Worship Much

Worship Much:

In a nutshell, worship is giving. What we worship is readily identified by who (or what) we give our best to. For many Americans what we give our best to is not our job/career - that’s only the means to an end. What Americans typically give their best to is independence, freedom, autonomy, and self-sufficiency. We frequently “put up” with the boss we can’t stand - at the job we hate - in the city we don’t care for - and live in a neighborhood where we might know the names of 1-2 of our neighbors… to bolster our retirement fund and eke out a few sparse moments of fun on the weekends SO THAT we can eventually retire, relax, and enjoy “the good life.”

Meanwhile our kids have grown up without parents, we've never made any real friends, our vitality and health have diminished or expired, and our initial dream of independence, freedom, and self-sufficiency looks like the inside of a nursing home for the final depressing chapter of our unfulfilled, deluded, and wasted lives consisting of a few fleeting memories.

Inspired? I should hope not. What does that have to do with worship? Everything.

For our time here on earth we can only worship ONE of two things: God -or- "other."

All throughout the Old Testament God warned humanity about the tragic and fatal consequences of worshiping anything other than God. “...for on the day you eat from it you will certainly die.” I’ve often heard people, even well intending pastors, say “There was only ONE THING Adam couldn’t do and he still screwed it up.” It's not accurate to say that Adam could have murdered Eve and God would have been okay with that, "You said I just couldn't eat from that tree..."

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a literal tree in a literal garden with literal fatal consequences, but it is a grave error to say “there was only ONE THING Adam couldn’t do” because that is absolutely false - unless by "one thing" you mean Adam could either worship God or "other."

God’s standard has ALWAYS been the same, i.e. perfection. God’s expectation for Adam & Eve was perfect, holy, divinely inspired worship - giving to God their absolute best at all times. God’s standard for Israel was exactly the same - giving to God their absolute best at all times. God’s standard for Christians today is exactly the same - giving to God our absolute best at all times. Nothing less, and certainly not "trying our best," is acceptable to God.

Two great examples of true worship come from the New Testament. The first is in the story of the widow in Mark 12:42-44, “And a poor widow came and dropped in two tiny coins worth very little. Summoning His disciples, He said to them, “I assure you: This poor widow has put in more than all those giving to the temple treasury. For they all gave out of their surplus, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she possessed—all she had to live on.”

The difference between the widow and everyone else who gave from their “surplus” is that she was “all in.” That’s what worship looks like: giving to God your absolute best, the “first fruits” of your life - NOT your undesirable leftovers, scraps, and garbage.

The second example comes at the Cross of Christ. We just celebrated Christmas a short time ago. Jesus is eternally God, but His incarnation was the inauguration of His worship on earth. He stepped into this depraved and chaotic sin-riddled mess that humanity created in order to bring glory to God by redeeming humanity. Jesus knew that it would cost Him His life - so He came, suffered, and died an excruciating death - All to give His divinely perfect best to God; ALL as an act of awesome worship that eternally glorifies God, while simultaneously providing the exclusive source of reconciliation for humanity.

So now that you know that worship is giving your best to God - and that God only accepts perfect, spotless, holy, and righteous offerings and nothing less - then how do you make YOUR worship acceptable to God? Again, it's not about trying harder or trying at all.

That’s where the absolute necessity of God comes in. He is the one to graciously give us authentic faith - not merely a fleeting fascination with Him… He is the one who died to make His perfection ours… and He is the one who reigns as Sovereign on the throne of our heart. It is only in this way, i.e. faith sourced in God, perfect righteousness sourced in God, and the power and presence of God reigning and directing our lives, that we are able to worship - to give to God that which is even worthy to be called worship - because that worship is not source in us, but rather is from Him, through Him, and with Him.

Have you ever worshiped God like that? Do you want to?

“Let my prayer request reach You; rescue me according to Your promise.”

-Psalm 119:70

Worship Much!

-Kevin