Advent– Part 2: Worship Fully

Last week I introduced a Christian movement known as the Advent Conspiracy (www.adventconspiracy.org). It’s a movement to rethink Christmas. Now, please don’t read “rethink Christmas” and think that I’m recommending we ruin it. That’s not the point at all. Instead, it’s a mentality to approach the holiday season focused on this truth: In Jesus Christ, we’ve been given our greatest gift to meet our greatest need.

Understanding this truth should lead to a holiday season that results in an abundance of love, rest, peace, gratitude, humility, generosity, obedience, play and more. But to experience this, we’ll need to conspire against the cultural pressures, or temptations, that we often feel in December. We can do this by worshiping fully, spending less, giving more, loving all, and finally, receiving freely.

Today I would like to focus on the idea of worshiping fully. We worship fully when we worship God with all that we are and all that we have. Worship reflects what is going on in our hearts. The easiest and most practical way for us to evaluate what we desire at a heart level is to take an honest look at how we spend our time, energy, and money because doing so will indicate what matters most to us.

Does the way you spend your time, energy, and money reflect a heart of worship toward God?

I remember being stuck in traffic one Saturday in December many years ago thinking about all of this. I was shopping for my wife, Stacy, and failing miserably. Even though I had a passenger seat full of stuff, I was pretty sure she didn’t need or even want any of it (don’t worry, it wasn’t a vacuum cleaner or blender or anything like that!). I had wasted my time, energy, and money, and I found my heart far from worshipful. Instead, I was distracted, discouraged, and distraught. I knew something wasn’t right.

Perhaps you can relate. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Nearly every character that encountered the infant King in the Christmas story responded in worship. And today they serve as our examples. What could worshiping fully look like for you in this season of Advent?

It could look like humility. That was Mary’s initial act of worship upon receiving news from the angel Gabriel that she would conceive by the Holy Spirt, give birth to a son, and name him Jesus (Luke 1:31). Gabriel went on to tell her, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end” (Luke 1:32-33, CSB).

There was more to their conversation than that. But the point is that God was about to do something incredible through the life of a teenage virgin from a hillbilly town that didn’t get any respect from the rest of the region. What was Mary’s response? It was humility. She said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38, ESV).

Worshiping fully could also look like obedience. That was Joseph’s act of worship. Joseph’s part in the Advent Conspiracy is interesting. One day, the woman he was betrothed to marry came to him and confessed that she was with child by the Holy Spirit. If I was in his position, I probably wouldn’t hear anything past, “I’m pregnant and, well, we both know it’s not yours.”

That’s when we get a glimpse of Joseph’s character. He struggled with the news—so much so that he wanted to break off the engagement. But he also didn’t want to expose Mary to the public scrutiny and shame that was bound to follow. He desired to do it quietly.

That’s when God stepped in. An angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and commanded him to do something very difficult. He commanded Joseph to take Mary as his wife and take everything else that would come along with doing so. What was Joseph’s response? It was obedience. We read, “When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus” (Matthew 1:24-25, NLT).

Worshiping fully could take many different forms besides praise and prayer. The shepherds’ act of worship was to share the Good News that they had experienced with others (Luke 2:17). Anna’s act of worship was gratitude (Luke 2:38). The Magi’s act of worship a bit later was generosity (Matthew 2:11). The common theme is that all these people worshiped the Lord according to their character and their ability.

How could you worship fully this Advent season?

Is it according to one of the ways mentioned above? Perhaps focusing on all of them at once is overwhelming. If so, pray through the list and pick out the act of worship that you identify with most, or think up one of your own. Then worship accordingly this month.