He Is Worthy!
Whenever I travel, one of the things I always do, like many people do when traveling, is take some reading material with me. Not too long ago, on a trip to a lectureship, one of the books that I brought with me was a book titled “On Guard”. This fantastically written book was penned by William Lane Craig, who is one of the leading Christian Apologeticist (one who defends the Christian faith) of our time. He wrote this book for the purpose of equipping Christians, in an easy to understand way, with various arguments that present sound and logical reasons for faith in God. I believe this book is a must read and I recommend it to every Christian who is zealous in fulfilling their duty to give a defense and reason for the hope they have in Christ Jesus (1Peter 3:15). However, while reading this book I was greatly impacted by a statement the author made – a statement that I believe reveals to us a fundamental reason why God is worthy of our worship.
The comment was made in the section of Craig’s book dealing with the “Moral Argument”. The Moral Argument is an argument for the existence of God that is built off of the undeniable fact that all people recognize some form of moral law. Every time we argue over right and wrong, we appeal to a higher law that we assume everyone is aware of, holds to, and is not free to arbitrarily change. Right and wrong imply a higher standard of law, and law requires a lawgiver. Because the Moral Law transcends humanity, this universal law requires a universal lawgiver and that lawgiver is God (http://www.gotquestions.org/moral-argument.html). Moreover, Craig, in his book, argues that God is, and is able to be, this universal lawgiver because the higher standards of law are inherent in His nature. In Craig’s own words, “God’s own nature defines what is good.” Thus, God’s nature is the standard of goodness and Craig’s argument is that if a universal moral law, that transcends our humanity, exists it must come from something that transcends our humanity – God. Therefore, because a universal law that transcends our humanity does exist, then God exists. However, the comment made by Craig that impacted me and revealed to me one of the fundamental reasons why God is worthy of worship was “God is by definition worthy of worship…” because He is “the embodiment of perfect moral goodness.” Craig is absolutely correct. Not only is God worthy of worship because he is our Creator (Revelation 4:11), Sustainer (Psalm 100) and Savior (John 3:16). He is worthy of worship because He is the epitome of what is good. All of the qualities that come from goodness like love, kindness, forgiveness, mercy, humility and forbearance are all inherent in Him and because of him we are privileged to experience and share these qualities on earth. Therefore, because of this fact alone, I believe God is worthy of all the thanks, praise and worship that we can give Him. This idea I believe is expressed to us in the book of Psalms where the Psalmist writes, “Exalt the Lord our God and worship at His footstool; Holy is He” (Psalm 99:5).
So the question that I believe we need to ask ourselves is does this understanding of God guide our hearts in worship? It is my personal opinion that many Christians come to worship with a spirit of obligation rather than a spirit that is compelled to worship God, because they are captivated by His perfect nature. Therefore, because of this fact for many worship is a chore and it becomes boring and mundane. However, if we are genuinely impacted by the awesomeness of God and His nature, I believe it will dramatically improve our worship to Him. When we are impacted by his awesomeness, we remove ourselves from a condition where we worship out of duty into a spirit that worships Him wholeheartedly because we believe He deserves it. If one approaches worship with this kind of mentality, it will not only improve one’s consistency, but also the impact worship has on them. Do you feel that God is worthy of worship?
— Sam Barclay
