Spiritual Disciplines, Worship Series

This ladies and gentlemen is a picture of a paradoxical frog. It is native to the eastern parts of South America. And what makes it a paradox is the fact that while a full-grown specimen is about 7.5 cm in length, when it’s a tadpole it can reach up to 25 cm in length. It literally is four times larger as a tadpole than it is as a frog. Here is a picture of both the tadpole and the frog.

So, as it matures, the frog gets smaller.

Those in the know tell us that there is nothing else in nature that compares to this, and it’s so odd, that for most of history the tadpole and the frog were considered to be two different creatures.

You might be wondering, how that is even possible and so we go to the science department of the University of California Santa Barbara, which tells us, “While the precise mechanism of shrinkage in Pseudis paradoxa (Paradoxical frog) is unclear, the change occurs mostly during metamorphosis, a complex cellular/molecular event in the life of any organism.”

Which means, the scientists haven’t got a clue.

Even though we don’t see this evidenced in nature, we do see it sometimes evidenced in our spiritual lives.

Do you remember the passion you had when you first became a Christ follower? Your desire to pray and read God’s word. Your desire to be in church every chance you had in order to be with God’s people? Your desire to tell others about Jesus?

And maybe it’s the same now as it was then, but for many people, it’s not.

In the book of Revelation, we read the words of Jesus to the church in Ephesus. And there are many things that he praises them for and then in Revelation 2:4, we read, Revelation 2:4 “But (remember, after the but comes the truth) I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first!”

This is week three of our Spiritual Disciplines series.

The why of practicing spiritual disciplines is simply, to draw us closer to God so that we don't lose our first love.

Two weeks ago, I spoke about What Spiritual Disciplines aren’t, that they aren’t a way to salvation, they aren’t a measure of our spirituality, they aren’t legalism and they aren’t always the same. And then I gave you Donald Whitney, author of, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, definition of spiritual disciplines, “Spiritual Disciplines are the habits of devotion and experiential Christianity that have been practiced by the people of God since biblical times. They are the means of blessings for followers of Jesus and a part of their growth in godliness.”

Last week Pastor Deborah spoke about the Spiritual discipline of Sabbath Keeping and spoke about taking time to rest, a time to recharge and a time to refocus on God.

This morning, I want to look at the discipline of Worship.

John Ortberg author of the Life You’ve Always Wanted, writes, “I need to worship because without it I can forget that I have a Big God beside me and live in fear. I need to worship because without it I can forget his calling and begin to live in a spirit of self-preoccupation. I need to worship because without it I lose a sense of wonder and gratitude and plod through life with blinders on. I need worship because my natural tendency is toward self-reliance and stubborn independence.”

And that brings us to the scripture that was read earlier.

Jesus was asked by a man what was required for eternal life, and this was his answer: Mark 12:29–30 Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’

Jesus said that is the most important commandment, if you can only do one, this is it. This is the one that you don’t want to miss. 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'

So we were created to be loved by God and our purpose in our lives is to love him back. He should be the most important thing in our life.

And there is a word for what we do when we love God that way and that is “Worship”. We worship God. Goes all the way back to the first book in the Bible, Genesis 4:26 When Seth grew up, he had a son and named him Enosh. It was during his lifetime that people first began to worship the LORD.

If we go all the way back to the beginning of the story we realize that Adam and Eve were created to be in fellowship with God. There was a direct connection and they deliberately rebelled and walked away from the relationship. And after they were banished from the Garden of Eden, we have no idea what type of relationship they had with their creator.