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Begin by reading Colossians 3
About four years ago, my wife and I took a five week trip to Europe and Morocco. For the year leading up to the trip, we put away money each month that would be designated for this vacation. Even though there were times money was tight, we determined to do everything but dip into the trip savings.
Since we began, we have been talking about what worship is, based on Romans 12:1. It is a voluntary expression of love to God that can take on any form at any time. It’s not limited to a church building on Sunday morning or limited to singing and music. It’s not motivated by our emotions, rather it is a response to who God is and what He has done for us. Now, we are going to talk about the criteria that determines if an activity is worship or not. Paul gives us two of them. He tells us that in order for something to be worship it must be holy and pleasing to God. Let’s start with the first criteria – holy.
When we think of the word holy, we may think of majesty, splendor, other-worldly, or perfect. But that’s not what the word holy means. The word holy means “set apart.” In other words, Paul explains that worship must be an activity that is set aside or set apart to be worshipful.
This doesn’t mean that you have to set it apart days or weeks in advance. It may be that you decide at that moment that you are choosing to give the activity to the Lord. Sometimes even in a worship service, our minds start wandering, and we forget what it is we’re supposed to do. The moment you realize this and say, “God I’m going to give this activity to you,” you are setting apart the activity as worship. It’s as we talked about yesterday in the story of the widow giving her last two coins. Part of offering ourselves to God is setting apart the very thing He wants us to give and not holding back.
So what does it mean to be set apart? I think it can be summed up in two words – priority and purpose. First, it’s about giving God your first and best. It’s, as we talked about yesterday, refusing to give leftovers. It might be saying, “God I’m not going to take a job that offers me the most money and gives me little time to spend with my family; I’m going to take a job that maximizes the priority of my calling as a parent.” It’s as Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.”
Secondly, setting something apart is doing it with a purpose. Just as the purpose of that savings account was for our trip, Paul tells us that the purpose of our lives is to glorify God. Every action, activity, thought should be conformed to that purpose.
I remember getting an email from an older woman, asking me, “Why must I be a Christian? Why isn’t being good enough?” She was certainly a good person, involved in the community, giving to charity. But the answer to her question is purpose. She is doing those things for some reason – maybe to better herself, to better society, to follow instructions that her parents’ once gave her. But for a Believer, the purpose is much different. We set ourselves apart as a worship service to the Lord. We are no longer doing a job for money, or to please our boss, or to get a promotion, we are doing it as unto the Lord. This was Paul’s point in Colossians 3. Whatever you do, do it all as unto the Lord.
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