Worship as covenant renewal

I’m going to return to giving a short weekly reminder of what we are doing in worship.

Today a reminder that we see worship as a renewal of our covenant with God, and drawing near to Him. God is always close to us, of course, but Scripture speaks of drawing near or coming to God (Leviticus 1:1-2; Hebrews 10:22; Psalm 73:28; 145:18; 100:2b, 4). We do this in worship. What we see is a group of people gathered, but what is really happening is that God's people is communing with Him, with the angels, with the saints in heaven, with Jesus Christ our savior (Hebrews 12:22-24).

We are drawing near to God to renew covenant with Him. We strengthen covenant ties in our family whenever we teach, feed, hug, confess, forgive, and gather at the table. That covenant is part of the deeper covenant Christ has with His church. And we renew that covenant, we seek to strengthen our relationship with the Lord, when we gather, confess sin, hear the Word, take the Lord’s Supper, pray and sing. So let us ascend with the saints to draw near and worship the Lord, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

4/29/12