Prom Songs for Jesus 03 - The Worthiness of Christ

Sorry, it's been awhile. Let's face it. The sun came out. It got warmer and I got lazy....lazier. Anywho....

In discussing “worship” there are four questions needed asked –
01. What is “worship”?
02. Why do we “worship”?
03. Who do we “worship”?
And finally, “how do we worship”?....but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

First, we defined “worship”.
One group -
“…a way to thank God for all the things he’s done for us. Love God. Love others”
Another group -
“…to express praise and devotion with the Lord in the splendor…in humility, justly, singing songs of love, thru prayer, perserverence and obedience.”

We talked about how the importance of including scripture in anything we discuss about God, because outside of His word/testimony we really can't know him personally.
In essence, it’s a reaction to the actions of God, as reflected through our lives & scripture

Secondly, we discussed why we worship.
Because we are created beings, in the image of God, our purpose then is reflecting God, not only in the cookie-cutter shapes we come in but, in character and action.
The nation of Israel did this in the tabernacle in the sheckinah glory of YHWH; first as they wandered then in the temple of Solomon, in Jerusalem.
The first five books of scripture illustrate the history and elaborate process of God’s creation coming back into a relationship with Him and honoring Him. (NOTE: Exodus 6.7)
Just as God is holy and set apart, He called his people to do the same. In many ways he called Israel to reflect how different he was than the gods and peoples surrounding them.
Leviticus, the third book of the Bible, Moses illustrates for the children of Abraham how they are to worship their God and how they are to live in the promised land different from the people of Bashan and Moab and Gilead and Philistine. For 26 chapters, Moses goes into elaborate detail the great lengths they are to atone for thier sins and live as God's people.

Why do we not follow these same ways?
Matthew 5.17-18
John 1.16-17
Ephesians 2.8
Romans 12.1&2, 13.9&10
All of this goes back to Jesus. Whether we use words like “reflect” or “follow” or “imitate”, it all goes back to Jesus. All of it is defining the worship of Jesus.

But, why? Why do we worship and honor Jesus? Why do we worship a first century rabbi from Galilee? Because He is/was/will always be more than just a rabbi from the sticks of a Roman occupied territory.
The Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and the odd ball John) explain to us that the 39 books of the Old Testament pointed to a new way, when YHWH would bring his children to him again and give them a new law, a new way to worship him and make his name famous to the nations far from him and the God of all creation would finally be worshiped for his mercy and love in all of creation.
Here are some quick hits...
Hebrews 1.1-3a, 2.9-11,14-18, 10.19-22, 12.1-2, Romans 8.29, Phil. 1.18-30, 2.4-7, Col. 1.15-23, 2.8-23, 1 Peter 2.21-24, John 1.1-18

NOTE: emphasis on Colossians and Hebrews in scripture.

In the book of Colossians, Paul writes to a church he had never visited and harldy knew other than the false gnostic teachings floating around and the metropolis they were living in. More than anything else, he illustrates that above everything they know that Jesus Christ is supreme and worthy of their lives.

The writer of Hebrews, probably Barnabas or Apollo (associates of Paul), are writing to a fellowship of Jews struggling with the resurrected Messiah. The God they had worshiped through ceremony their entire lives unexprectedly brings them something extraordinary and totally unexpected and atoned for their sins with part of himself.

Check for yourself, look through the Scriptures and know the worth of Jesus...know for yourself that He is worthy of all that you are and worthy of your life because He paid your debt with Himself. And there is nothing that we should be more thankful for than Christ's death on the cross and the eternal life we invited to have with Him. Nothing. Nothing because there is nothing greater God can give us than himself.

It's alot to wrap your head around. I know, but this thing we call worship and more specifically, who it is we worship, is more than a few flowery songs on Sunday morning that make you feel under dressed and looking for the disco-ball. As God's people we can not be all that we are called for until we accept the mistakes we've made and reexamine how then we should live lives of worship....but that's for next time.
Shalom.