Evotional.com - Mark Batterson

Wired For Worship
09.13.05
Pastor Mark Batterson

This evotional begins a new series titled Wired for Worship. To subscribe to the evotional blog or podcast, check out the evotional feeds at the top of right menu.

Last week the Batterson family broke down and bought a new printer because, quite frankly, our old printer was demon possessed. What the point of having a printer that doesn't print? I actually wanted to get a sledgehammer and ceremonially destroy it. Instead, we let our kids dismantle it while we installed the new one.

The kids got out my tool box and took the thing apart. I actually got to see the motherboard. I'm sure this isn't the technical term, but it had lots of thingies on it. There were different colored wires and nodules with numbers. And lots of other thingies! I'm not sure what each of them does, but I do know this: printers are hardwired to print.

Computers are hardwired to compute. Rockets are hardwired to fly. Cars are hardwired to drive.

Human Beings?

Human beings are hardwired to worship.

There isn't a single non-worshipper reading this evotional. Everybody worships someone or something.

In his book The Air I Breathe, Louis Giglio says, "You my friend are a worshiper! Everyday, all day long, in every place you worship. It's what you do. It's who you are. You cannot help but worship something. It's what you were made to do. Should you for some reason choose not to give God what He desires, you'll worship anyway-simply exchanging the Creator for something He has created. Worship happens everywhere all day long. We all worship something all the time."

Let me just make an observation.

You might not consider yourself a person of faith, but everyone has faith in something. We're all believers. Some people believe in an Intelligent Designer who created the Universe. Others put their faith in the god of randomness. The question isn't whether or not you're a person of faith. The issue is where you put your faith. Faith is non-negotiable. Everybody has faith in someone or something.

In the same sense, worship is non-negotiable. You can't not worship! It's impossible. The issue isn't whether or not you're a worshipper. The issue is what you worship. Either you will worship God with a capital "G" or you'll worship gods with a lower case "g."

You are hardwired to worship. Not everybody worships the right thing. Not everybody worships the right way. Some worshippers worship about as good as our old printer printed. But worship is what we were designed to do!

The Westminster Catechism put it this way: the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

Vacuums

In Exodus 32, Moses is on top of Mount Sinai for forty days. And when the cat's away the mice will play! Exodus 32:1 says, "When Moses failed to come down the mountain right away, the people went to Aaron. 'Make us some gods who can lead us. This man Moses, who brought us here from Egypt, has disappeared'."

Aristotle said, "Nature abhors a vacuum." That isn't just a law of physics. It's a spiritual law. I think it's easy to miss the most obvious lesson in this story. Here it is: the Israelites couldn't go forty days without worshipping.

Moses was gone for a few days and it created a spiritual vacuum. The Israelites had to find something to fill the spiritual vacuum that was created. Why? Because we can't not worship! If we aren't worshipping God with a capital "G" we'll find a god with a lower case "g" to fill that vacuum.

Gold Earrings

So Aaron told them to bring him their gold earrings. These aren't any old earrings. These gold earrings were a gift from God. Let me hit the rewind button and go back to Exodus 12:36. The Israelites asked the Egyptians for clothing and articles of silver and gold. And it says, "God caused the Egyptians to look favorably on the Israelites, and they gave the Israelites whatever they asked for. So, like a victorious army, they plundered the Egyptians."

Here's what I'm trying to get at: the Israelites turned a gift from God into an idol. The Israelites literally used a gift from God capital "G" to make a god little "g."

If we aren't careful, God-given gifts can become idols. In fact, the greatest blessings pose the greatest danger.

So Aaron melted the gold earrings. Then he "molded and tooled" it into the shape of a calf. And the people said in Exodus 32:4: "O Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of Egypt."

In the margin of my Bible I wrote the words "silly slap" next to this verse because that's exactly what I want to do.

The Israelites saw God perform the ten miraculous plagues. They had box seats for the parting of the Red Sea. They ate the manna God miraculously provided in the wilderness. They saw God perform all of these miraculous signs.

Then they give a golden calf credit for getting them out of Egypt: "These are the gods who brought us out of Egypt."

Are you kidding me?

Come on, people!

Do you know where you'd get if a calf was leading you. Nowhere! All they do is chew cud.

And that's what cracks me up. Of all the idols they could have made, they choose a calf. I don't even get it. Maybe it's just me, but you could certainly come up with a more impressive idol couldn't you? If you're going to get into idolatry, at least make it a Raging Bull with three horns that shoot lasers or a two-headed calf that breathes fire. Is that the best you can do? The Israelites aren't even good at picking idols!

Jack Squat

Let me give you a definition of worship.

Worship is giving credit where credit is due.

Sin is the exact opposite.

Sin is giving credit to anyone besides God for anything.

Last week I was at our men's prayer group that meets on Tuesday mornings. And I felt so impressed with the fact that everything we are and everything we have is a gift from God. So I literally prayed, "God, without you we're Jack Squat."

Later that morning I blogged these thoughts:

Imagine someone facing the eastern horizon and motioning in a dramatic gesture intended to make the sun rise. And the sun comes up. And they think their dramatic gesturing did it. Each of us is that person. Every ounce of energy, every penny, every second of time, every thought, every talent, every opportunity, every blessing is a gift from God.

Whenever I start getting heady, Job 34:14 keeps me humble! "If God were to take back His Spirit and withdraw his breath, all life would cease and humanity would return to dust."

Here's my translation: without God we're not even Jack Squat.

Now let me jump back into Exodus 32.

God has rescued the Israelites. He has shown them miracle after miracle after miracle. He has given them gift after gift after gift. And what do the Israelites do? They take the gift God had given them and use it make idols. They give credit to some golden calf.

Isn't it amazing how quickly we forget what God has done for us?

Let me demystify worship. Worship is saying "Thank You."

Yesterday I was at a playground with Josiah. He was swinging on a swing when the swing right next to him swung and clobbered him right on his noggin. It actually bled. I kissed it. I held him. But he was still crying so I told him we'd get him candy medicine. Sometimes candy is the best medicine! I've found that Starbursts work for just about any injury! So we got some starbursts. Josiah had a few starbursts in his mouth. And while he was chewing the cud he looked up at me and said, "Thanks Dad." It was totally unprompted and unexpected. I wanted to march right back to the corner market and get him another pack of Starbursts!

Maybe I'm simple-minded. But I think "Please" and "Sorry" and "Thank You" aren't just good manners. They are the key to spiritual maturity. Never stop saying "Sorry." Never stop saying "Please." And never stop saying "Thank You."

Isn't that what I Thessalonians 5:18 says? "No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ."

Now let me make an observation.

I think there's part of us that reads a story like Exodus 32 and we chuckle. Those silly ancient people! How could they worship a golden calf? They were so ancient and so silly. But we worship little green pieces of paper with numbers on them. Is that really any different? I think our idolatry is much more refined and civilized. But if we're worshipping anything other than God Almighty then we're bowing down to a golden calf.

Dance Party

So the Aaron makes a golden calf and the people get all excited. They build an altar in front of it. They even throw a dance party. They party like its 1999.

Moses comes down the mountain with Joshua and they hear this ruckus. Joshua said, "It sounds as if there is war in the camp." Moses said, "No, it's neither a cry of victory nor a cry of defeat. It is the sound of a celebration."

Have you ever seen someone get super excited about something you thought was super silly? And you're sort of embarrassed for them. Like something who thinks they can dance, but they can't really dance.

Permission to speak frankly? I'm embarrassed for them! You would think that this golden calf was producing Cold Stone Creamery shakes through its golden udders or something. But all it is is an inanimate object. That's it.

Here is my observation.

They were getting excited about the wrong thing. There is nothing wrong with getting excited. The word enthusiasm comes from two Greek words: En Theos. It means "in God." In other words, the more we get into God the more enthusiastic we become. Christ followers ought to be the most enthusiastic people on the planet.

Soren Kierkegaard said, "Boredom is the root of all evil." I find that fascinating. Let me share a personal conviction: I don't think our biggest problem is not feeling bad enough about what's wrong with us. I think our biggest problem is not feeling good enough about what's right with God.

I think our greatest sin is under-celebrating. Heaven is going to be a cosmic celebration.

Let me reveal one of Satan's tactics. The enemy tries to get us to focus on what's wrong with us so that we won't worship what's right with God. I'm going to say it over and over again in this series: don't let what's wrong with you keep you from worshipping what's right about God.

Here's the bottom line: the Israelites celebrating the wrong thing.

We were hardwired to worship something so much bigger and so much better than our manufactured idols.

Idol Excrement

The Israelites were bowing down and dancing around the golden calf when Moses descended the mountain.

To make a long story short, Moses melted the golden calf. He ground it into powder. He mixed it with water. And he made the people drink it. Bottoms up!

Why?

I'm not sure I comprehend why Moses did what he did. But here's my take. What happens when you eat something? Nutrients are digested and everything else is excreted. They literally excreted an idol. I don't want to be crude, but I think God was making a graphic point. Look at your idol now. I don't know if it came out liquid or solid, but either way it was reduced to excrement. I think it was God's way of saying: your idol stinks!

Praise or Pride

If you forget everything else, here is what I want you to take away from this evotional: every blessing becomes the source of one of two things: a source of praise or a source of pride.

There is no in between. It's one or the other.

The gold earrings were a gift from God, but the blessing became a curse. Why? Because the gift became a source of idolatry! If we aren't careful, the blessings of God can become a source of pride. And if they become a source of pride it would have been better not to have been blessed in the first place!

Let me zoom out and share what God has been doing in my life personally and in the life of National Community Church corporately.

Never in my life have I experienced a concentration of blessing like I've experienced in the last few months. Opportunities are reproducing like rabbits. Dreams are becoming reality. God is opening supernatural doors of opportunity right and left. And none of it has been manufactured.

I don't have time to share all that God has done, but let me share a few wins.

About two months ago two things happened. We were recognized by the Assemblies of God as a "transformational church." We were one of thirteen out of ten thousand churches chosen. About the same time we were recognized as one of the ten most innovative churches in America.

We didn't seek out either of those things. And I'm not suggesting we are deserving of those honors! But I felt like it was God's way of expanding out influence and giving us a larger platform.

And that's the tip of the iceberg. Last month we had the privilege of being part of a panel at the first national forum for multi-site churches at Willowcreek Community Church in Chicago. The Washington Times did a front page story on NCC in July. The fall issue of Leadership Journal is doing a story on theater churches and NCC will be featured. The New York Times did a feature article on the Theaterchurch.com podcast a few weeks ago. The article got reprinted all across the country and around the world. I got emails from people who had read the article in Brazil and the Netherlands. Our podcast got more than 3500 visitors in one week! I even did a radio interview on one of the largest radio programs in Central and South America.

The domino effect has been unbelievable. And the corporate wins have been coupled with the personal wins.

I feel as called to write as I do to pastor. But the dream of writing gathered dust for thirteen years! I couldn't seem to tie off the umbilical cord on a manuscript. And there was no reason why anyone would want to publish anything I'd written anyway! I had no resume and no connections. Writing was what I'd call a dream blister. As much as I was enjoying everything else God was doing in my life, the unfulfilled dream of writing was like a painful annoying blister that bothers you every time to take a step!

To make a long story short, I've had more writing opportunities in the last month than the last thirteen years combined. I've written feature articles for Relevant Magazine, Relevant Leader, Preaching Today, and Ministries Today. And none of it was manufactured.

My ultimate goal is writing a book and getting it published. I want to write at least one book every year for the rest of my life. But the first book is the toughest book. That dream is on the verge of becoming reality.

Now let me put all of these blessings in perspective. I'm acutely aware of the fact that these blessings will become one of two things: a source of pride or a source of praise. If any of the blessings become a source of pride then it would have been better not to have been blessed in the first place. The blessings of God can so easily become a golden calf. We take the gifts God has given us and turn them into an idol.

That's exactly what the Israelites did.

The Israelites were enslaved for 400 years. By definition they had nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zero.

Then, in one day, God plunders the Egyptians and gives the Israelites more gifts than they can receive. They'd never seen gold or silver. And now they're wearing gold earrings. They'd never owned their down flocks. And they had herds you couldn't count. They even got Egyptian designer clothes out of the deal.

Put yourself in their sandals. They must have felt like they were drowning in blessing!

But what happened?

Instead of being a source of praise, the gifts God had given them became a source of idolatry!

We have a choice every time we experience a blessing. We can take credit or give credit. Worship is giving credit where credit is due. I love the lyrics from Blessed be Your Name: "Every blessing you pour out I’ll turn back to praise." If we fail to turn the blessings of God into praise they become a source of pride! But when we turn blessings into praise they become a double blessing!

So here's my question: is there a blessing in your life that has become a source of pride? Is there a golden calf that needs to be melted, ground into powder, mixed with water, and excreted?

You were hardwired to worship someone so much bigger and so much better!

Don't settle for a golden calf.

Moo.