The Purpose of Worship

By Carlton Foster – August 17, 2018

I have being involved in witnessing for Jesus for many years. I go door-to-door, organized revival and evangelistic meetings, give Bible Studies, and preached about the Gospel, but one Friday night as I was preparing to go to bed, I got an inspiration to focus on the purpose of worship. This will explain to the unbeliever why they should follow God. I realized that a person is changed in the form of the person or thing he or she worshiped.

For example, the children of Israel were sick when they got bitten by snakes in the desert, but those who followed God’s instruction to look at the bronze snake on a pole were healed. The Bible said, “And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten; when he looketh upon it, shall live (Numbers 21:8)”. They were sick, they followed God’s instructions, and then they were healed.  Again in Exodus 34:29-30, it show that Moses also changed after visiting God on Mount Sinai, “And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come nigh him.”

Peter reflected on what had happened to Moses and said, “So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord— who is the Spirit— makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image (1 Cor 3:18)”. The disciple John also noticed this effect about a change and said, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:2)”.

When we worship God, we will be changed into the spirit of a godly person. Please note what King Saul experienced in 1 Samuel 10:5-6 (KJV), “After that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines: and it shall come to pass, when thou art come thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they shall prophesy: And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man.”  If you want to change from an evil person to a godly person, join in the worship of Jesus Christ; you will be changed.

Another version of the same passage stated it like this: “At that time the Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them. You will be changed into a different person (1 Samuel 10:6 -NLT)”.  The Apostle Paul noticed the change when people worship God. He said in Colossians 1:6 (NLT), “This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.”

A transformation is guaranteed when we truly worship God.  Paul said, “be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God (Romans 12:2 – NLT).” There is also a physical change when we follow God. Noticed what John said in John 9:1-11, “And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?  Jesus answered, ‘Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.  I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world’. When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way, therefore, and washed, and came seeing. The neighbors therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, ‘Is not this he that sat and begged?’  Some said, ‘This is he’, others said, ‘He is like him’: but he said, ‘I am he’. Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened? He answered and said, ‘A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight’.”

Real change will come to a person who decides to worship God. If you are an alcoholic and want to get sober, worship Jesus. If you are a thief and want to stop stealing, worship Jesus – you will be changed into a new person.  The disciple Peter said, “Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? (1 Cor 15:51-55)”.

In conclusion, do you ever wonder why are some professed Christians, who seem to have been worshiping God, worshiping Jesus Christ for a long time, still have not changed into acting and behaving like Jesus? Could it be that they are still worshiping other gods? – Selfishness, worldly pleasures, and the likes?  Are they “having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof – the power to change lives? If a change is guaranteed, but we are not changing, then we must repent and worship the true God – The Creator of heaven and earth in spirit and in truth. Then we will experience real change, now and forever.