Editor's note: Dr. Boertje has graciously provided this manuscript, from which he spoke during our conference. It is the second of two addresses (see index for the first address). There may be differences in this text as compared to the actual delivery (audio file download above).

INTRODUCTION (On Tip Toe)

As people worshiped in the Bible, they did so with a holy expectancy: they believed that they would hear the voice of God. When Moses went into the tabernacle he knew that he was entering the presence of God. When the early Christians met in their home churches they gathered with the assurance that the resurrected Christ was present among them and that they would experience the living and resurrected power of Christ in their individual lives.

How do we cultivate this kind of holy expectancy? It begins as we are filled with worship and adoration in our hearts, when every area of our lives is lived with an awareness of the presence of God. We do not limit our worship to acts of devotion, ceremonies or services. For a worshiping Christian, worship is synonymous with life. Worship is not a part of our life. It is our life!

DANCE SCRIPTS (SCRIPTURES)

Romans 12:1  (WITH SACRIFICE) "Therefore, I urge you in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship."

Whatever we do as Christians, we do as worshipers. Our worship is an ongoing act of being a living sacrifice as long as we live. We have become the living sacrifices for Christ because of Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice for us. Through the sacrifice of Jesus we “continuously offer to God our sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name (Hebrews 13:15).

John 4:23-24 (IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH) "A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.  God is a spirit and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

These words were spoken to a Samaritan woman. She was trying to reduce worship to an issue of location, time and style. She was defending the Samaritan way of gathering in the mountains to worship as her fathers did in contrast to the way the people of Jesus would gather for worship in Jerusalem. She wanted Jesus to compare these two forms of corporate worship.

Jesus replied that the only true domains of worship are spirit and truth.  He was saying that worship should not be bound by location, systems or time. He set us free to worship as much at work, home and in our leisure as in a sanctuary on Sunday morning as long as we are guided by truth and energized by the spirit.

I Corinthians 3:16  (FROM A TEMPLE)  "Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s spirit lives in You?"

God is not confined to a building or a room. We carry his presence. God dwells in us by his spirit. We are his holy temple wherever we are. He wants our love to be seen and worship to be heard coming from our temples. These expressions of worship should be heard and seen in our relationships, homes, offices and ministries.

II Corinthians 3:18 (IN FRONT OF A MIRROR) " We all with open face, beholding in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image."

The outstanding characteristic of a lifestyle worshiper is this unveiled openness before God. Our lives become a mirror for others to see God’s glory. In our desire to worship the Lord in the beauty of his holiness (Psalm 29:2), we strive to be holy and are transformed as we behold his glory. We become mirrors of the glory of God to others.  Oswald Chambers writes that, “you always know when a man has been beholding the glory of the Lord; you feel in your inner spirit that he is the mirror of the Lord’s own character.”

One of the areas where we can mirror the glory of God and live a holy lifestyle is in the realm of our thoughts. We are to make our thoughts, a sanctuary, a temple where God’s spirit dwells. We can lose fellowship with God and the sense of his presence by just thinking wrong thoughts.  God will not dwell in thoughts that are polluted, proud or selfish. God tells us to make a chapel of our thoughts. He delights in our pure and holy thoughts. These are thoughts like his own. As God dwells in our thoughts he senses our  intention to worship him even when the cares of life are overwhelming.

Our understanding of worship is deepened when we realize that true worship touches every area of our lives. We are not lifestyle worshipers if we compartmentalize our lives in such a way that some areas are given to worship and others are withheld from worship. We cannot offer worship that is wholly pleasing to God if we are guarding elements and areas that are displeasing to him. A.W. Tozer wrote that “No worship is wholly pleasing to God until there is nothing in me displeasing to God.”

After we understand what true worship really is we are free to enjoy and experience a vast assortment of worship styles and activities. We are alerted to recognize faith, truth, spirit, mystery and newness in worship.  We become stronger worshipers as we live holy lifestyles and maintain fresh encounters with God and renewed experiences with Jesus Christ.

Every area of life belongs to God. The apostle Paul claimed the whole universe for  Christ (I Corinthians 3:21-23). Because Christ is the Lord of all life, he is to be worshiped in every sphere of life. Worship is devoting the whole of life to God. Worship is a style of life!

DANCE DIRECTIONS FOR LIFESTYLE WORSHIP

In understanding worship as a lifestyle it is helpful to consider two directions of worship. The New Testament emphasizes that worship is to be directed upward to God and outward to people.

Upward direction of worship

The upward direction of worship is in response to God for who he is and how he reveals himself to us. Joshua responded in worship when God revealed himself as Commander of the Lord’s Army, David responded to God’s holiness and Job worshiped the Lord when he recognized God’s sovereignty. As a part of God’s creation we respond to him as creator. Every area of life belongs to him. He is to be worshiped in every sphere of our lives. Our response and expression to him is thanksgiving and praise.

Upward worship is entering and living in the presence of God with every experience of life. This God-saturated mindset is what Brother Lawrence called, “practicing the presence of God.” He wrote in his Pilgrim Prayer, “Lord of all pots and pans and things…make me a saint by getting meals and washing up the plates.” It is simply recognizing that God is ever with us. It is acknowledging him, calling on him and rejoicing in him.  Practicing the presence of God is the upward direction of personal worship and is the secret to becoming a true 24/7 worshiper of God.

Outward Direction of worship

In his signature book, Worship is a Verb, Robert Webber writes about eight principles for transforming worship. The concluding chapter and final principle is that “worship is a way of life.” He writes that worship should shape the way we live in the world. In its outward dimension, worship should reach to our families, our work, and our evangelism.. Acceptable worship is worship that expresses itself in sharing and giving. Worship must be demonstrated by our own personal behavior. 

Ephesians 5:8-10 says that we are to “walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true) and try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.”

The word “pleasing" is translated from the Greek and means to be acceptable. We are to understand that when we reach out to others and do good we are offering acceptable worship to God.

At this point we realize that our personal worship is not an end in itself. It is to free me for proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ and ministering to others in His name. Here one could make the claim that personal worship always leads to witness. We are admonished to be holy and righteous worshipers so that our message will be clear and convincing to all those touched by our lives.

Worship is not just about reading scripture or praying or singing at a certain time or place, it is a mindset, it is a way of life, and it is a heart that beats for God and constantly looks for ways to glorify God and spread his righteous reputation in the world. When we live as worshipers, every place is holy, every moment is significant and every action is eternal.

CONCLUSION (Moving and Flowing)

Psalm 45:1 "For the Director of music. To the tune of 'Lilies' A wedding song. My heart overflows with a good theme.”

The Hebrew word for “overflows” means to “keep moving or stir.” The literal Hebrew reads, “My heart stirs a good word.” The good word that is stirred here is a strong and flattering word to the king. The New International Version reads, “My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king." The poet writing in Psalm 45 wants his heart to return a strong word in flattering language to the king. It is similar to the experience of the disciples on the road to Emmaus when they said, “Did not our hearts burn within us?”

A personal worship lifestyle brings a moving, stirring and burning of the heart in all circumstances and conditions of life. Every place and all times are appropriate for worship. We can always flatter our King.

J. Winston Pearce in Come Let Us Worship

The value of a worship lifestyle is made clear by the writing of J. Winston Pearce in his book Come Let Us Worship. He writes that our times of worship are not meant for their own sake, but for the sake of all of life:

“It has been affirmed that the purpose and end of the devotional life is the devoted life. We set aside a few minutes that the hours may be His; we set aside one special day that all days may be His; we come to the Lord’s table that we may recognize His presence at all tables; we bow before Him in the Lord’s house that He may have the preeminence in all houses; we pay the tithe of our income to the intent that He may have the control of all income. The individual who conscientiously reserves a quiet time needs to remember that these quiet times are not little islands cut off from the rest of life. They are part of the mainland of life, they are a vital part of the whole life. We moor our bark [boat] to these quiet islands for a time that we may sail forth better mariners on the sea of daily experience.”

“Take My Life and Let It Be Consecrated Lord to Thee”
                                   Frances R. Havergal (1836 – 1879)

© 2009 Wendell Boertje

Dr. Wendell Boertje is the Minister of Music for Central Baptist Church of Bearden in Knoxville, Tennessee.