The following is an article I wrote for our church’s membership newsletter last week. To give credit where it is due, much of this post was inspired by a 2009 article in Worship Leader Magazine by Dr. Robb Redman, professor of worship at Multnomah Biblical Seminary.
There is only one perfect Worshiper. The only true, untainted worship offering is that of Jesus, our High Priest. He alone is the means by which we have access to God’s presence and His mediation is what enables us to approach the throne. Hebrews 10:19-22 says “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”
Because Jesus is our mediator, we can sing with confidence knowing that He is already worshiping – on our behalf. Just as we pray to God “in the name of Jesus”, He is going to the Father “in the name of _______ (fill in with your name)!” This is an amazing truth that should transform the way we worship. When we come to worship, we can do so in freedom and honesty, allowing the Holy Spirit to draw us to and connect us with Christ, who then takes our broken, imperfect offering and offers it to the Father as pure and holy. We can be liberated knowing that acceptable worship to God is not dependent upon time, place, style, or personality, but rather the heartfelt offering of a person united with Christ.
I encourage all of us, as we prepare our hearts for worship this Sunday, to joyfully see ourselves as participants in the ongoing worship of God. May we approach worship not as something we “have” to do – and in that worry about how God perceives our offering – but rather as something we “get” to do, because of what Jesus has already done on our behalf.
ryan habig 
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