True Worship Is Living the Kingdom Life
Wednesday is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. The ashes of Ash Wednesday are a sign of our mortality and sinfulness before God and a symbol of our repentance. And so begins Lent which is a season of self-examination as we prepare for Easter. It is a time of repentance where in humility we turn away from our self-sufficiency, self-gratification, and pride. We turn away from our sins and temptations, and we turn toward God and his great mercy.
Lent is actually a journey of joy that takes us to the place where God’s love was poured out for us, the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It takes us to the place where we are set free and receive new life. Thus, Lent deepens our faith and relationship with God. It serves to remind us of His grace, the great gift of salvation, the new, eternal life we have in Christ. The journey of Lent reminds us and invites us afresh to always live daily in the presence of the Lord, to live this new, kingdom life He gave us.
Lent is a time to examine ourselves to make sure that we are living out an authentic faith and are practicing true worship. True worship is living the kingdom life out of reverence for the Lord, in His Name, and for His glory. It is easy to become complacent. It is easy to fall into the habits of worship and to no longer worship from the heart to no longer worship in spirit and in truth. It is easy to become used to the ritual expressions of our faith, piety, and religion but to no longer live holy. Hypocrisy is a constant temptation and threat to true worship.
1. Enthusiastic But Complacent, Show-Case Religion
This was God’s problem with his people and in Isaiah 58 He speaks loudly and clearly to his people. Is 58:1-4 — Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins. For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.
Israel was worshipping enthusiastically. They were eager to seek God, know his ways, and for Him to come near them. However, they were doing all these things not realizing that to God something was deeply wrong. They delighted in their worship practices but then they were confused and puzzled. Why did it not work? Why was God not responding? They were reaching out to God but God was not reaching out to them.
They were doing it for the show believing that they could pressure and manipulate God. “If we do this, God will, should, do that.” They have become complacent in their worship. They worshipped out of habit because it was the custom, the tradition, the culture, what was expected. There was a mismatch between their worship and the rest of their lives. They wanted to acknowledge God’s ways. They wanted to draw near to God. But in their worship, on their fast days, and on the Sabbath, they followed their own ways and did as they pleased. They did not do what was right. They did not follow God’s commands. Their worship did not translate into holy living, living as God’s people.
During this Lent season, we should examine ourselves. Has our faith become a show-case religion? Have we become complacent in our worship? Are we worshipping out of habit? It is easy to privatize our faith, religion, and worship. We treat our faith and worship as something private that has nothing to do with the rest of our lives, nothing to do with our social and public lives and responsibilities.
God is not much interested in our ritual expressions of worship, piety, and repentance. No, He wants our hearts, our lives. He wants integrity and right actions — right relationships with our neighbors, fair treatment of others, actions to address injustice, generosity that helps the poor, and Sabbath-keeping that honors God. God wants us to love Him and show that love for Him by loving others. True worship is living the kingdom life out of reverence for the Lord, in His Name, and for His glory.
2. Is This Not True Worship?
Is 58:5-7 — Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Does this sound familiar? This is what Jesus taught us through his life and ministry. Remember the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 25? Allow me to paraphrase and summarize Jesus’ words. I believe He tells us this today — “You call me Lord and Savior and that I am. God’s kingdom has come. I saved you. I made you kingdom people. This is the new life that I bought for you with my life. You eagerly want to follow and worship Me. Then, go and delight in living this kingdom life. Be my witnesses. Be the salt and light of the world.”
Jesus also warned about true and false worship. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Mt 7:21). “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (Jam 1:27).
3. Our Light Will Shine
And when we do this, when we worship God eagerly and truly by living the kingdom life, what will happen? Is 58:8-10 — Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.
Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth. … You are the light of the world. … let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Mt 5:13-16)
Isaiah 58:8 actually describes this beautifully. Try to picture this as we walk in God’s ways. When we live out the kingdom life in this world our righteousness goes out before us. The world, people, see our good deeds. They see the new life we have in Christ. They glorify our Father in heaven. The glory of the Lord follows us, is our rear guard. “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Co 10:31) True worship is living the kingdom life out of reverence for the Lord, in His Name, and for His glory.
4. Here Am I!
A second thing will happen when we worship God eagerly and truly by living the kingdom life. Is 58: 9a — Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
When we take pleasure in true worship; when we delight in the spiritual disciplines; when we abide in Christ always, then God will hear our cries and prayers. He will answer and say: Here am I. We will experience His presence because in Christ through the Holy Spirit the Lord lives in us.
Yes, it is hard to live the kingdom life. It’s is an ongoing struggle. Sometimes we fail but in repentance, we turn back to our Lord. We don’t give up. And yes, it is difficult to be different, to swim upstream, to live as aliens, kingdom citizens in this world. We will suffer. People will laugh at us, ridicule us, reject us. The world will persecute us. But it is possible. Why? Because …
Is 58: 11-12 — The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
The Lord leads us and shows us the way. He protects us. He provides and sustains us. He enables and empowers us. And we will be called Repairers and Restorers because as kingdom people, followers of Jesus Christ, we are peacemakers and disciple-makers. We are kingdom builders. Every time and everywhere when we live the kingdom life, there and at that time we make God’s kingdom visible. We make the Lord known, and we invite people into the kingdom of heaven. God is doing His work through you. You are the hands and feet of Jesus. You are a hero in God’s Story. We are kingdom builders.
5. Delight in the Sabbath and Find Joy in the Lord
The Lord concludes his declaration with these words — Is 58: 13-14 — “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
The Sabbath is set aside so that we can focus our worship on God. We focus all our attention, energy, time, and pleasure on honoring the Lord. The Sabbath is a time appointed by God to release us from our self-worshipping addiction to work and our self-centered busyness. Through the Sabbath, God is saying, “No. Your highest values will not be professional, commercial, cultural, political, personal, or sports. Your highest values will be worship, celebrating our freedom in Christ, finding joy in the Lord, and serving others.” God has made a weekly appointment with us. Do we love Him enough to keep it?
However, true worship does not happen only on the Sabbath. Sunday is not an extra Saturday. It is not the end of the weekend. It is not the day to catch up for Monday. It is the Lord’s Day. It is the beginning of the week where God replenishes, refills us, and reenergizes us with all His fullness and power so that we are strengthened, empowered, prepared and ready to worship Him and live for Him throughout the week, every day, every hour, every minute.
The Sabbath presents us weekly with this question: What is the center and focus of our worship during the rest of the week and in our daily lives? Every week as we move out of the Sabbath into the new week, we have a choice. Are we going to be world-centered and self-centered and do as we please? Or are we going to be Christ-centered and do what pleases our Lord by living the kingdom life that He has made possible for us?
Do we want to worship God? Do we want God to answer our prayers? Be His answer to someone else’s prayer. Do we want God to come near to us, and say, “Here am I”? Get close to someone who needs you, your help, your love, and say to them, “Here I am.”
Authentic faith expresses our love for God in two ways. First, in worship, praise, prayer, fasting, lifted hands, and open Bibles. Second, in evangelism, caring for and defending the weak, the poor, the widows and orphans, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, loving others including our enemies. Thus, in short, authentic faith and true worship are expressed in bold and courageous kingdom living out of reverence for the Lord, in His Name, and for His glory. Then you will find your joy in the Lord all the time.