Pastor Tony Jeffrey, Fellowship At The Ranch Church
Dr. Jim Denison, CEO of the Denison Forum in his book, Biblical Insight to Tough Questions, addresses this question.
Football is America’s favorite sport. An English visitor described the game as 22 men in desperate need of rest being watched by 70,000 people in desperate need of exercise. The NFL estimates that 100 million people watch some part of a football game any given Sunday. Given that 1,696 people make NFL rosters each year, that’s a ratio of 60,864 fans per player watching every mistake—every fan sure he or she could do it better.
We can afford to be spectators in some areas of our lives but not with our souls. We will each stand before the God of the universe one day to give an account for the years He gave us. Here will be His first question: Did you “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind (Matthew 22:37)? Did you worship your Maker?
We need to know what worship is, what it isn’t, and why it matters so much to God and to our souls.
Worship is not what culture or even what many church attendees think it is. God defines worship as “Love”: “Love the Lord your God.” Love is a verb. It requires doing, not just attending church, watching, singing hymns, giving money, or believing. You’ve only worshiped when you’ve loved, adored, and honored God. Worship is loving God in every way a human can love:
* With all our “hearts”—our emotions, our senses.
* With all our “souls”—the life force itself, that which gives our bodies life, our essence, your highest purpose.
* With all our “minds”—we are to have no ungodly thoughts, songs, movies, TV shows, books, or social media in our minds.
* With all our “strength”—loving God with our actions.
This is Jesus’ first commandment, His first expectation, for every day.
What Worship is not. Worship is not performance either by the pastor or worship leaders. Worship is not entertainment. Worship leaders do not exist to impress the congregation as their audience but rather the congregation is present to impress God. Worship is not therapy. Paradoxically, we get far more out of worship when we engage in worship not for ourselves but for God.
Why does worship matter? Because God made us for worship. This is why we were created. It’s why He gave us a free will—so we could choose to worship Him. Love must be a choice. God made us to make this choice and nothing else fulfills it. God deserves our worship. We love Him because He first loved us (John 4:10). He created and redeemed us. He watched His Son die on the cross to save our souls and purchase our salvation. He gave everything for us. He deserves our worship.
When did He last receive yours?