17 August

We are created to worship God. But why would God create human beings in order to receive their worship? Is this not, as some suggest, pure vanity?

Many years ago I was helped in my understanding of worship through C.S. Lewis’s explanation in his Reflections on the Psalms.

He wrote: ‘The most obvious fact about praise… strangely escaped me… I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise… the world rings with praise... walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favourite game – praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare books, even sometimes politicians and scholars…

‘My whole, more general, difficulty about praise of God depended on my absurdly denying to us, as regards the supremely Valuable, what we delight to do, what indeed we can’t help doing, about everything else we value.

‘I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It’s not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.’

In other words, worship is the consummation of joy. Our joy is not complete until it is expressed in worship. It is out of his love for us that God created us for worship. According to the Westminster Shorter Catechism, humankind’s ‘chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever’.

Next, Paul goes onto discuss the ‘Lord’s Supper’ (v.20), or ‘the Eucharist’ as he calls it elsewhere (Eucharistéin is a Greek verb meaning ‘to thank’).

This is probably the earliest account of this element in our services of worship. It has been a vital part of Christian worship for the last 2,000 years, celebrated almost universally by the church worldwide. Again, there has been a huge amount of discussion about what exactly Paul means. However, it seems to me that from this passage a number of things are clear:

• It is frequent
  There is an expectation that when they ‘come together’ in their ‘meetings’ (vv.17,20), the ‘Lord’s Supper’ will take place.
• It is important
  Jesus tells us to ‘do this’ (v.24). The consequences of not doing it properly are very serious (v.27 onwards). ‘Examine your motives, test your heart, come to this meal in holy awe’ (v.28, MSG).
• It is proclamation
  It is one of the ways in which you proclaim the gospel. ‘For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes’ (v.26).
• It involved both remembering Jesus (vv.24–25) and ‘recognising the body of the Lord’ (v.29)
• It is a participation in Christ’s body and blood (10:14 onwards). The Greek word used here is koinonia, which can also mean ‘sharing’ or ‘fellowship’. It is a way for us to receive and share in the benefits of Jesus’ death.
• It is a form of thanksgiving. We drink from the ‘cup of thanksgiving’ (v.16).
• It is an expression of unity. ‘Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake in the one loaf (v.17). One of the great tragedies of church history is the way in which this great expression of unity has become a cause of division.
• It anticipates the Lord’s return. You are proclaiming ‘the Lord’s death until he comes’ (11:26).

The bread and wine are the body and blood of Jesus (vv.24–25). This is one of the ways in which we experience his presence today. What exactly this means, of course, has been the subject of great speculation, debate and controversy. One approach might perhaps be simply to accept it as a mystery and not go behind Scripture and speculate too much about how exactly it works.

Solomon’s splendour was great. After Solomon had built the temple, the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘… if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land’ (7:14).

This verse is justly famous and it is often used as a template for worship and prayer. In it we see the conditions for integrity in our worship. They are also the conditions necessary for revival. We see in this verse that we need to do four things:

• Humble ourselves
• Pray
• Seek God’s face
• Turn from our wicked ways

Then God promises that he will do three things:

• Hear from heaven
• Forgive our sin
• Heal the land