WORSHIP IS A DIVINE EXCHANGE
By: JULIAN ADAMS
Worship really is about a great exchange. Something happens when we worship Him, in which there's a divine exchange where we get what we don't deserve. So beautiful. Where we get a revelation of His character, His nature and His goodness, that then becomes a part of us. Because in worship, when we see Him, we begin to truly see who we are. Our identity begins to shift. Worship is about a divine exchange, it's about an encounter. It's about seeing who He fully is, so we understand who we now fully are. There's an exchange that happens. How many remember the story of the woman who breaks the alabaster jar upon the feet of Jesus. We think that the most expensive bit was when she broke the alabaster jar. The most expensive bit is when she let down her hair. Because you see, a woman, particularly a pious woman, would never have let her hair down. There were some men who would never have seen a woman let her hair down. The only time she did was on the marriage bed when she would let down her hair and say "I am yours and only yours." You see what this woman was doing? She took something that was supposed to be private, [but] brings it out into the public space because she wanted to be extravagant. She lets down her hair and says to Jesus, I am yours and only yours. It's a powerful moment. That's the most extravagant bit. The money is irrelevant. The most extravagant bit is letting down her hair. What's more beautiful about that is that Jesus allows that. Because you see Jesus within his rights could've said "woman, don't touch me. What are you doing? How dare you? You've broken into this meeting. You came into the dinner party. You walked over some men. That's illegal. Now you're letting down your hair in front of all of these men trying to draw them in. Unacceptable. Please go." And she would've walked out with shame and guilt and condemnation. And she would have been right in walking out with shame, guilt and condemnation. It would have been right for her to do that. But Jesus sits there and he receives her worship, and in that moment, a divine exchange happens. Because what Jesus does is He takes the shame and the guilt and the condemnation that should have been hers, and He puts it on Himself, because all those guys are going, "How dare he allow this woman to do that to him?" And when they would have left that meeting, it wasn't the woman that they were talking about, it was Jesus. That false rabbi, who allowed a prostitute to dry his feet with her filthy hair. And He takes her shame. He takes her guilt. He takes her condemnation and instead releases his forgiveness. And He says, you've had many sins, but you're forgiven much.
WHAT IS WORSHIP REALLY ABOUT?
Your worship is not about what He needs. It's about the divine exchange that begins to happen. Actually gaze upon him. The reason why we do music is not to make us feel warm and fuzzy. The reason why we lift our hands is not because we think that's a religious posture. It's because we found something more beautiful than anything else or anyone else could offer. And in that moment that a divine exchange happens. The reason I worship so loud, the reason I worship as much as I can. The reason why I sing in tongues. The reason why I do all of those things is because it's a divine exchange that's happening. You see, one of the things you need to get about worship is that when we gaze upon him, when we worship him, when we love him, when we're unconcerned about his looking at us or whether we're getting the two step shuffle right. No matter what is happening in that moment, when we're gazing upon him, there's this divine exchange that begins to happen so that our physical needs that we come in with, the things that we're really concerned with, find the proper place, as a deeper, more greater reality of His goodness begins to overwhelm us. The Bible says in Psalms Chapter 16 it says that "In Your presence, there is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures evermore." You see, worship is about delight. And the reason why God has designed worship to be about delight is because He understands the pursuit of happiness that is in the heart of every man. He understands the pursuit of hedonism in the heart of every man. I am an unashamed Christian hedonist. I am looking for as much pleasure in God as I can find. People have accused me of being too self-indulgent when I get filled with the spirit and I say "I don't care." Because as much of a revelation as I get of Him, as much as I am satisfied in Him, as much as I am overwhelmed by Him, it's as much as He'll be glorified in me. Worship is about delight. It's not a chore. It's not a sacrifice. It's not even about obedience. Because if those things are motivating you, your worship will always be circumstantially dependent. Worship is a delight because when I pursue the pleasure that is found in Him, the passing pleasures of sin look like cheap costume jewelry in comparison to the real thing. I love proper Italian gelato. I really do. I haven't found a place in Durban yet. The really good ones. But here's reality. I am sacrificing the need for proper gelato in Durban because I know I will be going to Cape Town. And on Camps Bay, there is this amazing place, unfortunately, called Sinful Ice Cream, don't tell anyone, but they do the best gelato. And despite my incredible desire to eat gelato from some dodgy places in Gateway, I will suppress the need for a temporary satisfaction of pleasure from that gelato, to get the eternal pleasure that I'll find in Cape Town from that gelato. You want to overcome sin? Find a greater pleasure than the sin you're pursuing. Find it in Him.
ALL ABOUT WORSHIP, RIGHT IN YOUR INBOX
The worship conversation has many different layers. We want to send you personalized content that hits different and these fields help us do that.
*Your data is covered through our privacy policy.
