Worship is Always & Everything
By Matt Dawson
One of the many books that I don’t have time to write is called “Measuring the Mess.” It will be all about our worship and intimacy with Jesus that is eagerly waiting those who stop evaluating and measuring the mess in their lives with the end of goal of simply a less messy life. Measuring our mess is NOT the path to deeper worship & intimacy… it’s just the path to try to have less of a mess.
Chris kicked off our new series “More Than Sunday” last weekend and shared this statement at the beginning. Nobody Does Not Worship! Whether we recognize it or not, whether it’s intentional or not, worship is ALWAYS happening and it’s in EVERYTHING we do. Chris did an excellent job describing how this plays out on Sunday mornings – but it’s SO MUCH MORE than just Sunday.
Here’s a small list ways we can all worship GOD, all the time!
Eating, Resting, Laughing, Singing, Praying, Crying, Serving, Leading, Helping, Playing, Working, Loving, Caring, Jumping, Smiling, Competing, Winning, Losing, and Chilling! (just a sample list)
Here’s a small list of ways we all worship OURSELVES, all the time!
Over Eating, Worrying, Working, Shouting, Fighting, Crying, Helping, Playing, Drinking, Loving, Hurting, Lying, Hating, Stressing, Arguing, Crying, Competing, Cheating, Winning, Losing, and Chilling. (just a sample list)
Worship is Always & Everything. The act of worshiping doesn’t change based on our activity…the OBJECT of worship changes. Some activity might even LOOK the same, but the object and the reason WHY is very different.
More to come this weekend…today I want to give you 3 examples of how we GET to worship God ALWAYS and in EVERYTHING.
Eating & Drinking
Believe it or not, there’s a LOT of FEASTS talked about in scripture. Not only in the old testament with Kings and festivals, but even the PROMISE of a feast with Jesus when we see Him again in Heaven. There was so much done around “the Table” that we cannot ignore the WORSHIP that is happening when we eat and drink.
Now, many of us don’t realize that we EAT and DRINK while worshiping OURSELVES. This is why most of our eating and drinking is done in excess! Gluttony and Drunkenness are not simply SIN, but the results of having the WRONG object of worship!
Just think about it. God gave the average person around 10,000 taste buds. Just so we could ENJOY the flavor of all God has blessed us with. I know it’s easy to “thanks Jesus for this food and the hands that have prepared it” for a moment before a meal, but to understand that our EATING AND DRINKING is just ONE of the ways we are always worshipping in everything!
When you eat more than you need – WHO are you worshipping? When you NEED that “glass of wine that turns into 4 when you get home at night – WHO are you worshiping?
Working (Even at a Job We Hate.)
Not everyone is as fortunate as me (having the best job, leading the best people, at the best church in all of LKN)! Many people actually HATE what they do for a living. Some don’t hate their jobs, but they certainly don’t LOVE what they do or who they work for.
You may not believe this – but OUR WORK IS WORSHIP! It doesn’t matter WHAT WE DO, we are doing it in RESPONSE to something – that’s worship!
Maybe you work just to provide money to live the life you want to live. That’s fine… you’re worshipping YOU! Just recognize that.
When you understand that God is the provider of all things in your life…you’re free to work in response to HIM. To pray that God would empower your sales presentation…to ask the Holy Spirit to give you discernment about a meeting with an employee…to find JOY in our work because we have a God who loves us!
If your workplace or the work you do in this season is less than desirable…let it be a megaphone for even more gratitude to God. God often uses “the rock and the hard place” to create even more dependence on Him as your Provider!
At work, you’re Always engaged in Worship. It’s in Everything you do! The question is simply WHO is the OBJECT of YOUR WORSHIP at WORK.
Resting
People really underestimate the value of resting. And by people…I’m talking about ME! I’m a bit of a DOER by nature. I’m married to a DOER that lives by the motto “if you’ve got time to lean…you’ve got time to clean.” We both have had season where we’ve struggled to see RESTING as a productive part of our lives. It’s only been in the past few years that I’ve been able to take “moments” of time during the week and understand the VALUE and WORSHIP that happens in moments of REST! Sure, we can REST because we’re worshiping ourselves and “need our beauty sleep” OR simply are overworking ourselves so hard that rest is forced upon us because the object of our work and rest is US.
However, resting is such a huge part of how God designed us to connect with Him. To find quiet moments, to carve our time to just “Be Still and Know that He is God!” Resting gives us an opportunity to thank God for all He’s done, is doing, and will do in our lives no matter the circumstances.
Is rest something that is seen as a GIFT FROM GOD or is it forced upon you as a result of not knowing when to slow down? Both are worship…WHO we are worshipping is what matters!
This weekend, we’re going to spend some time talking about the BIG IDEA that Worship is MORE THAN SUNDAY! I hope you’ll join us and start living in a way that because of God…Worship is ALWAYS and EVERYTHING