Why worship?

Huw Williams | 19:57, Friday 21 March 2014 | Turin, Italy 

… Why should we worship God? I think our answer to this question will tell us a lot about our view of God. For example, if you think of God as the nasty judge in the sky, you will answer that we should worship God to escape judgement. If you think of God as primarily a law-giver, you might well answer that we should worship because he tells us to. But is there something these answers are missing? Is there something lacking in our knowledge of God that is revealed in our answer to the question?

This last week I was struck again as I taught Psalm 100, at how this answers the question, why should we worship God?

1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Worship the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.

That sounds neither fearful nor dutiful in its motivation to me. This sounds to me like people who worship because they… well, want to.

3 Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Hang on a minute, we should worship God because He made us – isn't that a bit dutiful? Well, let’s look a bit closer at that verse. It's not just the fact that God MADE us, it’s also the fact that He made US. Plenty of gods claim to make things and people, but it is only the God of the Bible who wants a relationship with that people – and who gathers a flock to Himself and shepherds them, and gives us a community to worship in.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the LORD is good and his love endures for ever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

And this is the good love God shows down through history, generation after generation, century after century. Now that sounds like a good reason to worship doesn't it?

And so to return to my initial question, why should we worship God? If we can grasp the message of Psalm 100, I'm not sure the answer is in having good reasons, so much as it is in realising that when we see God clearly, we won't be able to stop ourselves from worshiping.