If there were no Threat of Hell,
If there were no Hope of Heaven,
If at the end of life there was nothing,
Would you still worship God?
Give it some thought. I too quickly went to dismiss it as an insane mental exercise. Trapped in the car with him on our drive home from Grove City he brought it up again and this time I was forced to give thought to what he was really implying by this question. I have to admit that my first thoughts, given further consideration, were and still are quite disturbing.
C.S. Lewis says that in this regard “our desires are to weak” In other words when we see worship as our duty and everything else in life as more desirable then of course we’d choose everything else. If however the kingdom of heaven is like finding a treasure in a field then certainly we’d go and sell all that we have in order to purchase that field. So the question is do we desire God for who He is right now? Is worship our gift to Him or His glorious gift to us?
I think what Nate is trying to point out in this question is the “why” of our worship. His contention is that too many Christians are only “in the game” because of the reward of Heaven. His contention is that we should be worshiping God not because of heavenly rewards, but because God is GOD and is deserving of our praise – period, no further discussion warranted.
This whole idea of taking Heaven out of the picture really stymied me at first. But in thinking about it further I think he’s on to something here that warrants at least a little self reflection. Piper says that we want to delightfully share in our joy of God like someone wanting to share with another the beauty they find in a painting. If I can find praise in my being for the setting of the sun which holds forth nothing for me. Then can I do no less for the Creator of that sun set? Rhetorical I know. But you get the point.
I agree with Lewis that for an unregenerate man our desires are too weak. But what about those of us who call ourselves Christians? If posed this question, shouldn’t our initial reaction be, “It matters not whether Heaven is in the offing, my allegiance, devotion and worship remains steadfastly set on my Lord and Master!”
Perhaps I was a little unclear. Alas brevity always trumps clarity….
I mean precisely we should worship God for what we get out of worshiping Him (in the same way as we delight in a sunset)
God’s glory will not be diminished nor increased by whether or not we worship Him. Our own delight, pleasure, joy, etc. is at stake.
However most conceive of worship as a duty and even a gift we give to our “Master” rather than as a gift that He has given to us.
As a result we worship and serve the creature ______ (fill in the blank with whatever thing you take most pleasure in) rather than the Creator.
To put it in Piperian language “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”
Delight yourself in the Lord!
In the presence of the Lord is fullness of joy at His right hand are pleasures forevermore!!
to be even more succinct…
Why do we worship?
Because we like to!!
At least that’s the ideal…..
Think of any event that people go to where you’ll find worship… a ball game, a concert, etc. Why are they there? Because they like the thing they have gone to see, participate in, page homage to, etc…
The weird thing is is somehow we allow this in any and all secular events but as soon as we try and suggest that the worship of God should be like this and even more so many will say “No worship is not for us , it’s for God” to which I say BAH!!
Worship is for the one worshiping. The one being worshiped is glorified. etc. etc. etc.
Hey I said I was going to be succinct… oh well…
I would agree withe the Monk on that point. BAH! to all those that think worship is only for the joy of the Lord. What is man’s chief end (at least by Piper’s standards)? To glorify God by enjoying Him forever. Its taken a while to realize (says the sixteen year old kid), but I find there is no greater joy than worshipping Him. HURRAY!
I would agree with the Monk on that point. BAH! to all those that think worship is only for the joy of the Lord. What is man’s chief end (at least by Piper’s standards)? To glorify God by enjoying Him forever. Its taken a while to realize (says the sixteen year old kid), but I find there is no greater joy than worshipping Him. HURRAY!