In the christian community we often evaluate our corporate gatherings and our personal times of worship and then we give ourselves points based on certain responses. “Boy I sure sang loud today….I really am a worshipper!”
When my daughters were 5 and 6 years old a relative showed them a red corvette and this person made a big deal about how awesome that car was. And for a couple of years after that every time they saw a red car they would yell with glee – “CORVETTE!!”
And they would just go crazy over that red Ford Festiva!
What if I told you that we all are amazing worshippers, that’s right ALL. “All christians?” you might ask. Nope, ALL HUMANS, both regenerated and the unregenerate. We were all created by God to be worshippers, created by God to bring glory to God. Our problem isn’t that we don’t know how to worship, our problem is that we worship the wrong god. We are created to be worshippers but we are naturally bent to put little gods on our thrones and worship them. As stated before we evaluate ourselves mostly at corporate gatherings, but the real litmus test is to do an inventory of your minutes, hours and days to see where you spend your time and why you spend your time that way. Take an account of what you day dream about, these all point to who/what is on the throne of your heart.
Paul is in Athens in Acts 17 and sees all the gods the Greeks have and he says “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’…..” Paul doesn’t say, “You guys have no idea how to worship….let me show you HOW to worship”. Rather he states that they are very religious. Then he goes on to say that as he observed their objects of worship he noticed that they are worshipping little gods and that the one they call the “unknown god” is actually the only true living God, the only one worthy of their worship. Paul says and I paraphrase, “You Greeks are awesome worshippers, however you need to change your object of worship!”
There is more that makes a Corvette a Corvette than just red paint – and of course if you paint a Ford Festiva red and put a spoiler on it that doesn’t even suggest that it is a Corvette.
You have no doubt seen footage of early Elvis concerts, with the shrill sound of girls screaming and falling over one another and passing out and crying. (Or The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Justin Beiber etc.) As you reflect on those ones in the crowd at such concerts one thing they all have in common is truly they are amazing worshippers! If we followed a Justin Beiber fan in the weeks prior to and after the concert I bet we would find things such as these. They constantly talk about Justin, they tend to bring any conversation around to Justin, they know all of his songs, they watch all his videos, they day dream about meeting him face to face, they can’t wait until he comes back to their region and they get to see him again…etc. You see they are amazing worshippers, the problem is they have a little mortal god.
How then, beloved, should we live?
I would like to challenge you as well as myself to settle the debate over whether you are an amazing worshipper or not and do a serious inventory or your minutes, hours, days, day dreams, and where you spend your money. Then tear down the idols in your hearts that exalt themselves against God. Denounce areas of sin as you ask Jesus for His forgiveness and throw out the things that are permissible but not profitable to you running hard after Jesus.
______________________________________________
Today’s post is written by Shane Warbington, who is one of the worship leaders at FN. He’s married to Wendy and they have three children: Mykaela (21), Lauren (20), and Cade (7). Shane spends his days as a self-employed remodeler/handyman (“Technically, I work for my wife”) and sometimes shares hilarious childhood stories on his blog.
______________________________________________
This Christmas season at FN, we’ve decided to join into the Advent Conspiracy. As a part of celebrating together, we’ve asked several people to write about each week’s topic here on our blog. And we’d like for you to join in too: share your reactions, plans, or experiences in the comments. Or, if you post on your own blog, leave a link in the comments. Post pictures to our Facebook wall. Tweet us @fellowshipnorth. Let’s use our online space as a community – one that will conspire together this Christmas season!
Great idea, well said.