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A Disciple of Jesus Is Worship-Full
Brian Mashburn
December 17, 2006
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A Disciple of Jesus Is Worship-Full
To worship is to "bow down".
Jesus' first words about it were to Satan, and it's a good starting place for us, too. "[Bow down to] the Lord your God, and serve him only," he says. (Matthew 4:10)
His next words about it were to some religious folks, and that is a good place for us to continue. "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They [bow down to] me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men." (Matthew 15:8-9)
His next words about it are his last recorded ones, and his most extensive. He is speaking to a Samaritan woman who asked him about the proper "place" to worship, an issue over which there was stark disagreement between the Samaritans and the Jews. Jesus says, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will [bow down to] the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans [bow down to] what you do not know; we [bow down to] what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true [bowers] will [bow down to] the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of [bowers] the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his [bowers] must [bow down] in spirit and in truth." (John 4:21-24)
That's it. Three times. Jesus speaks of "worship" directly three times. It is enough to give you a lifetime of blessed guidance.
Bow down to God only and constantly.
Bow down to God with your heart.
Bow down to God from deep within you, and in integrity.
Disciple's revere God alone, and it annihilates all lesser loves. They adore God genuinely through any worship practice they have, and don't mistake the practices as the real thing. They love pursuing oneness with God...the One True God.