The Purpose Of Worship

The Purpose Of Worship

And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

Genesis 2:3

Human beings were created primarily to know God and to worship him. The day of worship was established, not for sheep and cows, but for people so that they might learn to know God. Even after the human race lost its knowledge of God because of sin, God intended his command to set apart the day of worship as holy to stay in effect. Furthermore, God wanted people to use the seventh day for studying his Word and for participating in the kind of worship he established. He did this so that first and foremost we would realize that our fundamental calling and purpose in life is acknowledging and praising God.

In addition, this day was established to assure us of eternal life in the future. Everything that God commands us to observe on the day of worship gives us clear indications of another life to follow. Why would God bother to talk to us through his Word if we were not going to receive eternal life in the future? If there was no hope of any future life, why wouldn’t we live our lives as if God had nothing to say to us? Wouldn’t we rather pretend that we didn’t know him? Because the Lord of all speaks only to humans, and they are the only ones who can know him and know about him, it follows that there must be a life beyond this one. In order to reach the next life, we need to know God and his Word in this life.