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Thursday, May 26, 2011

The Centrality of Jesus in Worship

Thank you for allowing me, this past Sunday to share with you about worship. I've heard it said about me that my passion is worship. Let me amend this assumption, by saying that my true passion is WHO I worship - Jesus.

As I mentioned Sunday, our worship starts with Jesus. As we reach out with our worship - we find the One who first reached out to us - Jesus. To Jesus who poured out his blood, we pour out our worship! As God the Father raised Him from the dead, we raise our voices full of His praise!

We also can experience true freedom in worship. The Bible instructs us to worship in various ways.

Psalm 33:1-3

1 Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous;

it is fitting for the upright to praise him.

2 Praise the Lord with the harp;

make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.

3 Sing to him a new song;

play skillfully, and shout for joy.


We should SING JOYFULLY. We should SHOUT for JOY!
We should PLAY SKILLFULLY on instruments such as a harp or ten-stringed lyre. (both very popular instruments in their day. We should sing A NEW SONG!

It's no mystery that the most important worship verse Romans 12:1 is immediately followed in verse 2 by a verse that speaks of transformation.

1 And so, dear brothers and sisters,* I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.* 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

This is our TRUE worship! also put - This is your spiritual act of worship (NIV) or This is your reasonable service (NKJV) - regardless of your translation of choice, I was to do what is TRUE and what is SPIRITUAL and what is REASONABLE.

God, in Christ, changes us as we worship Him. Simply being in His presence is surely transformational. He will transform us if we let Him and change the way we think. For this to happen, we must make sure our worship is Romans 12:1 worship. TRUE-SPIRITUAL-REASONABLE-worship. This is us dying to self and turning it ALL over to Him, our body, our finances, our attitudes. Let Him use us as he sees fit. This takes humility-selflessness-sacrifice.
One could make the assumption that if He isn't changing us, then perhaps there is still something we have laid claim to in our lives, something we have not yet given up.

The hardest thing for me to do, in this flesh, is to say these three words - "I am wrong." But, in order for God to change the way I think, I have to turn over my thinking to Him.

Isaiah 55:8
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.


I have to confess this verse often. It's important. Not just when we don't know the answers, in fact, it may be even more important to confess this verse when we are absolutely 100 percent sure that we have the answers. No matter how right we think we are - "His ways are not our ways."

Father, change my mind and my heart and my will. Transform me until the only thing others see is Jesus reflected in me. Take all that I have, it's Yours. In fact, take my whole body, here it is, it's Yours. You gave it to me anyway and it's purpose should be to honor You. My mouth, that's a part of my body isn't it? Let it always honor You and speak boldly the name of Jesus. My fingers, they are part of this body, let the write what is True-Spiritual-Reasonable. My feet, also a part of the body. Let them go places that You would go, but I am too often afraid to go. My eyes are Yours too. Help me to see others they way Jesus sees. My life, my whole self is Yours.

I didn't mean for this post to be so lengthy. I'd love to read your comments. Are you discovering these same truths as you become more and more humble with your worship? Do you find God changing your mind? Have you ever had a thought that you just knew was right, only to find out that His thoughts are not your thoughts? Please post your comments below.


2 comments:

Steeder said...

This might shock you, but I typically have a problem with humility (Yeah, I know, right?).

I usually live by the notion that My Way is the Right Way and if I like it it must be Good.

That's why for me it seems easy to worship God through music - it's familiar ground.

I certainly worship through things like sermons and dramas, but I am not really a "drama guy" (I know, ironically I AM kind of a diva...). That's just not a natural way for me to worship, but I recognize that it is very meaningful to others.

You know what, though? Over the past few years I have really gotten a lot out of the dramas I see at our church.

Part of that is that we have talented people who do what they do very well, but that has always been the case. Mostly, I think I have been able to hear God's voice through drama because I have humbled myself and listened.

Turns out He was there speaking to me through the dramatic performances all along. I was just missing out because I wasn't listening.

That doesn't mean you'll see me onstage in costume anytime soon, though :-)

I traded you a long post for a long comment. Couldn't we just text back and forth ;-)

SRB

Alden Schoeneberg said...

We could text, but this way others gain from your insight. It should be simple and you are right - in order to hear His voice we must listen and often we can't listen until we have humbled ourselves. Seems easy but it often is not. I wish it came more natural, but I have to be very intentional every time.