Message From God: The Heart of Worship

I'm pretty sure I'm not alone when I say this season has been filled with spiritual ups and downs. It's literally like God and satan are having a tug of war for your mind! Some days you may feel like you're on the top of the world and other days you seem to hate everything in your life. For those of you not going through this keep reading. This word from God still applies.

Last week, I just so happened to go through a "not-so-good" day. I began focusing on the things I didn't have in my life instead of the blessings in front of me. As I poured my heart out, Jesus said something to me so powerful that I will never forget:

"Since when is my cross not enough?"

This left me speechless.

Such a wise word from our Lord and Savior. It's worth repeating. "Since when is my cross not enough?"

What Have you Done for me Lately?

After hearing this word, I began to reevaluate my worship. When we worship, are we praising Jesus for what He did on the cross or for what He's done personally in your life? We live in a time where many churches associate praise with expectancy. This is the modern day yeast in the church, mass-producing Christians who are more thankful for the things Jesus did or will do for them rather than Him dying for their sins. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with being grateful. We all have our testimonies, and we have every right to be grateful. But what Jesus is telling us is this shouldn't be the foundation of our praise. Our foundation should be the cross followed by our testimonies.

What makes Jesus praiseworthy is He, the son of God, lived a sinless life in the flesh--but he took on our sins and died the death that we were supposed to suffer. Because of Him we will not perish. He is the only way to escape the pits of hell. He is why we don't have to be tormented for eternity in the lake of fire. Many of us have been desensitized to this. We hear it so often, it doesn't quite sink in. So we turn to moments in our life when Jesus showed up and we use that as a foundation for worship instead.

The cross is the heart of worship. From the cross all worship should flow. It should be what gives us life when we feel hopeless. It's our everlasting seal that ensures our joy. Lately (by lately I mean our lifetime) there's been a shift, and now to many the fruits are more important than the vine. Jesus said He is the vine, not the fruit. The fruits we enjoy are from Him, but it isn't Him. Jesus' identity is best defined through the love He displayed on the cross.

John 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

We Remain Rooted through His Vine:

Here Jesus tells us He is our vine. Only through Him can we bear fruit. So how do we remain in Him?

First we must know Him. Many of us feel we know Him more than we actually do. To know Jesus isn't about only knowing Him through our life experiences. As I said earlier, I am not discounting this. However as we grow more and more spiritually, it helps to know Jesus and His role in defeating sin. Use the cross as a foundation to evaluate you experiences. For example, look at this statement:

"Jesus Christ is amazing! He blessed me with peace so I no longer suffer from fear and panic attacks."

That's great! Praise Him because that is an amazing testimony. But to kick this up a notch, let's make the cross the foundation for this praise:

"Jesus Christ is amazing! Because He died on the cross, I don't have to fear death any longer. He rescued me from my sins and the consequences so now I don't have a reason to fear. Now I have peace and I no longer suffer from panic attacks."

I know many of you are thinking, "so what?" It may not seem like a big difference, but it will once a storm comes.

Mark 4:35-41That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

At this point the disciples were with Jesus for quite a while. They seen Jesus perform miracles in their own lives as well as the lives of those around them. Now granted, the cross didn't happen at this point. The cross is a huge part of Jesus' identity now, but back then He being the son of God was His main identity. But here's the issue with only knowing Jesus for His miracles in your own life. As soon as a storm came, the disciples panicked. They didn't know who Jesus was, so He couldn't be their foundation in that time of need. If they had truly known Jesus they would have known they had no reason to panic. They didn't even address Him correctly, they addressed Him as teacher. Teaching is only a small part of His identity. The disciples admit their shortcomings in knowing Christ. 

Mark 4:41”They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

This leads me to the beginning of this post. Allowing the cross to be the heart of worship is the key to preventing a falling away due the constant highs and lows we go through spiritually. If we only identify Him through His role in our life experiences we make ourselves easy targets to be uprooted. If the cross isn't the heart of worship, then when we are feeling great about our outlook on life, then we love Him more. But when a storm comes and we don't see our lives in the best light, we won't see Him in the best light either. Sticking to the cross keeps us grounded because no matter the chaos in our lives, we can always be grateful for Him dying on our behalf. We will always have our ups and downs in terms of our outlook, but keeping the significance of the cross in our hearts grounds us so we won't blow away.

Take me to Cross

1 Peter 2:24 "He himself bore our sins" in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; "by his wounds you have been healed."

Take some time to meditate on this verse. Write down 5 things that makes this significant. Here's my 5:

1.) Jesus took on my mistakes and my addictions and He suffered the penalty on my behalf.

2.) Because of the cross, I can overcome any addictions and remnants of sin left in my life,

3.) The cross represents the moment where we no longer live in this world, but choose to live for righteousness. Jesus made that possible, He gave us hope and another chance to do right by God.

4.) Through His wounds, His torture, I have relief from my pain. If someone went through that much just to see me saved, who am I not to take His gift of salvation and healing no matter how many times I've messed up?

5.) Jesus loved me so much that He endured the pain and torture of the cross just to save me.

The more we understand the cross and it's importance, the more we appreciate. The more we appreciate, the more we get to know Jesus. The more we know Him, the more we love Him. The more we love Him, the closer we get to eternal happiness with Him.

Jesus did what no other will ever do for you. He gave up His life in the most painful way so you don't have to. Let that be the first thought everyday as you go into worship. From there everything else will flow.

Now that my loves is the heart of worship.

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