This weekend our worship will focus on fellowship. The fellowship that we share with God by faith, and the fellowship which God creates between believers united in the teachings of God's Word. One visible aspect of fellowship is joining together in worship with our fellow believers. This hymn highlights what worship is about as it joins us to God and describes what worship is and why we do it.
The main Scriptural foundation for this hymn is Psalm 95:6 - "Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker." Like the hymn, this verse describes worship and humbly kneeling before the LORD in repentant praise.
This hymn is simple and relates simple Scriptural truths.
In verse 1 we have a description of worship through the mention of prayer and our need for forgiveness. Part of our worship is acknowledging that we are sinful and that we need the forgiveness that the LORD alone can give.
In verse 2 we pray that the LORD would help us grow in grace, and produce fruits of faith, even through the challenges of life. This stanza incorporates 1 Peter 2:21-24 into the prayer. There Peter writes: "For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: “Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth”; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed."
In verse 3 we return to the theme of worship again, highlighting praise, singing, and prayer. In the final line, the hymnwriter reminds us that our service is not really over when "church" ends. As we walk out of church our worship and service continues. "All that I have and am, to Thee I offer through eternity!"
Worship is a blessing the LORD gives to His church. Through it He strengthens us, He comforts and forgives us, and He, the One whose mercies, faithfulness, and compassions fail not and are new to us every morning, is WORTHY of our prayers, our praise, our thankfulness, our worship. It is good for us to sing to Him and praise Him, with our fellow believers, for all that He has done and continues to do for us!
