You might be heading north. You might be heading south.
You might be laying up in bed with a gun up to your mouth.
You might be going nowhere, or you mighta been there before.
Maybe all of a sudden, you don’t know yourself no more.
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*
*Dylan wrote the above verse when Natalie Cole wanted to include the song on her album, Snowfall on the Sahara
The additional verse that Dylan wrote for Natalie Cole is one of the heaviest and emotionally moving verses of the song. It speaks profoundly as to why worship matters.
Eugene Peterson’s translation of Ephesians 1:11-14 gives us a glimpse as to the power of whatever we center our lives around to affect everything about our lives. Check out these words of Paul below.
11-12 It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.
13-14 It’s in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This down payment from God is the first installment on what’s coming, a reminder that we’ll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life. —Ephesians 1:11-14 MSG
It’s only when we center our lives on Christ… It’s only when we determine that He really is WORTH MORE, and that gets reflected in both our attitudes and actions… It’s only “in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for…” It’s only when we get things right with God — when we get things right about who or what we will worship — that we can start to get things right with ourselves.
I’ll close this series of posts on Gotta Serve Somebody, with four thoughts about why worship matters.
FOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT WHY WORSHIP MATTERS:
1. Worship is a RESPONSE. It includes both ATTITUDES and ACTIONS. It’s not an EVENT, it’s a LIFESTYLE. Worship is a VERB.
Let’s break the first thought down. First of all, worship is a response. For years I’ve been writing it like this: “Worship is responding to all that God is with all that I am.”
Second, it includes our attitudes and actions. We spent the last three posts describing that.
Third, worship is not an event, it’s a lifestyle. We’ll talk more about that in a moment.
Finally, worship is a verb. There is nothing passive about worship. Worship is a verb. It’s something we do. It’s the way we live.
The lifestyle of worship gets described in Romans 12.
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. —Romans 12:1 MSG
I love the way The Message translates this passage. Paul basically says, “In light of who God is and all that He has done. In light of God’s amazing love and extravagant grace revealed in Jesus Christ. Because of all that God has done for you, place your life before God as an offering back to Him.”
Romans 12:1 is a reference to worship in the OT. Whenever we think about worship in 2021, we often think, “Oh, yeah. You mean, sing. You want me to sing… Okay, thanks for the challenge.” But in the Old Testament, worship involved a lot more than singing. In the OT, at its core, worship always involved an ALTAR and it was always tied to SACRIFICE.
In the OT, when people came to meet with God, they came to an ALTAR and they brought a SACRFICIE. The sacrifice was placed on an altar, and then a FIRE would completely consume the sacrifice. THE SMOKE that rose from that sacrifice became a fragrant aroma of worship to God. This was part and parcel of worship in the OT.
Whenever a person brought a sacrifice to the altar to be placed on the fire, that act was intended to express the heart of the worshiper. With that sacrifice, the person was basically saying, “God, I want my life to be consumed by you! I acknowledge my need for atonement.”
The expression that appears at the end of Romans 12:1 in The Message, “…place it [your life] before God as an offering…” is important. The word “offering” in the original language is a technical term. It’s the Greek translation of an OT word used to describe placing a sacrificial animal on the altar.
This is important. Once you placed the animal on the altar, it didn’t come off! It no longer belonged to you! It belonged to God! From that point, it was out of your hands. Paul basically says, “I want you to do the same thing with your life…”
“…offer your life as a living sacrifice…”
Some translations render Romans 12:1, “Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice…” In the OT, the sacrifice was dead. A dead sacrifice just lies on the altar. But Paul challenges us in the NT, “…offer your life as a living sacrifice…”
Notice the progression. God says, “…offer yourselves…”, not an animal. “Give me yourself!”
“…offer your life as a living sacrifice…” That’s a lot more interesting. It’s difficult.
How does a living sacrifice respond to the altar? Think about it.
A living sacrifice knows what’s coming. A living sacrifice is tempted to say, “I want off this altar.” So, when Paul says, “I want you to offer your body as a living sacrifice,” He’s saying this is something we’re going to have to do every day. It’s something that is going to have to happen again and again throughout our lives.
That’s why I write: Worship isn’t an event, it’s a lifestyle. Because real worship is about getting up every morning and going throughout every day in a posture of reverence before God that says, “God, I place my will, my struggle with sin, my possessions, my desires, my relationships, marriage, career and everything else in my life before you… I pour the contents of my entire life on your altar… I present myself as a living sacrifice to you.”
That’s worship as a lifestyle.
A Prayer Inspired By Romans 12:1 in The Message
I’ve actually turned Romans 12:1 in The Message into a prayer I regularly pray to God.
Father, at the beginning of this day, I take “my everyday, ordinary life” — the one and only life You have given me and ask that You help me to honor You with this life.
I take my “sleeping” — the way I sleep, rest and “Sabbath” and pray that I will sleep and Sabbath in a way that reveals my trust in You.
I take my “eating” — the things I will consume throughout this day, and I pray that You will help me to eat in a way that fuels my body and mind for excellence. Give me the discipline necessary to say “No” to cheap and inferior foods that will ultimately harm the body or temple You created.
I take my “going to work life” — my job — and ask that You help me to work in such a way that my attitudes, energy and efforts bring glory to You and inspire those around me.
Finally, help me to take my “walking around life” — the way I interact with my spouse, family, friends and neighbors… The way I manage my time and money… The way I live… Let it all be placed as an offering before You, an offering that You will be glorified in and honored by. I ask all of this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Imagine your life like this.
Your life — your sleeping, eating, going to work, walking around life — is the sacrifice
The Holy Spirit is the fire that consumes our life and sacrifice.
The “smoke” that ascends is the beauty of a life well-lived for God.
This is worship as a lifestyle.
Worship isn’t something reserved for an hour-and-fifteen-minutes one time each week. Worship is the way we live 24 hours a day, 7 days or 168 hours per week, 365 days, 52 weeks or 12 months every year. That’s worship as a lifestyle.
2. We will eventually BECOME like the God (god) we choose to WORSHIP. (Ps 115:8)
We wrote about this extensively in Post 3 of the Gotta Serve Somebody series.
3. Worship is a PERSONAL and SHARED EXPERIENCE. We need both!
While worship flows out of our personal relationship with God; there is an aspect of worship that thrives in community! There is an aspect of worship that can’t be experienced apart from showing up when the church gathers together! This idea is repeated all throughout Psalm 95! For instance,
“Oh come, let us sing to the LORD…” —Ps 95:1
“…let us make a joyful noise…” —Ps 95:1
“Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving…” —Ps 95:2
“…let us make a joyful noise…” —Ps 95:2
“Oh, come, let us worship and bow down…” —Ps 95:6
“…let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.” —Ps 95:6
“For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture…” —Ps 95:7
Notice the plural pronouns that get used in this psalm: us, our and we.
Psalm 95 is challenging us to worship in community! Worship together as a group of people who have been redeemed! It seems that there is an aspect of worship that happens when we get together that can’t be duplicated or experienced when we are alone.
Maybe this is why Jesus reminded us of this truth in Matthew 18:20.
For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.
—Matthew 18:20 NIV
Perhaps this is one of the reasons the writer of Hebrews gave us this challenge in Hebrews 10:25.
…not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. —Hebrews 10:25 NIV
The truth of Scripture indicates that we need God and we need each other.
4. The goal of worship is always the PRESENCE of GOD.
Check out Psalm 95:2 and 6.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving… —Ps 95:2a ESV
Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
—Psalm 95:6 ESV
When we worship, according to Psalm 22:3, God makes His throne on the praises of His people. God literally “inhabits” or lives in the praises of His people!
God is present everywhere. Theologians call that His omnipresence. But, when we respond to all that God is with all that we are… When we declare with our heart, mind and will that, “God, you are WORTH MORE!” When we honor God with our attitudes and actions. When we make worship a personal and shared experience. When we worship God in spirit and truth! When we worship — we experience an awareness of the presence of God that changes everything.
One moment in the presence of God changes everything.
Psalm 16:11 describes one of the reasons we so desperately need God’s presence.
“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” —Psalm 16:11
It’s interesting that the word, “worship” in Ps 95:6 (see above) is a Hebrew word that means, “…to bow down; to sink down; to make yourself ‘depressed’ – not in the sense of an emotion, but in a state or posture of reverence; to prostrate oneself…” In other words, kneel or lie face first before God.
In one of their songs, Find Me, Jonathan David and Melissa Helser, describe the beauty of worship that takes the posture of kneeling before God. Read the following lyrics. In fact, click the link above and read along with the song. It’s beautiful.
I fall down upon the ground
Press my face against the earth
Till my heart it rises over my head
As the wheat it bows down low
When the autumn wind blows
I kneel before the One I love
Find me grateful
Find me thankful
Find me on my knees
Find me dreaming
Find me singing
Find me lost in Your grace
That kind of worship brings the presence of God.
Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
—Psalm 95:6 ESV
In review, here are FOUR THOUGHTS about WHY WORSHIP MATTERS.
- Worship is a RESPONSE. It includes both ATTITUDES and ACTIONS. It’s not an EVENT, it’s a LIFESTYLE. Worship is a VERB.
- We will eventually BECOME like the God (god) we choose to WORSHIP.
- Worship is a PERSONAL and SHARED EXPERIENCE. We need both!
- The goal of worship is always the PRESENCE of GOD.
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