In his book, Desiring God, John Piper describes worship as, "A way of gladly reflecting back to God the radiance of His worth" (84). Worship is not about adding anything to God, but is rather a reflecting of something he already possesses - infinite worthiness, greatness, beauty, power, etc. And, our worship of him is our glad reflecting back to him how great he is. If we are just going through the motions (outward "worship" with no gladness or heart that delights in God) we are engaging in vain worship (Matthew 15:8-9).
Earlier in Piper's chapter on worship, he gives this helpful illustration of "Fuel, Furnace, and Heat" (82).
Perhaps we can tie things together with this picture: The fuel of worship is the truth of God; the furnace of worship is the spirit of man; and the heat of worship is the vital affections of reverence, contrition, trust, gratitude, and joy.
But there is something missing from this picture. There is furnace, fuel, and heat, but no fire. The fuel of truth in the furnace of our spirit does not automatically produce the heat of worship. There must be ignition and fire. This is the Holy Spirit.
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Now we can complete our picture. The fuel of worship is a true vision of the greatness of God; the fire that makes the fuel burn white hot is the quickening of the Holy Spirit; the furnace made alive and warm by the flame of truth is our renewed spirit; and the resulting heat of our affections is powerful worship, pushing its way out in confessions, longings, acclamations, tears, songs, shouts, bowed heads, lifted hands, and obedient lives.
Hello Pastor Ben Khazraee. I am also a Pastor from Mumbai, india. What a pleasant reminder of what Christian worship is through your blog post. Thank you so much for it. I am blessed and feel privileged and honored to get connected with you as well as know you through your profile on the blogger and the blog post because of who you are in the Lord Jesus Christ and the ministry you are doing. I have been in the Pastoral ministry for last 37 yrs in this great city of Mumbai a city with a great contrast where richest of rich and the poorest of poor live. We reach out to the poorest of poor with the love of Christ to bring healing to the broken hearted. We also encourage young and the adults from the west to come to Mumbai to work with us during their vacation time. We would love to have your young people come to Mumbai to work with us during their vacation time. I am sure they will have a life changing experience. God willing I will be in the States in the month of July and will be so glad to stop by your place and share with you more about the ministry we have to the poorest of poor as well as the opportunity young people can have of coming to Mumbai on missions trip to work with us. My email id is: dhwankhede(at)gmail(dot)com and my name is Diwakar Wankhede. Looking forward to hear from you very soon. God's blessings on you, your family and the ministry also wishing you a blessed and a Christ centered rest of the year 2016
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