27 Jun Worship | A State of Being

Worship is not an activity. It is a state of being. It has activities and acts of service, but it is first and foremost an attribute of humanness. You aren’t a worshipper because you believe in a god, sing songs of adoration, or engage in religious rites. You’re a worshipper because you’re made in the image of God (Gen 1:26). Now, what you do with your worship is a different question. Whom do you serve? Because, as Bob Dylan sang, “You gotta serve somebody” (Slow Train Coming, 1979). Whom do you represent or what do you adore? That’s the real issue at stake.

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 spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.  Romans 12:1-2

The apostle Paul has been writing for the last 11 chapters about the story and beauty of the gospel. Paul ended chapter 11 with an elated and glorious doxology, “For from Him, and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen (vs 26)”. He has now come to a further development. You would think that the book could just STOP there! But no, Paul calls the church to be the embodiment of God’s glory as His worshipping representatives, His human image-bearers on earth.

He has made the case ever since the first chapter that the problem with people is not that they don’t worship, but that they worship created things rather than the Creator. The exiles of Eden are a testament to our long history of creation-worship and the division that ensues. And so, to free humanity from its bondage to creation-worship, we must be rescued in order to worship the True Creator. Yahweh says as much to Israel, that His purpose for their redemption is to worship Him (Ex 4:23). That purpose has not changed for the New Testament people of God.

The goal of Jesus’s salvation is to free his creation to serve him each moment with the united worship of their gifts, bodies, minds, and desires (Mark 12:30, Rom. 12:3-13). God’s rescue has in mind nothing less than the reconstituting of humanity as a “24/7” community of worshippers.

–Ryan Donell