We are wired for worship because every day is a battle for our worship...

This week, we have been continuing to ask the question “Does worship really matter?” We discovered that humanity, in its pride, desires to be the object of worship instead of worshipping the Lord as Creator. We discovered that the issue of human pride and its desire to be the object of worship instead of worshipping the Lord as Creator is not simply an issue that is addressed in the letters that make up the Old Testament. We see the issue of human pride and its desire to be the object of worship instead of worshipping the Lord as Creator addressed in a section of a letter in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of Romans.

Wednesday, we saw the Apostle Paul charge humanity of being guilty of holding back, pushing back, and ignoring God and the truth of God in a way that results in humanity having the problem of not being right with God. Paul then provided the that we are guilty of leaving God out and living as though He does not exist because we ignore the evidence within us when it comes to creation.

God clearly reveals the truth about His existence to all humanity through His creative activity in the universe in a way that is understandable and can be clearly seen. In the core of every human being is an intuitive sense that there is something out there bigger and beyond us. Something within in us provokes a clear and plain concept of a Creator.

And because of this intuitive perception that all humanity experiences regarding the reality of the existence of something bigger and beyond us, called God, all of humanity is without excuse. In other words, no human being can say that they did not know that God exists, because the evidence that God exists is overwhelming through the creation.

Instead of responding to the clear and plain evidence of God’s existence that has been perceived and comprehended through His creation by worshipping God, all of humanity has foolishly chosen to worship the creation. Whether it is in the image of an animal, the image of position, the image of possession, or the image that we seen in the mirror, all of humanity chooses to worship something other than God than God, which is called idolatry.

Today, we will discover that not only are we guilty because we ignore the evidence within us when it comes to creation. Paul also provides a second piece of evidence to prove that humanity is guilty of leaving God out and living as though He does not exist. We see Paul reveal this piece of evidence to us in Romans 1:24. Let’s look at it together:

Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

Now to fully understand what the Apostle Paul is communicating here, we first need to understand what the phrase ‘gave them over” means.  This phrase literally means to hand over or give up to what someone wants or desires. Paul’s point here is that God responded to all of humanities foolish choice to leave God out and live as though He did not exist by taking a step back. Instead of immediately stepping in and stopping humanities selfish rebellion and rejection of Him by ignoring His existence, He stepped back. God withdrew in order allow humanity the freedom to decide what would happen next.

And it is here that we see Paul reveal for us the reality that we are guilty because we ignore the evidence revealed by our rebellion. Paul then provides the evidence that we rebelled against God by rejecting God’s design for worship. God stepped back and allowed humanity the freedom to fully express their desires when it came to worship. And their desires were bent toward impurity, which refers to a state of moral corruption. And that moral corruption resulted in their bodies being dishonored among them, which literally means to be deprived of honor or respect.

Now a natural question that arises here is how exactly does humanity deprive honor or respect from one another through the impurity that comes as a result of rejecting God’s design for worship? Paul provides that answer in verse 25 by explaining that humanity exchanged the right and true response of worship for God for the false worship of something other than God as God, which is idolatry.

You see, when we worship the creation instead of the creator, two things occur that result in our humanity being deprived of honor and respect. First, when we worship the creation instead of the creator, we lose the dignity and respect that we were designed for. All of humanity is created in God’s relational image. We are created for relationships. We are created for a relationship with God and we are created for relationships with one another. So when we worship the creation instead of the creator, we are not reflecting God’s relational image as it was designed to be reflected.

Second, when we worship the creation instead of the creator, we end up participating in acts of worship that deprive us and others of respect and dignity. History and humanity is filled with false and idolatrous religious systems that require degrading, damaging, and destructive acts of worship, especially involving sex, that are inhumane, unjust, and deprive others of the dignity and respect that they were created for. After providing this evidence, Paul paused to express his worship to the Lord, who he explains is to be praised and will be praised for all eternity.

And it is here that we see revealed for us the timeless reality that we are wired for worship because every day is a battle for our worship. You see, the answer to the question “does worship really matter?” is that worship really matters to God because worship simply put, is a response to what we value most: Worship is a life that is lived in response to what we value most. Worship is a lifestyle that is lived in a way that is focused on and that responds to the Lord’s character and activity in the world so as to value the Lord supremely.

And every day, there is a battle that occurs when it comes to what we are going to value most. Every day, there is a battle when it comes to what we truly worship. There is a battle when it comes to where we are going to leverage our time, our affection, our energy, and our loyalty. And regardless of what we say, our worship is more about what we do than what we say. Often what we say we worship is betrayed by what we actually worship with our time, talent, and treasure.

So here is a question for us to consider: How is the battle going? And what is battling for your worship? What is battling to be valued supremely in your life? Is position, possessions, pleasure, or pride battling for your worship? What does where you spend your time, talents, treasure reveal about what is battling for your worship?

Because we have been wired for worship. We are wired for worship because worship matters to God. And worship maters to God because every day is a battle for our worship….