Why We Worship | Jesus’ Life
We’re in the Easter season. This time of year has a lot of tradition attached to it. Some will have fond memories of their past Easter experiences at church growing up, and some will remember it just as a time of the year where family gets together again; another “holiday.”
Tradition is not a bad thing, but it can oftentimes get twisted when we forget the true meaning behind why it began. As Christians, we need to always have the right purpose before us as we lead this life so that we’re careful not to find comfort and joy in the tradition itself. Think of those who experience church only around holidays such as Easter. What will they encounter? Or what about those who join the faith? Are they required to take on and care for the tradition in the same way? Or, as now Christ-followers, are they not simply called to worship God with their lives; to give up their life in order to find it? So in this Easter season, it’d do us good to ask ourselves, why do we worship?
Now, I mean that as a personal question, more like “why do I worship.” Anyone could give the theological reasoning behind why we celebrate and commemorate in the Easter season, even non-Christians. This needs to be answered by you, from within. As we think about why we worship, we should always think about the man who we follow in this life: Jesus our Christ. What do we see in Jesus’ teachings and the life that he led that should provoke us to give our life as a living sacrifice?
He reveals to us
Jesus revealed the Father to us in his life. This was displayed in the things he did and the ideas/teachings he showed us. The sermon on the mount that we love so dearly points us all to something deeper.
He emphasizes meekness, mercy, peacemaking, and a pursuit of righteousness among other things and proclaims individuals with these characteristics as blessed (Matthew 5:3–12).
He reveals that we should love and pray for our enemies, and shows that anyone can love on people who will love them back, but it is a true worshiper of God who will do this for their enemy (Matthew 5:43–48).
Don’t lay up treasures on this earth ….for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:19, 21).
Do not be anxious about your life, about what you will eat or drink, or about what tomorrow will bring, but rather seek God’s kingdom and he will take care of you (Matthew 6:25–34).
When asked about it being lawful to heal a man on the Sabbath, not only does Jesus heal this man with the withered hand, but proclaims “It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:12).
He gives us a full representation of the mind of the Father and how the Father wants us to engage with this world we live in. He gives us knowledge and insight that we wouldn’t have had any other way. This is an act of love on behalf of the Father and the Son. They want us to know the character and heart of God. We worship Jesus and follow him with our lives because he has revealed the true nature of the Father, and only through laying down our lives in pursuit of following him can we truly find the Father.
He cares for us
To take on the analogy you see in the gospel of John, Jesus is the good shepherd and we are his sheep. If you claim to be a sheep under the care of the good shepherd, you should know his voice. His voice will guide you because you know and recognize your shepherd’s voice. He is the gatekeeper and opens it for us to enter a full life. But we must be able to recognize his voice when he calls us. For he’s calling us to his pasture, where such a life exists.
I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father. And I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them in as well, and they will listen to My voice. Then there will be one flock and one shepherd. (John 10:14–16 BSB)
We worship Jesus because he takes care of those who know his voice and follow it. He lays down his life for his flock. This is mind-bending a little, because if I had to choose between a human being’s life and the life of a sheep, I would choose to save the human. Likewise, Jesus’ life, by all accounts, is more valuable than any of ours. And yet, he paints the picture of the shepherd laying down his life for the sheep. And as we contemplate this, knowing full well our own capacity to be so sheeplike, it should make us marvel at this reality.
He is our example
We know he is the perfect example of what a human being is. But he also sets examples for us to live out on this earth; not ones that are unattainable but rather ones that are for our own good.
You call Me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so, because I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example so that you should do as I have done for you. Truly, truly, I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. (John 13:13–17 BSB)
He could simply tell us to do this. Instead, he shows us. He never tells us to do things that he doesn’t also do. He says no servant is greater than his master, and proceeds to wash their feet, therefore stating that if this is of worth for the master to do, surely it is something the servants must do as well.
We worship Jesus with our lives because he is our very real example to follow after. Yes, he is our Savior, but he didn’t simply come down as a thirty-three-year-old man and die for our sins, resurrect, and then go back to heaven. The narrative that we’re caught up in is more complex, more deep, and even more beautiful than that, as hard as that is to believe. In this Easter season, we can have a service, sing songs, and listen as a resurrection-oriented sermon is spoken. But let’s not forget the “why” behind all of this. If we do, we’ll be no different than a family who comes together and partakes in tradition because that’s what they always do and have always done.
No, he’s calling us to more. He always has been. His example of a life demands that we worship with our lives, fully and sacrificially to him.
Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever believes in Me will also do the works that I am doing. (John 14:12 BSB)
—Luke Soliwoda