Worship Series VI
C. Cho-o
Ours is the generation of advanced science and high technology and of materialism. Therefore, we live in a busy world today. And what happens when we’re too busy? We run out of time. And we say, “No time, no time.” No time for almost everything, but most of all, no time for worship.
Worship is not limited to four-walled church building. Worship is a lifestyle or a lifelong process (Ps. 105: 4; Rom. 12:1ff.). As a matter of fact, it’s pathetic for a person who waits for Sunday to worship God. Unless you worship wherever you are, you can never worship God in the church. It is said that “Christian service begins when the worship service ends.” We do not enjoy worship in the church because we don’t worship God at our work places.
Kent R. Wilson, in his article, Monday Morning Worship, writes, “The fullness of New Testament worship is expressed in the words of an elderly gentleman who once stood up at a midweek church meeting and prayed:
O Lord, we will praise You; we will praise You with an instrument of ten strings.
We will praise You with our two eyes by looking only to You.
We will exalt You with our two ears by listening only to Your voice.
We will extol You with our two hands by working in Your service.
We will honor You with our two feet by walking in the way of your statutes.
We will magnify you with our tongues by bearing testimony to Your loving kindness.
We will worship You with our hearts by loving only You.
We thank you for this instrument, Lord. Keep it in tune.
Play upon it as You will and ring out the melodies of Your grace.
May its harmonies always express Your Glory.”
Wilson continues, “This ‘instrument of ten strings’ is perfectly summarized in Romans 12:1: ‘Therefore, I urge you, brothers (and sisters), in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.’ . . . Everyday and every moment gives us an opportunity as believer-priests to offer up a sacrifice of worship to God. Your assignment at school can be worship that honor God through Him who gives you integrity and wisdom. The relationship I have with my unsaved neighbor can be worship as I help him repair his car and share the gospel with him through a changed life. Because my mother has a reserved personality, she may never praise God vocally before others, but she can worship daily with a listening ear and open house that has never turned away a needy person. The hour spent next Sunday morning in corporate praise with your church can be a joyful culmination of a life lived in worship at home, in the streets, in quiet moments, and in sacrificial service. Worship isn’t just a service I attend. It is life itself lived out before God. It is a life of praising, doing, and being what pleases Him, and just plain celebrating the God of infinite grace and love.”
Work itself is not worship, but we can worship through our work. If it were not so, our Lord Jesus Christ would not have compared us with light – “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). And he commanded his disciples to shine as light in the world, so that others will see their good deeds and glorify their Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5:16). When worship is detached from work, the latter becomes mere activity. Therefore, it is proper for every Christian to take his or her profession as his or her calling. In this regard, what we do in our daily lives for our livelihood is more than a profession; it’s a vocation(an occupation with a sense of calling). We’re all called, but have different callings. We’re all called to a life of worship.
