Wired for Worship

Let's face it. Human beings are wired for worship. We do it by nature. We cannot not worship. It's just what we do.

We normally think of worship as "reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage", and that is reasonable. But we know it's much more. It is not strange for us to hear of a man who loves a woman, "He worships the ground she walks on." And that has nothing to do with God or "a sacred personage". Thus, worship is, more broadly, "adoring reverence or regard" of anyone or anything. (So isn't it strange that some people hear the word "worship" and think "the singing we do just before the sermon"?)

John Calvin wrote, "The human heart is a factory of idols." We're good at it. We worship by nature and it might be the true God or it might be any other substitute, but we will worship. We laugh at the ancient pagans who cut up a piece of wood into the figure of their favorite god and then worshiped it, but we're not too far from that ourselves. We make money and worship it. We strive for the power we worship. We make fast cars and worship them. Maybe it's "Mr. Right", a model of a man who in all likelihood doesn't actually exist or maybe it's the woman of your dreams. In almost all cases, theists or atheists, it includes self. Theists add in God and atheists idolize materialism. We all worship.

What we worship has serious ramifications. Paul wrote,

²⁰ Since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. ²¹ For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. ²² Professing to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. ²⁴ Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. ²⁵ For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen (Rom 1:20-25).

In this passage, we understand the problem. Man, in his sin nature, serves the creature rather than the Creator. The result is a foolish heart and a surrender to "the lusts of their hearts to impurity." The final outcome is death (Rom 6:23). Nadab and Abihu were priests of God. They offered "strange fire" and God instantly killed them for it (Lev 10:1-2). Worship of that which is not God or the wrong worship of that which is God has serious consequences.

On the other hand,

⁹ We have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰ so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; ¹¹ strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously ¹² giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. ¹³ For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. ¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶ For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities -- all things have been created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. ¹⁸ He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything (Col 1:9-18).

Recognizing, then, that "in Him all things hold together" -- nothing exists without Him -- and "all things have been created through Him and for Him" -- recognizing ultimately that "He Himself will come to have first place in everything" -- changes how you live. "You will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light."

The rightly offered worship of God who alone deserves it has great benefits. It changes how you walk. It changes your aims. It bears fruit, increases knowledge of God, strengthens, and causes joy and gratitude. Who wouldn't want all that? We are wired to worship. Let's do it right for the One who deserves it, the one "who is blessed forever. Amen."