I'm back! I just had an amazing vacation not doing anything! Every day was like 'What should I do? Hmmm. Whatever I want...' It was amazing. I didn't keep a schedule and just went with whatever was going to happen that day. I didn't put any pressure on myself to do anything. It was pretty great. I loved my vacation but I'm happy to be back at work.
Here's a recap of our first three parts of this series:
1. Music is not worship. Like apples are not an apple pie, music is not worship. Only a part.
2. Worship is a part of everything we do. Not just music.
3. Worship, in the english language, at its most basic definition is to ascribe worth to something.
There are so many questions about worship we could write a series of massive books to deal with it all. If you have a question about worship you want me to try and answer, ask it at pastorjesse@rcceg.org and I will do my best to answer wisely.
The reason for the posts on worship is to answer these questions: What is the biblical concept of worship and how does that apply to my life? When we know what it means to worship God biblically, we understand how to keep idols out of our lives and worship God alone. Much more falls into place when we know who and how to worship.
Trying to define worship in today's world is like trying to pick your favorite food. Everybody has what they think worship is and they are going to stick by that and they live by that definition. Because worship is so integral to our lives we need to know what it means to worship God biblically.
Here are some of my favorite quotes on worship:
A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell. C. S. Lewis
The core of the person is what he or she loves, and that is bound up with what they worship - that insight recalibrates the radar for cultural analysis. The rituals and practices that form our loves spill out well beyond the sanctuary. Many secular liturgies are trying to get us to love some other kingdom and some other gods. Dallas Willard
Worship changes the worshiper into the image of the One worshiped. Jack Hayford
It is in the process of being worshipped that God communicates His presence to men. C.S. Lewis
Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God. It is the quickening of the conscience by his holiness; the nourishment of mind with his truth; the purifying of imagination by his beauty; the opening of the heart to his love; the surrender of will to his purpose. William Temple
Jesse
