THOUGHTS FOR THE ROAD....... LESS TRAVELED

Lessons learned for the Christian life.

What Is Worship, Anyway? - Rev. Mark Mullins

 Special guest post by: Reverend Mark Mullins from Studies4Life.com

I've been thinking a lot about what worship consists of.  I mean, if we don't know what worship is... what its comprised of... how do you know when you are doing it?  Oh yeah, isn't that what church is for? We ride a pew once a week and feel justified in checking worship off our list. Sweet! You did it! Congratulations.  Now tell me what you did while you were "riding the pine" that dinged the worship bell.  You sang a little? (Don't get me started on meaningless-feel-good-praise-choruses that neither contain praise nor content) You listened attentively to a 40 minute monologue on morality?  oooOOoOoo.  Is that what worship means to you?


   No kidding, now: Worship is crucial to a right relationship with God.  Right? RIGHT??!!!  Worship involves every aspect of our being: Body, Soul, and Spirit.  In other words:
  • Worship expresses the heart (giving our praise to God)
  • Worship engages your intellect (hearing God's Word expounded and assimilating His instruction)
  • Worship employs you physically (acting on the instruction you've received from God's Word)
   Betcha don't think about that when you skip a Sunday morning service (OR Sunday night, OR <Fill in your church's service time here>), huh?  Woah, big fella! You mean God is actually paying attention to me NOT paying attention to the preacher? That's called giving God lip service, second best, left overs... the dregs.

   You say that you won't ("NO! I. WILL. NOT.") sing? Your praises are important to God. C'mon, show Jesus a little appreciation by enthusiastically lifting your praises. Read the words. Mean them. Do it LOUDLY, the old folks in the back are hard of hearing.

   Yeah, yeah, I'm all good with all that... except the part about actually doing something, am-i-rite?  What vast eternal plan could possibly be derailed if I'm a spiritual couch potato?  Dude. Get yourself a copy of Francis Chan's book, "Crazy Love".  Don't put it off, you slacker! Get up, go get the book, stop at Taco Bell on the way home (because you won't be cooking today), read it now.  Hmmm. You aren't looking for your keys. You aren't going to read it, so let me synopsize for you:
  1. God is absolutely INSANELY in love with --- you.
  2. If your relationship with God could be characterized as "luke warm", then something is hideously wrong.  There is zero room in the Bible for room temperature Christians... Francis thinks you are probably NOT a Christian.
  3. Remember what its like to fall in love? You'll go to any lengths. Now apply that to loving God.
  4. Interest leads to attraction leads to relationship leads to love leads to obsession.
  5. There are a bazillion examples of heroic men and women who have made the leap, and you can too.
  6. As a consequence of all this, we ought to reciprocate God's Crazy Love
Worship. Think about it.

Mark Mullins
http://studies4life.com/

4 comments:

I love your blog. Indeed, worship isn't only about singing song at church every sunday. But it is everything we do for the Lord. Simple things, even washing dishes, could be your act of worship if you are doing it for the Lord, if you are thankful for the strength and the ability He has given. Our life, the way we live, must be a living sacrifice to God. That's worship is all about. Responding to God's love to us.

I love how you summarize it. God bless...

http://drawingtogod.blogspot.com

2/23/11, 4:17 AM  
Anonymous said...

Worship is a response to God---who he is, what he's done for us. Our hearts should overflow with praise and worship CONSTANTLY because he's so awesome and he's done so much.

And yet.

2/23/11, 9:29 AM  
Anonymous said...

Good stuff! Thanks for time time you put into this article.
Tim Jones

2/23/11, 11:46 AM  
jsolomon said...

I like your message Angie. I wonder why do preachers preach. Christ said that he would send the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit would teach all. So why don't preachers walk people through the New Testament Bible so that they can receive the Holy Spirit and let the Holy Spirit teach them daily, in their hearts!!! Follow me at http://newbiblestudyonline.blogspot.com/
http://thehighlightedbible.blogspot.com

2/23/11, 5:27 PM  

Post a Comment