November 2022
We believe that this is what every Christian should do—worship Jesus Christ to the glory of God the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit.
<aside> <img src="/icons/book-closed_gray.svg" alt="/icons/book-closed_gray.svg" width="40px" /> “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:5-11)
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Jesus himself challenged his disciples by saying in Luke 12:32-34, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
Worship is the individual and corporate act of displaying the worth of God—and his worth is infinite! So our entire lives must be about displaying that Jesus is of greatest value. More than any earthly thing or person—more than wealth and security, than power and people, than sex and comfort, than affliction or persecution—Jesus matters most. By affirming this—that Jesus is our treasure above anything else—we believe we are joining hands with him entering again the glory-sharing love of the Trinity like we were meant to in the beginning, flawed by our sin as we are yet interceded for by our better high priest (Hebrews 4, 1 John 2:1-2). We believe this worship happens in two contexts: in our individual (scattered) lives with our families and workplaces, and in our church gatherings. Scattered worship is displaying God’s infinite worth through the way we live our lives: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted” (Hebrews 12:1-3 , ESV). Or as Paul writes in Romans 12:1, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1 ESV). This is a life of worshipful discipleship.
But thanks be to God our lives are not just or even primarily individual, but they are beautifully, brokenly corporate. Peter writes, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:9-10 ESV). God’s people have to be marked by Gospel-centered worship when they gather—so when we gather, we worship him by reading, praying, preaching, singing, and seeing his word.
Rhett Thomas
Creative Director, Rock Point Church