We become like what we worship

Hi,

Sorry it's taken some time to put anything new on this site! Here's an article and some thoughts from Don Williams.

Worship money, become a greedy person. Worship sex, become a lustful person. Worship power, become a corrupt person. Worship Jesus, become a Christ-like person. We become like what we worship. But what does it mean to worship?

The verb “worship” in Hebrew means to surrender, to fall down in submission – the way we would humble ourselves before a mighty king. (Psalm 95:6) Paul says that worship is the offering of our bodies as a sacrifice (Romans 12:1). This worship goes on in all of our lives. While we may fail to understand it, worship is the spiritual part of our surrender, submission and attachment to many things. The worship of money or sex or power or people results in addictive and compulsive behaviours. The staggering truth is that we are all lured into worshipping something or someone other than the living God. This is idolatry, pure and simple. It steals our humanity and addicts us.

The Bible teaches that we not only dishonour God with our idols, but we also lose our true humanity. Psalm 115:4-8: “…their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men…. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.”; Jeremiah 2:5b: “They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.”

In New Tasks for a Renewed Church, Tom Wright analyses idolatry. First, idols are all a perversion of the good. For example, sex is good, under God’s design and plan. As an idol, it is degraded, and enslaves us. Second, idols enhance us. When we worship them, we feel “ten feet tall.” Third, idols demand sacrifice. Fourth, we create an ideology to justify our idols. Sexual obsession becomes the “sexual revolution,” the conquest of damaging, Victorian repression. Fifth, idols enslave us. They demand our lives. No wonder Paul teaches that behind the dumb idols lurk demons. (I Corinthians 10:19-20) They want to hold us in the kingdom of darkness.

The Bible carries on a continual battle with idolatry. The first commandment is: You shall have no other gods before me. The second is: No idols or graven images. (Exodus 20:3-4) God alone is worthy of our worship. In this, he gives us back our true selves.

If we become what we worship, the road out of idolatry is to renounce our idols and turn to the living God. This begins with a personal, public surrender. In psychological language, we must “detach.” This only can come by God’s gracious intervention. Moral conviction will not do it. Only brokenness at the centre of our being will do it. Only cutting through our shame and guilt will do it. This is God’s gift to us. Ask him for it. This begins our true worship of the true God.

Paul writes in Romans 12:1: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.” God’s mercy in Romans 1-11 is the gospel of his free grace and justification ["not guilty"] given to us in the death of his Son and sealed in our hearts by his Spirit. By this mercy, then, we come to worship. We bring the sacrifice of our bodies. They are acceptable to God, through the perfect, sinless body of his Son.

Now we ask the Spirit of God to fill the “hole in the soul” with himself. We begin to worship God alone – to love him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. We fall down before him as King. We offer him our gifts: our shouts of joy, our songs of praise, our tithes and offerings. Worship becomes witness, as we confess all that Jesus has done for us. Next, we bring our petitions, listen for his voice, and trust him to answer our prayers. Worship results in obedience, the joyful living out of his will for us.

This worship will change us into Christ-likeness. Rather than being conformed to this world and our idolatrous addictions, he will conform us to himself (Romans 12:2). He will birth in us the character and gifts of the Spirit. We will find our home in his family and carry the ministry of Jesus to our friends, telling them about the radical change he is making in us and the radical freedom we enjoy.

Worship drugs, become a depressed or burned out person. Worship work, become a restless, frantic person. Worship people, become a selfish, dependent person. Worship Jesus, become a Christ-like person.

We become like what we worship. We are either like the idols or like the living God. We must make our choice. Paul tells the Thessalonians: “…you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead – Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.” (I Thessalonians 1:9-10) There is really no option.

Don is married to Kathryn Anne Williams and they live in La Jolla California. He has been the Senior Pastor at the Coast Vineyard, San Diego since 1988, has multiple theological degrees and is the author of many books.