Scripture: Hosea 1:2-3
What does it mean to worship?
It seems that we are so tempted to whore ourselves out like Hosea’s wife (in a spiritual sense). You remember Hosea from the bible. God told him to go marry a whore. This is not something that I would recommend, but that’s what God told him to do. Really what God was referring to was the nation of Israel. Israel at that time had once again walked away from God, doing their own thing. God viewed Israel as a whore, but He was coming for her. He was coming to redeem her.
That gives me comfort to know that God isn’t going to allow us to stay where we are. He wants to move us from making worship all about ourselves and He wants to where we are now back to focusing on Him again. And to be honest this is where I feel I have been the last few months as I have been leading worship. I have been doing my own thing. Running the show the way I wanted it to be run and consequently that is exactly what it became for me, a show. My worship has been lukewarm to God and I feel that because it is lukewarm He is gagging on the things I call worship.
The great thing about the story and prophecies of Hosea is that God restores Israel. I love this story because there is something so powerful about the redemptive story that we are living. You see Israel is not the only nation on the map. Because of Christ we are the whore who is and will be restored. Even if we are running in the wrong direction God is coming to redeem what is rightfully His.
As I have been studying this scripture I realized something that I had never thought about before and it strikes me as so profound for my life at this time. We should not only worship God for what He has done, but more for what He is GOING to do. Sure I have heard other preachers and pastors say things like this, but for some reason it hits home today. God is coming back. He is going to come as a mighty warrior and he is going to fight for His bride the church and we will be His.
We need to come back to the reasons why we are to worship God. Here is a list of four reasons we are to worship God.
1. He first loved us.
2. He bought us with His life.
3. He has forgiven our sin.
4. He is coming to redeem us.
These are the four main reasons why we are to worship God. So often we tend to forget about the fact the God loves us. Most of the time I find myself stuck on the fact that Jesus died for me. It is not that it is a bad thing to get stuck on, but we cannot stay there. We have to move past the crucifixion to the empty tomb. Christ arose from the dead so that He can redeem us. If there was no resurrection then there could be no redemption. Jesus had to conquer sin and death so that we could be redeemed by his blood.
I know it sounds so cliché but we do have to get back to the heart of worship which is the redeeming power of Jesus Christ. Yes we sing songs about Jesus death, but we cannot forget the reason we can worship and that is the resurrection.
What does it mean to worship?
There is always that pat answer that everyone gives. “It means to sing and give praise to God”. I would venture to say that our worship today seems to be more about us than it is about God. I know that many times that is what it is for me. I find that more times than not I am just going through the motions of worship. You know, sing a song here, sit down here and listen to a sermon, get back up lead another song, sit back down, try to act like I’m listening. I find myself wishing I was any where but where I am and I think the reason I feel this way so often is that I have made worship about myself. Do you ever feel that? Do you ever feel as though you have made worship about yourself? Have you ever thought about it?
It seems that we are so tempted to whore ourselves out like Hosea’s wife (in a spiritual sense). You remember Hosea from the bible. God told him to go marry a whore. This is not something that I would recommend, but that’s what God told him to do. Really what God was referring to was the nation of Israel. Israel at that time had once again walked away from God, doing their own thing. God viewed Israel as a whore, but He was coming for her. He was coming to redeem her.
That gives me comfort to know that God isn’t going to allow us to stay where we are. He wants to move us from making worship all about ourselves and He wants to where we are now back to focusing on Him again. And to be honest this is where I feel I have been the last few months as I have been leading worship. I have been doing my own thing. Running the show the way I wanted it to be run and consequently that is exactly what it became for me, a show. My worship has been lukewarm to God and I feel that because it is lukewarm He is gagging on the things I call worship.
The great thing about the story and prophecies of Hosea is that God restores Israel. I love this story because there is something so powerful about the redemptive story that we are living. You see Israel is not the only nation on the map. Because of Christ we are the whore who is and will be restored. Even if we are running in the wrong direction God is coming to redeem what is rightfully His.
As I have been studying this scripture I realized something that I had never thought about before and it strikes me as so profound for my life at this time. We should not only worship God for what He has done, but more for what He is GOING to do. Sure I have heard other preachers and pastors say things like this, but for some reason it hits home today. God is coming back. He is going to come as a mighty warrior and he is going to fight for His bride the church and we will be His.
We need to come back to the reasons why we are to worship God. Here is a list of four reasons we are to worship God.
1. He first loved us.
2. He bought us with His life.
3. He has forgiven our sin.
4. He is coming to redeem us.
These are the four main reasons why we are to worship God. So often we tend to forget about the fact the God loves us. Most of the time I find myself stuck on the fact that Jesus died for me. It is not that it is a bad thing to get stuck on, but we cannot stay there. We have to move past the crucifixion to the empty tomb. Christ arose from the dead so that He can redeem us. If there was no resurrection then there could be no redemption. Jesus had to conquer sin and death so that we could be redeemed by his blood.
I know it sounds so cliché but we do have to get back to the heart of worship which is the redeeming power of Jesus Christ. Yes we sing songs about Jesus death, but we cannot forget the reason we can worship and that is the resurrection.
