Why Worship?

Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth! Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. (Psalm 100 ESV). The motivation to worship God is a key principle in developing the fundamentals of the faith. For some, worship is motivated by guilt, duty, what others will think, or an effort to earn God’s blessing. Tragically in recent decades church leaders have developed a motivational strategy of guilt. It has worked. Unfortunately it only worked in building crowds of people who attend church gatherings. With the dawning of the cultural and societal changes in the decades of 1960-1980, the organization of the church began to shift. In fact, by 1960 our nation was on the verge of a total social change. American society had been dominated primarily by old-stock, white males. During the 1960s, groups that previously had been submerged or subordinate began more forcefully and successfully to assert themselves. Much of the support they received came from a young population larger than ever, making its way through a college and university system that was expanding at an unprecedented pace. Frequently embracing “countercultural” life styles and radical politics, many of the offspring of the World War II generation emerged as advocates of a new America characterized by a cultural and ethnic pluralism that their parents often viewed with unease. The real motivation for worship was lost in the change as more control was used to build and maintain the church programs. As time passed more and more people simply lost both the motivation and felt need for worship. Our reading helps us with that. They teach us that our fundamental motivation for worship is gratitude. We can all enter into worship with thanksgiving because we have all been blessed by God. I know that it may seem that God has not blessed you at times, especially when you are walking through a challenging time. Israel provides us with an example in that regard. It always strikes me how ungrateful the Israelites were despite the tremendous deliverance God provided. In the book of Exodus, we find God punishing the Egyptians while sparing the Israelites. He brought his people out of slavery, only to hear them grumble, complain, and even express a desire to return to slavery. He led them into the Promised Land, only to watch them worship other gods. They had so much to be thankful for, yet often neglected to show gratitude to God. In light of God’s rich grace, most powerfully revealed through the gift of Jesus Christ, we ought to be people who live with gratitude. Given what God has done for us, we can turn our attention to the ultimate blessing of our secured hope in heaven. It is not guilt that motivates; it is the release from guilt that sends us to worship.