So, what is worship to you? Let me remind you of Jesus’ words from John 4:23 (NLT) as we begin:
“But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way.”
For quite awhile, when I first heard this passage, I thought that God was looking for worship. Then one day I read it again and a light bulb went on; that’s not exactly what it said. Jesus didn’t use the word for the action; he used the word for the person. What God is seeking are worshipers. He is not so much interested in our coming in on Sunday mornings and singing some pretty songs and saying some nice words. God is truly looking for people who will reflect worship … in all that they say and do! Listen to Paul’s words from Romans 12 and you’ll get an idea of the kind of commitment that God is really looking for here…
“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” – Romans 12:1-2 (NLT)
And how many days a week do you operate out of your body? … O.K., that’s not a trick question; 7 days a week, right? So, that’s how many days a week we need to be about worship…
What would happen, folks, if we woke up each day … and before our feet hit the floor in the morning we would say to God: “Lord, today is your day. Today, I am all yours—a living sacrifice. Whatever I do, whatever I think, wherever I go … I want my life to bring honor and glory to you!” If we did that 6 days a week and then came and celebrated our faith together here on Sunday mornings, do you think it would make a difference in our worship together? You bet it would…
So, we’re to present our bodies a living sacrifice… We’re to offer all that we are and all that we have … to God. But, this reminds me of a warning that Rick Warren has said over and over again: “The problem with a living sacrifice … is that it keeps crawling off the altar!” In my experience, this is true! We have a tendency, as human beings, to do the opposite of what God asks of us, instead of doing what God’s asks us to. So, we need to be extremely diligent in our quest to offer ourselves a living sacrifice to God—worshiping God each and every day… How do we do that? Let’ begin here…
BEING A TRUE WORSHIPER IS ABOUT … DOING ALL TO THE GLORY OF GOD! 1 Corinthians 10:31 says: “So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all [italics mine] for the glory of God.” So, how do we offer ourselves a living sacrifice every day? We need to remember to do ALL that we do—every day—to the Glory of God! And all … means all! Some time ago, there was an email story that was sent around that kind of fits what we’re talking about here…
There was a professor who’d been traveling for a weekend, working away from home. On the flight home, he was tired and just wanted to be left alone. However, the flight attendant was so polite and helpful that he couldn’t help but strike up a conversation with her when he said, “Delta Airlines is fortunate to have you working for them.”
Her answer more than surprised this professor. Actually, it kind of stunned him. She said, “Sir, my real employer is not Delta Airlines. I work for Jesus Christ. He is the greatest of all bosses.”
Now, to me folks, that sounds like ‘doing all to the Glory of God!’ And, if we’re truly doing all to the Glory of God, our entire lives should fit the definition of worship we talked about earlier in this series; in other words, all that we do in life will:
- Honor God…
- Be directed toward God…
- Keep us involved with/walking with God…
So, BEING A TRUE WORSHIPER IS ABOUT … DOING ALL TO THE GLORY OF GOD! And, very much in the same vein, BEING A TRUE WORSHIPER IS ABOUT … WORSHIPING EVERY DAY! Worship needs to be an active, vital part of daily life…
Nearly 25 years ago, there was a book written entitled Worship: Rediscovering the Missing Jewel; in it, its authors (Allen and Borror) state it this way: “The real factor in worship is a heart desire for God; the reason it fails to occur in the pew is [that] it fails to occur in the daily routine of living.” The psalmist concurs when he says in Psalm 119:164, “I will praise you seven times a day because all your regulations are just”—speaking of God’s words to us through scripture. But, how many of us praise God 7 times/day for the gift of his word to us? (How many times do we praise god 7 times/day for anything?) If we did, we’d be a true worshiper 24/7!
Not long ago, I heard about a man who decided to brush his teeth just once a week. Now, I know that sounds disgusting, but just follow his reasoning, would you? He had heard that dentists recommended brushing your teeth 3 times per day … for about 3 minutes each time. So, 3 times per day @ 3 minutes each time = 9 minutes. Multiply that x 7 days per week and you have: 63 minutes. 63 minutes per week … is what is recommended by dentists. So, this man figured if he’d brush his teeth for about an hour … just once per week, that would accomplish basically the same thing…
He made the decision that on Sunday mornings, each week, he would brush his teeth for an hour. He tried it the very next Sunday and soon discovered that there were issues with this that he hadn’t counted on…
- The plaque that builds up on the teeth is much easier to remove if it’s done with regular 3 times/day brushing … than trying to remove a week’s worth in one brushing…
- Additionally, this man had not figured on how sore his gums would be after an hour of straight brushing time… (Actually, he had brushed for only 20 minutes when he was forced to stop due to his very sore and bleeding gums!)
- Further, he hadn’t given much thought to how bad his breath would be after several days of not brushing; he noticed that people were keeping their distance from him, the further he got away from his ‘brushing day’…
After just one attempt at this new brushing schedule, he realized that the idea simply would not work!
Unfortunately, many people attempt this very same process with worship! They tend to ignore God for 6 straight days, then go to church one day a week to ‘worship’…
- The worldly mindset that is built up over an entire week of avoiding God cannot possibly be eliminated in one hour (more or less) on the weekend!
- Not exercising your spiritual muscles on your own during the week will render them pretty useless for one hour per week … in the corporate setting!
Author Mark Buchanan, in his book Your God is Too Safe, said it like this:
“If Sunday for one hour is the only time we worship, no wonder we do it sloppily, haltingly, hastily … and leave as hungry as we came. If we only ate one day a week, and on that day only one meal, we would die soon enough. And man does not live on bread alone. Robust worshipers worship in spirit and in truth. They don’t need a temple. The kitchen will do.”
Have you ever had a deep desire for worship at your church to be more than it has been? What we’re talking about today is the answer to that deep desire! When worship is part of our everyday life, it alters the way we view corporate worship. It’s no longer a time when we expect the worship leader or pastor to ‘pump us up’ after a draining week. Instead, our worship and praise—directed at God alone—becomes our natural response! Ultimately, folks, a weekly corporate assembly of worship should be a culmination of a whole week of worship lived in everyday life…
I always thought of myself as quite the music student when in high school bands in particular. But, there was something in the process of being a high school musician that I didn’t like—something that I learned early on… A music teacher, you see, knows immediately during your weekly lesson just how diligent you’ve been (or haven’t been) in your daily “practice” in the past week. They know that by what they hear in the first few minutes of your weekly lesson time (and you can only fake so much!)… Anyone else ever notice that?
Here’s an interesting thought: I’ve always wondered whether the same is true for God and our worship. Have we been diligent to “practice” during the week, or are we content to leave worship for the one time a week that we gather together … and then fake it the best we can? It’s been said that ‘our actions betray who we really are.’ Things we do in everyday life depict the real us. Today, just ask yourself these questions pertaining to your worship:
- What is God seeing?
- What is God witnessing?
- Does God know in the first few minutes of our corporate worship … if you’ve been practicing this past week or not?
To become true worshipers, we must make worship an active, vital part of daily life. Worship is not—cannot be—just a once-a-week activity. True worshipers engage with God in worship each day … every day … and throughout each day! Let’s be those kind of worshipers, shall we? Let’s be TRUE WORSHIPERS of God…