What is Worship, Really? | Crossroads Students

When you think of worship, what do you think of? Music? Church? Praying in a circle? But worship isn't just something you do here. It's something you're already doing every single day. Worship is what you give your attention, your energy, and your heart to. And everyone is giving it to something. Music What's up, guys? My name is Jayir, and I'm our worship director here at Crossroads Students. And welcome to week one of our new series, and it's all about one word. Worship. So to kick us off, let me ask you a question. What's the one thing in your life, or item in your life, that if you lost it or someone stole it, it could possibly lead you to the world's worst crash out? Of your whole entire life. Just think of it. Keep it in your brain. Let me tell you mine while you guys are thinking. When I was 14, I was in middle school. And in middle school, you start thinking about the way you look a little different. You start caring about this word called fashion. And so what fashion looked like when I was in middle school is we would wear two items of clothes. And it was skinny jeans and Vans. Music We would wear them all around. All the guys would wear skinny jeans and Vans. We thought we would get all the girls with it. And I wore it endlessly. There was nowhere that I went without my skinny jeans and my Vans. I thought I looked so cool. And I would go to the pool in skinny jeans and Vans. I would go to a basketball game in skinny jeans and Vans. I would even go to a funeral, sadly, in skinny jeans and Vans.

And they were freaking disgusting. I wore them to the ground. My skinny jeans had rips in them. My Vans had holes in them. It was bad. One day, I was waking up for school, getting dressed. I realized my Vans and my skinny jeans were missing. Problem. So I started freaking out. I went to my brother. I thought he was doing a prank. Where are my freaking skinny jeans, bro? Music Went to my sister. I know you have them. You mess around with my stuff all the time. Went to my mom. Where's my skinny jeans and where's my Vans? And my dad looks at me and he says, Jair, I threw them away. They were disgusting. We'll get you a new pair this weekend. And my crash out ended. Everything was fine. But something wasn't fine. Because I was freaking out. But I started asking myself, why was I freaking out? I don't think I was freaking out because I really missed my skinny jeans. I don't even think I was freaking out because I really needed my Vans. I was actually freaking out because I worshipped my clothes. Now, at Crossroads students, you might hear the word worship a thousand times.

Okay? And the word worship has a lot of meaning behind it. But I bet the way you think of it probably looks like this. There's a band on the stage. There's lights that are flashing. There's smoke all around. The band members are singing. It's like a concert and the people are yelling right next to you as loud as literally possible. That's what I think of when I think of worship. But let me tell you something. Today, you're going to find out that worship is so much more than just singing songs. Worship is actually what you give your affection to, what you give your heart to, your emotions to, what you give your attention to. For starters, worship has always been around. It's been around for hundreds of thousands of years. From the time that God created humanity and he introduced himself to us, it's how we described our relationship with God. We would say we would worship him. And when you look at history and specifically, if you think about kings, we use that word worship for kings a lot. Kings would put people in front of them in their palace. And before the king would ever say anything to the people, he would make the people worship him or bow down in front of him or fall on their face or kiss the king's feet. Whatever you want to do, that was worship. It was how we showed that we respected someone, how we showed that they had our attention. It's how we showed that they had our allegiance. That's what worship, but we can probably already tell that worship for us is so much more than just singing. At Crossroads Students, we believe the Bible is and should be our only source of truth.

And so I want to introduce you to someone named Paul who actually helped teach the church all about worship. And here's what he says about worship. He says, See, what Paul is trying to tell us is that worship is way more than just singing. Worship is actually how we get our bodies and our minds involved in giving those things to God. It's telling yourself that I'm not in control anymore. I'm not in charge. God is in charge. And God's not trying to be in charge because he wants to be controlling. God wants to be in charge because he knows it's best for you. Think of it this way. If God is the doctor and we're the patient, then worship is the medicine. The doctor doesn't need the medicine. The patient needs the medicine. Worship is our medicine. It helps us to connect with our creator. It helps us to find true purpose. It helps us to find healing when we need help. That's what worship is. Now, I want you to think about that crash out moment that I told you to hold on to. Maybe you crashed out for some reason that was real. But most of the time we freak out about things because our emotions are connected to it. And then we look back and we're like, I don't know why I was freaking out about that. That's because our emotions and our allegiance are connected. For me, I wasn't just worshipping my Vans. I wasn't just worshipping my skinny jeans. I was worshipping my self image. I was worshipping what I thought about other people thinking of me. Every morning I would wake up and I would think, I hope I look good today. I hope I got the freshest fit on today. Maybe you feel that way. And it's tiring. And sometimes you wake up and you're like, I don't want to do this again. But we do. And I don't think our life was designed to be that way. Maybe for you, this is a good way to identify what things you're worshipping. Most of the time when I would wake up in the morning when I was in middle school, I would think about one thing and it was my skinny jeans and Vans. And it was a good sign to tell me that I was worshipping those things. Every morning I woke up, I was thinking, what am I going to wear today?

How am I going to look good? And maybe for you, the things that you wake up thinking about immediately are the things that you might actually be worshipping or giving your affection to. Maybe you're someone who's giving your affection to your grades in school. Or maybe you're giving your affection to sports. Or maybe it's your girlfriend and your boyfriend. You wake up in the morning and you just text them right away. Maybe you wake up and it's social media. You just pop on Instagram. You don't even think about it. Maybe it's your grades. Or maybe it's that TV show that you just love. Whatever it is that you wake up thinking about in the morning is most of the time a good sign of what you're worshipping. And here's the thing. Those things aren't wrong. Those are actually really good things. To have a girlfriend. It's great to love your girlfriend. To have sports. It's great to be active. To have a TV show that you like. It's good to have some downtime. But when those things become the first thing you think about, when you give your attention and all your allegiance to it, those things are temporary and they'll fail you. But the thing that won't fail you is Jesus. And he cares about you. And so he has something to say about it. That's why Jesus says in Matthew 22 verse 37, Jesus replied, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. Jesus is the medicine for our life. He's the one who knows how to give us true purpose and true healing and true life. Those temporary things in your life, soccer or basketball or TV shows, whatever it is, those things can't fulfill you forever.

And maybe you find yourself chasing after it, like I was chasing after my self-identity, and it had me feeling empty and tired, but Jesus knows how to give you life forever. And so what it boils down to are these three questions. Where does your time go? What do you think about most? And what controls your mood? If you can identify those things, where your time goes, what do you think about most? How does it affect the way you feel and treat people around you? When you think about those things, then you can identify what things you're worshiping, and then you can change that to be directed towards God. And when you give your worship to God, when you give your life to Jesus, Jesus will never fail you. You'll never get tired of going to him. He always wants what's best for you. So spend time in your life discovering what things am I worshiping, and how can I worship God more?