It Was Good to Have Been in the House of the Lord (Part 1: I.1)

The audience anxiously awaits their entertainment. Their entertainers will not disappoint. The drummer skillfully uses every component in his set to produce a rousing tempo. Instrumentalists join in, and soon amplified music reverberates throughout the house. The vocalists begin singing their songs. The audience stands and sways and jumps. Dancers on the stage please all with their sensuous movements. Throughout the event, the audience gives rounds of applause, and voices their praise to the performers. They afterward say, “It was good to have been in the house of the Lord!”
Yes, I just described a “worship service” in many circles. No, it does not at all resemble a worship service in the churches of Jesus Christ. And, worship services in the churches of Jesus Christ must not imitate the world or resemble the activities found in night clubs, dance halls, and houses of ill-repute.

I. We must worship according to Biblical guidelines. Our English word worship (think worth-ship) translates the Hebrew word (shâchâh) meaning “to bow down” and the Greek word (proskuneō) meaning “to make obeisance, do reverence to”. (Proskuneō is from pros = “towards” + kuneō = “to kiss”.) If we apply these actions to our souls when we worship, we worship rightly with our bodies.

1. We must worship spiritually and truthfully (John 4:23f): “true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”