Real Worship

As a church family, we have been on a tremendous rollercoaster ride over the past few years.  We’ve been rediscovering God’s grace, His passion for His church and His heart for relationships (how we relate to Him & to others).  At the end of his message last Sunday, Mark read out the following statement adapted from 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 & Galations 5:22-24 (from The Message translation) as a vision of what church life could be:

Church life never gives up, cares more for others than for self; we don’t want what belongs to others.  We don’t strut and display a swelled head, we don’t force ourselves on others, we are not a “me first” family; we don’t fly off the handle, we don’t keep score of the sins of others, we don’t revel when others grovel, but we take pleasure in the flowering of truth; put up with anything, trust God always, always look for the best, never look back, but keep going to the end.  What is more, we have a growing affection for others, exuberance about life as well as serenity in a mad world.  We have developed a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people.  We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.  We know that legalism is helpless in bringing this life about; in fact it only gets in the way.  Because we belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good — crucified.

I’m reminded of the verses in I John 4:19-21 where the writer states that we cannot love the God we can’t see if we don’t love the brother we can see; also in John 13:34-35, Jesus said that our love for one another would be how all men would know that we were His disciples.

“Oh God, let the worship I bring be an authentic expression of the love you gave to me; and let that same love flow freely from me to those around me.”