Worship involves the whole person because human beings are both body and spirit. The Old and New Testaments together show that God cares about both the inward heart and the outward forms of worship. True worship is offered through Christ with reverence, awe, obedience, love, and bold confidence before the throne of grace.

Humans Are Worshippers - Part 2
Pastor Joel Roberto Guajardo
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Internal and External Worship

  • Human beings are both body and spirit.

  • God made the body and spirit to belong together.

  • Worship is not only internal; it is also external.

  • The forms of worship matter because God meets us both internally and externally.

Why the Body Matters

  • The resurrection shows that the body matters to God.

  • Jesus took on flesh and dwelt among us.

  • God cares about external things because He created embodied people.

  • True worship involves both the heart and the body.

The Heart and the Form

  • God desires truth in the inward parts.

  • God also calls for clean hands and a pure heart.

  • Worship cannot separate inward devotion from outward obedience.

  • We should not worship God only according to personal preference.

New Testament Worship

  • The New Testament contributes to our understanding of worship.

  • Hebrews emphasizes gathering, reverence, thanksgiving, songs, and acceptable worship.

  • Revelation shows heavenly worship and reminds us that worship forms matter.

  • 1 Corinthians 11–14 gives a picture of an early church gathering.

  • The Old Testament gives strong patterns for worship.

  • The first five books and the Psalms are especially important.

  • The New Testament Church drew much of its worship from the Old Testament.

  • Jesus fulfills the Old Testament; He does not discard it.

Old Testament Worship

Continuity Between the Testaments

  • God does not change.

  • There is continuity between Old Testament and New Testament worship.

  • Unless the New Testament declares something obsolete, Old Testament principles still matter.

  • Worship must be understood through the whole counsel of Scripture.

What Is Worship?

  • Worship recognizes the superior worth, honor, and status of God.

  • Biblical worship is more than word studies or external actions.

  • The goal is to understand what God is after and how to please Him.

  • Worship must not lose the larger picture by focusing only on small details.

The First Catechism of the Bible

  • Deuteronomy 10:12–13 summarizes true devotion to Yahweh.

  • God calls His people to fear Him, walk in His ways, love Him, serve Him, and keep His commandments.

  • These five actions describe the life of true worship.

  • Worship is devotion expressed in reverence, obedience, love, service, and faithfulness.

The Fear of God

  • The fear of God includes reverence, awe, and holy awareness.

  • Proverbs teaches that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

  • A lack of the fear of God leads to careless worship.

  • True worship begins with a proper disposition before God.

Worship and Reverence

  • Malachi shows that careless worship dishonors God.

  • God’s people must return to His Word and recover holy reverence.

  • Hearing, learning, fearing, obeying, and living belong together.

  • The fear of the Lord forms the heart for acceptable worship.

Boldness and Awe

  • Hebrews teaches believers to worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.

  • Believers may approach the throne of grace boldly through Christ.

  • Boldness does not remove reverence.

  • We come with confidence because of Christ, but with awe because God is holy.

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