief responisibility is to honor God above all others. See Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Mark 12:28-30.

2. God claims Lordship over every area of our lives. See Matthew 6:24 and 1 Corinthians 10:31.

3. Westminster Shorter Catechism states that man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

Spend some time personally reflecting how you view worship. Are you worshipping as God demands according to these biblical passages.