From "Producing Godly Worship" (Heavenward Bound, July 2026)
This month’s issue of HB focuses on the question of how we may present, produce, or offer worship that is focused on God, pleasing to God, and according to God’s will. Anything less is self-service.
“The man bowed his head and worshiped the LORD and said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the LORD has led me in the way to the house of my master’s kinsmen.”
(Gen. 24.26-27 ESV)
We can draw two more things from the example of Abraham’s servant in Gen. 24.
Worship, of proper practice and posture, produces two key things:
1. Recognizes the Identity and Character of God.
The servant of Abraham blesses the LORD because of His character, specifically his covenant faithfulness to Abraham. As we sing, we highlight God’s love, mercy, patience, covenant faithfulness, power, etc. When we pray, we praise the name of God, telling of HIS greatness and wisdom and love. Consider Jesus teaching His disciples to pray in Matthew 6.9 CSB: “Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy.” We give in recognition of God’s faithfulness to provide for us. We study God’s word because we recognize His mind and perfect wisdom revealed to us in the scriptures. When we produce godly worship, we recognize the identity and character of God.
2. Recognize What God Has Done for Us.
The servant of Abraham not only identified God and His character, but he also recognized what God has done for him in that specific context by leading him to the eventual bride of Isaac, Rebekah. Worship, properly produced for God, proclaims what God has done for us in our lives, both generally and specifically. The Lord’s Supper clearly highlights this idea (1 Cor. 11.23-26 ESV), as we praise God for sending Jesus as a sacrifice, redeeming us from our sins. As we offer prayers to God, we praise God for what He has done for us, not only in creation and Christ, but in the various ways He has helped us. Our songs praise God’s faithfulness in giving our “daily bread”, they express thankfulness for His goodness to us. Even the fact that we can contribute weekly is done in response to God’s providence for each one of us: “On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper...” (1 Cor. 16.2)
God has done so much for us.
Worship is the only logical response to who God is and what He has done! May we resolve to do so as He instructs, in a way that glorifies and honors Him, and may it reflect His character and His actions.
Kyle Sanders
Kyle has been preaching since 2016 in Chiefland, Florida and Clinton, Mississippi before coming to work with the Jamestown church of Christ in 2021. Before preaching, he spent several years as a high school mathematics teacher in Indiana, Kentucky, and Florida. Kyle is a teacher at heart and brings his love of studying and interacting with students into his preaching and teaching efforts. He and his wife, a native Hoosier, have been blessed with five children, two dogs, a full house and zero leftovers.