WORSHIP IN A WORLD OF IDOLATRY
(6-minute read)
Without being tied to bollards to secure them in place, watercraft sway and lurch to the full force of the waves and winds. Without worship, our lives, likewise, become perennially reactive to the waves and winds of changing values and social realities that challenge the tenets of our faith. On social media, the loudest has the illusion of being the truest, and what’s most popular is simply accepted as the best choice. So is every modern phenomenon and new trend a bad thing? No, but modern-day idolatry can subtly creep into our daily life when we let what’s good replace what matters to God.
Let’s first understand what is idolatry. Colossians 3:5 puts it plainly, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.” Perhaps we look at ‘sexual immorality’ and think, Oh, that’s not me! We think that we are blameless yet we adopt a permissiveness and openness towards the sinful choices of people around us in order to blend in.
When something (a relationship, a cause, or an opinion) becomes more important and carries greater value to us than obedience to God, and when we expend our resources to defend and protect it, we have made it our ‘god’. This can happen in the family, the workplace, the community of faith, the social networks or groups we belong to. It can even happen when we make what God has given to us the centre of our lives. When we devote all our time and resources into being the world’s best parent or grandparent. Or when we expend great effort into active networking to make God’s call on our lives successful instead of trusting His Hand to lead and develop us even if it takes longer than we like.
Psalms 115:8 (paraphrased) warns us about idolatry, that “Those who make them (idols) will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.” There will be telling incongruences between what they say they know and who they say they are, and how they live. They may say they have done this or that but they will not let you into their world to see anything they told you about. In other words, they will not allow anything to validate or invalidate their testimonies. Like demigods, they control the narratives they present to others.
Amos 5:21-25 (The Message) reveals God’s intense displeasure of hypocrisy among His children, “I can’t stand your religious meetings. I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions. I want nothing to do with your religion projects, your pretentious slogans and goals. I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes,
your public relations and image making. I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music. When was the last time you sang to me? Do you know what I want? I want justice - oceans of it. I want fairness - rivers of it. That’s what I want. That’s all I want.”
Worship happens when we acknowledge and display the heart of God in every situation. Intimacy with God does not exist only when things go our way. Certainly not! In fact, our posture and response when things are not going our way reveal the true state of our intimacy with God. Whether we are putting up with the inconsiderate habits of a neighbour, dealing with a relational conundrum, or facing a delicate board issue, worship involves doing what is honouring, glorifying and pleasing to God. Indeed, worship is evident when we do what is right according to God’s Word.
The apostle, Paul instructed us, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship”. (Romans 12:1-2).
Here are 3 things to glean about worship from these two verses:
1 WORSHIP IS ABOUT SURRENDER AND SUBMISSION TO GOD
Worship is not about passing time listening to praise songs on Spotify. Rather, it is about tearing ourselves away from all the sensory overload around us, and to being renewed in the Lord consistently. It is hard to remain devoted to God while freely giving our time away without limit to whoever needs it. It is impossible to remain devoted to the Lord while constantly fueling our need to save people from the undesirable outcomes of their choices and feeding their dependency on us.
When Jesus and His disciples came to Caesarea Philippi, a place steeped in a culture of idolatry, He asked them, “Who do people say the Son of Man is? They replied, Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” Clearly, these famous prophets each had their own followers, not unlike the influencers today with millions of followers online who hang on to every word they say, and follow every move they make.
Then, Jesus continued, “But what about you?” He asked. “Who do you say I am?” (Matthew 16:13-15).
What about you? Who and what are you running after now? What will it take for you to take back your life and surrender it in submission to God?
2 WORSHIP IS TO LOVE THE LORD WHOLEHEARTEDLY
Why does God need our body, and not just our hands, our minds, or our will?
Mark 12:28-30 recorded Jesus’ response to a religious teacher asking Him which was the most important commandment.
“The most important one,’ answered Jesus, ‘is this: “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
Jesus was describing a love that involved the entirety of one’s existence. Similarly, wholehearted worship is one that is experienced in our entire being: it’s physical, emotional, mental and spiritual exertion all at once! It is certainly not passive meditation!
That is why what the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 103:1 is such an uplifting prelude to worship, “Praise the Lord, my soul, and all that is within me, praise His holy Name.”
But what would motivate us to love our Lord that way?
3 WORSHIP IS MOTIVATED BY GOD’S MERCY AND GRACE
It is not only God’s mercy, but also the memory of His grace that replays in our lives over and over again that motivates us to continually worship Him - with honor and with gratitude.
What God did when you were experiencing a difficult season of life alone.
How God showed up again and again in the long season of waiting.
Why you kept seeing signs of God’s Presence during a season you felt numb towards Him.
Worship is about capturing moments of stillness with God in the ordinariness of life, and praying in the Spirit - sometimes with wordless groans like Hannah. We may try to crack open our Bibles and recite the reassuring verses of Psalm 23:1-4 - The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley I will fear no evil, for you are with me; Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. But this is not meditative poetry. It is an invitation to the Shepherd of Psalm 23 to walk with us in the bleak moments of our helplessness when we face critics with twisted accusations, or see people we had supported in their time of need disappear when we need their comfort.
Will we be able to let go, lift our hands to God and sing, “All my life You have been faithful, All my life You have been so, so good… With every breath that I am able, I will sing of the goodness of God.”
People can only see and believe in God when worship is expressed in and through our everyday life.
This is a summary and reflection based on a virtual BIR Session held on 30 November 2023.
