It’s Not About Us (Part 2)

Back to teaching teens to worship…

Let’s take our lenses off and refocus on what worship really is again.

My pastor shared the following verse this morning about our roles as worshipers…

Romans 12:1 NLV – And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

In essence, our worship… true worship, is offering our LIVES to God — every part of it.

Recently, as part of our effort to move students towards a broader and more biblical definition of worship in their lives, I shared a message titled “Worship: Why it Matters”. Some of you may recognize that title as I, admittedly, stole all my points from Louie Giglio, the founder of Passion City Church and the 268 Generation. (Listen to Mr. Giglio preach part 1 and part 2 of this message in it’s entirety here.)

I was listening to the Passion Message Podcast when I first heard it, and I knew that I wanted to share this with our students. Our teenagers need to hear that worship matters because…

GOD IS WORTHY – There is a worship chorus going on right now that is bigger and even more brilliant than the U2 tour. We can join in the anthem and be a part of worshiping the God who is, was, and will ALWAYS be worthy of our praise! I hope that our ministries make much of God, and that we never tire of making His name famous in our student communities.

YOU ARE A WORSHIPER – Yes, everybody is worshiping SOMETHING or SOMEONE. May we never get to the end of our lives and find that we were worshiping something much less than God.

THERE IS A WAR OVER YOUR WORSHIP – Satan’s an adversary and will do anything he can to chip away at God’s worth in our lives. That’s why people are bowing down to false gods all over the earth. They’ve been lied to and they’ve believed the lie. Don’t fall into that trap!

WE BECOME WHAT WE WORSHIP – Have you ever seen a teenage boy completely change personalities because of a new girl in his life? How about a young music fan changing his whole wardrobe for his favorite band or performing artist? We need to watch what we worship because it’s a terrible thing to worship the wrong thing and then BECOME like what we have worshiped instead of being transformed into God’s likeness.

IT’S FUEL FOR THE SOUL – Okay, maybe this one’s about us (grin)… Worship matters because it keeps our spiritual selves alive. King David actually talked to his soul, saying, “Why so downcast?” (Psalm 43:5). When we worship with our lives, even through our darkest struggles, God honors that and pours life and direction into our spirit-man.

Thank you, Mr. Giglio, for the good reminder about what true worship is all about.

If you missed the original “It’s Not About Us” post, you can read it here.

This post was originally posted at YouthSpecialties.com; follow the discussion there or start a new one here.