Worshiping God With All We Are
True worship is the love of God, and it requires all of our heart, soul, and might.
A.W. Tozer emphasizes that true worship encompasses love, admiration, wonder, and adoration, with love being the essence of worship as taught in both the Old and New Testaments. He highlights that loving God with all our heart, soul, and might is the foundation of worship, as stated in Scripture. Tozer explains that love is both a principle and an emotion, capable of growing from a small spark to an overwhelming force, much like the experience of the apostle Paul. He asserts that genuine worship cannot exist without love for God, and that God desires our complete devotion. Through deeper experiences with God and the Holy Spirit's guidance, we can learn to offer Him our fullest love in worship.
Text
In worship several elements may be distinguished, among them love, admiration, wonder and adoration. Though they may not be experienced in that order, a little thought will reveal those elements as being present wherever true worship is found. Both the Old and the New Testament teach that the essence of true worship is the love of God. ?Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.? Our Lord declared this to be the sum of the Law and the Prophets. Now, love is both a principle and an emotion; it is something both felt and willed. It is capable of almost infinite degrees.
Love in the human heart may begin so modestly as to be hardly perceptible and go on to become a raging torrent that sweeps its possessor before it in total helplessness. Something like this must have been the experience of the apostle Paul, for he felt it necessary to explain to his critics that his apparent madness was actually the love of God ravishing his willing heart. It is quite impossible to worship God without loving Him. Scripture and reason agree to declare this. And God is never satisfied with anything less than all: ?all thy heart . . . all thy soul . . . all thy might.?
This may not at first be possible, but deeper experience with God will prepare us for it, and the inward operations of the Holy Spirit will enable us after a while to offer Him such a poured-out fullness of love.
Sermon Outline
- I. The Elements of Worship
- A. Love
- B. Admiration
- C. Wonder
- D. Adoration
- II. The Essence of True Worship
- A. The Love of God
- B. The Sum of the Law and the Prophets
- III. The Nature of Love
- A. Both a Principle and an Emotion
- B. Felt and Willed
- IV. The Experience of Love
- A. Infinite Degrees
- B. The Love of God Ravishing the Heart
Key Quotes
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” — A.W. Tozer
“Something like this must have been the experience of the apostle Paul, for he felt it necessary to explain to his critics that his apparent madness was actually the love of God ravishing his willing heart.” — A.W. Tozer
Application Points
- We must be willing to give God our all in worship, including our heart, soul, and might.
- Deeper experience with God will prepare us for true worship.
- The Holy Spirit enables us to offer God a poured-out fullness of love.