{"id":10898,"date":"2025-03-14T12:00:25","date_gmt":"2025-03-14T17:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/?p=10898"},"modified":"2025-03-04T10:14:29","modified_gmt":"2025-03-04T16:14:29","slug":"loving-god-through-worship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/2025\/03\/14\/loving-god-through-worship\/","title":{"rendered":"Loving God through Worship"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Bible might well <\/span>be described<\/span> as a<\/span> \u201c<\/span>Book of Worship.<\/span>\u201d <\/span>From Genesis to Revelation, the reader is introduced to the Creator, Deliverer, Redeemer, Eternal King, the only One <\/span>Who is<\/span> truly worthy of our deepest devotion and worship.\u00a0 Indeed, as we read the Scriptures with<\/span> \u201c<\/span>worship eyes,<\/span>\u201d <\/span>it is likely that we will<\/span> see some Biblical principles of worship on every page.<\/span><\/p>\n

One such example can be found<\/span> in the words of Jesus in response to a question He <\/span>was asked<\/span> about<\/span> \u201c<\/span>the great commandment.<\/span>\u201d \u201c<\/span>Jesus said to him,<\/span> \u2018<\/span>You shall <\/span>love <\/span><\/strong>the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind<\/span>.\u2019<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span> (Matthew 22:37 NKJV) Here, Jesus quotes from the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy (6:5).\u00a0\u00a0 This description of the depth of <\/span>love<\/span><\/strong> for God that characterizes the <\/span>life of the believer<\/span> provides a beautiful picture of what it means to be a true worshipper. <\/span><\/p>\n

Consider those words from the Old Testament that Jesus quotes in the New:<\/span> \u201c<\/span>with<\/span> all<\/span><\/em> your heart, with <\/span>all<\/span><\/em> your soul, with <\/span>all<\/span><\/em> your mind\u2026<\/span>\u201d\u00a0<\/span> Ask yourself,<\/span> \u201c<\/span>Are these words descriptive of <\/span>the way<\/span> I <\/span>love <\/span><\/strong>God through my worship<\/span>?\u201d<\/span>L<\/span>et\u2019s<\/span> think about these things as we unpack <\/span>a bit more<\/span> this idea of loving God through worship.<\/span><\/p>\n

Toward Defining Biblical Worship<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Exodus 20:1-6<\/span><\/strong> (NKJV): <\/span>And<\/span> God spoke all these words, saying:<\/span> \"<\/span>I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.<\/span> \"<\/span>You shall have no other gods before Me.\u00a0<\/span> \"<\/span>You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, <\/span>or that is<\/span> in the earth beneath, or <\/span>that is<\/span> in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.<\/span> For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who <\/span>love<\/span><\/strong> Me and keep My commandments<\/span>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In our current evangelical Christian church culture, <\/span>the word<\/span> \u201c<\/span>worship<\/span>\u201d <\/span>is often equated with<\/span> \u201c<\/span>the praise and worship music<\/span>\u201d <\/span>in a church service.\u00a0 While it <\/span>is hoped<\/span> that music in the church is worshipful, there is so much more to worship than simply those few minutes of music in a service.\u00a0 Think about how you would define the concept of<\/span> \u201c<\/span>biblical worship<\/span>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In a general sense<\/span>,<\/span> \u201c<\/span>worship<\/span>\u201d <\/span>refers to the supreme honor or veneration given either in thought or deed to a person or thing.\u00a0 The Bible teaches that God alone is worthy of worship.\u00a0 So important is this principle that God declared in the first of the 10 Commandments,<\/span> \u201c<\/span>You shall have no other gods before Me.<\/span>\u201d\u00a0<\/span> (Exodus 20:3 NKJV)\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

There have been numerous definitions of biblical worship.\u00a0 For example, Jack Hayford defines worship as<\/span> \u201c<\/span>The atmosphere that welcomes <\/span>God\u2019s<\/span> presence and makes room for His mighty acts.<\/span>\u201d\u00a0<\/span> Graham Kendrick defines worship as<\/span> \u201c<\/span>Transformation through adoration.<\/span>\u201d\u00a0<\/span> Jim Dethmer offers another definition <\/span>which states<\/span>,<\/span> \u201c<\/span>Worship is responding to all that God is with all that we are.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span> Our worship is a <\/span>response<\/span><\/em>.\u00a0 <\/span>It is something we offer<\/span> back to God in light of our understanding of Who God is and what He does.<\/span>\u00a0 How well are we doing at that?\u00a0 <\/span>As<\/span> Henry and Richard Blackaby <\/span>have<\/span> said,<\/span> \u201c<\/span>God designed worship for us to see Him in His glory and to respond appropriately; for <\/span>many<\/span> it has degenerated into<\/span> \u2018<\/span>religion,<\/span>\u2019 <\/span>one more meeting to attend out of habit.<\/span>\u201d<\/span> (Henry T. Blackaby\/Richard Blackaby, <\/span>Experiencing God Day by Day<\/span><\/em>, p. 6.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Think about what it means to respond to all that God is with all that we are.\u00a0 As we grow in our understanding of Who God is and what He does, we find we have an increasing awareness of <\/span>the transforming presence of God<\/span> in our lives.\u00a0 Loving God through worship honors God<\/span>; <\/span>but it also changes us.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Dr. Wes Tuttle is an accomplished worship leader, musician, and songwriter. Dr. Tuttle\u2019s songs have been recorded by influential worship leaders like Don Moen, Paul Wilbur, Bob Fitts, John Chisum, Aline Barros, Robin Mark, Juanita Bynum and Judy Jacobs. Wes is an ordained minister and holds an A.A. in Music and a B.A. in Religion from Emmanuel College.\u00a0 He holds an M.A. in Counseling from Liberty University and a M.A.R. with a concentration in Cross-cultural studies from Liberty Theological Seminary. He received his Doctor of Ministry degree from Liberty Theological Seminary.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":10899,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1325],"tags":[1545,1031,1313,1457,1357,570,1485],"class_list":{"0":"post-10898","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-discipleship-ministries","8":"category-worship","9":"tag-1545","10":"tag-discipleship-ministries","11":"tag-dr-wes-tuttle","12":"tag-q1","13":"tag-wes-tuttle","14":"tag-worship","15":"tag-worship-ministry","16":"entry"},"title_es":"","content_es":"","author_name":"Wes Tuttle","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Loving-God-through-Worship.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4T9u2-2PM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}