One of the books I’m reading right now (why can’t I just read one at a time?!) is called “Extravagant Worship” by Darlene Zschech. I want to be an extravagant worshiper!! I want to be profusely excessive in my praise of Him because of the excessive, lavish, immeasurable love and grace He has given to me! He is worthy of so much more than I am giving! So why does my worship too often not reflect the magnitude of my Savior’s worth?

 “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”

John 4:23,24

 So…what does that mean…really? I mean, what does it mean to worship God “in spirit and truth?” I think the depth of its meaning can be mined for many treasures, but one thing I want to draw out right now is that to stand before God and worship Him in “spirit and truth,” we must ask ourselves daily, “How big are the debts Jesus canceled for me? How generous was He toward me when considering the pain my sins inflicted on Him? How much thanks do I owe Him for canceling the consequences of my past? Am I overgenerous (extravagant) with my worship? Do I exceed reasonable limits when praising Him, because I am so overwhelmed by His grace and goodness poured out on me? Or am I merely doing what is required, merely filling the basic level of commitment? Am I simply trying to earn my right of passage?”

“If our worship is spiritual and truthful, we will search our souls and appraise the value we place on His love for us. What can we bring to the altar that represents extravagance?” (pg. 26 of the above mentioned book)

 I think there are two main reasons that so many people prefer to just skip the “worship” part of our service. The first is that we, as a church, and as individuals (and not just at The Summit), have bought in to a gross misunderstanding of what worship really is. (We’ll talk about that in my next blog.) The second is because we don’t really even begin to grasp the magnitude of what God has done for us through Christ…and therefore, our response is, quite frankly, pitiful.

I am able to speak to this, because this is something the Lord rebuked in me years ago. I don’t have a testimony that has a lot of snap, crackle, pop. By God’s grace, I placed my faith in Him at a very young age and have pretty much walked the straight and narrow my whole life. Honestly, I just didn’t really see that there was all that much than I needed to be forgiven of…I wasn’t all that bad!  I mean, maybe I gossiped every once in a while…and maybe I told a little white lie every now and again, etc.  But, come on…those aren’t the really “bad” sins! To be sure, I was grateful for God’s love and the promise of eternal life, but I truly had not grasped the depth of my depravity and the immense gift of forgiveness that had been extended to me through Jesus’ death and resurrection.

All of that changed when I started to pray, “Search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” Ps. 139:23,24. I will never forget the year that followed. God answered my prayer, and it was one of the most painful, dark journeys I have ever been on. As only He can, God led me on a road of discovery – discovery that led to an understanding of who I was apart from Him and how desperately I needed Him every moment.

My life has never been the same. The more time I spend with Him and the more I allow His word to soak in to the fabric of my being, the more I know Him. The more I know Him, the more aware I am of how holy He is…and how unholy I am. And the more I consider that He loves me anyway, in spite of all that is true of the depths of my heart, I am overwhelmed. I am completely ruined in His presence. And my worship has only ever gotten more raw, more vulnerable, more expressive, more genuine…more extravagant. But, oh, how I know that I have such a long way to go! I can’t tell you how much I look forward to the eternity I have to worship Him as He deserves!!

So, do you know? Do you know in the depths of your being what He has done for you? That when it comes to separation from God, murder, adultery, stealing, blaspheming, gossiping, gluttony…it’s all the same? We have ALL sinned and we ALL fall short of the glory of God. (Rms.3:23) But through Christ, we have been set free!!  We are loved! We are forgiven! We are redeemed! We have a hope and a future!!

Does your worship reflect that?! Are you amazed and overwhelmed every time you think of Who He is and what He has done for you? Whether your testimony is like mine or not, it really shouldn’t matter – because we are all dead in our transgressions apart from His resurrecting grace and love! Let us worship Him with abandon! In spirit and in truth! Extravagantly! Excessively! Genuinely. Because He is worth every ounce of praise we will ever offer!