WORSHIPPERS ALL

The test of all happiness is gratitude. I felt grateful, though I hardly knew to whom?” G. K. Chesterton

 When a person says, “Thank you.”, they acknowledge, admit, that they are indebted to another for something received, whether tangible or intangible. We can be thankful for a birthday present or for just a smile that lifted the mood of our day.

All of us must come to the place where we pragmatically accept the fact that we are neither independent nor self-sufficient. Those who doubt that this is factual, please join with me in the “oxygen-test”. Take a deep breath now…and hold it till I say you can let it out. (Lengthy pause occurs now.)

We may take it for granted, but we are definitely dependent on both the ability to breath and the specific atmosphere of planet Earth that has, that unique combination of gases to keep us alive. Thanks for the air!

People rarely will admit that they were created to worship. “Homo-adorator” is Latin for “man the worshipper”. But people readily talk about celebrities being their “idols”. Go to a rock concert and watch the crowd raise their hands as though they were raised as Pentecostal. Watch them as they demonstrate adoration, swooning over the sweaty lead singer as he or she wails out words that are usually self-worship; worshipping physical experience; worshipping chaos and all sorts of transitory sensory events…all the while crying out for meaning a purpose that seem always illusive.

Contemporary music lyrics have always smacked of worship, “My eyes adored you…” “…everything I do, I do it all for you…” “…you are my love and my life; you are my inspiration…” “…I’m gonna love you till the stars fall from the sky for you and I…”  

I know I’ve just dated myself with old rock lyrics, but listen closely next time you listen to oldies or top 40…it’s always there, the need the hope, the cry for someone to save me and give life meaning and purpose. It’s a cry for another to “save me!”. We were made to worship, and as Bob Dylan sang long ago, “You’re gonna have to serve somebody…”

In the ancient liturgies of the early church, long before it was oriented around Jerusalem, Rome or Constantinople, the worship of the church was called the “eucharist”. Why? Because the word “eucharisteo” in Greek means “giving thanks”. That is the heart of worship: giving thanks…not in some vague way, but laser-focused on the Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

“Walk in love as Christ loved us and gave Himself and offering and sacrifice to God.”, are words spoken almost every Sunday in liturgical worship (Liturgy is a word that means “the work of the people” and that work is, giving thanks in as many ways as we can.) Walking in sacrificial love is a sign of a grateful life, a life reoriented from self-in-fear to Almighty God from Whom life, blessing and all goodness we can know and receive comes from. To “walk in love” is a demonstrable life-direction-focus-change from self to others. That refocus flows from a heart of gratitude and an overflow of grace for all that God has done in rescuing and redeeming a life from the decay self-centeredness.

The sad and astounding thing is that one can actually become numb to the startling reality that Jesus Christ sacrificed Himself to rescue us from sin and death…a death that was working in us already and who trajectory’s end was separation from all goodness and hope. The world around us works overtime to try and blunt our awareness of all God has done. The brokenness in this world is humanity’s own fault. We’ve believed the lie that God doesn’t really know or care about us. We are on our own, in scarcity, fear, jealousy, anger, depression and indifference. But that is a demonic lie. Satan has always been a liar, and is the father of lies.

For God knows us intimately, as the Creator intimately understand the ones He creates. That Creator, became one of us while still remaining full God. He knows our flesh and blood, our weaknesses, and yet never internalized or personalized sin. He lived the prefect human life. He died a perfect sacrifice for the whole of humanity and rose from the dead so that we might become sons and daughters of God, heirs, joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Our gratitude flows NOT from what we could ever do or give, but from what God has done and has given in order that we might be restored to wholeness once more.

God never demanded sacrifice from us to be restored to the wholeness of relationship He promises to all who will but believe Him. He became the sacrifice for us. The mission for followers of Jesus is to winsomely share His love and truth with any and all, even those who refuse to listen to the love song of God. We were once deaf and blind, and God gave us ears to hear and eyes to see what He had done for us. He still makes the blind to see and the deaf to hear. Live a life of grateful love.