It is all about me

We are constantly bombarded with messages that the world revolves around us. Commercials are created communicating that we deserve to have whatever we desire. A popular movie made a point that no matter what our individual appearances, activities, and associations are, we should be accepted, approved, appreciated, and applauded. While listening to the radio, you likely hear that, “There’s nothing wrong with loving who you are” because you were born this way. From video to print, music to movies, the message is the same, I should be able to be who I want to be, have what I want, feel what I feel, think what I want to think.

The same message the serpent offered Eve at the start of time is the same message the world is attempting to express. We can be our own God. There is no need to worship, follow, obey or even listen to the God that created and loves you. The world and everything should exist for your benefit and what you want it to be. It was here at the beginning, when the first man and woman abandoned the truth and accepted this belief that everything went wrong.

Where it should not be about me

Ever since that fatal decision, we have been trying to find our way through life on our own terms, with disastrous consequences for ourselves and all those around us. The sanctuary to the perpetuation of this message was supposed to be the church. At least once a week, instead of the focus being on us and what we want or who we want to be or how we feel, it was an opportunity for those that God had redeemed to return the focus of our worship back to where it belongs, on Him. Recognizing that God is and always has been the only one worthy of worship, following, obeying, and listening to. We were created to glorify Him and Him alone.

During the special days of Good Friday and Easter, the focus of the church should especially be on worshiping and glorifying God for who He is. It is on these days that we remember what Jesus accomplished, fulfilling God’s plan of the ages. Jesus, the only perfect Son of God, came to demonstrate to His rebellious creation who God was by living a perfect life and then willingly accepting the death that He did not deserve, but we did. This act of sacrificial love was the ultimate act of glorifying God, by demonstrating that He is love.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Romans 5:6 and 8 (ESV)

From the start, the Good Friday service seemed to be wrong. Instead of focusing on God alone, the service we attended was focused more on us. Instead of being a sanctuary from the world’s message, the lie of the world had infiltrated the message of God’s love demonstrated through His sacrifice. The glory of God was subtly stolen by shifting the spotlight onto us.

It should be about HIM

Although these are correct statements, they are of secondary importance. Jesus came to show us who God is, so that we could know Him. He does not need to know us, He already knows everything about us. Everything that Jesus did was for God’s glory. The benefits that we receive, although great, are secondary.

Through Jesus’ sacrifice, God alone is glorified. His love and grace were put on full demonstration for us to see. Jesus was being obedient to God, even to His own death, as an example for us to follow of putting God first, above all other things. During this time, we remember this to lift Him up, make Him larger, not to make us more important. Through His sacrifice, God is glorified. We are provided the opportunity to be justified.

I stood in this service gone wrong feeling very alone while a song was being performed which worshipped the gift, magnifying the receiver, more than the giver. As I listened to a message that proclaimed more about me than about Him, the thought that I could not let go of is that this is not about us. It is supposed to be about Him and glorifying Him alone. Not just celebrating the gift that He has paid for, but the God that would do this for those that would so readily crucify Him. I cried not just for the sacrificial death of Jesus to pay for my sins, but that He was not being worshipped as he deserved.

Just like in the times of Malachi, the glory that was singularly due to God was stolen from him, as we turned the focus away from Him and on ourselves. We allowed the message of the world to infiltrate and subtly turn our worship from the only one that truly deserves it. But, God never changes. It is not He who has moved, but us, and as we repent and return our worship to Him, He promises to return to us. (Malachi 3:7) 

For I the LORD do not change…

Return to me, and I will return to you,

says the LORD of hosts.

Malachi 3: 6, 7

Returning the focus and glory to HIM alone

As the church, we are called the Body of Christ (1 Corintians 12:27). We are the ekklesia, the ones uniquely called out by God himself to be His representative in this world, to His fallen creation. Just as Jesus came to demonstrate to the world who God was, that is the mission to which we have now been called. This is the highest privilege that I can imagine, to worship the almighty holy God of all things and then be His image-bearer to the world around me. We can only do it if our focus is on Him and Him alone. It is when we are aligned to His purpose that we will discover all that He has called and created us to be, rather than settling for the world’s counterfeit.

I hear in churches calls for revival in our country and world. We want to see God move in our own lives and in the corporate life of our churches. Prayers are lifted to see hearts and lives changed in our families and communities. The starting point to see the fulfillment of all these desires is a return to a singular focus on worshipping, glorifying, and following God alone, for He will not share His glory with any other.

I am the LORD;

that is my name;

my glory I give to no other…

Isaiah 42:8