“Worship and Obedience (Let Us Worship)Psalm 95:6-7

The description of worship found in Psalm 95:6-7 is important, for it helps us appreciate what we are doing when we worship.  Although worship can and should be encouraging to those who participate, this is not the main purpose.  We worship to praise God.  Consequently, we must worship God in a way He desires.  To change the worship to fit our tastes misses the point.  God is the one we seek to please.  He is the one who deserves to be praised.  Therefore, we “bow down” and “kneel before the Lord our Maker” (verse 6).  To bow or kneel requires one to act with humility, and to Offer appropriate worship, one must acknowledge his or her place beneath God.  If He is worthy of such exaltation, He has the right to tell us how worship should be done.

In the New Testament, God has provided us with a pattern for worship.  The early Christians met on the first day of the week to observe the Lord’s Supper (I Corinthians 11:23-26; Acts 20:7), to pray and sign (I Corinthians 14:15, Ephesians 5:19, Colossians 3:16), to preach the gospel (I Corinthians 15:1-4, 12-14), and to give of their means (I Corinthians 126:1-2; 2 Corinthians 9:6-7).  They followed Jesus’s admonition to “worship in spirit and truth” by doing what God authorized (John 4:254).  As “the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand” (Psalm 95:7), we must do likewise.  Following God, our great shepherd, wherever He leads includes obeying His plan of worship.

Courtland Avenue Church of Christ 

August 2025