tapiocapuddin

In many churches today, worship has become a time to sing about how the world and even the gospel revolves around us. Christ is not the focus, we are.

Some missionary friends recently came back to the states after serving for many years in a foreign country. There were shocked by how much mainstream Christianity has changed. The husband said that you used to be able to sit down in church and know that the brother or sister sitting next to you shared the same beliefs because they were founded on God's word. Now topics like abortion and gay marriage threaten to split many churches and denominations!

I'm going to use a popular song to hopefully show how much this self-centered worship has creeped into the churches.

Above all powers, above all kings
Above all nature and all created things
Above all wisdom and all the ways of man
You were here before the world began

Above all kingdoms, above all thrones
Above all wonders the world has ever known
Above all wealth and treasures of the earth
There's no way to measure what You're worth

Crucified, laid behind the stone
You lived to die, rejected and alone
Like a rose, trampled on the ground
You took the fall and thought of me, above all

Oh no, was that your favorite song? Do you sing it regularly in church. I have to admit, it's one I have enjoyed and sung at church as well. While the song starts out great proclaiming Christ's greatness, the ends emphasizing who? Us! We are why Christ died; it's all about us! Now please don't misunderstand me, I do believe Christ loves us and died for us, but we are not solely and even the "above all" reason. What my missionary friend pointed out is nicely reflected in a quote Bob Kauflin posted not too long ago:

There is an error to avoid, the danger of seeing the loving obedience of Christ as primarily and exclusively for the sake of man, when, in fact, it was primarily out of love for God that he accepted the cross (Heb. 10:7). Dr. Geerhardus Vos stresses that our Lord's Messiahship was "absolutely God-centered." "Jesus," says Vos, "accepted the cross out of a motive of love for God even more than, and before He accepted it because of His love for man...In dying, as in all else He did, He hallowed God's name." This is a truth too often overlooked, and it in no way detracts from the wonder that Christ loves each one of his people with all of his love.

Bob goes on to say,

I've heard it said that Jesus died on the cross because he would "rather die than live without us," and that the cross shows how much we're worth to God. While I can understand the motive behind these and similar thoughts (that the cross demonstrates God's profound love for us, which it does), they tend to obscure where our focus should be. If thinking about the cross leads me to think more about myself, I've missed the point. Jesus died to uphold His Father's justice and righteousness (Rom. 3:21-26). My sins alone required the death of the Son of God. The reason Jesus confidently endured the cross was not ultimately because of His love for US, but because of His love for His Father and His zeal to uphold His glory.

John Piper states in his book, "When I Don't Desire God," that "the death of Jesus was the means by which he regained his place of glory with the Father and came into the fullness of his own everlasting joy. His joy was blood-bought at the price of his own obedient death."

In the end, we have even more to praise God about--for who He is. Because isn't worship supposed to be about Him in the first place? Bob Kauflin said it best when he said, "The cross sets us free from constant self-love to passionately love the One Who created, sustains, and redeemed us."