SetApart1

Leadership is tricky. You see, you can never really lead someone where you yourself aren’t prepared to go. It’s like asking a store clerk where the toilet paper is located – most of them will point and say something like “Over there on aisle 14.” But one time I asked, and this employee said, “Let me show you.” He proceeded to walk me to the aisle I needed, and greeted several people along the way. The church is filled with pointers – people who know what the Bible says, and where to find it. But the church needs leaders.

Applying this idea to worship is even trickier, I think.

Consider the weight of this; Worship is the ultimate priority in this life, and the next. I told my six-year-old son that his only job in heaven was going to be worshiping God. How amazing is that?! Now, it may not all be campfires and “Kumbaya,” but whatever form it takes, that’s what we are going to be doing forever. My point was this: We are practicing now for eternity.

When we gather for a worship service, we are practicing for eternity. When we worship Jesus in our offering, in our fellowship, in our love for one another, in the intensions of our heart, we are preparing for an eternal existence where this is what we will joyfully do. Yes, I said “joyfully.” But in order to be joyful worshippers, we must get our thoughts in order…

You will never understand the fullness of grace if you do not know the depths of your sin.

You will never have a sense of awe if you do not know the end you deserve.

You will never really worship Jesus if you do not know what he has saved you from.

So whether you are a worship leader, pastor, janitor, business leader or anywhere else on the spectrum, I’d like to invite you to consider this scriptural reflection today:

“Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

^“A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink of the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name.” This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.”

“Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

“Have you understood all these things?” Jesus asked.
“Yes,” they replied.

He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.”

“God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

We could go one – and I’d encourage you to post more here in the comments.

My hope is that in the day-in, day-out routines of our lives we do not lose sight of what is essential, and perhaps the most important thing about us. And as we reflect, remember, and respond, may our reaction be pure unadulterated adoration for He who would rather go through hell for us than spend eternity without us.

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