Sinclair B. Ferguson

And the second question, is this really going to be for the glory of God?

And that second question should always be the dominant question we ask, even when Scripture doesn't give us specific directives about our worship.

What is most going to tend to the glory of God?

What is most going to enable us to sing, holy is the Father, holy is the Son, holy is the Spirit, blessed three in one?

When we ask what will tend to the glory of God, we are likely to be able to worship him in spirit and in truth.

Sometimes in life we have experiences so wonderful that our normal experience seems pretty poor by comparison.

But we really only see the normal experience in its true light when we've had the wonderful experience.

And you know, in many ways the same is true of our worship of God.

I think we'd be surprised to discover how content we can be as worshipers with what actually may be profoundly impoverished worship.

But then we experience something different, the presence of God.

We find ourselves bowed down before Him in worship and in silence at the end of the service.

And then we realize we've really been in a service of worship.

Sadly, at least in my experience, what people are often talking about when they assess worship

is really only whether the singing was enthusiastic or if there was a choir, whether the anthem was good or we liked it or whether the organist was capable or the band was good or played well or the person who nowadays seems to be known as the worship leader was outstanding or whether the liturgy was well crafted.

I've had more than one minister tell me they've had expert church analysts into their church who have told them that the worship in their morning service is excellent.

And almost before they pronounce the T, I'm wishing that the heavens would open and a voice would come from above saying, let me be the assessor of the quality of your worship.

Because at the end of the day, what they are assessing is largely a performance factor, not a sense of the majesty of God and His glory, a sense of the exaltation of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

That's why what was important to the Apostle Paul, as he says to the Corinthians, is that when people come among us in our worship, they find themselves bowed down and saying, surely God is among you.

And when that happens, we ourselves are inwardly humbled in heart, filled with a sense of awe before God, and realizing we have had the extraordinary privilege of joining with the angels and archangels, led by our exalted Savior Jesus Christ,

to adore our glorious God, to be, as the hymn says, lost in wonder and love and praise and wanting it all to go on and not wanting to leave.