He was born, Robert Allen Zimmerman in May 1941 and began his career in the 1960’s — a career that has now spanned nearly 60 years. He’s regarded by many as one of the greatest American songwriters of all time. We’re talking the legendary Bob Dylan.
In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine named his song, Like A Rollin’ Stone, as the #1 greatest rock-n’-roll song of all time.
In 2016 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
His continuing relevance in the music world was demonstrated in December 2020 when he sold the rights to his music catalog — more than 600 songs — for more than $300 million. (Insiders say that it was likely sold for more than $400 million.)
In 1979, Dylan shocked the music world with his dramatic conversion to Christianity and recording the first of three successive gospel oriented albums — Slow Train Coming (1979), Saved (1980) and Shot of Love (1981). The opening track of Slow Train Coming was a simmering, bluesy, gospel-oriented anthem titled, “Gotta Serve Somebody” with lyrics that landed like the power of a punch from Muhammad Ali, George Foreman or Joe Frazier.
The song won a Grammy Award in 1980 for Best Rock Performance by a Male Artist. It has been recorded by the likes of Shirley Caesar, Natalie Cole, Willie Nelson, Mavis Staples, Etta James, Charlie Daniels, Lee Ann Womack, Chris Stapleton and more. By the way, if you’ve never heard Shirley’s version, check it out now! It is fire!
At its core, the song is about worship. It’s about defining and determining who or what you will worship.
You may be an ambassador to England or France,
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance.
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world,
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls.
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody! Yes indeed,
You’re gonna have to serve somebody!
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord,
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody!
—Bob Dylan
Why does worship matter, anyway?
In this series of posts, we’re going to look at two psalms — Psalm 115 and 95. Two songs written by anonymous authors. We’re not certain who wrote either psalm, though some believe that David may have written Psalm 95. Both psalms are about worship. They both help us to answer the question, “Why does worship matter, anyway?”
When it comes to building a rock-solid faith — a faith that doesn’t bend, bow or break — who or what you choose to worship is the most important decision you’ll ever make. Bob Dylan was right. Everybody worships. Everybody serves “somebody” or “something.”
It’s interesting that John Lennon literally hated Dylan’s song. In fact, he called it, “embarrassing.” He even wrote his own song in response, a song titled, “Serve Yourself.” Lyrics of his included the following:
“Well, you may believe in devils,
and you may believe in lords.
But if you don’t go out and serve yourself…
Ain’t no room service here…”
—John Lennon, Serve Yourself
Lennon was just expressing what a lot of us feel and struggle with. The history of humanity is that we were created to worship. Our soul craves it. But, at the same time, human beings chafe under the thought that we desperately need it.
What is worship, anyway?
If worship is so important, “What is it, anyway? What is worship?”
Worship Defined:
The English word worship comes from an old English word,
“woerthship” or “worthship” which meant:
“to assign worth or value to something” or “to put a price tag on it”
One author put it this way. When you worship you’re basically saying, “This one is WORTH MORE…” You can’t really say, “This one is worth more,” without at least implying, “That is worth less…”
Louie Giglio of the Passion Worship movement defined it like this:
“Worship is our response to what we value most.”
—Louie Giglio, The Air I Breathe
Tim Keller, former pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian in NYC once described worship like this:
Worship is placing value —ultimate value — on someone or something in a way that energizes and engages everything about you. —Tim Keller [1]
At this point, perhaps you’re thinking, “This blog post is not for me. After all, I’m not a worshiper. My wife worships. My daughter worships. But not me. I’m not a worshipper.”
Have you ever had that kind of thought?
It’s important to point out that it’s not a question of whether you’re a worshiper or not. YOU ARE! Every single person on the planet is a worshipper.
Every single person on the planet is a worshiper.
Most of the time we don’t call it worship. Sometimes we don’t even know it’s worship. We’re just going crazy with 75,000+ fans in a stadium or a group of 10 people in a living room watching the Crimson Tide or Auburn Tigers on a Saturday afternoon in the Fall. Our “god” just happens to wear crimson and white or blue and orange.
What we do on Saturday afternoons in the fall is worship. In those moments, what we’re saying is, “This is worth more. This is something I value.”
Approximately twenty years ago, I took my oldest daughter, Chelsea, to see one of my favorite bands on the planet, U2. In the Summer of 2017, I had the opportunity to take my youngest daughters, Caley and Cam to see them at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.
More than 50,000 people were jammed into that stadium. The concert was 3+ hours. We had to arrive 2 hours early to secure our standing place on the field. Most of the people gathered that evening, wouldn’t have called it this, but what we did for 3+ hours was WORSHIP.
For 3+ hours more than 50,000 were saying, “This is WORTH MORE. This matters. The price tag I put on this moment is more important than my personal comfort or personal space. This is WORTH MORE.” That is WORSHIP.
Get this. Human beings are worshippers. We are going to give our affection, adoration and devotion to something or someone. We might channel it into hobbies like music, football, sports, working out, video gaming, cooking or eating what somebody else cooks.
We might even channel it into good things like a relationship with our spouse, or a relationship with our kids or a special group of friends.
But make no mistake about it, our greatest passion and deepest devotion was intended to be reserved for GOD and GOD alone. Nothing else works.
That’s why this is a great definition for WORSHIP.
Worship is seeing what God is worth and giving Him what He’s worth. —Tim Keller [2]
Worship involves your attitudes and actions.
- Worship involves the ATTITUDE I bring — “God is WORTH MORE.”
Every time I worship I am determining the value or price tag I actually place on God. I’m deciding on the place I give Him in my life.
Psalm 115:1 describes the attitude of a devout worshipper.
“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name goes all the glory for your unfailing love and faithfulness.” —Ps 115:1 NLT
Do you live with that kind of attitude? Do you view your life thru this lens? “My life, relationships, resources, bank account, time, talents and treasures… All of it…is not about me. It’s all about God? To His name goes all the glory for His unfailing love and faithfulness?”
According to Spurgeon, the repetition of the phrase, “Not to us, O Lord, not to us…” indicates that the writer of this psalm is serious about renouncing anything in his life that would attempt to compete or vie for the allegiance and honor that should go to God and to God alone.
Psalm 95 is the other psalm about worship and the attitude a sincere worshipper brings to God. The first three verses read as follows:
Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! 2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! 3 For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. —Ps 95:1-3 ESV
Verse 3 describes the attitude of a sincere worshipper. “The Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.” In other words, He is WORTH MORE!
But, worship not only involves attitudes, it involves my ACTIONS. I mean, if the idea that “God is WORTH MORE” is really the attitude of my heart, then I have to DO SOMETHING about it. I have to respond to all that God is with all that I am.
- Worship involves the ACTIONS I engage — I TRUST God with my LIFE + HONOR Him with my ENERGY + ACTIONS.
The first action is giving God my TRUST. Back to Psalm 115.
9 O Israel, trust the Lord! He is your helper and your shield. 10 O priests, descendants of Aaron, trust the Lord! He is your helper and your shield. 11 All you who fear the Lord, trust the Lord! He is your helper and your shield.
—Ps 115:9-11 NLT
Perhaps you’re thinking, “But Chris, trust is an attitude.” I agree, trust certainly involves an attitude or firm believe in the reliability, truth, ability or strength of God. But it’s more than an attitude. At some point, trust is demonstrated by my actions. By what I actually do.
In Psalm 115, the writer challenges the leaders, pastors and people of a culture that seems to be coming apart at the seams and reminds them: “Hey gang! God can be trusted. So, don’t give up on God now. He has proved Himself worthy of our trust, so let’s trust Him in this moment.”
Trust is a choice and decision I make on a daily basis about how I’m going to choose my attitude in any given moment and how I will use my actions, energy, resources, time, talents, treasures, influence, opportunities, moments, days and the list goes on. Will I choose to TRUST GOD or simply give in to the stream of culture, the voices in my head and the vicious attacks of the evil one?
Many of us SAY we believe that God is worth more, until He isn’t. Until that reality crashes up against my sexual desires, sexual identity, political affiliations, moral decisions, personal preferences, freedom of expression, bank account or the time I have available, then He isn’t worth as much as I would have liked to believe.
Worship involves trust. Do I really trust God with every area of my life? Do I really believe that God knows best and I can trust His directives and directions for my life?
In our next post we’ll describe some of the actions worship involves, but perhaps today we need to spend time thinking about and praying through the following questions:
- Do I really believe God is worth more? Is that the attitude or value that directs my life?
- Do my actions reflect that attitude and value?
- Do I truly trust God with every area of my life, believing that He knows best and that I can trust His directives and directions?
- Is there an area of my life that I need to surrender to Him and realign with the values I want to live?
Check out our next blog for more in this series.
[1] I borrowed this definition from a sermon by Tim Keller titled, Worship. http://www.gospelinlife.com/worship-7409
[2] What It Takes To Worship Well, Interview with Tim Keller, Christianity Today, http://www.christianitytoday.com/pastors/1994/spring/4l2016.html