Episode #303 How Worship Changes Us – Unforced Rhythms of Grace

Hey friends, it's Jen. Today I wanna challenge our perspectives on the value of going to church services on the weekends, or even midweek services of getting together for worship with the body. And the way I wanna challenge that is really looking at the opportunities we have for transformation in those worship settings.

So I grew up with the term like Sunday service and worship service being synonymous. But the way that I thought about the opportunities for change really centered around the sermon. So the pastor gets up after worship and gives a teaching that transforms us, that is meant to instruct and correct and teach us how we get to live as Christ followers. There's nothing wrong with that. I'm not challenging that in any way.

But I've been rereading Richard Foster's Celebration of Discipline and I'm in the section talking about worship. And the way that Foster talks about worship really stopped me mid- read to think about how I view the transformation that comes from the Lord in weekend services.

I'll read a few quotes for you. Foster says, “Just as worship begins in holy expectancy, it ends in holy obedience. If worship does not propel us into greater obedience, it has not been worship. To stand before the Holy One of eternity is to change.”

Now, the reason that made me stop is because I kind of thought about worship and teaching, therefore transformation, as separate. I sing songs of worship to God. My heart is moved, I'm adoring him, I'm praising him, and then I sit down to be instructed so that I can be changed. So that I continue to be sanctified and discipled and to learn how to grow as a follower. But what Foster is pointing out here is that being in God's presence itself changes us. And so if we bring ourselves in genuine worship before the Lord, in all of the different settings and expressions, including weekend services, then worship itself is transformational.

To stand before the Holy One of eternity is to change.

Now as I think about that, I realize that is not always my experience. I can sing songs in worship and not be changed. I can lift my hands, I can clap, I can sit or kneel in reverence before the Lord and leave not having been changed. And so the question that leaves me with is why? Why am I not truly noticing the God that I'm coming to worship? Am I not engaging with him fully? Or maybe even am I not noticing the ways that he's changing me? Because I'm only looking at transformation as what I have learned, understood, and can now apply? Versus the heart transformation that happens organically when I bring myself as an offering of worship before him?

I think all of those things can take place, and I'm excited about this renewed perspective, especially as I go to church services. Because I want to approach the Holy One of eternity knowing that by coming close to him, he will produce change in me. That by lifting my eyes up with holy expectancy, I can then continue in obedience. That worship is intended to propel us toward greater obedience. That's what Foster said.

He also said, “To see who the Lord is brings us to confession. When Isaiah caught sight of the glory of God he cried, ‘Woe is me! … for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’”

Foster is quoting here, Isaiah 6:5, when Isaiah is before the throne room and he sees the Lord seated on the throne exalted and the train of his robe is filling the temple with glory.
And he says, ah, woe is me. I have seen the king, the Lord Almighty.

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips… and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” (Isaiah 6:5)

And it prompted confession in him, which God then responds to purifying Isaiah's lips. But where I wanna keep us today is the shaping that happens as we approach God. As we worship Him, as we see him and exalt him. He wants to carry out change in our lives that we can then live according to.

And so let's talk with God more about this. I think there's ways that he wants to speak to each one of us uniquely about where we are in our walks with him, and how we can approach worship in a different way in light of this.

And so here's a question you can take to him today:

God, what are you shaping in me today as I come to you to worship?

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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