Today's article comes from Sarah Morgan. Sarah belongs to Hillsong Church and is an active part of their worshiping community. She and her husband, Reuben (pictured below with their son, Jones), live in Sydney, Australia with their family. She is a great encouragement to us as we rely on Christ to direct our everyday actions - the only way to live an authentic life.
Enjoy.
I love that when Jesus wanted to teach us something about worship he used a promiscuous woman to do it. Jesus has this way of shattering our made up images of who He is and the perceptions of God we create in our mind. The bubbles we build around ourselves, the perfect exteriors we like to portray, the things that we wrap up and declare sacred and holy… nothing of this phases Jesus!The story of the woman at the well in John 4 teaches us about worship. The issue at hand was not where the Jews or Samaritans were worshiping in terms of a physical place but HOW they were worshiping. It’s hard to imagine, but Jesus tells the woman that the worship of her people is lacking, because it actually matters whether or not we know the One we worship.
John Piper has this great comment about worship where he says; “Strong affections for God rooted in truth are the bone and marrow of Biblical worship”
If there was one thing (ok.. so there’s many!) that I was passionate about, I think it would have to be living an authentic life. To me, that includes everything that I am and do and say. It looks like ministry, and work and knowing God but it also looks like friends and family and time out to chill and have fun in life. Balance is one of those words that we tend to have a bit of an aversion to, but somehow I have become very aware that I can’t do authentic living with out some sense of the B word in my life!
True worship involves both spirit and truth. The Spirit is the how of worship and the Truth is the whom. Our worship to God (the songs, the cries, the everyday responses) must come from a real place in our heart and be based on a true perception of who God is. Because it won’t come as a shock to you when I say that you and I both have the ability to worship God in vain!
We have all heard the bit in Isaiah that talks about a people who honour God with their lips while their hearts are far from him (Is 29:13)…and we’ve all been there. But I think you and I know in ourselves when our hearts have arrived at that place. Sometimes it’s because we’re tired or too busy or just feeling a bit dry- but other times it’s because there’s stuff going down in our lives.
I desire nothing more for our team and the worship of our church that it would be a true and authentic cry to our God, representing real and whole lives of people that are courageous enough to journey the ups and downs of church, family and personal stuff; That we would fellowship with God and one another “in the light”, realising that we all have a very real path to travel that involves negotiating sin and our own God given humanity- but that we would choose light instead of darkness (1 Jn 1:5-10).
I read a statement a little while ago that said “concealed sin keeps us from seeing the light of Christ”. Imagine if we dared enough to be a worshiping community that dealt with the real issues of our hearts and who weren’t afraid to feel the real emotions of life…and imagine if we chose our responses so wisely- even if that meant raw friendships, tears of honesty, accountability, counseling, or even taking yourself off the platform for a season to work through the issues.
John 4:23-24 in the Message puts it really well, “It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship.”
Source: Hillsong Church
Image Source: Sight Magazine
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