Love, returned—Worship begins (and continues) with love
A vintage Vineyard worship moment: John Wimber (pictured behind the keyboard) defined worship as “the act of freely giving love to God.”
Imagine a parable of sorts—two businessmen with two very different stories.
The first is a self-made entrepreneur. He starts from nothing, toils endlessly, takes risks, and builds something significant. His success is solely his achievement, and his failures are his burden alone. Every breakthrough, every setback—he owns it all.
The second businessman’s story is different. He steps into a business that has already been built. The hard work was done generations ago—his great-great-grandparents sacrificed and laboured to establish something that would last. He does not start from scratch; instead, he inherits a legacy. His role is not to create but to steward, to participate in something greater than himself.
Worship is often misunderstood. Many think of it as something we initiate—an effort to reach God, an act of devotion we must manufacture. But what if worship is not about making something happen, but about stepping into something already in motion?
1 John 4:19 says, "We love because He first loved us." While yes, this passage focuses on how we love one another rather than worship, it also reveals a larger truth that we shouldn’t miss—love has been shown to us, given to us by God, and we are invited to live in response. We are the people of love only because we exist in the love that God has already initiated.
John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard movement, defined worship as "the act of freely giving love to God."
Worship is not about earning God’s attention or proving our devotion. It is stepping into a love story that began long before us. Jesus has already acted, already sacrificed, already poured out His love. Our worship is always a response.
Worship is a response, not an initiation. It is a return of love already given to us. This is the foundation of our new series, Love, Returned, where we explore the nature of worship and how it emerges from the reality of God’s love for us.
Worship Begins with God’s Love
1 John 4:10 (NLT) says: "This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins." Before we ever sought God, He had already sought us. Before we lifted our voices in worship, He had already made the ultimate sacrifice for us.
Worship is not about striving or proving our worth to God. It is a recognition of what has already been done for us in Christ. Romans 5:8 echoes this: "But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners." We do not worship to get God’s attention; we worship because He has already given us His full attention.
Imagine watching a news segment after a natural disaster. A survivor stands with the first responders who saved them, overcome with gratitude, expressing thanks through tears and embraces. This is worship: our heartfelt response to a rescue already accomplished.
Worship Is a Love Response
Richard Foster, in Celebration of Discipline, writes,
“Worship is our response to the overtures of love from the heart of the Father.”
Worship is not a performance but an intimate exchange. Tom Wright puts it this way in Simply Christian:
“When we begin to glimpse the reality of God, the natural reaction is to worship him.”
The Vineyard movement is deeply rooted in this understanding. In the late 1970s, a group of believers in California—deeply knowledgeable about Scripture but spiritually weary—found renewal through worship. They sang simple songs to Jesus, not just about Him. In these intimate moments, hearts were softened, lives were transformed, and a movement was born.
Here at Central Vineyard, this same value shapes our worship. We sing directly to Jesus because worship is not about spectacle—it is about relationship. As Psalm 51:16-17 (NLT) declares:
You do not desire a sacrifice,
or I would offer one.
You do not want a burnt offering.
The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.
You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.
True worship is intimate—that is to say it is self-disclosing. It is an open heart before God. It is about vulnerability. C.S. Lewis wrote, "To love at all is to be vulnerable.” Worship invites us into this kind of openness—where we risk bringing our whole selves before God, knowing that His love meets us there.
Love Drives Out Fear
One of the greatest barriers to worship is fear:
What if I’m not good enough?
What if my life is too messy?
What if I don’t feel anything?
What if I’m not really welcome in God’s presence?
Yet, 1 John 4:18 (NLT) tells us:
“Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear.”
Worship is where fear loses its grip because it is where we step into God’s love. We do not come to God perfectly put together—we come honestly, and His love does the rest.
Worship has been a place of deep healing in my own life. There are songs I have sung in church that have become personal prayers—songs that have met me in my brokenness, bringing me into the presence of God’s love. As Dan Wilt says, "Songs are a place we go." They are not just words and melodies; they are sacred spaces where we encounter God’s love and let it shape us.
Love, Returned
Worship is the return of love that has already been given. We cannot give what we have not first received. Before we respond in worship, we must recognise that we have already been pursued, already been embraced, already been invited into love.
As we begin this series, let’s take a moment to receive God’s love afresh. Not in striving, not in performance, but in quiet sincerity. Then, let our worship flow from that place—a love returned to the One who loved us first.
This blog post is part of our series at Central Vineyard exploring the depth of worship as a response to God’s love. If this resonates with you, we invite you to join us in worship and community as we continue this journey together.