In the past, I have been guilty of worshiping worship. I have led churches where "worship" is the be all and end all--and at times, I realized that we were all worshiping "worship." I have prided myself on having the best worship band, best worship leader, and devoting 30-min or more to awesome, dynamic worship. So, what is the problem? What's wrong with all this?
The problem is simply that I and many others have fallen prey to worshiping worship, to getting into the zone and feeling good, but failing miserably at worshiping the Almighty God. Worship became an idol because I found that I could "worship" God and still remain on the throne of my life. That's the problem: I was still in control of my life.
Who is on the throne of your life?
Romans 12:1 (ESV)
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Worship is a spiritual endeavor. Maybe that's why many churchgoers walk in half-way through the worship service, because our flesh HATES worship. Our flesh rebels at the act of worshiping Almighty God. Even unbelievers can enjoy a sermon and find something of value in it, but if they are confronted with real worship, they feel great discomfort because authentic worship doesn't appeal to our flesh, but rather to our spirit.
If we are going to offer true worship & praise to El Shaddai (Almighty God), we must begin by presenting ourselves to Him as a living sacrifice.
My eyes were opened to the fact that I was on the throne of my life and that was keeping me from entering into real worship. The starting point for worshiping God is to humbly come before Him with a heart attitude that says "Here I am Lord. Whatever you want me to do, wherever you want me to go, whatever you want to do in my life, Lord, have you way." That's the starting point to worshiping God. A "living sacrifice" has NO will of his own.
I'll continue these thoughts in my next post. But before you leave, check out this humorous but powerful video, "Sunday's Coming"--a spoof on how we approach worship in many of our "contemporary" churches today. (if you're reading this as an email, for some reason the video doesn't work. Go to my blog site to watch this video. This video is a must see! )
Good stuff, Dale. I've been bewildered over the years by observing folks up close who are obsessed with worship services, worship cassettes/cds, worship conferences, "radical" worship styles -- but who flagrantly disregard God in rather major areas of their lives. Almost as if the time they spend singing songs, waving their hands and jumping around before God make up for the basic lack of obedience in other areas. Good pooints you've made - keep it up.
ReplyDeleteHi Dale:
ReplyDeleteGood to "find" you again. The worship music/resource industry is big money, because of us who worship it and feed the machine.
Good points made. I look forward to reading more of your blog in the future.
Dale, A carbon copy of our church but what else do we have besides the solumn hymms and the "make you fall asleep sermons"
ReplyDeleteof the alternatives? Unfortunately we try to miss the loud abrasive "worship" and arrive in time for the sermon there by also missing the video intro. What has gone wrong and how can we change it?
Love to the family.
Sharon
When good people who love the Lord Jesus Christ and His Heavenly Father turn a blind eye to the real motivation of the church wherein they worship, they potentially tether themselves to the synagogue of Satan.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyng an uplifting service with contemporary music and a great message communicated by a talented pastor is wonderful, BUT, if the majority of the church members are there for the show and fail to pursue a meaningful relationship with God after the service, then financially supporting a church like that is catagorically wrong.
I really have to look at the true motives of my church, I am beginning to suspect that getting people in the big doors is the only real goal. Hmmm. great post.