In the last post I asked the “who” question: Just who is it that we are worshipping? Not who do we think we are worshipping or who does modern culture tell us we are worshipping, but who does the Bible reveal to us that we are worshipping? Hopefully that got you thinking about Christ and who He is revealed to be. Now I want to approach the “why” question.
First, the reasons we don’t worship. OK, that is clumsy wording. First, these are not reasons why Christians worship. That sounds better.
We don’t worship to be saved
It is an article of faith that salvation is apart from human effort or action. Salvation is accomplished through the cross and received by faith which is a gift from God. God does not trade our worship and devotion for salvation. In other words, we worship because we are saved, not in order to be saved.
All Christian worship is post-salvation. In other words there is no such thing as Christian worship by an unregenerate person. Only those who are born-again participate in Christian worship. An unregenerate person may “go to church”, they may bow their heads when we pray, they may sing along side us, they may listen intently to the sermon and take notes but until the Spirit works upon their hearts, they are not engaged in true worship of God. Further, any worship outside of Christian worship is a form of idolatry whether atheistic self-worship or Muslim worship or Mormon worship or Hindu, Buddhist, whatever. Any worship that has as its object of praise and adoration anything other than Christ is inherently idolatrous and blasphemous. It is too easy to get caught up in religious pluralism and make erroneous statements like “We all are worshipping the same God in different ways”. The reality is that there is room for two kinds of worship, proper worship of God and idolatry.
We don’t worship Him to gain something for ourselves
Tread carefully here. We gain nothing from worship. Nothing tangible. There is not a return on investment. If we give money, food to our neighbor, visit someone in prison, sing songs of praise, prayer of thanksgiving God doesn’t shower us with blessings. Don’t misinterpret that. God is constantly blessing His people, but there is not an equivalency where X units of worship = Y units of blessing. The great lie of the health, wealth and prosperity preaching is that worship and blessing are part of a marketplace, commodities to be traded and exchanged. God blesses us in spite of our feeble attempts to worship Him. We may feel uplifted by praising God, or doing works of mercy. But ultimately worship is an act of gratitude and adoration directed to the one who saved us, and we worship in spite of any blessings we receive. After all, He saved us from our sins. Isn’t that enough?
We don’t worship Him because it makes Him more than He is.
God is not made more godlike by our worship. He doesn’t seek or demand our worship to pump Himself up. The God of the Bible is not one in a pantheon of gods who seeks more followers to make Himself more powerful. God is God whether everyone worships Him or no one worships Him. Truth is not measured by numbers, and the validity of God is not measured by numbers of followers. Statistics like this religion or that is the fastest growing are interesting but ultimately irrelevant. I don’t care if there are 6 billion Muslims and 1 lone Christian, it doesn’t make Islam real and it doesn’t make Christianity false. Worship is not a numbers game.
So why worship? Why bother? If you are a Christian, you are already saved so why not send God a nice thank-you card and move on with our lives. Why all the fuss over worshipping Him at all?
We worship Him because we are designed to worship something. Before we were saved, we worshipped all manner of idols, most often ourselves. Give me a person and place them in an unfamiliar setting and they will eventually end up worshipping something. They may not call it worship, but that is what it is. Whether their career, or their pleasures, or their family, or sports, or money they will find something to focus and heap their attention on.
When we are saved, our entire view changes. Not our every thought, or desire or deed but our view. In spite of our failings and sins, in spite of the times when we stumble or lose our way, the Christian will always return his gaze to the Son of God. We look to Him because whenever we look away, eventually we realize how futile our worship of anything else is. Christ is the sole object of true Christian worship because He alone is worthy to be worshipped and worship of anything else leaves us unfulfilled.
I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. 2 Sam 22:4
I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. Psa 18:3
For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. Heb 3:3
Christ is worthy in a way that far transcends any human being, thus I believe the comparison to Moses as a comparison that the Hebrew audience would understand. Moses was the ultimate prophet for Jews, and in comparing Moses to Christ we see that even the greatest of men is but a pale shadow of the glory of Christ.
In Revelation we get a deeper view of His worthiness to be worshipped in His triumphal return.
“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” Rev 4:11
Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” Rev 5: 11-12
And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” Rev 5: 9-10
He is worthy to open the scrolls, He is worthy because He created all things and He is worthy because by His death He redeemed all things to Himself. We worship Him because He, and He alone, is worthy of worship.
The why is easy. We shouldn’t even ask why we should worship Christ, we should ask why would you worship anyone or anything else?
First, the reasons we don’t worship. OK, that is clumsy wording. First, these are not reasons why Christians worship. That sounds better.
We don’t worship to be saved
It is an article of faith that salvation is apart from human effort or action. Salvation is accomplished through the cross and received by faith which is a gift from God. God does not trade our worship and devotion for salvation. In other words, we worship because we are saved, not in order to be saved.
All Christian worship is post-salvation. In other words there is no such thing as Christian worship by an unregenerate person. Only those who are born-again participate in Christian worship. An unregenerate person may “go to church”, they may bow their heads when we pray, they may sing along side us, they may listen intently to the sermon and take notes but until the Spirit works upon their hearts, they are not engaged in true worship of God. Further, any worship outside of Christian worship is a form of idolatry whether atheistic self-worship or Muslim worship or Mormon worship or Hindu, Buddhist, whatever. Any worship that has as its object of praise and adoration anything other than Christ is inherently idolatrous and blasphemous. It is too easy to get caught up in religious pluralism and make erroneous statements like “We all are worshipping the same God in different ways”. The reality is that there is room for two kinds of worship, proper worship of God and idolatry.
We don’t worship Him to gain something for ourselves
Tread carefully here. We gain nothing from worship. Nothing tangible. There is not a return on investment. If we give money, food to our neighbor, visit someone in prison, sing songs of praise, prayer of thanksgiving God doesn’t shower us with blessings. Don’t misinterpret that. God is constantly blessing His people, but there is not an equivalency where X units of worship = Y units of blessing. The great lie of the health, wealth and prosperity preaching is that worship and blessing are part of a marketplace, commodities to be traded and exchanged. God blesses us in spite of our feeble attempts to worship Him. We may feel uplifted by praising God, or doing works of mercy. But ultimately worship is an act of gratitude and adoration directed to the one who saved us, and we worship in spite of any blessings we receive. After all, He saved us from our sins. Isn’t that enough?
We don’t worship Him because it makes Him more than He is.
God is not made more godlike by our worship. He doesn’t seek or demand our worship to pump Himself up. The God of the Bible is not one in a pantheon of gods who seeks more followers to make Himself more powerful. God is God whether everyone worships Him or no one worships Him. Truth is not measured by numbers, and the validity of God is not measured by numbers of followers. Statistics like this religion or that is the fastest growing are interesting but ultimately irrelevant. I don’t care if there are 6 billion Muslims and 1 lone Christian, it doesn’t make Islam real and it doesn’t make Christianity false. Worship is not a numbers game.
So why worship? Why bother? If you are a Christian, you are already saved so why not send God a nice thank-you card and move on with our lives. Why all the fuss over worshipping Him at all?
We worship Him because we are designed to worship something. Before we were saved, we worshipped all manner of idols, most often ourselves. Give me a person and place them in an unfamiliar setting and they will eventually end up worshipping something. They may not call it worship, but that is what it is. Whether their career, or their pleasures, or their family, or sports, or money they will find something to focus and heap their attention on.
When we are saved, our entire view changes. Not our every thought, or desire or deed but our view. In spite of our failings and sins, in spite of the times when we stumble or lose our way, the Christian will always return his gaze to the Son of God. We look to Him because whenever we look away, eventually we realize how futile our worship of anything else is. Christ is the sole object of true Christian worship because He alone is worthy to be worshipped and worship of anything else leaves us unfulfilled.
I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. 2 Sam 22:4
I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. Psa 18:3
For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. Heb 3:3
Christ is worthy in a way that far transcends any human being, thus I believe the comparison to Moses as a comparison that the Hebrew audience would understand. Moses was the ultimate prophet for Jews, and in comparing Moses to Christ we see that even the greatest of men is but a pale shadow of the glory of Christ.
In Revelation we get a deeper view of His worthiness to be worshipped in His triumphal return.
“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” Rev 4:11
Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” Rev 5: 11-12
And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” Rev 5: 9-10
He is worthy to open the scrolls, He is worthy because He created all things and He is worthy because by His death He redeemed all things to Himself. We worship Him because He, and He alone, is worthy of worship.
The why is easy. We shouldn’t even ask why we should worship Christ, we should ask why would you worship anyone or anything else?
No comments:
Post a Comment