Good Theology Leads to Good Worship

Mistaking a person for someone else is easier to do than many might assume. It actually happens to me quite a bit. It happens most of the time when I am visiting a church but I have also had it happen to me when I am at the airport or at a restaurant. People will walk right up to me and ask me, “Are you Nick Vuijicic?” 

Let me backtrack for just a second because there are a few things that Nick and I have in common. We both preach and speak for a living. We both have beards. Lastly, we both are missing limbs. I was born without arms and Nick was born without arms and legs.

Given the fact that there are not many bearded preachers who are missing limbs, it would be easy to assume that I am Nick. I always feel bad for people when I let them down by telling them that I am not Nick and I am not mad at them at all. They made an assumption on my identity because they had never met me and they had no idea who I really am.

We can fall into the same trap of mistaken identity when it comes to our faith assumptions begin to crowd our perspective of who Jesus is. We see people’s mistaken assumptions of Jesus throughout the gospels. The people of Nazareth could not get past the wisdom and power evident in His life because to them, He was a simple boy who was the Son of a carpenter. (Mark 6:2-4) The Jewish leaders feared that Jesus would topple their position of authority with the power that He both lived with and taught with. (John 11:48) The Romans saw Jesus as a threat to their governing power and mockingly labeled Jesus as “King of the Jews” on a sign at the top of His Cross on Golgotha. (John 19:19)

The assumptions lead people to overlook the greatest news the world has ever known in the saving grace of Jesus. It is so important for all of us to see who Jesus is and what He has done for His church. In looking deep into the truth of Scripture, any sort of false assumption about the identity of Jesus is shoved to the side. 

By peering into the Bible, we Jesus for who He truly is. When we begin to take stock of all of who God is and all that He has done, it calls us to respond. Paul paints a clear and simple picture of the grandeur of God in Romans 11:36 when he says, ”For from him and through him and to him are all things.” This verse is the picture that God makes all things, sustains all things and is His glory is the ultimate aim of all things. 

In light of painting the picture of who God is, we also see Paul giving the church in Rome the only viable response to such power and grace. He says in Romans 12:1, “in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.” When we fully perceive the power, grace and mercy of God, then the only right response is to offer all we have as a response. When we see the Father rightly, we will worship Him rightly.

In coming to fully know who Jesus is, we begin to clearly hear His guiding voice in our lives. Jesus describes Himself as the Good Shepherd and the church as His sheep in John 10. In John 10:4, Jesus says that the sheep will follow Him because they know His voice. When the shepherd and the sheep spend time around one another on a consistent basis, there is a trusting relationship that is built. In this relationship, the sheep will respond in faith to go where the Shepherd goes and to yield to the call of the Shepherd.

As we see Jesus for all that He is and place our faith in Him as our Savior, Lord and King – it changes everything about our lives from top to bottom. Paul lays out how faith in Jesus changed his entire life as he writes to the church at Phillippi in Philippians 3. His righteousness did not come from any good work or moral choice he made – His righteousness came through faith in Christ. (Phil 3:9) Paul’s identity and worth was not rooted in any accomplishment or possession. His \was able to withstand all sorts of loss and trials because of what placing  his faith in Christ won him. (Phil 3:8) He found his identity and worth in the person and work of Christ alone (Phil 3:9) Paul’s life was entirely changed for the better the moment that he placed his faith in Jesus on the road to Damascus, even as earthly troubles followed him from that moment forward. It was all worth it because of the gain that came in trusting in Jesus as his Savior and Lord.

Jesus was not merely a bold teacher to glean truth from. He was not simply a moral man who is worth emulating. Jesus is the Son of God who came to be the living prophecy of the serpent crusher from Genesis 3:15. He is the very Word of God (John 1:12) who came to this Earth so that all who receive Him might become children of God.

When we see Jesus as He truly is – our Savior, our Lord, our everything – we see the only One who we can fully rest our lives on.