Foundations for Success > Fourth Commandment

Celebrate Life & God

It amazes me to hear people speak of Christianity as a dour religion that shuns fun. Have you ever looked through the Old Testament and seen all the Festivals and Feasts these people performed? At one point God tells His people to sell 10% of their livestock and buy strong drink (adult beverages) with which to celebrate. And do you remember the story of Jesus at the wedding? (John 2) The party is moving along smoothly until the wine steward announces he is about out of wine. Mary goes to her son to see if there is anything He can do about this. Jesus then goes and turns water into the very best of wine. Does He use this as an opportunity to proclaim His deity? No. Does He perform the miracle so everyone can see His power? No. He simply and quietly makes the wine so as to add to the joy of the celebration.

Spiritually healthy people celebrate life, employ their talents in the service of others, enjoy the gifts of God's creation and consistently experience the abundant life promised by Jesus. (John IO: IO) Does this sound like a dreary life? Does this sound like God wants us to be a boring, people? Sounds to me like God wants us to experience far more joy then we can possibly imagine.

Reorientation

I suggest that one of the reasons so many of us fail to experience the sort of joyfulness God desires for us can be traced back to this particular ground rule. Obviously, God expects us to work hard but also to rest and worship. In other words, our life is to have symmetry, a harmony between work and rest, serving others and taking time out to meditate on God, reflect upon God and honor God. In short, life is not all about work but must also include worship.

By "worship" I am referring to a focused attention upon thinking of God, thanking God for the many gifts we have been given, and even enjoying God by reveling in the beauty that is all around us, beauty that is given by a gracious, loving God. Many religious traditions have developed prayers and songs that express the faith or the beliefs of their tradition and that help their followers tune their hearts and minds to the eternal.

Individuals who fail to properly integrate work and worship will ultimately fail to experience life as God intended. If I give myself to working hard but fail to stop and worship, stop and re-create myself, stop and remember Who it is that has given me the time, the strength, the opportunity, the resources to provide for my family and serve others, I will prove myself self-centered and ungrateful. However, if I spend all my time worshipping, going to religious meetings or performing religious rituals I will fail to utilize the gifts and talents God has given me to with which I am to serve others.

Remembering to honor God every week reorients us to who God is, who we are as sons and daughters. Remembering to worship God every week brings our labors to a halt so that we can remember that, without God, there is no blessing, no real success and no abundant life.

People who fail to keep this ground rule often fall into the trap of defining themselves in terms of their work rather then in terms of their relationship with God. Sadly, if anything goes wrong on the job, if I fail in any way in regard to my work, I define myself a failure. Rather then saying, "I have erred here" it becomes "I am an error." If, however, I remember that first and foremost I am a child of God and define myself in terms of this relationship, my perspective is more eternal, healthier and more honoring to God.

A Formal Affair

The worship required here is a formal affair. Go back and read both the Old and New Testament. God's people have always come together for a corporate expression of worship. Once a week God's people gathered together and said to the world around them, "This is the God we worship" and they did so with the help of various forms and structures. Whether it is Jewish, Christian or Islam or other world religions, corporate worship has always been central to the identity of many traditions.

Our culture has a tendency to distrust, if not outright despise, ceremonies and rituals and such things. We see them as smoke and mirrors or as pompous posturing that is totally unnecessary to any spiritual pursuits.

But we miss the point here of why, for example, the Church historically has always gathered on Sunday to worship God and the Jews gather on their Sabbath for the same reason. It is not that the ceremonies and rituals of formal worship are necessary but that they are quite helpful. You and I are not angels but flesh and blood. We need times and places and structures to support our spiritual pursuits.

Think about this. When Jesus told His followers to remember Him when they ate the Lord's Supper, He gave them real bread and wine. They were not left alone with concepts or elusive mystical pursuits but were given physical symbols to help them remember Him in a specific manner. Surely people can become so caught up in ceremonies and formalities that they forget who these things are pointing toward. But I wonder if today the temptation is not getting lost in formalities but failing to truly achieve one of the goals of worship because we refused the help of such formalities.

I suggest also that not only do "times" and "places" help us honor God but also make a group or corporate witness to the culture around us. When Israel was taken captive and forced to live in a foreign God-denying culture, they continually sought to worship together as a family, giving witness to the God they followed. An interesting question to ask here is, would Israel have survived had they failed to gather as one people to worship God and encourage one another?

Of course when any one makes such a suggestion, he or she immediately hears of how bad this church is or how wicked the clergy are and how "I can worship God alone in my living room better then I can at an old dead church." This may all be true but we should consider the value of joining with other people whose journeys are similar to our own, as well as the potential benefits to the societies we live in.

Again, this commandment is not simply about my private spiritual pursuits or tastes but about the sort of witness I give to the world around me. And the question is can I continue to worship God as I should and give the sort of witness I would like, if I do not stand as one with others who follow God as I do?

Read The Next Commandment:
Honor Your Parents