Stay On Mission – July 29th 2018

Woe to you who are complacent in Zion. Amos 6:1
3. Worship must be real!
I don’t know if you are like me and find some expressions that are commonly used within the church frustrating – even annoying!?
One expression that I really dislike is when Christians say ‘Let’s have a time of worship’. The reason that I so dislike this expression is because it represents the view that ‘worship’ is only happening when we are in a place filled with other Christians and singing. This continues to lead many who attend church regularly to be comfortable in the knowledge that they have worshipped God for the week!
I would much prefer to hear the expression ‘time of worship’ being used to describe how we are living for God and joining Jesus in His Mission each and every day because every moment of every day is ‘time for worship’, not just singing, but by living for Jesus in the world where He has placed us -this is ‘real’ worship!
God spoke some enormously challenging words about ‘real’ worship through the prophet Amos:
   “I hate, I despise your religious festivals;
     your assemblies are a stench to me.
    Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
    I will not accept them.
    Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
    I will have no regard for them.
   Away with the noise of your songs!
   I will not listen to the music of your harps.
   But let justice roll on like a river,
   righteousness like a never-failing stream! Amos 5:21-24
God is not happy with ‘worship’ that is just an act and that does not flow out into the way that we live our lives. In fact, these words display that God is more than unhappy, He is angry! He is not content with listening to us sing to Him, He wants us to live for Him. This does not mean that singing to God is inappropriate, it means that singing to Him should be a part of a life spent in worship.
In the New Testament Paul writes:
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Romans 12:1
This week, I encourage you as you seek to stay on mission with Jesus to see everything that you do as a ‘time of worship’!