SIX WAYS WORSHIPING GOD ON SUNDAY SHOULD TRANSFORM THE WAY WE LIVE THE REST OF THE WEEK (Pt. 1)

When we meet together on a Sunday, what do we expect? Do we expect to come sing some songs, hear a "nice talk" and drop a check in the offering box? Do we come to see our friends and make plans for lunch?

God wants to use the time we spend together as the local body of Christ to make us more like his son, as the apostle Paul tells us:

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Cor. 3:18)

The following is from Bob Kauflin's "Worship Matters..." book. He suggests six ways that worshiping God on Sunday mornings should transform the way we live the rest of the week.

We'll take these one at a time so we can think through each one:

1) Worshiping God should make us humble

If we see even a glimpse of the glory and splendor of God, it will produce a genuine humility in our hearts. That was the response of Moses, the Israelites, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Peter, the apostle John, and countless others in Scripture how beheld God's majesty. There's nothing about encountering God that should exalt us.

One reason we so often fail to be humbled by worship is that we focus on other things and end up obscuring God's glory. It would be like visiting the Grand Canyon and foolishly being enthralled with parking signs, souvenir shops, and the railings. We enjoy a picnic lunch, toss a football around, and leave - happy but unaffected bu the glory of God's creation.

No one does that. We never allow the surroundings to distract us from the magnificent splendor of the canyon itself. And the effect is always the same. Suddenly we feel small, helpless, insignificant. As John Piper says, people never leave the Grand Canyon more in awe of themselves.

That's why it's so important that we worship God through the lens of the gospel. Nothing humbles us more that worshiping at the foot of the cross. Not thought attacks the root of our pride like realizing that God himself had to pay for our rebellion against him.

I am a worshiper of God because Jesus died to make me one, not because I earned the right to be one.

If worshiping God leaves us thinking more highly of ourselves, we've turned biblical worship on its head. Worship in general, corporate worship in particular, is meant to make us humble.

Thoughts?