This is my fourth post on worship. I could have 400 more post on worship becasue the topic and doctrine of right worship is that huge. Reading through the Old Testament alone I have found that worship is not only a right heart bent towards God but worship is also a lifestyle and culture that must come from the true worshiper. I was reading through some of Isaiah earlier in the week and came to understand false worship. False worship is worship that is either done towards one's self but claimed to be worship of God. And false worship is also worship done with an idolatrous and self-centered heart. The Israelite's in Isaiah's day were worshiping God but also had false idols and were self-centered people. God rejected this worship of Him becasue it was not genuine and true. It was a false or fake worship. Reading through God's rejection of this false worship made me question my worship in 3 key areas.
1) Why do I want to worship God?
As a child of the King this should be a simple answer. I want to worship God becasue He is the Savior and Creator of my soul. Yet many times I find myself wanting to praise God or be grateful because life is easy or something hard and painful is over. As a true worshiper of God and having right worship, I must praise God in the pain and be grateful to God when life is totally against me. Remembering David praised God in the middle of the pit and Saul trying to kill him is key. David praise God for who He was alone, not for the circumstances in his life. I must worship God for who God is period!
2)When should I worship God
Again this should be an easy answer as a child of the King. I must worship God 24/7. And yet there are times when I am far from worshiping God. Whether I am in the middle of a sin or wallowing in the broken circumstances, I at times never desire to worship God. True worship that God will never reject does not have an off switch. I can't go from worshiping an idol and then show up at church and want to worship God. This is the same thing that Israel did and God rejected their worship. I must worship perpetually and not turn off the switch. Repentance is one of the most important acts of worship also.
3)How do I worship God?
This question of worship to God goes right along with the last question. If I do not want to have a false worship that God rejects, I must have true worship of the heart. And if worship is 24/7, then it must not just be words or songs that flow out of my mouth. I need to worship God in many different ways and in many different forms, that all stem from the genuine heart of worship. Here is a small list that makes up a portion of a greater list of worship activities. Worship is; singing songs to God, surrendering my material/money back to God, learning from the Bible, repenting when I have sinned, making a disciple or planting a seed of the Gospel, loving my wife/husband, teaching my children about Jesus, fellowship with my faith family, and the list can go on. How I worship God can look so many different ways that the list is limitless, as long as the worship is about and for who God is alone.
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Thursday, January 14, 2016
Worship #2
This month so far I have been reading in the Bible on the topic of worship. A few days ago in a previous post I talked what I was learning about worship reading through Deuteronomy. Since then I have been read passages about worship from places like 2 Chronicles, Job, and Psalms. Through these passages I have learned more about worship in that it is not an action we do, but it is a lifestyle we live. Worship is who we are. Worship is not a light switch we can turn on and off. Worship, yes is an action we can do in church or our home, but in a much deeper sense worship is an attitude and culture that we must build in ourselves to the glory of God.
First, I saw in 2 Chronicles that worship comes from the upright and glad heart. This tells us that worship is motivated by our hearts and minds. Worship comes from the dispositions of gladness and joy in us. Remember that joy and gladness is not something that is effected by our circumstances, but is an attitude that effects how we see our circumstances.
And this leads to the truth about worship found in Job. Job even worshiped God after he lost everything. Right after Job was informed about the loss of all his cattle, possessions, and family, Job gets down and worships God for who He is. Job and his worship is not effected by what happens in his life. But Job's life leads him to worship God right away. Seeing the character of Job in the rest of the book, we can imagine that Job is thanking God, is grateful for all that God is, and realizes that God is who he needs more than ever. Job is such a man of worship and his heart is bent towards the glory of God so much, that even broken circumstances in life lead him to worship God all the more.
Finally reading through some of the Psalms, specifically 15, I came to realize that God cares so much about the heart rather than the actions, becasue the heart affects the actions. This means to truly have an action of worship, like singing a hymn, one must have a heart of worship first. The heart of worship is an attitude, lifestyle, or culture that is cultivated in a person who truly desires God alone. This brought me full circle into the truth that if I want to be a true worshiper of God by giving back, praying, singing, or making disciples, then I must first have a heart and attitude of continual worship. Yes, there are times in life when I will not feel like worshiping but that is a sin on my part and something that I must repent of. If I truly love Jesus and call the Creator God, my Lord, then I must have worship perpetually flow from my attitude, heart, and lifestyle of worship. I am asking and praying now the question of, do I need an attitude and heart adjustment of worship?
First, I saw in 2 Chronicles that worship comes from the upright and glad heart. This tells us that worship is motivated by our hearts and minds. Worship comes from the dispositions of gladness and joy in us. Remember that joy and gladness is not something that is effected by our circumstances, but is an attitude that effects how we see our circumstances.
And this leads to the truth about worship found in Job. Job even worshiped God after he lost everything. Right after Job was informed about the loss of all his cattle, possessions, and family, Job gets down and worships God for who He is. Job and his worship is not effected by what happens in his life. But Job's life leads him to worship God right away. Seeing the character of Job in the rest of the book, we can imagine that Job is thanking God, is grateful for all that God is, and realizes that God is who he needs more than ever. Job is such a man of worship and his heart is bent towards the glory of God so much, that even broken circumstances in life lead him to worship God all the more.
Finally reading through some of the Psalms, specifically 15, I came to realize that God cares so much about the heart rather than the actions, becasue the heart affects the actions. This means to truly have an action of worship, like singing a hymn, one must have a heart of worship first. The heart of worship is an attitude, lifestyle, or culture that is cultivated in a person who truly desires God alone. This brought me full circle into the truth that if I want to be a true worshiper of God by giving back, praying, singing, or making disciples, then I must first have a heart and attitude of continual worship. Yes, there are times in life when I will not feel like worshiping but that is a sin on my part and something that I must repent of. If I truly love Jesus and call the Creator God, my Lord, then I must have worship perpetually flow from my attitude, heart, and lifestyle of worship. I am asking and praying now the question of, do I need an attitude and heart adjustment of worship?
Monday, January 11, 2016
Worship part #1
So this month I have chosen the topic of worship to read about in the Bible. There are many passages in the Bible that talk much about worship, including much more than I could read through in 1 month. So today I read through Deuteronomy 6:10-15. At first glance one might think that this passage does not really speak of worship. But if we slow down and read through the text a few times we can discover these verses have much to say about worship.
First, these verse talk much about what God does for His people. This shows us that worship in our lives must be bread in the knowledge that God does everything for us, is in control of all around us, and truly owns everything we think we posses. Knowing the complete sovereignty of God must be the place that worship starts and must be the engine that drives worship from us.
Second, forgetting God is not worship. Remembering God, being grateful for all things, and realizing that God is always present with us, must be the place we find ourselves in. When we try to walk away from God, remove God from our lives, or worse try to forget God completely, this will lead to a life that can never truly worship God.
Third, this passage shows us that worship is an exclusive action to God alone. One of the best book written on worship is entitled, "We become what we worship" and this book spells out the title in truth. If we worship God alone, then we will become imitators and pupils of Jesus and begin to look much like our Savior. If we worship others things like, money, sex, power, food, or relationships, then we will begin to look like them. This is not worship then but idolatry and that is the complete opposite of worship. Worship must be something we give God alone.
Worship is a broad truth with much to learn about. But just as worship is big and broad in its truth, it is also narrow and singular in that worship is a God focused action alone. Yes, we can be grateful for the warm house or the healthy spouse, but it must always lead back to that narrow singular focus of praise and reverence to God alone. We all still have much to learn about worship, which is why I am glad I can continue to read more about it in the days ahead.
First, these verse talk much about what God does for His people. This shows us that worship in our lives must be bread in the knowledge that God does everything for us, is in control of all around us, and truly owns everything we think we posses. Knowing the complete sovereignty of God must be the place that worship starts and must be the engine that drives worship from us.
Second, forgetting God is not worship. Remembering God, being grateful for all things, and realizing that God is always present with us, must be the place we find ourselves in. When we try to walk away from God, remove God from our lives, or worse try to forget God completely, this will lead to a life that can never truly worship God.
Third, this passage shows us that worship is an exclusive action to God alone. One of the best book written on worship is entitled, "We become what we worship" and this book spells out the title in truth. If we worship God alone, then we will become imitators and pupils of Jesus and begin to look much like our Savior. If we worship others things like, money, sex, power, food, or relationships, then we will begin to look like them. This is not worship then but idolatry and that is the complete opposite of worship. Worship must be something we give God alone.
Worship is a broad truth with much to learn about. But just as worship is big and broad in its truth, it is also narrow and singular in that worship is a God focused action alone. Yes, we can be grateful for the warm house or the healthy spouse, but it must always lead back to that narrow singular focus of praise and reverence to God alone. We all still have much to learn about worship, which is why I am glad I can continue to read more about it in the days ahead.
Monday, January 4, 2016
Resolution or Glorification
1 Corinthians 10:31
"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God"
I hate New Year's resolutions. I mean I am serious, they are something that I despise with a serious passion. In the past I have tried to set resolutions for the New Year, but by January 15th I seem to either have forgotten my goal or totally lazed on what I wanted to accomplish. Maybe it was watch tv less. Maybe it was read the Bible more. Maybe it was struggle less with a certain sin. Maybe it was love my wife better. All of these goals are good things and are aspects of my life that I need to get better on. But for some reason or another, probably my flesh, the realization of the goal is gone by the middle of January. As I was praying this past year during the transition from the past year into the New Year, I came to realize that resolutions are in on sense prideful and in another sense all about the same thing. First, I find resolutions as a prideful thing becasue they seem to always be about you and what you think you need to do better in your life. Lose weight, less tv, read Bible more, or get more exercise; these all seem to always be about us and making our life better. Second, as resolutions, if we are a true confessor of Jesus as Lord, seem to be focused on making our walk with Him or our life serving Him better. That to me shows that in reality all resolutions, if we love Jesus, should be about making His name greater and giving God the glory He deserves in our lives.
So why not, rather than say resolutions or how to make our lives better in the New Year, why not say lets see how we can give God more glory in the year ahead. Now that is something that I think I can get my head around and something that would last more than 2 weeks. Wake up everyday and in the best of my God given ability, make more of Him. So instead of saying resolutions or ways to make my life better, I want to say lets see how in the New Year, each day, I can make more of my God and raise the name of my Savior to a higher level. That is a goal I can get around each day and has a much wider impact than my weight or my technology consumption. Like 1 Corinthians says, in this New year, lets see how I can glorify my God better. Then and only then it is not about me and my problems that need fixing but about the glory if my God and is focused on Him. So here on January 4th the question is, how can I give God more glory today than I did yesterday?
"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God"
I hate New Year's resolutions. I mean I am serious, they are something that I despise with a serious passion. In the past I have tried to set resolutions for the New Year, but by January 15th I seem to either have forgotten my goal or totally lazed on what I wanted to accomplish. Maybe it was watch tv less. Maybe it was read the Bible more. Maybe it was struggle less with a certain sin. Maybe it was love my wife better. All of these goals are good things and are aspects of my life that I need to get better on. But for some reason or another, probably my flesh, the realization of the goal is gone by the middle of January. As I was praying this past year during the transition from the past year into the New Year, I came to realize that resolutions are in on sense prideful and in another sense all about the same thing. First, I find resolutions as a prideful thing becasue they seem to always be about you and what you think you need to do better in your life. Lose weight, less tv, read Bible more, or get more exercise; these all seem to always be about us and making our life better. Second, as resolutions, if we are a true confessor of Jesus as Lord, seem to be focused on making our walk with Him or our life serving Him better. That to me shows that in reality all resolutions, if we love Jesus, should be about making His name greater and giving God the glory He deserves in our lives.
So why not, rather than say resolutions or how to make our lives better in the New Year, why not say lets see how we can give God more glory in the year ahead. Now that is something that I think I can get my head around and something that would last more than 2 weeks. Wake up everyday and in the best of my God given ability, make more of Him. So instead of saying resolutions or ways to make my life better, I want to say lets see how in the New Year, each day, I can make more of my God and raise the name of my Savior to a higher level. That is a goal I can get around each day and has a much wider impact than my weight or my technology consumption. Like 1 Corinthians says, in this New year, lets see how I can glorify my God better. Then and only then it is not about me and my problems that need fixing but about the glory if my God and is focused on Him. So here on January 4th the question is, how can I give God more glory today than I did yesterday?
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