Wednesdays are for Worship

As I mentioned in Monday's post, I am starting a few new things that will help me accomplish a couple of things:

• improve my blogging consistency - I am aiming at posting something every day. It may not be long or in depth. I need to put to words this message that God has laid on my heart. 
• exercise myself in the activities that God is revealing as seeds for the fruitfulness I am in search of to develop my own growth in godliness and fruitfulness.
• recording my activity to be accountable.

In addition to scripture memory and meditation (on Mondays) I am adding "Wednesdays are for Worship". 

Worship is an important daily discipline towards the goal of growing in godliness. I do not use the word "discipline" to signify a chore that must be done to please God, but rather an element of consistent activity that will bring the desired result. I Peter 1:5-9 names godliness among other qualities that will keep us (me) from being unfruitful. Worship is a daily activity that will develop the quality of godliness and keep me from being unfruitful.

As I approach the thought of worship I feel the need to discover what worship really is and examine what I actually know about worship. Traditionally I have the picture in my mind that worship is singing songs that declare my love and allegiance to God and extol His virtues. But something tells me there's more to worship than that activity alone.

What I intend on doing for Worship Wednesdays is examine what scriptures say about worship. In the beginning I will probably rely on Christian thought leaders that I respect who I know have the reputation to be students of the Word "rightly dividing the word of truth."

Today I am looking at John Piper's sermon on "The Pleasure of God in His Name." There is written text with scripture references as well as an audio of his sermon on this subject. 

I chose this subject from John Piper's sermons on the Glory of God and on Worship because of the focus that the Faith Project has on knowing, believing and living life according to God's Name - in all it's various forms. 

Pastor Piper makes this statement,

"...there is another pleasure of God implied in this verse, namely, that God has pleasure in his name. When he chooses a people, it says, he chooses them for himself, so that when he acts to spare them, he acts for his great name's sake. Therefore beneath and behind God's delight in choosing a people there is a deeper delight, namely, the pleasure God has in his own name. Now what does that mean—that God has pleasure in his name? It might not mean anything different than what we saw three weeks ago, namely, that God has pleasure in his own perfections, in his own glory. The name of God in Scripture often means virtually the same thing as God's glorious, excellent character. But it often means something slightly different, namely, the glory of God gone public. In other words, the name of God often refers to his reputation, his fame, his renown. This is the way we use the word "name" when we say someone is making a name for himself. Or we sometimes say, that's a "name" brand. We mean a brand with a reputation."

It is our focus on the Name of God - recognizing his glorious, excellent character, his reputation to all of the heavenly and earthly realm - that puts us in a position to receive all of God's promises. As Pastor Piper points out in scripture God comes to our  our rescue "for His Name Sake" - for His reputation - not ours. His name, his reputation is faultless, he is faithful to do all that he says he will do - he is true to his own nature and character defined by his names. So even when we fail him, he never fails us - because of His Name.

This is a thought worth meditating on. Watch how this thought will build your faith. If you acknowledge that God is who He says He is and can do what He says  He can do it should cause a faith-filled response to rise within you. It is this faith that releases all the power behind the promises for you and me, written in his Word - his unfailing Word - backed by His Name.

Allowing your thoughts to remain fixed on His nature and His Name is an act of worship. You will find that when you do this you will not be able to be in fear and worry. There is tremendous power in His Name.

Additional resources on the topic of Worship:

• John Piper - Worship is an End in Itself - The content, the substance, the life, the goal, the end is God and the joyful experience of ascribing glory to him.
• Sammy Tippit - A Call to Worship (The Need to Worship) "Thus, true worship does not originate with man. It originates with God. Worship is the result of the grace of God being applied to the heart of man; it flows from a heart that has been graced by God. The theme song for the true worshiper becomes, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found." I did not search so far and so wide that I found Him. I did not become so good that I could worship Him. He found me and graced me. Freely He forgave me, and freely I worship and love Him. It is not my style of worship nor my service for Him that makes me a true worshiper. It is His amazing grace."
• Lisa G. Burgess - Lisa Notes Blog - Give one-of-a-kind Worship - "While you might mimic a style or repeat the same words in a song or even think similar thoughts as someone else, you can’t worship exactly like any other."