9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
1 Peter 2:9-12
You are chosen by God that you may worship him, essentially. Remember who you were! There it is again. You were not a people, but now you are a people. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. 15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
Hebrews 13:14-16
Your worship informs the rest of your life. What happens in church affects what happens outside of the church. This is a very biblical idea.
What does God tell his people through his prophets? The ones who do all the corporate worship stuff, but their hearts are far from God? Just stop. I hate your music, I hate your feasts, I hate it all. It stinks.
Now, this gets misquoted all the time. Are the ceremonies the problem? No. God commanded them! Their sinful hearts are the problem. God desires worship in spirit and truth.
The fact that worship is spiritual does not negate the importance of liturgy and order. It just reminds us that the form is not the point; God is the point!
The renewal we need will come from remembering, rehearsing, and anticipating the story of God in our lives.
I believe three great enemies have stormed our gates. These three great enemies have distorted our vision and experience of worship: narcissism, consumerism, and pragmatism.
Narcissism isn’t interested in immersing ourselves in God’s story. We don’t want that much of God. We just want God in our story. The service isn’t about God; it’s about us. It’s fundamentally narcissistic.
And if it’s about us, then we get what we want. I want songs I like; I want no rituals, I want a 5-minute sermon, I want the best musicians in the city, and I want the best facilities out there.
And if we’re not careful, we can accommodate a narcissistic, consumeristic world with pragmatism. We don’t design our services around the story of God, we design our services around whatever is going to get and keep butts in seats.
This vision for Christian worship fights back on all three fronts.
It’s God’s story, not ours. Checkmate, narcissism. Consumerism gives way to participation. I know this is what you think you want, but let me show you something better! (Steve Jobs, show them what they want.) Pragmatism gives way to beauty!
What happens when you skip worship all the time? You can forget the story! It’s like when I’m watching these Marvel movies and I have no idea what in the multiverse is going on. Yeah, I’m watching it, it’s cool. But I don’t like… get it.
