A Worship Reset

Genesis 1:26-28 details the creation of man in the image and likeness of God. Human beings are placed in God’s creation as rulers to have obedient dominion over the creation. Dominion is not to be confused with domination. Human beings are God’s image bearers in the earth. As those image bearers, they are priest like to represent God to the rest of His creation, and to represent creation to God. They have a mediatorial role.

The term image and likeness of God in the culture and language of the ancient near East would have communicated two main ideas: 1) rulership and 2) sonship. As humans faced God in communion (sonship), they can now face the world in dominion (rulership).

God designed you to live whole before Him. Yet, many do not experience this wholeness of spirit, soul, and body. Many believers do not experience rulership or sonship. A significant obstacle that stands in the way of the church its own death. Being whole requires a death we resist vehemently. If we are honest, all of us, at some point or other, want to give God something that is convenient and that costs us nothing. This way of living gives us the flexibility to pursue the other things we desire. But God is exposing this double standard these days. But David was a different kind of worshipper. His heart was “I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” 2 Samuel 24:24

Is your worship costing you something?

Worship that costs something, means something, and does something in eternity.

Most times, believers want significance and status. To achieve that, we try bartering with God: “Lord, if You give me what I want, make me famous, I will make You famous, I will be devoted to You.” If bartering does not work, we try to use Scripture to arm-twist God to give us what we want. We rationalise, and justify, even quoting Scripture out of context, to get what we want. If we are honest, many are trying to serve God but serving their own dreams and this leads to confusion in their lives. They do not find purpose, nor do they have peace and joy as they look to tomorrow. The Bible says that Jesus was tempted in every way yet was without sin. He knows exactly how it feels to be human. In the garden of Gethsemane, He prayed, “nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” This is to model what surrender to the Father’s will looks and feels like. This is the path to wholeness for the church: surrender.

Not surrendering is costly to the advance of the kingdom of God on the earth. Why? Because the kingdom of God advances only by resurrection power and life. Resurrection is only for the dead. Those living (in their own strength and wisdom) do not need it. Many in the church are trying to be united with Christ in His resurrection, while by-passing being united with Him in His death.

This is not what the apostle Paul taught or modelled for Christians. In Romans 6:3-4 he says, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

Spiritual authority is directly connected to our individual level of surrender. God, on His part desires to put to death the thing that is killing you (self) and fill you with His own resurrection life and power.

Without surrender, there is no worship. Without sacrifice, there is no offering, nothing for the fire to fall on. Romans 12:1

Surrender is not passive but is active as it looks forward to the joy that can only be received from the Father in heaven through the Son Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit. There is an unspeakable joy in one’s heart and life when one learns to die daily (1 Corinthians 15:31) and walk through the door of surrender and covenant. Hebrews 12:2

Living a surrendered life is the freedom of first love. Christ is drawing the church back to it’s first love. This is the worship reset. This is not by compulsion but by loving surrender to the One who gave His life for His Bride.

As a point of action, you can take some time, like Nehemiah who surveyed the walls of the city, to survey the condition of the temple that is you. Here are some helpful questions if you desire to have a worship reset in your life.

1.      Where are the walls of my heart broken down?

2.      Where are they compromised?

3.      Where am I seeking the validation of men?

4.      Where am I driven by the fear of men?

5.      Where are selfish ambition and pride driving me?

6.      Where is bitterness, unforgiveness, jealousy, offense, gossip, slander, malice still at work within me?

7.      Are there sexual sins polluting my mind and heart? Is unclean speech polluting my worship?

The apostle Paul teaches the church in Corinth (and us as believers today) through 2 Corinthians 6:16-7:1 “What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.”

The generation that Jesus spoke of who would worship the Lord in spirit and in truth is marked by surrender and obedience to the Father’s will. A people who learn to worship without agenda, Their only desire is to see God reveal His glory on the earth. All lesser offerings are being exposed. The woman who broke the alabaster jar and poured out her expensive oil on Jesus is a picture of a heart that is truly surrendered. This woman died to her dignity and self-respect that day. She had her Lord before her and that is all that mattered. Everyone else in the room had an objection to her worship, which seemed over the top and a waste….but Jesus. Her reward: "wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her." In a church setting, others may not agree with your worship or lifestyle, but all that matters is what Jesus thinks of it.

If you desire to be a worshipper in spirit and in truth, nothing less that total surrender is the price you must be willing to pay.