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Congregational Worship: Enjoying the Lord together

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Congregational Worship:  Enjoying the Lord together

At Northwest we value worship. The ultimate act of worship is to love the Lord Jesus with all our heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37). Paul refers to this as presenting ourselves to God as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable- this is our spiritual act of worship (Romans 12:1-2)!

We desire to align ourselves to the Scripture as we seek to worship congregationally. This includes Spirit-empowered obedience, unity in the Holy Spirit, and making a joyful noise to the Lord!

Spirit-empowered obedience


Worship is not music, but worship includes praising him through music.  It is possible for our music to bring joy to the Father or become noise in his ears.  Noise that hinders our sacrifice of praise from being a pleasing offering is when our words do not match our lives before him. The Scripture reveals, to obey the Lord is better than sacrifice (1 Samual 15:22). As we prepare for congregational worship, we prayerfully consider our love for the Lord. Jesus said we show our love for him through Spirit-empowered obedience (John 15:10).

Unity in the Spirit

As we prepare for congregational worship, we reflect on the attitude of our hearts toward our brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus said the world would know we are his disciples through our love for one another (John 13:34-35). The opposite is true as well, “…if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts…this is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, and demonic” (James 3:14-15). As we prepare for congregational worship, we confess bitterness in our hearts toward one another and seek reconciliation.

Spirit-filled Noise


Having prepared our hearts for congregational worship, we follow by getting ready to make some major noise to the Lord!  For the Hebrews, noise was often connected to making joyful and exuberant praise in the midst of the congregation.  It is important to remember, praise is not defined by cultural preferences.

The Scripture is clear, praise is a loud, joyous affair: Psalm 47:2, “Clap your hands all you peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!” Psalm 66:1-2, “Shout to God for joy all the earth, sing his glorious name, give him glorious praise.” Psalm 95:1, “..come, let us sing to the Lord, let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!” Psalm 150:5-6, “Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!”

Shouting, applauding, and instrumental exuberance in worship are tied to our joy in who Christ is and what he has done through the cross and resurrection. Joyful noise is part of what makes silence during congregational worship significant.

Fellow believers, does our congregational worship reflect a people who have seen the King of Glory? Who is the King of Glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle!… The LORD of Hosts, he is the King of Glory!” (Psalm 24)

Church, this weekend as we gather to worship, let us love God with all our heart, soul, and mind; let us love one another as Christ loves us; and let us make tremendous noise and welcome Christ Jesus our LORD into the midst of his people!