I am reading a great little book by Mark Driscoll entitled, “Vintage Jesus“. The author does a great job of presenting the timeless truths of the person of Jesus while targeting his message to teens and twenties. Though the language is a bit edgy in places, Mark succeeds at peeling away the “religious dressings” Jesus has come packaged in down through the ages and revealing the wonders of this magnificent person. As one cover leaf endorsement reads, “This is a Savior worth fighting for”.
This morning I was reading the chapter entitled, “Why Should We Worship Jesus?”. Mark spends time talking about what worship is, what it is not, the fact that everyone worships something, and why Jesus is worth our ultimate worship. It’s not that I have never heard teaching of this sort before, but it was just hitting me in some fresh ways…kind of like something you know but have not given much thought to for quite some time, or perhaps, even more convicting, realize that your own worship has been a bit displaced.
Mark defines worship as “living our life individually and corporately as continuous living sacrifices to the glory of a person or thing”. As he was going through a litany of things and people we worship, including ourselves, pointing out how, and in what ways we sacrifice for them, I could not help but recognize the many ways I have been pulled toward certain other things, lessening my grip on a primary affection and devotion to Jesus. Or, I should say, the lessening, in regards to awe and devotion to Jesus typically preceeds the pulling toward other things.
Even for those of us who profess a strong commitment to Jesus, there is this constant danger of having someone or something else displace him as the object of our worship. This does not happen so much deliberately on our part but often subtley as the wonder and greatness of Jesus begins to dim in our consciousness by a simple act of inattention over an extended period of time. Perhaps this is why the writer of Hebrews encourages us to “fix our eyes on Jesus”. We are pulled towards those things or individuals we esteem worthy of our time and sacrifice.
Who or what do you worship? Mark posed these simple questions to help us uncover our possible idols:
- Who or what do I make sacrifices for?
- Who or what is most important to me?
- If I could have any thing or experience I wanted, what would that be?
- Who or what makes me most happy?
- What is the one person or thing I could not live without?
- What do I spend my money on?
- Who or what do I devote my spare time to?