The Wizard of Oz and Worship

Jesus said that we are to love the Lord our God with our minds.  That command is repeated four times in the New Testament.

God is pleased when our worship is thoughtful.  Accurate according to the word of God.  Worship is not to be based upon what my idea of God is – but upon what this Word’s idea of God is.

True worshippers must worship God in spirit and in truth.

Yet some fall into the extreme of only focusing in on cognitive correctness.  They recite great creeds, distribute reams of exegetical information and craft careful prayers ahead of time. 

They worship like the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz.  He cries out, “If I only have a heart.”  Worship is to be with our minds, but it is to be with our hearts and well.  We are to be constantly filled with the wonder and passion that characterizes those in Scriptures who fall on their faces when they encounter the living God.

God is pleased when our worship is authentic.  We are to worship him from our hearts.

Worship is my spirit responding to God’s spirit.

Jesus said that we are to love God with all of our heart and soul.

That means that our worship must be genuine and heartfelt.  It is not just a matter of saying the right words; we must mean what we say.  Heartless praise is not praise at all.  It is worthless, an insult to God!

However, here again is an extreme.  Some people worship God like the Scarecrow.  “It would be better if I only had a brain.”

We must avoid emotional worship just for the sake of emotion.  We must step back from massaging worship to bring people to a point of emotion in their natural emotions.   If we do, than what people fall into the trap of is to desire deeper emotional experience, more intense emotional times with God – rather than seeking God himself.

Worship can end up in this case, as shallow, artificial and rarely reflective. 

A.W. Tozer once wrote:

“Worship must be by the Holy Spirit and truth.  We cannot worship in the spirit alone, for the spirit without truth is helpless.  We cannot worship in truth alone, for that would be theology without fire.  It must be the truth of God and the Spirit of God.  When a person, yielding to God and believing the truth of God, is filled with the Spirit of God, even his faintest whisper will be worship.”

And yet, further still some worship God like the lion in the Wizard of Oz.  “If I only have courage” they say.  They are afraid of worshipping God for fear of what other people might think of them.

There is almost a foolishness involved in the process of worship.

One of the words for worship in Hebrew is hallal.  It means “clamorously foolish.”  I like that.  In other words, if you aren’t willing to look foolish you can’t worship!

On a human level, worship is foolish isn’t it?  Singing to someone you can’t see?  Raising your hands to someone you can’t touch?

There is always a risk involved in worship.

Can I tell you something?  There is a difference between having a personal relationship with God and a private relationship with God.

Our worship must be personal, but it cannot be continually private.

We can love God and serve God and know God personally but we can’t keep it private.  That’s what corporate worship is:  We gather together to worship God personally, but risking ourselves corporately in worship to God.

May God give us all a brain, a heart, and courage as we worship the creator of the universe.