It's Not About You

It’s Not About You

By Brian Henson

As I sit writing this morning, I am participating in a live webcast of a conference Jim and I have attended the last few years called Verge. It is a gathering of leaders—pastors, church planters, scholars, and lay leaders interested in seeing their churches make disciples—from around the globe who gather to discuss how the gospel changes us and affects our strategies at reaching the world with the hope of Jesus. However, the conference isn’t just about the exchange of information; it goes for the heart. It is about magnifying the name of Jesus, and in so doing, it encourages, exhorts, and equips us for living in, and spreading the news of, the Kingdom. One of the primary ways Verge seeks to facilitate this is through corporate worship. Throughout the conference, there are times set aside for preaching and singing—lots of singing. Using songs spanning the last 500 years, we were able to brag on our great Savior together. As meaningful as the worship was in itself, it also helped reinforce a key truth, something a seminary professor of mine once said: “Worship is the most important thing we ever do.”Think about that for a second. If you’re like I was when I first heard it, you may think this is a bit of an overstatement. “The most important thing we ever do”—really? With all the urgent and genuinely important things we do on a daily basis, can it really be that worship trumps them all? The longer I live, the more convinced I am that this is, indeed, the case. In fact, it is a matter of life and deathWhy? There are a couple of ways we can answer this (actually there are a lot more, but I’ve only got so much space here!). First, let’s look at the concept of worship, broadly speaking. The word worship basically means “to ascribe worth” to something. Whether this takes the form of a stay-at-home loving her neighbor for Jesus’ sake, a native bowing down to a rock in the jungle, or a 21st Century yuppie trying to afford the vacation home that will make him look better to his friends, all these things are examples of worship. In worship, we set our hearts on what we think gives us meaning and purpose, we exalt that thing or person, and in turn that shapes the contours of our desires, attitudes and habits. From the beginning, God made us this way—we are hard-wired worshippers. We were designed to see God as beautiful and worthy of our hearts’ ultimate allegiance, and to give that allegiance fully and freely. In light of that, we were to relate to everything else in creation around us. So, Adam and Eve were to see each other and creation as good gifts from God, and were, with thankful hearts, to enjoy one another and the created world around them. In this way, they were worshiping God whole-heartedly while enjoying the world around them to the fullest potential. In other words, Loving God, Loving People, and Loving Life were as natural as breathing, and brought God maximum glory and his people maximum joy. But with the Fall, everything changed. While the original design was for us to give God that worship and see everything else in light of his greatness, our sinful hearts now routinely focus on worshiping ourselves, trying to find our happiness independently of God, whether through overt sin, or the misuse of good things. This is a constant battle for all of us—it is the “worship war” going on in our hearts. So,since worship directs how we live, it is easy to see how it is the most important (i.e., consequential) thing we ever do.But we can also speak of worship in the more technical sense—what we do when we, as Christians, come together and corporately praise God through song, preaching, prayer, fellowship, and sacraments. So does this sort of worship match up with my professor said as well? After all, corporate worship is—in terms of frequency, at least—fairly routine. And let’s be honest, it doesn’t rate that highly on the priority lists of most people, not even for most professing Christians (including those in leadership). So, I’ll ask it again: is getting together for corporate worship really that important? I believe it is, and here’s why. Throughout the week, we are confronted with a thousand different opportunities, problems, people and situations. In that haze of busyness and activity, exhilaration and heartbreak, it is very easy to forget who the story is about. Whether through self-pity, anger, stress, arrogance, the misuse of good gifts, or whatever else, we are tempted to make everything about us. When that happens, guess what? Life starts unraveling, because life only works when we recognize, and live in light of, the fact that my life is not my own, nor is it primarily about me—it’s about Jesus, who died to redeem me.Here is one of the reasons corporate worship is so vital. When we walk in here each Sunday morning, we are reminded, in no uncertain terms, that this world does not revolve around us—individually or collectively. While worship certainly is for us (i.e., for our benefit) it is not about us. When we worship together, our prayers, our words, our songs—everything—are telling us about the greatness, the worthiness, and the beauty of God. Worship is the one time of the week when we aren’t compelled to brag about ourselves or parade our own accomplishments. Instead, it is a time to brag about what has been done for us by the triune God of heaven. Worship calls us away from trusting in ourselves and all the other things we look for to find happiness—however good those things may be in and of themselves—and to find our ultimate delight, joy, and satisfaction in him. It draws our gaze away from all the uncertainties, fears, and difficulties that we encounter in this life, and onto the promises of the gospel. It doesn’t mean that those things disappear, or that we bury or heads in the sand. But it does mean that we see those things through the lenses of the gospel, and they no longer have the final say in our lives.And here is where these two types of worship intersect. When we come together each week and realize who the great story of Creation is all about, and begin to see life again in light of who our Creator is, it makes it easier to see the rest of our lives as worship too, and Loving God, Loving People, and Loving Life aren’t merely catchy phrases…they are a way of life, and the path to true joy!