Last night our core team had a worshipful time of community, discussion, and praise over the the core value of Christ-centered worship for our church plant Austin City Life. A number of observations about worship were made: authentic, more than music, quieting, psalms, conversation with God, subjective, personal, objective, communal, Godward, Christ-centered, Spirit-empowered.
We have brought those observations together in this rough description:
All men are worshippers, people who centre their lives on something—family, career, environment, entertainment, politics, citizenship, morality, sexual orientation, power, and so on. You might say, “I don’t worship anything.” But the reality is that there are things that exercise control and influence over our emotions and decisions. Whether we pick one or several things to focus our time, money, and creativity on, those things become what we worship. They dictate the everyday decisions of our lives. They control how much money/time/energy we spend, where and how and for what reasons we spend it. The question, then, is not “Am I a worshipper?” but “What do I worship?”
God call us to personal soul-satisfying worship, not devotion to impersonal stuff. He calls us to satisfy our infinite desire for joy and community by delighting in God-centered worship. As God Jesus calls us to worship God by the Spirit (Jn 4:23). As the way the truth and the life, worship is Jesus-centered. Just as all truth is trinitarian truth, all worship is trinitarian worship which ultimately coheres in Jesus Christ (Jn 1:15; 14:6). As the way (pattern), the truth (reliable purpose) and the life (power) for worshipful living, Jesus demands our delight and praise.
As a result, there is no way to know the triune God apart from Jesus Christ. All things are created, sustained, redeemed and renewed in, through, and for Christ. God in Christ is the beginning, middle and end of the grand Story called life. The biggest lie we have believed is that life is a story about ourselves. Our lives and others lives are part of a much bigger story, the story of God’s glory.
Therefore, he is the object of our worship—in song, sermons, community, culture and work. By gathering together regularly to worship Christ in community, we seek to exalt Him for his glory, grace, and goodness, reminding one another of the centrality of Jesus Christ in all things. All things are in, through, and for Jesus Christ.