In the late 70s and early 80s, Jim Bentley, Wayne Findley, and I had a spiritual awakening.
We were all teaching at the same school.  During this time, we ravenously read every "beefy" book we could find on pursuing God.  If we couldn't find three copies of something, we would share the book.  One of us would read the book marking it in a particular color and remarking in the margins.  Then we would pass it on to one of the others all the while discussing the nuggets of gold we had found every opportunity we could find at school.  By the time all three of us had finished reading the book, it was a three-colored maze of ouches, ohhhhs, amens, and wows among other thoughts.

Tozer's books were some of our faves.  In 1961, Tozer spoke to an assembly of pastors in Canada.  He gave three messages on worship which were later edited into a booklet entitled Worship: The Missing Jewel.  This booklet is stil the most important reflection on worship that I have read.  Lately, I discovered Tozer's Whatever Happened to Worship?  "The Jewel" was included in that book.  After rereading "Jewel," I thought I would share some of Tozer's insights in a 3-part posting.  

• We were created and redeemed to be worshippers.  God created man out of no external necessity.  He is self-sufficient and does not need us the way we need things.  He created us out of an internal necessity.  God who is infinitely perfect, infinitely beautiful, infinitely glorious, infinitely admirable, infinitely loving had to have some creature who was capable of admiring Him, loving Him, and knowing Him. 

So, He made us as near to being like Himself as it was possible for a creature to be like his Creator.  The most godlike thing in the universe is us - our soul makes this so.  

In the beginning man was a worshipper.  Man loved God.  He walked and talked with God.
He knew God and trusted Him and obeyed Him.  Man's sin separated him from relationship with God.  He could no longer worship Him as he had done before.  The whole reason for Jesus' life was to make a way whereby we could recover what we had lost to sin - the ability to worship and know God.  Many people make light of "recovery" meetings, but God has been in the recovery business since day one. 

Worship is composed of two actions.

• to feel in the heart and to express in some appropriate manner what you feel

What do we feel when we worship? 

• a humbling but delightful sense of admiring awe and astonished wonder, an awesome overpowering love in the presence of the Ancient Mystery.

We are humbled by the awesomeness and love and mercy and grace and goodness of God.  As I wrote in the song You Are Good, "This is the majesty of God.  This is the glory of our King.  This is the hope of all mankind.  You are everything. "  That He is who He is should cause me to worship.  That the God who created the universe and me loves me and made a way for me to have relationship with Him should cause me to worship.  That He is interested in every area of my life and in my wellbeing should cause me to worship.  That He gives me purpose should cause me to worship.  That He is nothing but good all the time should cause me to worship. 

• The purpose of God in sending His Son to die and rise and live and be at the right hand of God was that He might restore to us the missing jewel - worship; that we might come back and learn to do again that which we were created to do in the first place - to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness, to spend our time in awesome wonder and adoration of God, to feel it and express it and let it get into our labors. 

• We should do nothing except as an act of worship to Almighty God through Jesus Christ - worshippers first; workers second.  The power given to us should be divided about 90 percent worship and 10 percent service.  Out of enraptured, admiring, adoring, worshipping souls, God then does His work.  The work done by a worshipper will have eternity in it.

  
If we're not worshipping, we shouldn't be working because our work will be in the flesh and not by the Spirit.  Worship isn't just a way of life, a lifestyle; it should be our whole life.

This is the first part in a three-part series.