“Ascribe to Yahweh the glory due his name;
bring an offering and come before him!
Worship Yahweh in the splendor of holiness.”
1 Chronicles 16:29
God takes the initiative in our relationship with him. Humans didn’t decide to exist; God created us. Sinners wouldn’t decide to be in a relationship with God; he called us, he invited us, he paved the way for us to come to him in worship and commanded us to walk it. Apart from his gracious initiative, we would not come. When we do come to worship, it is entirely as a response to who he is and what he has done for us. “Worship is the gift of participating through the Spirit in the incarnate Son’s communion with the Father” (J. B. Torrance). When God calls us to worship, he is giving us this gift.
The language of “calling” pervades the Scriptures. Believers in the church are “called to belong to Jesus Christ… called to be saints” (Romans 1:6). We are “called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). We are “called to freedom” from the slavery of legalism (Galatians 5:13). We are “called to the one hope that belongs to [our] call” (Ephesians 4:4). We are called to salvation and sanctification and glory through the gospel (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14). We are called to eternal life (1 Timothy 6:12). “Consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise… not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish… God chose what is weak… God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not” (1 Corinthians 1:26). Being called into a relationship with God is a gracious privilege that he grants us, not a reward for being impressive in any way.
In fact, being called to worship is quite like Lazarus being called out of the tomb by Jesus (John 11:43-44). Jesus wasn’t waiting to see if perhaps the dead man would come of his own initiative. Dead people are unresponsive, by definition. When Jesus calls, the dead come to life and become responsive. When God calls us to worship, by his grace, he makes us responsive to him, and we are thankful for it! So, God has the first word in our worship. That first word is the invitation and imperative of his love, to find our life in him. Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). The Good News is that there is power in his calling, in his voice, to wake sinners from spiritual death and bring them to himself in worship.
When we are called to worship, what are we called out of? What are we called into? What are some examples of calls to worship in the Bible? Why is it significant that God takes the initiative in our relationship? Why do sinners resist coming to God in worship? What is it about God, about Jesus, about worship that attracts you to come? Does the call to worship seem to you more like an invitation or an imperative? Why is it good that it is both? How would you describe the “spiritual state” that God’s calling creates in us? How can you participate in calling other sinners to worship?
