Matt Chandler begins the last section of Chapter 1 of The Explicit Gospel with a quote from John Piper: “The aim [of worship] is no other than the endless, ever-increasing joy of His people in that glory [the glory of God]”   What Piper is really talking about is how Christians should celebrate the glory of God through our worship of Him.  Chandler also emphasizes this in the last section of his book by quoting from the Westminster Confession: “The chief end of man is to glorify God, to enjoy Him forever.”

I have discussed in previous posts the Divine qualities of transcendent creativity, sovereign knowing, perfect self-sufficiency and glorious self-regard.  Of course, these are not easy concepts to grasp; they are meant to describe qualities of God.  That alone should make them hard to understand.  However, reading about them should also convince us that we should stand in awe of our Creator.  “It is God who is deep in riches, God who is deep in wisdom, God who is deep in lovingkindness, and God who is deep in glory” [35].   I think one of the hardest things to comprehend is the idea that the world was created to display God’s glory, not man’s glory.  Sadly we just don’t have the words to convey this idea.

God is bigger than anything that any of us can comprehend.  We need to take Isaiah 55: 8-9 literally: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

What are we left to do if our simple understanding of God is inadequate and our worship falls short and we know it?  Chandler’s book The Explicit God has made a strong case that many of us really don’t know God; we just “assume” we know Him. It stands to reason that if we don’t know Him our worship of Him is inadequate. If we think Chandler is right, what should we do?

We need to get as serious as we can about learning how to worship Him.

That seems to be a simple solution, but it is not.  True worship requires special behaviors from us.  I am not talking about the simple behavior of church attendance, singing a few songs, listening to a sermon, and taking communion periodically.  Worship requires much more that that from us.  Chandler calls it much “larger and more encompassing” than an hour spent in the sanctuary every week.  It is a way of life where our daily behaviors are dedicated to “acknowledging, submitting to, and enjoying the supremacy of God’s glory in all things” [36].  Also, church attendance, singing, listening to a sermon etc. are not worship if they are done to curry favor with God.  These activities can be “superficial”, “shallow” and “trivial” if they are not done without the proper worshipful attitude.  Chandler writes that worship can be an expression of joy about God’s gifts to us, but enjoying those gifts without acknowledging where they came from is a pitiful form of worship.  Joy because God has shared from His abundance can be real, but it is not real if we don’t acknowledge that He is the driving force behind all of life? 

For most of us, the idea of worship is confusing because worship puts God’s glory to the forefront.  It says in Isaiah 43:7 “I have made them [humans] for My Glory.”  That is the ultimate purpose for which we were created.  The problem is that even though we can be “wired” for worship, we are quick to worship anything other than God [sports teams, actors, pop stars…].  Also authentic worship reaches far beyond outward individual demonstrations or corporate performances into myriad expressions of the human heart replying to God’s revelation of Himself, His purposes, and His will.  The human heart is the center of worship for God.  Worship originates with an inward “posture” of the heart that is always bowed down in humble, awe-filled recognition of God’s worthiness.  We should honor him and revere Him at all times as the supreme authority over our lives.

Worship is what I call a “high bar.”  As humans we always fall short.  But God has expectations that we try to grow in our righteousness, that we use our Holy Spirit to guide us in our growth.  So far, we have been looking at what Pastor Chandler calls “the ground;” the Bible, the story of God, man, Christ and man’s response.  Since we have looked at God, we next turn our discussion to man.  Let me give a hint to what will follow in the last words of chapter 1.

“We want to worship something…we are wired for it by God Himself.  But something has gone wrong with the wiring” [37].