People in India can be highly emotional. In corporate culture, some expat managers find Indians too emotional and argumentative. At home, parents see raising children as a sacred duty, so they can easily become overbearing. In sports, Saurav Ganguly’s dramatic shirtless celebration, after India’s win at Lord’s Cricket Ground, galvanised the pulse of a generation. News media is filled with unfiltered opinions and emotional attacks. The emotionally charged drama of reality TV has captured the imagination of India’s masses.
As followers of Christ, our cultural experience influences our understanding of biblical worship. The apostle Paul urges us to present our whole body as a living sacrifice. Real worship calls our bodies to holiness, our minds to renewal, and our hearts to transformation (Rom. 12:1-2).
However, in our emotional context, we place more emphasis on the intensity of our emotional experience than on real worship. It is unhelpful and can lead us to have unbiblical expectations from God.
Real biblical worship makes room for external experiences like the use of dim lights or flashing lights, blowing shofars, waving flags, smoke-filled rooms, or singing the same lyric repeatedly. It can involve the heightened expression of emotions—tears, goose bumps, and physical responses to God’s presence (Ps. 47:1, 63:4, 95:6, 126:2, 134:2, 149:3; Luke 7:37-38). But what is at the core of real, biblical worship?
When we worship God in Spirit and truth, what really happens? What are we saying? What is our posture?
Jesus warns us in Matthew 15:8-9, “This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me.” How do we know the Lord does not count our worship as vanity?
In Psalm 95, God shows us what real worship looks like in Spirit and truth.
Real Worship is Satisfaction in God
The psalmist is singing to the Lord. He is making a joyful noise with thanksgiving (Ps. 95:1-2). Our hearts sing when we are satisfied in something.
We see people hum a tune, sing a song, or whistle while working or doing chores. Psychology identifies such expressions as signalling inner contentment, joy, happiness, and gratitude.
Why is the psalmist satisfied in God? It is because he ponders and beholds God, who is great—above anything in this world (Ps. 95:3). The more he understands who God is, and what he has done, the more satisfied his heart is in God. That is real worship.
A heart satisfied in God results in true worship. In Psalm 63:3, the psalmist glorifies God because he understands God’s love is better than life itself. When Job says, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord,” it is nothing but a heart satisfied in God (Job 1:21).
What is your heart like when you worship? Every time you enter God’s presence, in your daily work, in your private time, is your heart able to express its satisfaction in God, even though life and circumstances may not seem quite satisfying?
Does your heart sing with the hymn, “When peace like a river attended my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, thou has taught me to say, ‘It is well, it is well, with my soul.'”
A heart satisfied in God naturally sings, gives thanks, leaps with joy, and abounds in real worship.
In Real Worship, We Surrender Our Will to God
In Psalm 96:6, the psalmist calls people to worship and bow down, to kneel before the Lord, our maker. It is a picture of submission and surrender.
Why does the psalmist submit his will to God this way? It is because he understands God is his shepherd (Ps. 95:7). But since we have a clearer picture of God through the gospel, we understand much more than the psalmist.
We worship the true and good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. Jesus himself surrenders his whole life when he says to God, not my will but yours be done (John 10:11, Luke 22:42).
When we gaze into the beauty of our Shepherd, we express real worship by surrendering our will to him. We submit to him all our fears, longings, desires, unmet needs, and every concern about the future.
How can you worship God without submitting your will to him? Real worship involves a growing surrendering of our will to our good and great Shepherd.
Real Worship is a Transformed Life
When a heart is growing in satisfaction, and a will is growing in surrender, you inevitably see a life growing in transformation.
The psalmist warns us not to harden our hearts when we hear his voice (Ps. 95:7-8). The children of Israel were neither satisfied in God nor surrendered their hearts to him (Ex. 17:1-7).
Some of us wonder why we are not changing. Why do we struggle in the same areas again and again? It has to do with our worship.
When we worship God above all, we are slowly but surely transformed into the likeness of Christ. Then do not conform to this world. We reflect God’s likeness and represent his image. We grow in confidence without succumbing to irrational fears and anxieties. The opinions of people or their approval does not control us anymore. We are hopeful in sickness and suffering. Neither loss nor death can shake our confidence in God’s goodness. Such a transformed life is a life of real worship.
When you have a private moment of worship, or lead your family in worship, or gather with God’s people for public worship, would you express how much you adore Christ above all? Through your growing satisfaction in his finished work, through your growing surrender to his loving plans, and through your growing transformation reflecting God’s likeness in this world, may you enjoy the beauty of real worship.
