Worship: Returning our Desires

Psalm 96

Last week we started a series on discipleship. We’re looking at this because every Christian is on this road. Where is this road leading? It’s leading to the land of promise. That’s how we defined the gospel last week. The gospel is the good news that God has come to his people 

1. to set them free from their enslavement to the false gods of the world, 
2. bring them into a relationship with himself, and 
3. prepare them for the land of promise. 

We can also say it like this: God loves you just as you are, but his love won’t leave you just as you are. Why not? Because you are not yet ready for this land of promise. We have to come to grips with this perspective of the gospel or the New Testament is reduced to helpful, though not necessary information.  So if we are being prepared for the land of promise, what has to change in you? Lots of things! 

There is a tendency to describe these things in terms of behavior. After all, there is a lot of instruction on how you are to live. We talked about some of those as examples last week. In the sermon on the mount Jesus teaches an ethic that associates calling your brother a fool with murder, lustful looks at a women as adultery. These are behavioral changes that our preparation for the land of promise must bring about. 

If these are going to change, what’s has to change in us? Is it simply more resolve? Are we short of will power? Are we lacking motivation? Self-help books can help you with all of these. However, Paul tried them and they didn’t work. This is his story in Romans chapter 7. So, what has to change in us? I don’t think its a matter of will power. I think it is a matter of desire. Aren’t we, in the end, driven by our desires? 

We we are to be prepared for this land of promise, he doesn’t start with a change of our behavior. He starts with a change of our desires. It is why the New Covenant promise was for a new heart, and it is why we find so much in the New Testament around this idea of being a new creation. Paul explains, you were taughtEphesians 4:22–24ESV

to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

If we are to put on this new self—the one that is being prepared for this land of promise—then it begins with a renewal of the mind and a breaking free from our enslavement to deceitful desires. 

Imagine coming here this morning to play the guitar and find that the strings have become out of tune. That happens a lot. If you pay attention you’ve seen Jeremy turning to tune his strings (or even change them) to make sure they are playing true. We must do this with our desires.

This begins with worship. Whether we realize it or not, worship is something we naturally do. We just don’t necessarily worship God. 

Let me explain. When I went to the Grand Canyon as a child, I remember leaning against the rail of a lookout that gave you sweeping views to the North and the South. It was a breathtaking sight. It is not something you can snap a photo of and just leave. You must give it a moment to take it all in, to wrap your mind around how deep it is; how spectacular it is; how grand it is. That’s called worship (with a little “w”). We can’t help but give “worth” to that which we see is so grand before us. And it leaves a lasting impression. I was 12 years old when I saw it and I still remember it to this day. 

Three ways we renew our minds and retune our worship to the Lord. We sing, we ascribe, and declare.