I think this is the first time I have “farmed out” my newsletter article in at least two years. Zach Bensyl asked me not long ago if he could submit something for the Beacon and of course I said yes. Here it is, and it is excellent:
“O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Your praise. For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart – these, O God, You will not despise.”
Psalm 51:15-17 NKJV
This is from the Psalm that David wrote after Nathan confronted him about his sin involving Bathsheba and her husband Uriah. Afterwards, facing the magnitude of what he had done, David was distraught and wrote this psalm, begging God for forgiveness and asking that He wash him clean. I love these verses because of the honesty and brokenness felt while reading them. David says some important and very true things about worship here. He says how it’s not the religious sacrifices that God wants. He doesn’t want the thirty minutes we give Him on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights, He wants the heart behind it. He wants our broken and contrite heart to cry out with all we have to our Father!
He wants a heart of worship, but that phrase has lost its meaning as a cliché that’s become a part of our church vocabulary. In the Church as a whole, we’ve come to see worship as a culmination of a stage, music, lights, and an auditorium, and that’s not the case at all. Worship is a lifestyle: Romans 12:1 says how we are supposed to offer our lives as sacrifices of worship to God. There’s nothing wrong with lights, a stage, or an auditorium, but those are icing on the cake. The cake itself is our connection with God. Do you want to know what a heart of worship looks like? What it truly is?
It’s waking up an hour earlier to read your Bible and pray. It’s offering to serve in the toddlers when you really don’t want to. It’s telling God you’re thankful and that you love Him and giving Him glory and honor in every part of our lives. A heart of worship transcends beyond the sanctuary into every part of our daily lives. A heart of worship is synonymous with a heart of servitude and a heart full of adoration for our Savior. Worship starts with the heart, not with the music. But when that music does start on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights, it’s a cue for us to worship all the more. Psalm 22:3 says that God is “enthroned in the praises of Israel.” Think about that! When we’re worshipping from our hearts together, we are literally building a throne so that God’s presence can join us! We have the privilege and responsibility of building His throne, ministering to Him, with our worship during service and our daily lives!
I encourage you to find ways to worship God in your everyday lives; to offer up your lives as a sacrifice of worship to Him. I also encourage you to not be afraid to express your heart of worship to God when in the presence of other believers, and I look forward to worshipping with you Sunday. — Zach
. . . and every Sunday
With you in Christ,
