Come let us adore and fall down: and weep before the Lord that made us. -- Psalm 95: 6 (DRB)
Oh come all ye faithful! Joyful and triumphant! Oh come ye, oh come ye to
And the world does. Despite the occasional groanings and complainers, the world pauses every year to come to
That is because everything else can be secondary to the adoration of Christ. Everything else can be accomplished through the adoration of Christ. It is the adoration that can also protect us from the snares of the enemy. How so? Let me offer two things that true adoration will provide for us in this life. Realize that the key verse today offers up the true nature of adoration. It is not merely love in some vague earthly manner. It is not merely admiring or looking up to. The Psalmist teaches us that it is so all-encompassing that we are forced to fall down before Him who made us and weep. Remember how The Apostle John described worship in heaven:
Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being." -- Revelation 4: 9-11 (NIV)
The first benefit of adoration is it properly focuses us. One of the greatest schemes of the enemy is distraction. There is so much in this world that draws our attention away from God. Family, careers, health, and even church. The enemy wields this against us individually and collectively against the church. True worship is being replaced with showmanship and entertainment. You can have the best musicians with the most talented worship leaders but without the Spirit of the Living God you will only be attending a concert. That is not worship. Worship focuses us on God. When we are properly focused there is nothing this world or the devil can throw at us that we will be unprepared for. The fighting men of
The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, "Go, and the Lord be with you." -- 1Samuel 17: 37 (NIV)
Where is the focus of David? His focus was on God, not the giant. Now, this is not an exercise in denial. The giants we face in our lives are as real as what David faced that day. Adoration however reminds you who is bigger. When Peter was focused on Jesus he could walk on water but when he got distracted he sank in his own circumstances. Adoration keeps us focused.
Secondly, adoration should remind us where we came from. The Psalmist here says that he will weep before the "Lord that made us." I adore Christ because He saved me. He reached far down into the pit I was living my life in and pulled me up. He set my feet on the solid rock and steadied my feet. How can I not adore Him? How can I allow my adoration to become seasonal? How can I wake up on any given day and forget everything the Lord has already done?
We forget because we fail to adore. We don't fall down before the Lord weeping. Sure we sing Him a song or two. We go to service and pay our tithes. Maybe we even read the Bible regularly. But to fall at His feet weeping for everything He has done for us? Not enough; if at all. That is to our detriment because pride cannot work like the poison it is in a body that is laid prostrate before the Lord. Let's face it beloved -- we need to be reminded where we came from. How is it that we see groups raising the banner of Christ while preaching utter hatred towards the world? They have failed to adore Him. I cannot look at the world, no matter how egregious their sin might be, with anything other than compassion. Because but for the grace of God go
I have seen a lot of pastor adoration and even church adoration within the body but not enough Christ adoration. I am talking in January or even July. On my IPod I have a list of Christmas worship songs as a group. There is nothing like listening to them in the summer. Not just because some of the greatest theology is found in Christmas songs but because adoration should have no borders. We have an enemy who is determined to distract us from God. Determined to get us to take our eyes off of Jesus and onto our problems. Adoration keeps them focused on the problem solver. It also reminds us of who we are in relation to the one we adore. We are the saved not the granters of salvation. We are the redeemed not the one who offers redemption. We are the sinner saved by grace. Let us impart that. Let us adore that.
I want to wake up tomorrow adoring Him. I want to wake up in the summer adoring Him. When next Christmas comes I want there to be no difference in my level of adoration towards the one who saved my sin sick soul and wrote my name in the Lamb's Book of Life. I do not want to come to
Rev. Anthony
