Purposes of the Church, PT2: Worship

WHAT DO YOU GIVE TO THE GUY THAT HAS EVERYTHING?

I think that all the purposes are equally important, each purpose helps us to grow in the other four, but worship is our first purpose. 

Prior to the fall were the other four purposes necessary?

THE SYLLOGISM

As I said previously about Fellowship, there are traditional understandings of worship, and then what worship essentially is.  Some worship is singing, not all singing is worship, not all worship is singing. 

I would go as far as to say that sometimes singing during worship is not worship, and not singing while the whole church is singing can be worship. There have been many times when I have stopped singing and just listened and been inspired to revere God's greatness. 

There are pleanty of other articles out there that can give you ideas for other expressions of worship, so I won't spend any more text on it here.  Instead I want to talk about experiencing worship in spirit and in truth. 

WHAT IS LOVE?

What is the goal of worship? What is it?

Worship an expression of our love to God and sometimes feeling Gods love for us. 

You don't have to fully understand God to worship him, but it helps to fully understand love. 

Love is a willed commitment to another's well being despite how we feel about them. 

I don't want to get all theological about the application of God's 'well-being', it really has no relevance to the issue of our worship experience.  I want to focus what is ultimately relevant, 'a willed commitment' and 'despite how we feel'. There is a universal relationship principle here. 

LOVE IN MARRIAGE

Sometimes in a marriage there are no fireworks, sometimes the really beauty is the commitment expressed through our will over mundane circumstances or doing what's good for the relationship even if you aren't 'in the mood' (the whole 'richer/poorer sickness/health better/worse' thing). This is where the 'choice' part of love comes in (versus the feeling).  My pastor sometimes says, the feeling often follows the action.  He never feels like working out, but if he can just get to the gym, then the work out takes care of itself, the feeling like working out comes after he's started working out.

In my experience passion in marriage or in my walk with Jesus is something that has to be maintained.  The spark of intimacy must be protected from the ever present pressure of selfishness. 

LOVE IN WORSHIP

Sometimes I don't feel like worship, maybe I'm hungry or angry or tired, maybe I just don't like the music.  

But, the choice is what's important. 

Do you choose to have intimate time with God because it is stimulating to you, 

because of your mood? 

How would you feel if people only spent time with you or listened to you only when they felt like it or depending on what they got out of it?

Is that love? Is that an intimate connection?

We choose to worship because it's what's right, it's what's good for your relationship with God. 

CONFESSION
I'm not Catholic, so I don't know what the point is of traditional catholic confession.
But I'll try to illustrate why it is relevant for an intimate connection with God.

On my first date with my wife I 'put the best foot forward'.
I wanted her to like me, so I presented my strengths and concealed my weaknesses.
I created a mask.  This is the way of all mankind.
The down side is, if she decided that she liked me then it wasn't really me that she liked.
Out of fear of rejection I didn't show her the real me, the good bad and ugly, so by my own design I made it impossible for her to love the real me.

We do this with God too.
We pray to God while wearing a mask. This is one of the reasons why Christians don't feel God's love.
Not because God isn't willing to go deep, but because the Christian isn't.
We must make the choice to be real with God because God will not force it, love can only exist in the context of free will.

When I pray to God, I am completely honest,
1. because he knows my heart anyway
2. because 'while we were still sinners Christ died for us, guaranteed unconditional acceptance

When I confess to God all the good the bad and the ugly it is a chance to be feel unconditionally accepted and loved.  For many it might be their only chance.
Our level of intimacy God is measured by how much you disclose in prayer.
*I'll blog about resisting sin versus deflating sin in a future post. 

PRAYING CONSCIOUSLY
Hey, so praying is an easy way to connect with God, but it can easily be a way to become distant from God too.

Something that I watch out for in my marriage is 'scripted dialog'.
ex, wife comes home from work
'how was your day'
'fine'
'what did you do?'
'stuff... how were the kids?'
'fine'
'what do they do today?'
'nothing'

So, do we do this in our prayer life? Is it a potential threat to authentic personal conversation with the God of the universe?
Here's my recommendation: switch to the 'Prayer Remix' by Louis Giglio
He says that the top 4 things Christians pray for is:

Blessing, Forgiveness, for God to 'be' with us, and protection

The theory is that the first two are already given, the third is asking for less than you already have and the fourth is contrary to what Jesus promised to all his followers, Jesus said we would be persecuted.

Giglio offers the remix alternative:

Say thank you for blessing and forgiveness
Ask to feel the Holy Spirit's presence within us (ask to feel God's love)
Commit to act in a way that honors God when are persecuted

The beauty of it is that, if you commit to it, every time you pray and are tempted to go 'scripted' you pause and are reminded that you are having a real conversation.
It will change everything.

CHOOSE WITH GOD

On top of that, something that is good for a relationship is investing in the interests of your partner, not because you want a new hobby, but because your partner's interests are a part of who they are and when you love someone you love it all. 

ex, I like comic books, my wife likes classical literature and biographies. She doesn't give a crap about Spider-Man.  Every once in a while she will ask me about what I am reading and she will let me tell her the whole story.  I already know that she loves me, but this makes me feel loved. I try to do the same for her. 

God's interest is a real love relationship with you. 

As an omniscient being, God intellectually knows if you love him, but our worship allows God to experientially feel our love. 

Our love is the only gift that we can give to God.

Currently my youth ministry has no worship program.
I've just started going worship with my wife and kids in the living room on Thursday nights.
If I can develop it I'd like to start introducing an age appropriate version to my students.

Since worship is closely related to love I've found this book to be very helpful.
But also, it was helpful in other relationships including: marriage, family, friendships, co-workers, students and parents. 

How do you do worship in your ministry?