KNOWING ALL THINGS beforehand, Jesus, light of the world, began to prepare his disciples for his impending departure. He told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer… Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become children of light.”* Our Posts have been examining the children of light, asking the question, “What do they look like?” Thus far we’ve seen that their lives bear the fruit of goodness, righteousness and truth; they live in love, expressing their love for one another in tangible ways; and today we find at the core of such a life is a worshiping heart.
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“I DIDN’T GET a thing out of that service.” Ever heard that being whispered as you exit the church on Sunday morning? Ever whispered it yourself? I’m sure in over forty years of attending church services I must have muttered those words more than once! What we are really saying is that we don’t have a clue what worship is about or the concept of entitlement wouldn’t have entered our mind. Genuine Christian worship does not concern getting, it concerns giving!
AT THE RISK of sounding like a modern day heretic, I would suggest that God has not redeemed us primarily so that we might escape the torments of hell in exchange for the glories of heaven. Salvation was not so much for our benefit as it was a demonstration of God’s own glorious grace. From cover to cover the Bible makes clear the object of our redemption was not that we should get anything, but that we should give glory to God.
SOME SAY we’ve been “saved to serve”, implying that because Christ has provided for our salvation, we should offer our time, talent and resources in service to others. While it is true that one aspect of Christ’s death on the cross was to purify for himself a people zealous for good works, it was not the central theme and should not be presented as the ultimate purpose. Christ’s mission was predominantly to bring worshipers to God! Simply stated, “Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.”**
FOR WHAT PURPOSE did he bring us to God? The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks the question, “What is the chief end of man?” The Catechism’s response is, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” They didn’t just pull that answer out of the air. The crafters of the Catechism were theologians and as such meticulously searched the Scriptures to formulate their response.
WORSHIP IS ascribing glory to God. For the children of light, every aspect of life provides an opportunity to showcase the glory of God! Next we shall consider the concept of “whole-life worship.”
*John 12:35-36
**1 Peter 3:18
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