True Worship

"They entered the house where the child and His mother Mary were, and they fell down before Him and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh." Matthew 2:10-11...."We meet together and go through the rituals and forms of worshiping God, but I am afraid we have forgotten to worship God." A.W. Tozer

The 1990's witnessed something many in the church called, "the worship wars." This was a "battle" between those who loved and wanted to cling to the playing and singing of hymns, and the kinds of instruments that went with them: pianos and organs, and those who wanted to the more "modern" tempo of contemporary praise choruses, featuring guitars, keyboards, and drums. In many places, the dispute was very intense. Many people left fellowships that were moving towards the contemporary style, seeking a home where the traditional kind of worship prevailed. Just as many left these traditional styles of worship in search of the fellowship that offered a more contemporary style. What was being missed, almost completely, was that both were missing what is the true heart of worship. Both, I think, were more carrying out what Tozer describes as going through "the rituals and forms of worshiping God." Both were missing the truth that real worship is not centered on the music style, or the instruments used.

The account of the visit of the wise men from Matthew 2, is a passage much read and cherished by many in the church, especially at Christmas time. We know that they fell down before the Christ child and that they worshiped Him, but we miss how they worshiped Him. I think we continue to miss it, and by doing so, are trapped into continuing in our forms and rituals of worship. There were no songs sung and or instruments played when the wise men beheld Him. None were needed. Their worship was instantaneous, and it only began with their falling down before Him. What they did next is what I believe is so deeply lacking in what we call worship in the western church. Is it lacking in your fellowship and mine? Is it lacking you and in me?

Scripture says that the wise men "opened their treasures to Him." I think it was this that made their worship acceptable. They gave what they treasured and cherished to the One they believed worthy of them. They did not hold back, or seek to keep these treasures to themselves. They were His, freely given, and given with joy. Where does such worship take place in your life and mine? In your fellowship and mine?

When I speak of treasure, I speak of something far more than money that can be counted. In truth, money may well be the least worthy "treasure" that we give Him. I think our greatest treasures are those things that we don't want to yield to Him. Our dreams, desires, plans, and goals. Our treasures can also be that which no one else would count as a treasure. We can easily come to treasure that which is slowly destroying us; an addiction, a habit, an attitude, and a secret sin. It can be bitterness, anger, a long held grudge and an unforgiving heart. We can cling to all of these as well, and refuse to "open them up" to Him, to give them to Him. I think our insistence upon holding to these types of treasures taints what we call worship, and is in fact, a counterfeit worship at best. We can sing the greatest hymns and choruses ever written, but if we will not open up our individual, even corporate "treasure chests," our hearts, it isn't really worship at all.

It has been said so often that worship is a lifestyle, and it is. We don't have to wait for Sunday for it to happen. In truth, the corporate worship we are part of is meant to be an outflowing of the worship we've been engaged in in our daily lives. It's to be an outflowing of our daily outflow of worship. All of it begins with the giving up of our treasures, all of them, to Him. When this happens, we have true worship. Has true worship really begun with you, and with me? If not, will it now? Will it ever?

Blessings,

Pastor O