在结束敬拜这个题目以前，我们必须明白一个问题：神为什么要我们敬拜他？很多人会与神的这个要求斗争，特别是在基督徒生命的早年。我记得年青时也曾经想过：为什么神坚持要我们敬拜他？是不是因为他太过自我呢？

鲁益思（C.S. Lewis）是其中一个与这问题斗争的人。他说曾经有一段时间，以为神实际上的意思是：「我最希望的是人对我说，我是多么的美好和伟大。」不过，他后来终于明白了神要我们敬拜他的时候，我们内心的享受是比神的享受更多。鲁益思写道：「在命令我们敬拜他的时候，神是在邀请我们享受他的慈爱。」他继续指出，由于神十分尊重人类的意志，他不会强迫我们接受他，所以，他不能将自己给我们，除非我们首先将自己献给他。

给予和接受的规章是最基本的，因为牠与神的关系和与我们的关系同等。我们在敬拜中穿过把自己奉献给神的大门时，就会发现神会从同一道门走过来把他自己给予我们。神坚持我们敬拜他，不是对我们的要求，相反的那是神的赏赐──让我们能够享受神慈爱的赏赐。神要我们敬拜他，是要我们满足他里面最深的渴望，那就是他热切地渴望将自己给予我们。这就是马丁路德（Martin Luther）所说的一种「喜乐的交易」。

Before leaving the subject of worship, we must come to grips with the question of why God requires us to worship Him. Many struggle with this thought, especially in the early days of their Christian life. I can remember as a young Christian wondering: Why does God insist on us worshipping Him? Is it because He has an ego problem?

One of those who grappled with this problem was C.S. Lewis. He recalled how at one stage he thought God was really saying "What I want most is to be told I am good and great." He came to see, however, that, in asking for our worship, God has in mind our enjoyment more than His own. He wrote: "In commanding us to worship Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him." He went on to point out that, because of the great respect God has for every human will, He will not force Himself upon us. He is, therefore, unable to give Himself to us until we first give ourselves to Him.

The law of giving and receiving is fundamental, and relates just as much to God as it does to us. As we go through the door of giving ourselves to God in worship we find that God comes through that same door and gives Himself to us. God's insistence that we worship Him is not really a demand at all but an offer - an offer to share Himself with us. When God asks us to worship Him, He is asking us to fulfil the deepest longing in Himself, which is His passionate desire to give Himself to us. It is what Martin Luther called "the joyful exchange".