Who Do You Worship?

 

The famous nineteenth century preacher Henry Ward Beecher was scheduled to speak at a church, but an unforeseen circumstance caused him to cancel last minute. Instead of calling off the service, Beecher asked if his brother Thomas, who was not famous at all, would stand in the pulpit in his place. When the church assembled that night to hear the renowned pastor, they were disappointed to see someone who wasn’t famous get up to preach. Many people began to head for the door until Thomas Beecher shouted, “All those who came here to worship Henry Ward Beecher may head home. All those who came to worship the Lord may stay.” With those words the church members made their way back to their seats. 

 

I have had a similar experience. Several years ago I was asked to speak at a church in the county, and the bulletin announced that Tommy McManus—the retired pastor of Philippi (whom I greatly admire)—was going to be the guest preacher. Fortunately for me no one headed for the doors, but I know there were some disappointed people that morning!

 

It’s great when a church loves its pastor, but they should never worship him. We do not worship personalities or people, but our precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. While “Christian celebrities” can use their platform for the kingdom of God, we should never elevate the messengers. Whether they are authors like Max Lucado, or athletes like Tim Tebow, their goal is to lift up Christ, not themselves. In Psalm 103:1 David wrote, “Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name!” To bless means to worship, give thanks, or to magnify. David wrote a psalm addressed to his own soul, encouraging himself to bless the Lord. 

 

To what extent did David say to bless the Lord? With “all that is within me.” With his entire being. David wanted to worship God with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength. At the tail end of that same psalm David wrote, “Bless the Lord, all you His hosts, you ministers of His, who do His pleasure (v.21).” His hosts refers to the angels of heaven, and the ministers refers to the human ministers who served in the tabernacle. 

 

David instructed his own soul to worship the Lord with all that was within him, and from reading his other psalms, we know he did. David instructed the angels to worship the Lord, and from reading other Scriptures, we know they do. David instructed the human ministers to worship the Lord. You and I can only account for ourselves. Are you a true worshipper of God? The angels are doing their job. The rest is up to us. May we never worship the one who brings the message, but the One who the messengers proclaim.   

Division

I did ok with math when I was in school. I was able to keep up with it until my teacher introduced division; that’s when things began to change. Long division and I never got along. Fortunately I no longer have to worry about taking a math test. I’ve come to learn that division is not just bad when it comes to homework, but to life in general. 

In Luke 10 Jesus visited the house of his friends, siblings Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. Jesus was causally talking and teaching everyone in the room, which included Mary, who sat at Jesus’ feet and hung on His every word. In the other room, Martha was frantically busying herself making arrangements. Food had to be prepared, the kitchen was a dump, and where were all these disciples going to sleep? Exasperated, Martha interrupted Jesus and demanded that He tell Mary to give her a hand with the chores. 

Jesus responded, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things (Luke 10:41).” When we hear that word worried we might think of someone is stressing over the unknown, but it actually has a different meaning. The Greek word means, “part, portion, or division.” Martha was at her wit’s end because her mind was so divided. On the one hand, she no doubt loved Jesus every bit as Mary did and would have loved to sit at Jesus’ feet as well; on the other hand, she knew there was much to take care of around the house. To be fair to Mary, she probably had no problem helping her sister; she wasn’t being lazy, but neither was she divided.

Mary made up her mind that the most important thing she could do in that moment was sit and listen to Jesus. Martha’s mind was divided, and she ended up making the wrong choice. Every day, and especially on Sundays, we have a choice to make. We can worship Jesus in spirit and truth, or we can allow our minds to be divided and focus on a million other things. We can tune out the world in order to pray, sing, study, or serve, or we can allow the things of this world to take center stage in our minds. Have you ever tried to worship and worry at the same time? Can you effectively worship and daydream? If our minds are divided we might as well stop trying to worship because we are wasting our time.

God wants our undivided attention, so we need to set aside time—as well as distractions—and worship Him.