Worth-ship

Worship honors God. No, that's not just a statement; it's a definition. Worship is that which honors God. It may be a formal ceremony, a specific task, or a lifestyle. The word is rooted in the Old English for "worth - ship" and recognizes God's worth. Now, if that doesn't give you pause even to hear, you aren't paying attention. How do we recognize "God's worth"? How do we recognize the infinite?

There has been a lot of complaints for quite a long time, actually, about modern worship. It's too light. It's too fluffy. It isn't serious enough. It's too "seeker friendly". It's too ... well, you get the idea.

Imagine, then, the impact it would have on churches -- say, your church -- if "worship" actually aimed at recognizing and realizing God's worth. What would that look like?

Well, it wouldn't be a singing session. Oh, it might include it, but it would need to be much more. And it wouldn't be a performance, except in the sense that it would be a performance for the Almighty. It would be difficult to find the depth of language required to aim toward that goal. Lyrics lite and preaching lite and even light emotions would seem to be out of place in this venue. The worth of God becomes a really, really big concept.

I think it would affect a lot of things we don't even think about right now. What would our churches look like if the goal was to point to the supreme worth of God? What would we look like? How would we dress? How would we conduct ourselves? Here, let me try this. Can you imagine being in the presence of the Almighty God focusing attention on His worth and having your cell phone go off? I don't know. Seems like that wouldn't even be a possibility. And you must see that worship could not be boring.

And, quite obviously, worship wouldn't fit in a quick hour and a half on Sunday morning. An entire Sunday morning wouldn't be sufficient. If worship -- God's worth -- was in view, how could we not fill a Sunday evening service, a Wednesday night service, and several more in between?

But beyond the worship services, the recognition of God's worth would need to exceed even those opportunities. It would need to be a daily activity, a constant process. It would need to shape your thinking, color your every action, alter your behavior and attitudes. God's infinite worth would require a life sacrificed, kind of like Paul's words in Romans 12.

I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service of worship (Rom 12:1).

Well, look. It's Sunday, a day of worship. How about this? Why don't we each check ourselves? Are we going to church (or not going to church) as a recognition of the supreme worth of our Lord? Do we do what we can today to recognize that? Is our aim and motive God's glory? Or do we have other things in mind? Well, you can figure that out for yourself. I'd recommend a personal evaluation. The worth of God is no small matter.