Louie Giglio - Worship, It's What You Do
When I say "Worship," I think maybe for a lot of people what comes to mind is either Sunday, that would be normal, that's the day we go to worship. That's when the worship service happens. Or possibly church, kinda, goes into that lane or maybe more specifically, music. Worship, "Oh, church, music, Sunday". But what I wanna do today is I wanna expand our concept of what worship really is. I have four goals today, four things that I would love to see God do in the next few minutes as we open His word together.
And the first one is this, I'm asking God today to help you see, to help me see that worship is not limited to a segment of people. In other words, there's no response to worship that says, "Oh, oh yeah, well that's not really my thing. I'm not really into the arts. I'm not really into music. I'm not really an emotional type person. I'm more of the analytical, I'm more of the thinker, I'm more reserved, I'm more this, that, the other. Worship's not really my thing".
I wanna blow that idea up today and I want you to see today that worship isn't limited to a segment of people. That all of us in this room today are worshippers. If you have scripture today, the first text we're looking at is in Romans 1. And in Romans 1, everything is going off the rails. Humanity has taken a left turn away from God. Now, you would think that if humanity takes a left turn away from God, they're also turning away from worship. Because remember worship, that's a church thing, that's a Sunday thing, that's a music thing, that's a, you know, a believer in God kind of thing. But I want you to notice that when humanity takes a huge left turn away from God, worship is still in the equation.
Verse 18, it says, "The wrath of God is being revealed from Heaven against all godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. Since what may be known about God is plain to them because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities," what are those? "His eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse".
Now, this is the answer to that age old question, "What about the people in wherever"? Well, the people in wherever have God's nature revealed to them through the creation. So, there's no where on planet earth that someone could say, "there is no God," because God has made Himself visible and known to people through the creation itself. That's not the only way He's revealed Himself, but in that way, He has revealed himself to everybody. But look what happened, men wouldn't have it.
"For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. And Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools," and when they did, "They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged," here's that word again, "The truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised. Amen".
They exchanged the truth for a lie and the glory of God for idols that they had made. But notice when humanity took this major left turn away from God, they didn't stop worshipping, they just exchanged what they were worshipping. They went from worshipping God or giving glory to God to giving glory to these images of a man or of a bird, or of a reptile they kept worshiping. Do you know why they kept worshipping? Because they were created to worship. You and I were made to worship, it's woven into our humanity. We are mirrors, and we are going to reflect praise. We are mirrored souls, and we are gonna give somebody or something praise. It's like the moon, I don't know if anybody has seen this crazy moon the last few nights, hello? Please, no one has seen the moon? Okay, thank you. Oh, praise God.
If you've seen the moon the last couple of nights, can I see a show of hands? Okay, alright, look at this, this is amazing. This moon is wild. The moon is going crazy, but not just because it's in the light of the sun. The moon is doing what it's doing, because the moon was made in a special way to do what it's doing. The moon has regolith, shiny dust, it's real. It has reflective dust called regolith and you have regolith. You were created with shiny dust, you were created to be a reflector and you're gonna reflect. It's not an option. You can even make a left turn from God today, you are still gonna worship, you're just gonna worship something else. You're gonna exchange the glory of God for something else, but you are still going to worship. It's woven into humanity.
And so, the first thing I want you to see today is that worship is not limited to a segment of people, worship is what we do. Twenty years ago, I wrote the first book I ever wrote, it's a little book that I wrote on worship of all things. And I didn't really write it thinking there was gonna be this big worship world twenty years later, I wrote it for the guy sitting across the aisle from me on the Airplane who had no idea why he was alive. And I opened it, the first sentence I ever wrote of any book I ever wrote says this, "You, my friend, are a worshipper". There, I said it. "Every day, all day long, everywhere you go, you worship. It's what you do, it's who you are".
The second thing that I would love to do today, and I hope that this talk will be led by the Holy Spirit to accomplish is to help us see that worship isn't limited to a segment of life. I think for a lot of us, we did put it on Sunday or another day of the week, or we put it on our worship playlist, or we've got it in the songs that we sing, but worship isn't just a part of our life, worship is life. See, worship is this base definition is "Worth-ship".
It is when we declare what's worth most to us. And for everybody in this gathering, there is something that you are worshipping and you're all in. Because worship isn't for a limited segment of the people and it is not limited to a segment of our lives, it is what we do. And the best news of all is, you are great at it. So, no pastor, this is amazing, has to stand up before his people and say, "Come on, I need you to become a good worshipper". Every pastor stands in front of all of their people knowing that they are crushing worship. And then, endeavoring by the power of the Holy Spirit to put Jesus at the center so that the worship that they are so good at, goes to the one who is worthy of it all.
The third thing that I'm hoping to accomplish is to help you see that there's something called, "True worship," And that true worship is a whole life response to the glory and the grace of God. That's what Jesus was really aiming at when He was talking to that woman at the well. The one who'd been through all the relational nightmares, split up with five marriages and now the guy's probably not going in the right direction. And she realizes that Jesus in not just a run of the mill guy, that He's something different.
And she says in verse 19 to Him, "Sir, I can see that you're a prophet, our fathers worshipped on that mountain," or on this mountain, "But you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem. So, where is it? It is over here or is it over there? Is it the place where the Samaritans worship or is it where you Jews worship? Where is it that we really should go to worship"? And Jesus answers her by saying that, "It's not about where, it's about who".
And that's still true today. "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the father," so, it's who, "Neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know and we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the father seeks. God is spirit and His worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth".
So, there's a kind of worshipper that God is seeking today and that is a true worshipper. And what is a true worshipper? A true worshipper knows that it's about a connection to God, not about a building that you get into, and it's about a lifestyle that backs up what you're saying with the words that you're using. Spirit, connection, truth, this is real. This is me, this is real, this is honest, and it's authentic. What I'm bringing to you when I bring you me, it's real. And the worst thing I think we can do is fall into a trap that worship is mostly about songs. It is not mostly about songs. It includes songs, but worship is mostly a whole life response to God. Why? Because God is worth everything we have and everything we are.
And when we see His glory, we know that He's worthy, and when we see His grace, we give Him everything. Why? Because that's what He did. He gave a whole life response to us. And so, what am I gonna bring Him? A song and then go about my business? Oh, man, no. I'm gonna bring Him everything I am and I'm gonna offer it to Him and say, "I want this life and all my regolith to reflect you to the world". I would like to put a Jesus flag on my house, so that everyone who goes down my street will know that a Jesus worshipper lives here. Spirit, connection, truth, I can back it up with my life. We've been unpacking this definition of worship for a while and we will, in the coming weeks together.
"Worship is our response both personal and corporate to God for who He is and what He has done, expressed in and by the things we say and the way we live". Worship is a response. In other words, God reveals, we respond. So, we don't start the process, He starts the process, and all we're doing is responding to the glory and the grace of God. And so, my prayer today, honestly again and some of the men of our house were on our knees just a few minutes ago praying for you, and one of the things we were praying is that our church, our family will experience a greater atmosphere of worship. But we didn't pray, "God, we need a greater atmosphere of worship," we prayed, "God, will you open our eyes to see"?
Because when our eyes are open and we see what God is showing us, then we respond to what we see. Matt Redman says it this way, he said, "Worship isn't primarily about singing, it's primarily about seeing. Because when you see, you respond, and God is revealing His glory and His grace to us in the person of Jesus Christ". But the most important conjunction in here is right here. That yes, we are expressing in our response, but the things we say, important, but it's the and. "And the way we live". It's a whole life.
So, yes, I'm singing a song of praise, but God's only praised if I walk out the door and live that song of praise. Yes, I'm telling God He's worthy, but He only worthy in my life if I walk out the door and live like He's worthy. Yes, He deserves all the glory, but He's only getting something from my regolith if I walk out the door and actually give Him all the glory. It's spirit connection to God, not just getting in a building. Please do not think that because we got in a building today that we got into worship today. It's not about that mountain or this mountain, or that church or this church, or that building or that building, it's about spirit, connecting to God, and it's about truth.
And God, I'm telling you, would be more blessed today by someone in the next little journey that we do in singing these anthems of praise to Him, for you just to stand and reflect in your heart or to sit at your seat or to kneel at the front of this church and say, "God, I need some surgery done in my heart today, and I want that more than I'm just gonna sing the songs again," and He would go, "That is the kind of worship God is looking for". True worshippers who worship in spirit and in truth. It's reversing Romans where they exchange the truth of God for a lie, we wanna exchange the lie for the truth of God. They exchanged the glory of God for an idol they made, we wanna trade in our idols for the glory of God, and we wanna reverse the left turn of humanity by putting Jesus on the throne of our hearts.
The fourth thing that I'm hoping to accomplish is just to help you see why it matters. I think some of you are on board and some are not quite there yet with me today, but why does it matter that you see worship in a new light? Number one, it matters because you become what you worship. Staggering reality in Psalm 115, it says, "Not to us, Oh Lord. Not to us but to your name be the glory because of your love and faithfulness. Why do the nations say, 'Where is their God?' Our God is in Heaven or in the Heavens and He does whatever pleases Him". Man, that is a verse to underline, amen? Where's God today? He is in Heaven, and He is doing whatever pleases Him. "But their idols are silver and gold".
So, we look again, they're saying, "Hey, where's your God"? And then, we're looking back at them and they're worshipping also, but they're worshipping these things that they have made. "Their idols are silver and gold made by the hands of men. They have mouths but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see, they have ears, but they cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell, they have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but they cannot walk, nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them". It matters because you become what you worship. "Those who make them," these idols, "Will be like them".
They'll have mouths and they'll also have nothing to say, they will have eyes, but they will not see anything of consequence, they will have ears, but they will not be able to hear what God is saying, they will not be able to utter any meaningful communication. They will have hands, but they won't be able to feel anything and feet, but they'll never really go anywhere in their lives. They will become like the mute, blind, deaf, immobile idol that they have made. And you and I are the same, we become what we worship. We've talked about this before but, you say, "Well, what does that mean exactly"? Small example or big example, specific one.
If money is your God, then you are gonna turn into currency. You will become like a dollar bill or a bitcoin, and your happiness, your peace, your purpose will fluctuate like the markets. You'll wake up thinking about the market opening and you will go to bed thinking about the market opening somewhere in the world. And your sense of controlling life and finding happiness, and getting power by amassing wealth, will in the end, turn you into a currency where your value is going up and down with the currency. And you will become what you've worshipped. You follow that trail, that's how you get there. That trail that is our time, our affection, our investment, our money, our thoughts. You follow that trail and there's a throne there, and on that throne is what you worship.
We say, "Oh, I worship God. Well, I follow the trail with my time, and my affections, and my investment, and my thoughts, and is that what I find there or is it something else, or someone else, or some circumstance, or am I on that throne"? Well, whatever's there, you're gonna become that when you worship it. Same with God. If you put God in view, if you put your thoughts on God, if you meditate on God, if you exalt God and lift Him up and glorify Him, if He's the object of your affections and of your thinking, if He is first in your mind and in your heart, guess what?
As you worship Him, you are going to be changed into His image day by day, worship by worship. You are going to be changed into the image of the God of Heaven. You're not gonna become God, but you're gonna become like Him because we become what we worship. And then lastly, it matters because you just get one shot. You just get one shot. See, we're not the creator, He is. We're the created. So, we're not telling Him anything about anything He's made, we're just letting Him tell us everything about what He's made and He's giving us breath. So, even the non-believer today has the breath of God in their lungs. It's a gift of God, the breath that is in the lungs of every human being today.
You may deny God, say you don't need Him, don't believe in Him, think the concept of Him is foolishness to you. All of those things that you are saying, you are saying with the breath of God that He's given you today. But those of us who have been saved, those of us who've met Jesus, those of us who put our trust in the finished work of Jesus on the cross, those of us who have received forgiveness and grace and mercy and the kindness of God, who've made a right turn back to God because Jesus gave His life for us, who got back in right relationship with God and are trying to reverse the exchange of the glory of God for things of this world, and we're exchanging things of this world and reaching back for the glory of God, I'm telling you, we have got resurrection, forgiveness breath inside our lungs today.
We are not spiritually dead, we are spiritually alive. We have been resuscitated, if you will, by the greatest CPR in the history of humanity. We are alive from the dead with breath in our lungs. And nobody is gonna make the decision to say, "Well, I'm just not gonna worship anything". No, you are gonna give God's breath to something. You're gonna give God's breath to somebody. You're gonna give it to worry, that's what's on the throne. You're gonna give it to cancer, you're gonna give it to anger, you're gonna give it in some degraded thing, you're gonna give it to some human being, to some celebrity, to some drama, to some riches, to some accomplishment. That's God's breath, and it's like a vapor, and then it's gone.
You say, "Well, Louie, I'm going to Heaven, and apparently, we're gon' worship up there forever, so I got time". Yeah, but when we're worshipping in Heaven, the atmosphere has completely changed, all the idols are completely destroyed. There is nobody to drive by the front of your house and see that the Jesus worshipper lives here 'cause everyone in Heaven sees Jesus. There is no competition. There is no way for you to say to the people in Heaven, "I choose Jesus. Jesus is better, Jesus is greater, Jesus is more glorious, Jesus deserves all my praise, Jesus is the one who deserves my breath".
There's nobody for you to tell that to in Heaven, because Jesus is there. And so, you can't go to the person on the right and go, "I just want you to know today that Jesus is better," they're like, "I know, He's right there". But today, oh my goodness, today there is competition everywhere, there are idols everywhere, there is something grabbing for our attention everywhere.
There is something to get in the reflection of our regolith everywhere today. There are people around us who do not know greater glory everywhere today. There are people around us today who do not know greater beauty everywhere today, and we have one shot. You got one shot to worship God, and it's fleeting, and it's moving, and a lot of it is already gone. But today, today is exchange day. I'm trading in the less for the best. You're a great worshipper, don't need any help with that. Just need to get God in view, and then give Him what you've been giving everybody else. Give Him the fist, give Him to tears, give Him the shrill of joy, give Him the awe, give Him everything.