One day, Paul the apostle was accused of persuading people to “worship God contrary to the law”. (Acts 18:13) Paul was accused of many things but this stands out as a curious one.
Paul was in Corinth. We all know Corinth as a city where the church had some real big issues. Paul later wrote them to correct problems in the church. But at this time he was teaching something that was considered worship contrary to the law. What could that be?
Religion is pretty well accepted by most people but what Paul was doing was in contrast to do the practises of the Jews. Simply put, Paul was “testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ”. (Acts 18:5) To the Jews, circumcision was a religious act that had to be done but Paul told the Philippians that Jews are only “the true circumcision” if they worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh”. (Philippians 3:3) The Greek word that Paul used for worship means to reverence. Proclaiming who Jesus is may not be worship according to law but it is true worship of God.
Today, our opposition comes from a different source. We could say that worshiping Jesus Christ is not “politically correct”. Society has no problem with choosing your own religion, but to say that Jesus Christ is the ONLY way might bring the PC police down on us much like what happened to Paul. The religious leaders wielded a lot of political power in his day.
When Hannaniah, Mishael and Azariah were commanded in Babylon to worship something other than God, they said, “we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up”. (Daniel 3:18) It was not politically correct to worship the Creator but they did, even at the threat of death.
Worshiping Jesus Christ may not make sense to those who don’t know him but for the redeemed, we can’t help it. We see who Jesus is and we are captured by how very wonderful he is.
Paul said, “every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord”. (Philippians 2:10) He also said that “every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord”. (Philippians 2:11) Worship may not fit the culture of the world right now, but that will all change one day.
No matter what anyone or anything will tell us, Jesus Christ is worthy of worship in the market place as well as in the church. He is the mighty King. He is the Redeemer of mankind and he is beautiful beyond comparison.
Contrasting the death of King Uzziah, Isaiah saw the Lord seated on the throne. His glory was so great that worship surrounded him. After watching a most impressive worship service, Isaiah said, “woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts”. (Isaiah 6:5)
We humbly worship God for who he is and it really doesn’t matter if the world doesn’t like it. Even if it isn’t politically correct. We appreciate your Comments