There’s a sense that you are about to experience something truly amazing. I get the same feeling when I go to a concert, or to a professional football game. There’s that sense that I am about to experience something that will energize me and stay with me for days, weeks, or even years.
When was the last time that you had a sense of anticipation for what you are about to experience?
When was the last time that you walked through your Church doors with the sense that you are about to experience something that will energize you and stay with you for days, weeks, or even years?
God spoke these words to the prophet Isaiah, “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” This would often be referred to as half-hearted worship. We go through the motions, but there is missed connection between our words and our hearts. We participate almost as if we were half asleep, rather than fully alive. We treat worship as the previews, rather than the feature presentation.
To worship is to experience God. It is to know, to feel, to experience the resurrected Christ in the midst of the community. It is breaking into the glory of God. God is actively seeking worshipers. Jesus declares, “The true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” John 4:23
During worship, do you raise your arms to the Lord? I never could figure that out either. When I tried it, it didn’t physically do a thing for me except make my arms ache. There always were these people in front of me too that raised their arms in worship. How was I supposed to have a clear view of the stage with their arms in my way? I was wrong in this thinking.
Some people sing along, some people dance, some people kneel and a lot of people raise their arms to the Lord. It’s not about the physical action at all; it’s about worshipping the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind! There has been a connection with God. This connection can only happen if we remove all of the obstacles between God and ourselves.
You see, God didn’t design worship to be an expensive meal at a fancy restaurant. He designed worship to be a family meal, a time to come together in a comfortable setting, with your brothers and sisters. Does it really matter whether you raise your hands or clap with the song? No one is going to look at you any differently because of it. Our focus cannot be on pleasing people with our worship; our focus must be on pleasing God.
I took a Navy course called “LMET”, Leadership, Management and Education Training. As a teaching tool, our instructor brought us out to the Obstacle course. As we viewed this very difficult obstacle course he chose me to be the first. Before I was allowed to start, he blindfolded me, WHAT? How could he expect me to do the obstacle course?
What I didn’t know, is he steered me not towards the obstacle course but the open field alongside of it. So, you can imagine what was going through my mind and actions. Even though there were no obstacles, the obstacles were still in my mind. I stumbled about trying to keep from falling or hurting myself.
The instructor never said, I had to navigate the obstacle course, this is something we assumed.
We do this with God a lot! We assume there are obstacles but God has removed them already. The obstacles that prevent us from worshiping God are most often imaginary. God has removed all of the obstacles that could prevent us from being the people He wants us to be. Yet, the reality is that our progress is much like the progress of my obstacle course experience: fearful, erratic, and slow.
We all need to pursue an authentic worship experience with God.
Don’t let it be said, “These people come near to God with their mouths and honor Him with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him.”
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