Worship Pt. 3

It sure has been fun writing these posts on worship. I've learned new things as I prepared to write that has continued my growth and understanding. As we look at worship and how it is applied to our lives there are a couple distinctions I want to point out. First, worship is not a feeling. There isn't a time in the bible that says 'Oh I love the feeling of worship'. True worship is a choice that might lead to peace and joy, but it is not a feeling in and of itself. Second, it is not something that God gives us. We worship God. We give, express, dedicate worship to God. God gives us love, righteousness, peace, joy, power, etc. but he does not give us worship. This helps us know what worship is not.

So let us begin on what the biblical concept of what worship is. Most people start with the biblical word in Hebrew or Greek, but I want to start with the English word - worship. The history of the word from Wikipedia says, "The word is derived from the Old English weorþscipe, meaning worship, honour shown to an object,^[2] which has been etymologised as "worthiness or worth-ship"—to give, at its simplest, worth to something." So worship's most basic definition is to ascribe worth to something.

When you ascribe worth to a god you are declaring by word or deed that that is the god you worship. Many people live in a way that ascribes worth to their favorite sports team, or their job, or their money, or their music, or their celebrities, or their smart phone, or social media, or their car. This is what the bible calls idols and are not worthy of their worship. You'll notice that just about anything can become an idol. There are also gods such as hindu gods, or the muslim god, or the egyptian gods, or greek or roman gods that the bible calls false gods. And this is where it gets really good.

There are all sorts of pleasures that God has created for us. Marriage, love, freindships, mangos, burritos, Chic-fil-a, swimming, art, music, etc. There are so many! God is amazing! How generous and wonderful He is! So how do we make sure that we do not make anything an idol or false god in our lives, to keep from letting anything take God's place in our hearts?

Worship.

Not just worship (ascribing worth to something), but worship towards the God of the bible. When God is given ultimate worth, all the pleasures, all the things God has given us, are given their proper place in our lives. This is why worship has to do with every part of our life. Because in and during every part of our life we are worshiping, giving something worth. So as we work, we worship God knowing he wants us to be honest and hard working. When we are married we worship knowing He wants us to be loving, kind, faithful, dedicated, and caring. When dealing with people who hate us, we worship by loving them as we know that's what He wants. When dealing with art, in any venue, we know not to advocate or promote sin or sinful behavior because that gives worth to the things that bring death. This goes for every area of our lives.

So let Jesus be first and the center of our lives.

Jesse

Part 4 coming soon.

Worship Pt. 2

Most people know what the smell and taste of garlic is. And if you are a cook you know you have to be careful with garlic because it permeates everything that cooks with it. I went to a Mimi's resteraunt one time for breakfast with some friends and ordered a quiche with a muffin on the side. As the muffin came out I grabbed it and snatched the butter and smeared it all over. As I took a bite I nearly gagged. The muffin was terrible. The flavor was just off. So I asked for another one apologizing because usually I just won't eat it and just won't order it ever again. But this was different. I've had good muffins before from Mimi's and I wanted a good one. So again, it comes out. Again, butter is smeared. Again, just terrible... This isn't right I thought. So I pulled off the bottom and tried it without the butter. It was perfect! Now I was confused. What in the world was wrong with the butter? I tried just the butter... And it was garlic butter they gave me for my blueberry muffin. I told the waiter what happened and he swore that it wasn't. I said taste it bro. They had been giving out butter with their muffins that was sitting in the same fridge as their garlic cloves. Oh snap is right. Was I the first to catch that?

So now back to worship. As garlic is a main flavor in every part of a dish so worship is a part of every section of our lives. In older wedding vows a part of the vow was 'with my body I thee worship'. Notice that it doesn't give a time limit or a degree of how much. It says 'all of who I am worships you. I will never give my self to anything that would take it away from you. I am yours physically, mentally, emotionally, I am yours.' Now how powerful is that when two people say the same thing towards one another, mean it, and live it? This is much more what it means to worship than just listen to music. It is all of who we are given to the one who created us. When we do this this is what the scripture in Romans 12:1 is talking about. '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.' NLT

Worship Pt. 1

Matthew 28:9 And as they went, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they ran to him, grasped his feet, and worshiped him.

In this scripture it says 'worshiped him'. Just imagine with me for a second, Jesus has just risen from the dead, you got a message from an angel that says go tell the disciples. And on the way they see Jesus and when they get up to him they stop turn on their headphones and start singing to him... He would say 'what are you doing?'  Would you answer I'm worshiping? It seems kind of silly doesn't it? In this instance worship does not mean spending time listening to music about Jesus and singing along. In fact there is no music involved in this worship of Jesus.
     99% of the time right now in America when someone says 'I'm going to worship for a little bit' what they are meaning is I'm going to spend some time listening to music, singing along and praying. And when they are done they are no longer worshiping... Do not feel guilt if you cant listen to worship music all the time. To sing and pray to music are not bad things, every one needs to take time singing and praying to the Lord. The bible tells us to!  But this is my point right now, listening to music and singing along is not the definition of worship. It is a part of what worship is but it is not the definition. And when we don't know what the biblical difinition of what something is we miss what God is trying to say in that portion of scripture. Worship is much more than just music and it encompasses our whole life.
     My point today is that worship is not music. Music is a part of worship to God but is not the definition.
     This is the first part in a series of posts on worship. I will be going over what is worship, what that looks like in our lives, and how we got to the current definition of worship, and how music works in worship.
     If you have any questions feel free to contact me at bloom@rcceg.org or grab me on a Sunday morning and ask away.

Jesse