Worshipping Appropriately

Hebrews 12:28 tells us that we should “have grace, by which we may worship God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.” Acceptable worship is that which is performed in reverence and godly fear. We can assume that when reverence is missing, the worship is unacceptable.

We take this Scripture seriously. We believe that God is a unique being, and our response to Him should correspond with that uniqueness. We cannot ascribe to God the love that belongs to romantic love-interests, pals, permissive papas, soothing therapists or other earthly loves. The love that belongs to God is a holy love: a love of trembling joy (Ps 2:11). Therefore in our worship, and in our ministry life, we seek to be sober (not sombre) and reverent: those who give God the glory due to His name (Ps 29:2), with the honour and fear appropriate to our Father and Master (Mal 1:6, 11).