Let Us Worship God

Too often, a fundamental question is never asked in the church: How does God want to be worshiped? Today, Sinclair Ferguson reflects on true worship as the purpose of the Reformation and the purpose of our lives.

If you were listening to the podcast last week, you might remember we were thinking about the Bible. And I imagine if someone asked, “What was the Reformation in the sixteenth century all about?” You might actually say it was about the authority of the Bible over against the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. Or you could say, “Well, it was all about justification by faith alone in Christ alone.” And certainly, these would be both good and true answers.

But I remember years ago being struck by something I read in a book written by the Reformer John Calvin. He said that what really lies at the heart of things is worship. And I must confess that for a moment that took me aback. And then, I think I saw what Calvin was saying. The Bible, after all, is a means to an end, to bring us to the knowledge of God. And the end is worship. That’s the goal.

And justification—our being counted as righteous, our sins being forgiven—is also a means to an end, isn’t it? Fellowship with God and worship. So that in a sense, both Scripture and justification are given to us so that we can be brought by the Spirit to love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength. In other words, to worship Him.

Worship has been a big topic in the church for the last fifty years and more, hasn’t it? We probably talk more about how we do it than any generation since the Reformation. We now talk about worship styles. Is your church’s worship a traditional style or a contemporary style? I sometimes, tongue in cheek, want to say if our worship isn’t contemporary, it can’t possibly be worship. But I know that’s not what people mean by the question.

But there’s a reason that it’s worth thinking about this because a great deal of that kind of talk about worship isn’t really about God at all. It’s about us. And often it’s about what we like, what is according to our taste, more than what He actually likes, and certainly more about what we like than about what God likes. Because to be honest, even if it sounds a little harsh to say it, I suspect in many churches the fundamental question was never asked, “What does God actually like? What does He want? What kind of directives has He given to us?” And yet that’s the very first question we should ask, isn’t it? Because we’re not worshiping worship. We’re not worshiping one another. We’re not worshiping ourselves. We’re worshiping God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And so, our worship should be shaped according to who He is and what He wants.

For about the first half of my life, virtually every church service I ever attended in any kind of church began with exactly the same four words. And now I very rarely hear them. Of course, it’s true that the Scriptures don’t tell us what words we should use to begin our services of worship, but in many ways, how we begin explains what we intend to do. And I think the fact that I heard these words virtually every week of my life several times and now hardly ever hear them is really significant. You may be wondering, what were these words? Well, I think you can probably guess what they were, and probably guess that they’ve also largely disappeared, and probably understand why I think it’s significant that we don’t so often hear them. The words were these: “Let us worship God.”