What is Worship?
Worship is the centering of your life around a belief, values, or person. Worship assumes a reciprocal relationship; I give the object of worship something of value in return for "life;" satisfaction, peace, happiness, eternity. The Atheist, the Buddhist, & the Christian all worship something, because all of us desire these things: satisfaction, peace, happiness, eternity. We all give our time, money, and energy towards the things we believe will fulfill us. In ancient terms, this would be called "sacrifice."
Only the best of things can be sacrificed.
What have we to lay down at the altar? What do I have to trade? Nothing! If I consider the reality of the human-divine relationship, He has everything already; everything I could offer He created; it is His. If I thought God desired good people I could not even accomplish that. If I do mostly good in my own life, my righteousness is as a faded photograph in comparison to the overwhelming color of the Lord Almighty's goodness.
It is anathema to spiritual life to pursue righteousness through human effort. No matter how holy my acts may become, if I've ridden myself of every corrupt exterior action, all I have learned is to trust myself and my discipline, not the Lord. When I've truly been confronted with the decay of the whitewashed tomb that I am, I will know there can be no human answer to the problem of sin in my life. "If righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing."
It is not a sacrifice to leave behind the sinful nature. The old way of thinking & acting according to common sense cannot be sacrificed. To live according to sin is in fact its own religion; it is an idolatry. It is a totally different style, content, & focus of worship - and it is our worship that God sought to rescue in a man. By sacrificing our sin, we cannot stand before God. It's not good enough. It can never be.
It is clear what can be sacrificed - a pure, unblemished, good thing, of which I have none. Therefore, we have nothing to trade God to get what we desperately need- the affection of a father who provides everything for his offspring: satisfaction, peace, happiness, eternity. Sacrifice is the old way, the flesh's way of worship. To think that we have anything to trade a Holy God, is to live outside of reality.
I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Galatians 2:20
"Reality is not human goodness, nor holiness, nor heaven, nor hell; but redemption; and the need to perceive this is the most vital need of the Christian worker today... Personal holiness is an effect, not a cause, and if we place our faith in human goodness, in the effect of redemption, we shall go under when the test comes...
"The one abiding reality is the gospel of God. Other things may be real; the gospel is reality itself. We are brought into this reality through the redemption; the cross is our bridge and our entry point. Our access to it is a gift, purchased for us by Jesus Christ. We cannot get at it through any action of our own."
-Oswald Chambers
The spiritual life flourishes in the presence of God. Reality is truly presented to us - we are a sinful people, full of such promise blighted by corruption and yet he died for us while we were still sinners. He loves me. His love received in right relationship is what animates any sanctification experience. The nature of that relationship being between a human whose character is one of corruption & self service, and a God who is purely goodness & mercy.
The story of God and man is this: everyday, he gives us mercy upon mercy. The ultimate mercy is that he fills us with himself. The invitation of God to live with Him in the throne room of the human heart is one that is refused when I believe I can add any righteousness to his own. To think that by additional sacrifice I can further enrich such a costly yet free gift is idolatry. For the reality is that God sacrificed himself for us, so that we can worship.
God rewrites the rule of worship on the cross.
He is the one who makes the sacrifice; He is the one who makes the trade for us. His death, for our life, not our sacrifice for His. He invites us to make a trade, not of worship, but of repentance. This is letting go of the false idols we think will bring us life & accepting the grace Jesus made possible through the cross. It is letting go of the idea that I can produce righteousness of my own accord. It is accepting the highest reality of God's goodness and my personal evil. It is saying "I deserve the death that you, Jesus, have died; please, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
Now, worship is God's gift to us. Through repentance and faith in Him, we get to worship God. We have the amazing privilege of centering our lives completely and totally on the only one who actually deserves it. He made the opportunity for us to spin our lives around His orbit and enjoy the beauty and benefits of his light: satisfaction, peace, happiness, eternity. Nothing else matters quite so much as this Gospel; Jesus died and rose again so that man might truly worship the God of all goodness. Repent! Turn away from all else you have centered your life on and turn to the only one who can forgive you. And you will enjoy the life of Christ.
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