Pastor Sean Palmer closed our series in Nehemiah with a challenging message of the nature and purpose of worship. We are designed to orient our lives around worship; but if we choose not to worship God, we will either worship ourselves, or idols that will inevitably devour us.
Text
Nehemiah 13
When we cease to worship God, we do not worship nothing, we worship anything.
- GK Chesteron
Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god . . . to worship . . . is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough. It’s the truth. Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure, and you will always feel ugly. And when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before [your loved ones] finally plant you. . . . Worship power, and you will end up feeling weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to numb you to your own fear. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart, you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out.
- David Foster Wallace
Reflection Questions
Sean suggested that when things are good, worship becomes much harder; that we often feel as though God's best is behind us. Or, that we attempt to create a false divide between a "religious" life and a "real" life. In what settings or circumstances does worship cease to be a focus for you? In what settings or circumstances are you simply content to "handle it" yourself?
Worship Set
Before The Throne Of God Above
Solid Rock
Great Is Thy Faithfulness
Gravity Of Love
I Have Decided To Follow Jesus
Sweet Comfort