Rights and Wrongs of Worship 1

Every year in October we will go over the discipleship model. Yes, I said every year. I remember when Mindy and I had a conversation about this. She asked me if I was really going to preach on the discipleship model every year, and I responded yes.  It is not just a whim; I have spent time thinking through this decision and why this is important. I don’t know about you, but a million thoughts run through my head every day.  One moment I can be thinking about one of my friends, and then I’ll see something and my mind changes directions. If I don’t respond to that person or thought right away, it may be gone. Even a passionate feeling about a subject, thought, or conversation can be lost if I don’t act on it in that moment. Now, I know some things are good to sleep on. Sometimes we are so emotional that we need time to cool down and check our emotions at the door. Yet other times if something is not fresh on our minds, we forget it.

           

Having a good memory has always been one of my strengths.  Images I see and make are burned into my head forever. I rely on them for many things, from preaching, to blogs, and of course – conversations. Having said that, there are times when something slips my mind. If events, discussions, and details are not kept in the forefront of my mind, they can be lost. Advertising has always intrigued me because it is used to help us remember things they want us to know. They are the best at jingles, images, and statements that are forever stuck in our minds. McDonalds has brought back Monopoly over and over again. People never get tired of trying to win a million dollars. McDonalds just switches the menu items they put on their monopoly pieces so you try different things. Hardee’s has chosen to be the most sexually explicit of all the fast food chains, and they never tire of telling us how they make their biscuits from scratch every day. This is not just with fast food. One of my favorite commercials right now is Nationwide. I love when Peyton Manning is humming the jingle even while he eats his chicken parmesan sandwich.  Progressive never gets tired of showing you Flo and her latest idea, and the little Gecko from Geico reminds us of saving money in 15 minutes or less. What’s my point?

           

Why we are so concerned about going over something again, or in this case, year after year, in the church? Are we going to let the commercials win out over God’s message to stay connected to Him? This is why we take time to go through the discipleship model time and time again. October is a great time to do it as we are settling into our fall routines. Recently, one of the discussions in ministry council was how we tend to focus on the right and wrong way to Worship 1, Love 1, Read 1 and Pray 1. This gives us a great opportunity to learn from Jonah.  Jonah had to learn the rights and wrongs of discipleship as God called him to extraordinary servanthood. The next several weeks we will discuss the discipleship model and how it played out in Jonah’s life. He had very real struggles that are similar to our own battles with the discipleship model. This weekend we begin with Worship 1. Jonah certainly wanted to worship God in his own way. God spent time reforming Jonah to help him understand what he was missing in worship. I pray that we will see God’s deep connection with us in worship as well, despite our mistakes and failures.