As I have had the privilege of teaching a Sunday school class on the life of John Calvin I have come to see how important the worship of the one, true and Triune God was to him. It was the contention of the Reformed wing of the Reformation that the true worship of God had been compromised in the decades and centuries leading up to the Reformation. It was the restoration of true worship that was the goal of much of Calvin’s reforming efforts. This has led me to consider what worship is. It is ascribing to God the glory that is due to him as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
But one may wonder how to go about this. How does a man or woman, boy or girl, go about worshipping God? This is a deep and significant question and I am not in a position to delve into it with any kind of exhaustive treatment. One basic way to think about it is to say that worship involves coming to the Father, through the mediation of the Son, and by the enabling of the Holy Spirit.
My concern, however, is to note that there are three kinds of worship with which the average Christian ought to be involved. Christians really ought to want to worship our great and awesome God alone in personal worship or devotions, in family worship, and in the public, corporate worship of a congregation. I like to think of these as mutually reinforcing, interlocking components of Christian worship. At the center of these three forms of worship ought to be the Word of God. At the end of the day, we must worship God in conformity to his Word and with sincerity of heart. Conformity and sincerity are complementary. Our Lord told the woman at the well in Samaria that “God is Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24).
So in the end, worship God alone, with your family, and with your church family. And worship him in spirit and in truth. Conform to the Word in all your worship and worship the Father, Son and Holy Spirit with all sincerity.
I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naïve. (Romans 16:17-18)