October 3, 2013

Worship written by Thomas Kavoori


  • Why? We're all seeking 'joy' or 'happiness' or 'fulfillment' in our lives. Some believe that they will be fulfilled in romantic bliss. Some believe that they will be fulfilled in financial success or power. In order to attain these goals, we make disciplined sacrifices to get them. Empirically, Hollywood repeatedly shows us that these items fail to deliver with stories of divorce, drug-abuse, violence, emptiness, immorality, suicides, depression etc. Why aren't the promises made by our movies and music coming true in reality consistently? Why don't they deliver 'joy' or 'happiness' or 'fulfillment.'? In the Bible, Jesus tells us that He is the bread of life and that he/she who comes to Him will 'not' hunger and that He is living water and that he/she who comes to Him will 'never' thirst(John 6:35). Conversely, if we do not go to Him we will hunger and we will 'always' thirst. In the Old testament, David says that God will show him the path of life and that in His presence is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore(Psalm 16:11). Outside of His presence there is no fullness of joy. Paul says that the fruit of the Spirit is love, 'joy', 'peace', faithfulness etc. and apart from bearing Christian fruit, there is no fullness of joy(Gal 5:22-23). John the Baptist says that the friend of the Bridegroom(Jesus) is the one who stands and 'hears' His voice and he/she rejoices greatly because of the Bridegroom's voice which has led to his joy being made full(John 3:29). Outside of hearing your Heavenly Father's voice, there is no fullness of joy. I want to crush your hope of finding 'any' real, eternal, worthwhile, God-honoring, God-glorifying, positive, etc. 'joy' or 'happiness' or 'fulfillment' in a person or thing other than God. I do want to give you hope that this 'joy' is available to you. In fact, Jesus died for that to happen to all of us(Matthew 27:50-51, Hebrews 10:17-22, Psalm 16:11, John 15:11).
    What? Paul urges us by the mercies of God to present our bodies as a living and holy 'sacrifice', acceptable to Him which is our spiritual 'worship' to Him. The truth is worship works similarly for both believers and unbelievers. It depends on 'who' or 'what' we worship. Take someone who worships 'pornography'. He craves it. He believes that it satisfies. He is 'addicted' to it. He 'sacrifices' time, energy, money, relationships, health etc. to get it. Similarly, a person who is 'addicted' to the idea of being financial successful 'sacrifices' money, time, energy, relationships etc. to 'get' it. Whatever we worship is a 'God' to us. By doing this, Paul tells us that we have 'worshiped' and 'served' the creature rather than the Creator because we exchanged the 'glory' of God for an 'image' in the form of corruptible man and other creatures(Romans 1:23,25). We 'worship' boyfriends, girlfriends, sex, partying, drinking, pornography, food, friends, children, success etc. God 'wants' us not to have any other 'gods' before Him(Exodus 20:3) and to exchange the 'glory' back to Him. Do not misunderstand the word 'glory.' I am not talking about service alone. Remember, Jesus said that we must worship 'and' serve God alone(Luke 4:8). He uses two different words to indicate a difference in the meaning as seen in the text above from Romans.
    How? If Jesus offers us joy in Himself(John 14:6), then He wants us to get 'back' to being addicted or passionate towards Him. David compared his 'hunger' or 'passion' towards God to a deer that pants for the water(Psalm 42:1-3, 63:1, 27:4). God said that this man was after His own heart and that he would do 'all' the will of God(Acts 13:22). This is not a concept. This is an experience and Jesus is better than all our idols. You have to understand, believe and practice this if you are to move in worship towards God. This is the groundwork from the inside. Enjoying God. Your Bread. Your Life. Your Father. Your Master. Your Friend. Your Lord. Your Creator. Hopefully, Your Everything. In order to do this, I believe Jesus gives us a simple command. 'Behold', 'Seek' and 'Look'. What does 'glory' mean? Jesus tells us that eternal life is to 'know' Him(John 17:3). Then, Paul tells us that God caused his light to shine in our hearts to 'give' to us the light of the 'knowledge' of the 'glory' of God in the 'face' of Jesus Christ. On Mount Sinai, Moses asked God to show him His 'glory'(Exodus 33:18). From my study, I have come to the conclusion that 'glory' is the character or nature of God. It's about who He is and what He is like. God told David to 'seek' His face(Psalm 27:8). That is what He tells you and me to do. 'Seek' His 'face'. 'Know' Him. Then, praise Him for 'who' He is and 'what' He has done. This is why Paul said that He counted 'all' things to be loss in view of the 'surpassing' value of 'knowing' Christ Jesus His Lord(Philippians 3:8). Here is an application. This is how we are supposed to measure our spiritual growth. Ultimately, our growth is seen in how much or better we 'know' God. We can have head knowledge with no power or obedience. We can fake miracles. We can fake conformity to rules from the outside. We can't fake 'knowing' a person(1 John 2:14, 2 Cor 3:18). Do you know God? Do you know How He feels towards people? Do you know what He wants? Do you know why He gets mad at sin?
    Conclusion:-Seek Him. Get Him. Know Him. Enjoy Him. Praise Him. Serve Him. Glorify Him. 'Love' Him.