How to Worship God with Others

If you’ve been following my posts, these past few weeks, you’ve probably noticed that I’ve been writing about corporate worship. I want to end this brief series by asking a simple question: How do you get the most out of corporate worship? First,

Learn to practice the presence of God daily

Look for ways to fill your everyday life with adoration, praise, and thanksgiving. Be mindful of God in all circumstances. Look for Him in the ordinary, the mundane, the routine of life. Pull away simply to be with Him. Cherish the stolen moments where, reminded of His presence, His goodness and His grace, you pause to thank Him, praise Him and be present to Him, enjoying the simple pleasures He provides. The idea is that you practice His presence in your daily life — setting aside times for private worship, yes, but also welcoming Him into the ordinary aspects of your day — inviting Him to eat with you, go with you into a meeting, or join you while you answer email or tend to your children. This habit of including God will make you mindful of His ever-presence and His presence will evoke gratitude and praise. There’s this verse at the end of 1 Thessalonians where Paul writes, “This is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus (1 Thessalonians 5:18).” It begs the question. “What is God’s will for me in Christ Jesus?” Well, God wants you to…

Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

What is God’s will for you today? Whatever else He might be doing in your life, He wants you to rejoice always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances. We have to stop segmenting our lives, separating all the sacred bits from the secular bits, the devotional bits from the difficult bits. He’s present in all the bits! More present to you, more with you, than anyone else in your life. So, you welcome His presence. You practice His presence. You grow accustomed to His presence in all the ordinary things in your life. You include Him, delight in Him, talk to Him and thank Him for every little thing. And when you do, this life with God, this rejoicing, praising, praying life flows over onto others when we gather together for worship.

When you grow accustomed to God’s presence in your daily life, you can easily enter His presence in the company of others. Can you imagine what it would be like if everyone at church practiced the presence of God in daily life? Can you imagine the weight of His glory that would simply be floating around in the atmosphere on a Sunday morning, as we stand together and sing? As Richard Foster wrote,

"Singing is meant to move us into praise. It provides a medium for the expression of emotin. Through music, we express our joy, our thanksgiving. No less than forty-one Psalms encourage us to ‘sing to the Lord.’ If singing can occur in a concentrated manner, it serves to focus us. We become centered. Our fragmented minds and spirits flow into a unified whole.” ~ Richard Foster

If that is not your experience, maybe you just need more practice. You’re not used to His presence, to having Him with you. You may struggle to be mindful of Him, present to Him throughout the day. As a result, you may find it difficult to be with others in worship if you’re used to being alone. We need reminders, reminders that God is with us. We need reminders to make us mindful of His presence because we so easily forget. That brings me to a second suggestion.

Involve yourself in as many experiences of worship as you can

Worship God when you’re alone. Join a small group that includes worship as part of what they do. Come to a worship night. Singing is just one way to rejoice always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances. Again, it’s meant to move us into praise, adoration and thanksgiving. Many things can happen in smaller gatherings that, just by sheer size, cannot happen in the larger experience. Most churches offer the larger experience, but it’s your personal experience and all these smaller experiences that will lift and impact the larger experiences in increasingly obvious ways. To put it plainly, for corporate worship to go where God wants it to go, it’s not just on the musicians or the worship leaders to practice. We all have to practice. Then,

Find ways to prepare your heart for the gathered experience of worship

If you come to church on Sunday, prepare the night before by going to bed early, getting plenty of rest, spend some time in reflection and self-examination. Make sure there’s nothing between you and God, nothing that requires your attention. Come early to the service so you have time to be with others before you gather together with God. Fill the lobby and the auditorium with God’s presence. How do you fill a place with the presence of God? By being present! He is with you, within you. You bring His presence wherever you go. And just before the service begins, take a moment to ask God to help you let go of the inner distractions, the things that weigh you down, so you can really take part in what’s going on.

People often come to church with many burdens, but little preparation. As a result, I’ve had dozens of people, over the years, tell me that when they come to church, they rarely get anything out of it. The music is too long, too short or too loud. The room is too cold, too hot, or too bright. The sermon is too long, too boring, or irrelevant. The surrounding people are rude and distracting. The problem is always the church, the pastor, the people. It’s never them. Here’s what I’m learning. When I have a problem with someone else, God often has more to say to me about me than he does about them. Are you preparing your heart to be with God, with others? Here’s a fourth suggestion.

See worship as an opportunity to put others first

The language of gathered worship is not “I,” but “we.” When we come together, we have to learn to let go of our agendas, our concerns, our desire to be blessed or fed or noticed or encouraged or listened to. Corporate worship is about mutual submission, submitting to what God wants to do, and submitting to one another. We come to church to be with God, with others. Together we rise, we’re lifted up, we’re encouraged. We learn together, grow together, sing together, eat together, and serve together. It’s about a shared experience of God, something we all take part in, take part in and enjoy, that gives meaning to and an outlet for your individual experience of God. The Apostle Paul captures the spirit of this unity in Philippians 2. He writes,

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind (Philippians 2:1-2).

I know it’s difficult to think of others in a culture where we’re conditioned from birth to be consumers. The voices of consumerism are loud and unapologetic. But we’re part of the upside down kingdom of Jesus where the first is last, and the last is first, where God uses the weak things and the foolish things and the things that are not to nullify the things that are. What makes us different is that we see ourselves less and less as individuals and more and more as part of a collective whole. So, when we come to church, we’re not a bunch of individuals hoping to get our needs met — to be blessed, entertained, informed, or encouraged. No, when we gather, we gather with God together! It’s for God and one another — all for one and one for all. One voice, one people, one body, one bride, one earnest, worshipping community, drawing life from God and encouragement from one another. Have you ever experienced it?