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[Galactic]

Why does God deserve worship?

[jimwalton]

First we have to talk about what worship is. I know there are a lot of definitions of worship. Worship on its most obvious level is a recognition of who God is and a response to what he has done. My personal definition of worship is recognizing and rehearsing all of who God is, and giving all of myself to him. So worship is not heaping on God accolades he doesn’t deserve. It’s not making him more than he is, nor is it making him less than he is. It’s a recognition of who he really is.

With that in mind, we can say God deserves our worship for at least two reasons: first, because of Who He is, and secondly because of what He does.

First, we’ll look very briefly into who God is. In 1 Chronicles 29.11-12, David worships God because of his greatness, his power, glory, majesty, and splendor. He is the rightful sovereign over all—the ruler of all things. God is the greatest of all possible beings. If great people deserve honor, then the greatest of all possible beings deserves worship. We don’t even have the words to describe God’s majesty, splendor, beauty, and desirability. When we try to plumb the depths of what each of these terms is trying to say about God, we arrive at a picture of a being so wonderful that he really does deserve our worship. We worship God because He is the only God, He is holy and righteous. He is good. 1 Chronicles 16.25 says, “For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise...”

God not only deserves to be worshiped, but He needs to be worshipped because he is Holy (completely Other), majestic, all-powerful, spectacular, awesome, perfect, eternal, love, just, all-knowing, and as such, is worthy of a small creature such as myself recognizing the Greatness in whose presence I live.

Second, God deserves to be worshipped because of what He has done for us. He made us and endowed us with worth, purpose, and function. He desires a love relationship with us, not because we deserve it, but because His love is so beyond comprehension. He sacrificed himself even to death to provide atonement for us that we do nothing to warrant.

God needs to be worshipped because he has acted sacrificially on my behalf to save me from my sin, at great expense to himself, as an act of love. The magnitude of what he has done for me evokes a profound sense of gratitude, respect, love, worship, and obedience. There is only one appropriate response to the depth of that kind of love, and that response is worship.

Some people still claim that even though God might deserve our worship because of Who He is and what He has done, it’s still wrong for God to initiate the response of worship: You HAVE to worship me, “I alone am to be worshipped,” as if He’s all ego.

Let me try to put it this way. Your mama isn't demonic when she insists that you obey her and respect her. She knows that obedience and respect are pretty important parts of getting by in life, and they are not only appropriate behavior but also worthy character traits. Besides (in the case of most moms), she deserves it. She loves you, works hard for you, and cares about you. Sometimes when you were a child, your mama had to get right in your face and say very sternly to you, “You have to obey me!” She’s not being mean or egocentric. But you're a toddler and ready to cross a busy street. Your mom screams bloody murder, runs to you as fast as she can, grabs you roughly by the arm, and reams you up and down the wall to never do that again, and how you have to listen to her and obey her—she basically blows you away. It's because she knows the real danger of disobedience. You cross that street, you could be dead meat.

But when God demands your praise, respect, love, and obedience, you wonder why he requires it. In the same way as in the previous example, He loves you, works hard for you, and cares about you. God knows the danger of disobedience. He's no rock star seeking adulation, but he knows the forces against you and how destructive they are. He knows that if you go any direction other than his you will be ruined and destroyed, and severely so. Acknowledgement of the truth in Him is the only path to life and meaning, and He knows it. His call for worship is the only way you will ever find what life is really for and about, and how to be spared from the awful things that threaten you.

God demands our worship not out of egotistical self-centeredness, but out of concern for us. He wants to save us from the pain and suffering of bad decisions, the wrong direction in life, and harmful behaviors.

So the third part of this is, because of the relationship I am privileged to have with God, I recognize that every thought I have, every attitude of my heart, and every action I do is essentially an act of worship: recognizing and rehearsing all of who God is, and giving all of myself to him. Why does God need that? That part is what I need. It's only right, given who he is and what he has done.

God demands our worship because He really truly is worthy of it. Secondly, he has earned it in buy our salvation with his own death. Third, it’s a need I have to get the focus off myself and off of so many things in life that would try to be the wrongful object of my worship. And lastly, God requires my worship because it’s my only path to life. Any other path will lead me in the wrong direction.

[On A Whim]

Brilliant!

[Hugo]

Atheist here. it was just a god doing something godly.... something in its nature to do. there's no need to make a big deal about it.

[jimwalton]

If there's a God, and if there's only one God (which there can only be if it's truly God), and if He's doing something godly, there's EVERY reason to make a big deal of it. If there is no God, that has tremendous implications for life. If there IS a God, that has tremendous implications for life. There's EVERY reason to make a big deal of it.