We talk all the time about our attitude, and what it should be when we worship. We throw around words like, gratitude, humility, brokenness, joy, wholeheartedness.... etc. But what do those things really mean? What does the Bible say about them?
I think this is something that we NEED to investigate, if we are to call ourselves worshipers, and leaders of worship. Our church, and the Church as a whole, needs to know what it means to worship. We talk about this all the time. We say, "Well, if WE are truly worshiping, then our church will see that and be drawn to it." I believe that that is true! I truly believe that when people see God's children engaged with Him, intimately, they can't help but want that for themselves. It's because that's how we were designed. We were designed to want to worship Him. But how can they see that, if we don't understand what it means to worship Him with humility, brokenness, joy... etc.?
I found a great article that listed a bunch of scriptures that references each of these qualities. I've linked them all in this blog. I want each of you to try and look at them all. Just click the links and you'll be taken to the scriptures that reference them. They are short and to the point. But some of them are going to speak different things to each of us. So, here's your "assignment", so to speak. Pick two that you really keyed on and explain what you think. Again, we don't need a book! You don't have to try and write something profound or brilliant. By sharing what God shows you, you will be writing something profound and brilliant! (see how that works!) I'll start.
Justice: I was floored by this scripture! God says, as plainly as He possibly could, that he isn't interested in my songs or my singing, or my talent, or my offering. He even call's them, and I quote, "Noisy hymns of praise!". Why? Does God not liked to be praised through song? NO! That's not what He's saying. He says that if my heart isn't right, that if I'm not living a life that exemplifies worship all the time, then He doesn't want my songs on Sunday. It's nothing more than a peace offering for the week that I spent ignoring Him!
Purity: This Leviticus passage is weird! Let's be honest... the entire book of Leviticus is weird! It's a very hard book to read. For a lot of people, they feel like it is the "Rule Book" of the Bible. It's full of crazy things you shouldn't do! However, we must remember. The Israelites didn't have a Saviour yet. And just as Erik talked about, before Christ, they had "the Law". And when you have a bunch of "laws" to live by, they begin to leave questions about boundaries. So, what happens? You start having to justify those questions by adding more boundaries to the already existing law. This passage talks about the sacrifice being pure before God. That If you don't present a perfect animal for the sacrifice, it is not worthy and God will not acknowledge it. The beauty is... we have already had the perfect sacrifice. It was Jesus. And so, while this passage doesn't apply to us, in that, we don't sacrifice cows and goats to atone for our sins anymore, we do offer ourselves. That is our worship. We cannot come before God to worship, harboring anger, malice, pride, or any other junk in our heart. We have been given the perfect sacrifice. We MUST lay that down at the cross and ask God to purify our hearts before we worship Him. And since we are to live a life of worship.... (you can connect the dots here!) then we must do this daily. Only when we truly ask Jesus to clean our hearts and repent (which is not the same as confessing. To repent means to acknowledge our sin and turn from it. To make every effort to not return to that behavior) then we can truly worship Him.
Those are my thoughts. Tell me yours. And please, guys and gals, don't just click on two of them and then comment on those two. Please, try to look at all of them. You don't go to a restaurant and ask them to only tell you about two things on the menu! You look at everything... and then make your choice!... (I'm just saying!) Living a life of worship involves all of these things. We need to know what God says about all of them!
Love Y'all.
Honesty (John 4:23), Gratitude and Reverence (Hebrews 12:28), Faith (Hebrews 11:4), Righteousness (Malachi 3:3), In the Spirit (Phil. 3:3), Humility and brokenness (Psalms 51:15-19), Purity (Leviticus 22:18-22)
Wholeheartedness (Deut 6:4-6; 1 Chronicles 29:6-9), Joy (Phil. 4:4, 1 Chron. 15:16)Loyalty (Hosea 6:4, 6), Justice (Amos 5:22-24), Simplicity (Exodus 20:25), Self-giving (Ephesians 5:1; Romans 12:1)
Honesty--I took this as being truthful in your worship. If you put your arms up and "act" like you're really feeling it, that is not truthful worship. We're only fooling ourselves (and the rest of the people) when we do this. God knows if we mean it or not, whether we're simply standing still or dancing in the aisles.
ReplyDeleteWholeheartedness--Short and simple: if you sing well, sing with all you've got. If you can't carry a tune in a bucket...sing with all you've got. "Make a joyful noise" whether it's joyful to your neighbors or not. If it's acceptable to God, then that's all that matters.
Gratitude and Reverence- I think we forget sometimes that God is to be feared. I love how if we have done something wrong in our lives when we attempt to worship God without making things right he can and will place a fire in us. Its like we are compelled to either leave His prescence or confess. At least that has been my experience.
ReplyDeleteLoyalty- This verse just shows that God sees us... our hearts and were our loyalties are. I compare the amount of time I watch TV to the time I spend in the word and in prayer. Yikes... I don't want to be like the mist on the ground that vanishes after morning.
In the Spirit - it's all about the heart. This passage really speaks to me that my talents are used to help others enter God's presence, but all that matters to God is my heart. If my heart is right when we lead or when I worship on my own, then it will be evident to God and God will use my earthly talents to help others see him.
ReplyDeleteHumility and Brokenness - I think I too often get caught up in my own state of forgiveness. Christ paid for my sins, and he doesn't need an offering from me, rather he needs my humble broken spirit. If I confess my sins and repent, and I am humble and contrite, then my offerings will be pleasing to Him. "Lord, you know my faults and my sins, forgive me today so I may worship you wholly."
Simplicity- I think sometimes we can get caught up in the "grandness" of our worship and forget that God loves our worship whether its backed with 30 instruments or its just you in your car with no other sound singing and worshipping Him.
ReplyDeleteSelf Giving- I think probably the hardest thing for people is to serve with a Godly attitude without expecting anything in return for their efforts. It's natural to want that pat on the back or the compliments. It's how we react when they don't come that can set us apart in our christian walk.
Good thoughts everyone! Great stuff so far. Don't be afraid to comment on someone else's comment too, if you want. This is a good conversation to have between all of us. We should be encouraging each other in these things. Shelly, your self-giving comment is spot on. It is what we do when no one is looking or how we handle something other than what we expected, that sets us apart. That also speaks to humility. Good stuff y'all!
ReplyDeleteI keep seeing the words righteous, heart, personal, truth, and intimate. What if I lived in the days of animal sacrifices and I'm on my way to a place to meet God. I am bringing an animal from my herd to offer him. It is not my best animal and I know it is unacceptable to him but, I'll just say it's the best I can do for now. I fear that almost certain he will reject the offering. The fear I now have should be the beginning of wisdom. Just like before surgery everything must be clean. I must wash at the foot of the cross before I go into worship.
ReplyDeleteWhat's funny is we talked about this in small group last night as it pertained to fasting. Just how fasting can be viewed as our animal sacrifice before God. If we choose to deprive ourself of something that we deem important or "our best" and we do it because we want to draw closer to God then we are being sacrificial and giving our best. That makes more sense to me as I learn more about worship and what it means to truely give yourself to advancing God's kingdom.
ReplyDeleteWholeheartedness - I used to help out with a basketball camp and we always taught the kids the Bible verse about "Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, strength..." We always stressed that it was important to use everything you had to honor God. Many of the kids do that, but I've realized that I fall short. I'll sing anyday to please God, but I tend to hesitate when it comes to helping out with the kids and using my "strength." It's an area that I struggle with and definitely need to work on...giving God ALL of me.
ReplyDeleteLoyalty - I wonder how many times I haven't told God I love Him? I mean I know He knows all things and that He knows I do, but I don't think I say it enough. Sometimes I feel like I am so far away from Him, when I know He's right there with me. Like Jessi said, I don't want to be like the mist and disappear.
Joy: For me, joy has been an elusive attribute. It's something I want, something God commands in all circumstances. I don't want to lie when I praise God by not recognizing all that He's done, by saying, "Well, what about X, Y, and Z..." I don't want my circumstances to dictate how I view God or my relationship with Him.
ReplyDeleteLoyalty: This really resonates with me and I love what the rest of you have commented. I think more about what I want my relationship with God to be like than actually pouring myself into that relationship and reaching out to God. Maybe a little less Facebook and People.com and a little more prayer and bible reading would better suit my time!
Whoops. Kinda missed the deadline for this one. . .Anyway, I really like this assortment of scripture and stuff.
ReplyDeleteJoy: I have been thinking about this for a couple of years now. I feel like some people naturally have more joy than others yet we are all called to be joyful and celebrate the Lord. I had a friend in hs who was constantly smiling and I was thinking "what is wrong with me? I am definitely not like that." In my group of friends at school I am often the cynic and get excited about worshipping God but am not constantly joyful. I see the brokenness in the world and am saddened and even though I know we are called to be joyful, I find myself being more contemplative than joyous. This is an area I hope God continues to work on in me.
Self-giving: This is a big deal for me. I struggle with crucifying my own will and agenda and fully imitating God and submitting to/mimicing His perfect will. I know we are called to have the attitude of Christ and to die the glorious death every day- knowing that we are already essentially dead, which frees us to live- yet I still stumble in this area. My prayer is that God would break me down so my agenda can no long prevail and His will and mindset will consume me.
Faith: Abel's gift was more pleasing to God than Cain's because he gave it with faith. This is a recurring theme through all these passages and as Robbie wrote originally, it is not the Offering that matters to God, it is the giver. Not to say by any means that we shouldn't worry about the quality of our offering--on the contrary, I believe that we should strive to make sure the quality of our offering should reflect our level of faith.
ReplyDeleteIn the Spirit: "We rely on what Jesus Christ has done for us." This is a strong statement. More often than not, we simply thank Jesus or appreciate Jesus or just recognize Jesus for what he has done for us. But how often do we RELY on Jesus? How often do we rely on others? Fairly often, more often that we realize. I hope we always make a point to worship in the Spirit ourselves and we have a unique position to help others to worship in the Spirit also. Our worship is about our offering to God, not our offering to each other or to the people listening. Our goal is to help people make their own offerings to God and to rely on Jesus (not us) for the source of their worship.
Kyle "bloggin' from the beach" Heckman
Righteousness - This passage really showed me that it is not in our power to be purified and worthy of worshiping God. We must trust in Him to purify us so that our "sacrifices" will be acceptable to Him. In my own life I must remember this and never try to become pure by my works. I think if we all ask God to prepare our hearts for worship and to accept our offerings of praise, and we truly mean it, He will listen.
ReplyDeleteJustice - This kind of goes along with righteousness in that God will not accept our praise if our hearts are not truly in it. He wants to see that we are living our lives righteously, and not just doing what we want during the week and then going to church on Sunday.