What the first thing that comes to mind when you hear... "Worship?" If you're like most folks, your mind immediately rushes to envisioning a typical Sunday morning church service where people are lifting their hands in praise to Jesus in some style, form, and fashion. This is the common thought and is indeed an aspect of "Worship", however "Worship" is so much more.
Here are a few points on "Worship":
- Everybody's worshiping something- Yep, that's correct! Whether it's the money you have in your bank account, the sports you watch on your big screen, the beauty you pursue and admire in the mirror, the muscles you pump up at the gym, the acceptance of your friends and/or peers, the girlfriend or spouse you have holding your arm, the success within your career, or the God who made you, everybody is worshiping something. The unfortunate and tragic thing is some people will bounce from one thing to another all throughout life trying to find something that will fill the void, but will fail over and over again to find it because it was never intended for them to find it in any of these things. Which leads to my next point...
- We were made to worship God- Our creator designed us to find ultimate and everlasting satisfaction in worshiping Him. Yes, we do and can enjoy many of the things listed above and they are evidences of God's grace in our lives, but they were never intended to replace God as the object of our worship. He created us to worship and obey Him just before He turned our attention to the good He had provided for us and was intent on providing for us forever as we walked in intimacy with Him in the Garden of Eden. We were created in His image and were meant to reflect Him for His glory in all of our lives as we were fruitful, multiplying, and filling the earth and enjoying the abundance of grace He had provided.
- Worship consists of all of our lives- Worship is not simply what we do on Sunday morning when we sing songs, but rather it's the rhythm of our life before our King day to day and moment by moment. We worship God not only with our actions, thoughts, and attitudes, but also in the roles which He has entrusted to us as stewards such as a husband, father, church member, employee, friend, etc. Worship is all of life, whether that be our work ethic on the job, our kindness to our enemies, the way we handle our finances, and yes, we can even worship God in making love to our spouse. Worship is found in everything we do.
- Worship comes from the heart- Proverbs 4:23 tells us to, "Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life." Put simply, your worship of life comes from a heart that's been changed by Jesus and is bowed before Him as King of your life. If you find yourself lashing out in sin, harshness, lack of self control, impatience, etc. then you don't need to look far to understand why. The problem is that your heart is not submitted before Jesus as King, but rather you've made idols of yourself or other things, and they are on the throne of your heart ruling your life. A heart that's been changed and has Jesus on the throne will abound forth with good fruit and specifically the fruit of the Spirit found in Gal. 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. When you, and certainly you will, find that you've placed idols on the throne of your heart, repent of your sin, understanding that you have no life on your own, but only hidden in Jesus, and place your faith in Him who has overcome not only that present sin, but all your past, and future sins and their penalty, death, on your behalf. Then praise Jesus because His work on the cross was truly enough and it has paved the way that our hearts could worship Him through our lives.
- Worship is delightful obedience- Notice I said "delightful" obedience in contrast to "dutiful"obedience. True worship is not driven by God's commands for us to do something as if He's standing over us with a whip. Rather true worship comes from a heart that's completely in love with our Savior and awed by His kindness and goodness to us. Dutiful obedience leads to a life of mere legalistic morality, but delightful obedience is a life of passionate, whole-hearted, pursuit desiring to sacrifice everything to please Jesus. Dutiful obedience thinks, "I have to do this", but delightful obedience thinks, "I get to do this...WOW!" Delightful worship is being so overjoyed in the salvation of the Lord on our behalf, that you want to please Him and make Him famous through trusting and obeying His plan for and in your life no matter what the cost. You're willing to abandon everything just for the opportunity to please Jesus with your life. Worship is delight. Worship is obedience. Worship is action. Delightfully acting on what our King says no matter how dark the situation or how painful the circumstances, as we trust that He will "cause all things to work together for the good of those who love Him", and that good being making us more like Him (Rom. 8:28:29).
- True Worship comes from seeing who God truly is and who we truly were and are in Him- God is the unchangeable I AM, the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, the Lion of Judah, the Author and Sustainer of all creation, The Returning King, The Promised Seed, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, there was never a time that He wasn't and there will never be a time where He isn't, He is all knowing, all powerful, He is everywhere at all times, He is the Great Shepherd of our hearts, He is Holy, Holy, Holy. Yahweh ...and God...God loved us while we were who we were... Blatantly Disobedient, Stubborn, Unrepentant, Objects of Wrath, Useless, Evil-doers, Addicted to Sin, Blind to the truth, Enemies of God in active rebellion against Him, Suppressors of the truth about Him in our Unrighteousness, Destined for Hell, Helpless, Hopeless, etc., etc...And while we were who we were, God unfolded His marvelous redemptive plan as He pursued the ones He created and had become His enemies and provided the way that they might become one with Him again through Jesus and know the riches of His goodness and kindness as He intended to provide to and for them from the very beginning in the Garden where they walked hand in hand with Him in the cool of the day. Through the giving up of His One and Only Son, He transformed us from "who we were" to "who we are in Him"... Forgiven, Free, Sons and Daughters of God, Heirs of God, Indwelt with the Holy Spirit, Righteous, Holy, Blameless, Without Blemish, Friends, Trophies of His Grace, Seated with Him in the Heavenly places, Raised up with Him to right hand of God, Alive together with Him, and He promises to complete the work that He's begun in us.
In Christ,
JR
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