Epaggelia

Who do I really focus on when I worship? If we call our time together on Sunday a “worship service”, who are we serving with love? Isn’t love the heartbeat of worship?. If my focus is on human performance rather than on the good news of Christ, it is not worship of Christ. If anyone other than Jesus is receiving my heart’s applause, it is not God that I really worship. The Apostle Paul believed that a human heart could “see”, (Ephesians 1:18). When my heart is filled with gratitude, why can’t it applaud? Perhaps that is what is happening on the inside when we sing with grace in our heart (Colossians 3:16) while on the outside our tongues are singing out loud.

If my attention is on the good news, I’m headed the right direction, but if I end up loving the messenger instead of the author of the message, what was my attention really on? What message is the church offering the world? If a visitor is offered a call to feel good about their potential and self worth, did they hear Christ call them to carry a cross, or do we call them to have fun in His name? The living fact of the good news is this: Jesus went to the cross because of his love for our forgiveness of my so-called worldly fun. While he hung on the cross, the only entertainment was in the people who mocked him.

If the heart of worship service gives visitors the impression that we are fun-filled instead of Spirit-filled, what are we winning them over to? To cross-carrying? To self-denial? To separation from the world?  To holy living? To self-discipline? To love for Jesus Christ as our God or love of self-fulfillment?