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Thursday, October 14, 2004
Thus far we've seen how the first thing we need to know regarding the reality of worship is that you have to know the God that you're worshiping. The next step is realizing that there is a truly spiritual way to worship God, and now we can do that through the finished work of Christ. Yesterday we learned the importance of having hope in God as it creates a deep sense of passion for God, which is essential for true worship.
Which sets the stage for our final reality of worship, found in Romans 12: 1 & 2, which reads, "I urge you therefore bretheren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."
Notice that the word "therefore" is early in verse 1. When that word is in a verse, it points us to the reality that context is important...that the stuff that came before it is vital to our understanding. In this case, Paul finished up what we call chapter 11 with the reality that God is so amazing and unfathomable and great because he showed us mercy even though we were disobedient, and that He is worthy of our worship because of how great He is and what He has done for us.
Also notice that Paul is "urging" us, not commanding us, regarding these things. We have a choice to do it or not. If we were commanded to do what he's about to talk about, that would be legalism...and if we're commanded to worship, well, it comes off as less than what it should be or could be.
When I was younger, I went to a church that was very formal...liturgy, kneelers and pipe organs. The whole deal. My mom would always nudge me to start singing some dirge-like song from the hymnal...needless to say, that didn't do it for me (and in retrospect, it didn't do it for God, either, unless He's counting that I obeyed my Mom), but I obeyed. My heart wasn't in it because I didn't choose to be there or do that.
But now that I'm older, I have a choice, and that's important.
And we don't have to make that choice alone...the mercies of God can give us strength. Drawing from Him the very ability to do what he's about to tell us (see yesterday's entry) is necessary, because if we do it on our strength we'll eventually get tired of it like we do everything else.
And we're to present our "bodies" as a sacrifice...our entire self. Everything we are and do. The Message says, "Take your everyday ordinary life--your sleeping, your eating, going to work, and walking around life--and place it before God as an offering."
Beautiful.
Everything we do should be worship. In other words, worship is a way of doing life...not a set of songs or giving money or the other stuff we've already talked about. Your worship will make doing those things more meaningful and passionate, but without those passions and meanings, we're just doing what we're commanded to do, which isn't true worship.
I'm convinced that we've reduced worship to those things we do on Sunday or maybe with a guitar in a small group Bible study, but the reality is that worship truly involves God giving us the ability to give Him glory by how we live our lives. That's worship.
In fact, one of my seminary professors, Dr. Tom Constable, said, "Worship is putting God at the center of life." And tomorrow, we'll discuss the role that obedience plays in worship.
But for today, think through what pops into your brain when you hear the word "worship." How does viewing worship as a lifestyle change the way you think about worship? What problems does this raise in your mind? How will it affect those areas like your "sleeping, eating, working, walking around" life as our spiritual service of worship?
Brent 4:40 AM
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