JDL - Direction Fourteen - Worship - Ask Not What You Can Do for God

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28 (ESV))

There seems to be a debate on what worship is. Some say our purpose on earth is to worship God. Some would suggest that in worship God is the audience, the congregation are the actors, and the preacher and choir are the prompters. This scenario would imply that God is in heaven watching us and being worshiped (entertained) by us. This scenario would further imply that we have a God who needs something from us, that is that we are here on this earth to do something for Him, to bring Him pleasure perhaps. Interestingly enough, perhaps before the fall into sin in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve were still perfect, they might have been able to bring God pleasure, but now, after the fall, when our nature is sinful and our propensity is always and ever toward sin (Gen. 6:5), it is very difficult for us to be any kind of pleasure to God.

Another implication in this worship scenario is that God needs something from us. God needs our prayers. God needs our stewardship. God needs our good works. God needs us to be witnesses and evangelists. God needs our hymns of praise. God needs our accolades. Wow, what kind of a God needs anything from us, His Creation and creatures? Certainly an idol worshiper would need to do everything for their stone or wooden god. An idol of wood or stone would need to be carried, would need to have prayers offered to it, would need to have offerings given to it, would need others to do everything for it, would need others to tell about it, and would certainly demand attention in the form of hymns of praise and accolades. That is the problem with an idol. The idol worshiper knows it is an idol and that the only way s/he can persist in any “meaningful” relationship with the idol is by keeping up the facade. Interestingly enough, the bottom line of the idol worshipers is that they are actually their own god. It is that they now have someone, something, to blame. And personally, I believe all idolaters know they are idolaters.

The one true God is not like the idol. Really, think about it, what does our God, the creator of all, need from us? Does God need us to pray? Being omniscient (that is, all knowing) He knows everything we need and everything we are going to pray for even before we pray. So, why bother praying? Does our God need our stewardship (our time, talents, treasure, etc.)? He is the one who created all things out of nothing. He needs nothing from us. As a matter of fact, He is the one who gives everything to us. So, why bother being a good steward? Does God need our good works? Being omnipotent (that is, all powerful) He does everything. Again, God created all things out of nothing. Is there really anything He cannot do or anything He really needs us to do? So, why bother doing good works? Does God need us to be witnesses and evangelists? Someone suggested that we are God’s arms and legs. Does God need us to be His arms and legs? There was a time when I counseled young people and told them that they were important, that God needs them, but the more I learned about God, the more I realized that God does not need any one of us. Yes, He puts up with us. Yes, He allows us to do for Him, but it is not because He needs anything from us. We need Him! So, why bother being a witness or an evangelist? Does God need our hymns of praise or our accolades? Is God’s self esteem so low that He needs us to build Him up? Is God so down that He needs us to cheer Him up? Perhaps as we realize what sinners we are and how bad we have made His creation, we might think He needs us to cheer Him up. So, why bother singing hymns of praise, and why bother worshiping?

God needs nothing from us. We need everything He has to give. Why pray? Why practice good stewardship? Why be a witness or an evangelist? Why worship? We do these things, not because God needs us to do these things, but because of our own need to do these things. We need to pray. We need to pray in order to acknowledge our needs and to bring them before our Lord. We need to be good stewards, giving of our time, our talents and our treasure, because we cannot help but want to give as a response to all that He has done for us and given to us. We need to bear witness of our faith and share the evangel, or the good news, because we cannot help ourselves. We want to tell someone about what a great God we have. We worship, not because God needs our worship, but because we cannot help but want to come and give thanks and praise to God. We cannot help but to want to come and encourage and build each other up in the body of Christ. We cannot help but want to come and be given even more of the good gifts and blessings our Lord has to give to us. And so we come to His house of worship to be given by Him. The reason we call our service a divine service and not worship is because it is first and foremost God giving to us.

Think About
Can you name one thing that you have that did not in one way or another first come from God? Next time you stand at the store in front of the bread, think about how many people were involved in your purchase of that loaf of bread, including the one who sold the seed to the farmer, the miller who ground the harvest, the baker, the bag supplier, etc.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for giving me everything I need to support this body and life, for providing for all my physical as well as spiritual needs. Forgive me when I think there is something that You truly need from me, rather help me in my frailty to respond to Your grace accordingly. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.