Hi there, this is the final installment of our deep dive series on Worship. Our prayer is that you would have a new sense of what worship is, that it’s more than the songs on Sunday, but an expression of our heart using our body in our daily life.
Ok, let’s jump in today with the Apostle Paul in Romans 1
Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. 22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. 23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. 25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. 26 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. 27 And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.
28 Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. 29 Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. 30 They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. 31 They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. 32 They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.
Romans 1:21-32 (NLT)
Every human being is a worshipper. The question is never if we worship.
The question is what—or who—we worship.
The Apostle Paul tells us that worship is not simply one activity among many. Worship is the orientation of the human heart. It is what sits at the centre of our lives. And whatever sits at the center will ultimately shape our identity, our desires, our relationships, and our future.
Throughout this Deep Dive series, we have discovered that worship is about far more than music. It is about presence, surrender, formation, participation, and communion with God.
Paul, in this passage, shows us that worship is never neutral. It either transforms us into the likeness of Christ, or it deforms us into the image of whatever has taken His place.
So with the framework of this passage, and the premise that the root issue of who do we worship, let’s draw some points out of this passage from Romans 1.
Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. 29 Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip.
Romans 1:28-29 (NLT)
Paul says the problem wasn’t first intellectual.
It was liturgical. It was worship. When worship is distorted, thinking becomes distorted.
Our culture often tells us: “If you change the way people think, you’ll change how they live.”
Paul says something deeper:
Notice the progression:
When God is removed from the centre, something else immediately replaces Him.
Career. Comfort. Politics. Money. Identity. Relationships. Success. Even ministry.
John Calvin famously wrote:
“The human heart is a perpetual factory of idols.”
The issue is not whether we have idols. The issue is whether we recognise them.
David didn’t simply enjoy worship. He organised his life around God’s presence. He knew that whatever occupies the centre determines everything else.
That is why Psalm 27 begins: “The one thing I ask...”
One thing. One centre. One pursuit.
And those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them.
Psalm 115:8
We become what we worship.
And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.
Romans 1:23 (NLT)
Notice the exchange.
Truth for lies.
Creator for creation.
Presence for possessions.
God for self.
Every idol promises life, yet every idol eventually takes life. This is why Paul lists all the brokenness that follows.
Greed. Envy. Violence. Pride. Deception. Broken sexuality. Broken relationships. Broken communities.
Notice these are not random sins.
They are the fruit of disordered worship.
Jesus said,
Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
Matthew 6:21 (NLT)
The heart always follows worship.
When we gather every Sunday, we aren’t simply singing songs.
We are retraining our loves. We are reminding our hearts.
We are placing Jesus back on the throne. This is why the Church has always gathered.
Not because God needs music. Because we need to reorder.
James K. A. Smith writes:
“Christian worship is the heart of discipleship because it is the gymnasium in which God retrains our loves.”
Every day your heart is being pointed somewhere.
Toward Christ or away from Him.
The beautiful news of Romans doesn’t end in chapter one.
Paul keeps writing. The gospel changes everything.
Because Jesus came to restore true worship. The first Adam exchanged God for created things. Jesus perfectly worshipped the Father.
Israel failed. David failed. Every one of us has failed.
But Jesus never did.
He loved the Father completely. Trusted Him completely. Obeyed Him completely. Then He died for idolaters like us. So that our worship could be restored.
Paul says later,
And so, dear brothers and sisters,[a] I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.
Romans 12:1 (NLT)
Notice how Romans begins and how Romans ends.
Romans 1— People worship creation.
Romans 12— People offer themselves back to God.
The gospel restores worship. And restored worship restores people.
This is why charismatic worship matters. Not because loud music changes people.
Not because emotion changes people. But because when the gospel fills our songs Christ fills our vision and the Spirit transforms our hearts.
Paul writes elsewhere:
So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.
2 Corinthians 3:18 (NLT)
The more clearly we see Jesus, the more we become like Him. That has been the story of this entire series. One of the great gifts of the historic Church is its understanding that God forms His people through practices.
Ask yourself this week:
What occupies my thoughts most? What do I fear losing most? What do I sacrifice most for?
That often reveals what we worship.
Don’t come to church as a spectator. Come ready to worship. Come ready to surrender. Come ready to be transformed.
Every decision is an opportunity to declare:
Jesus is worthy.
At work. At home. With your money. With your time. With your words. With your body. Whole-life worship is the goal.
I pray that, as we have journeyed through this series, it has provided a theological foundation you can practice in your daily life.
The best theological foundations are those that are lived out day to day.
Have a great week. 🤝🏻
John.
No posts
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.