Am I Wrong? Maybe Worship Does Aid in Discipleship...
After some pushback on my recent articles it got me thinking: Maybe I'm wrong about the diverging paths of "worshiping Jesus" and "being a disciple."
The other day I suggested that worshiping Jesus and being a follower of the Way of Jesus are two paths that take you (if not in opposite, then at least) in different directions.
An odd thing to say, I know.
Where does such an idea come from?
As I outlined, when we worship someone or something we are essentially putting that object up on a pedestal. As such, worship inherently involves separation between the object of worship (in this case, Jesus) and the one doing the worshipping (the Christian).
Then on the flip side, being a follower (in this case we might use the term “disciple”) requires that a person earnestly seeks to emulate the one whom they follow. And in order to do that, you must be close.
Put simply:
Distance is a prerequisite for worship.
Closeness is a prerequisite for discipleship.
And yet some of you disagreed with me (which is always a relief when that happens, btw… Lord help us if there are too many people out there who think just like I do! One Colby is more than enough, amiright!?).
The general sentiment of those who disagreed with me can be summed up by a guy named Steve on Instagram who put it like this:
I worship in order to become a disciple.
The simplicity of his statement gave me pause for it has, on its surface, a kind of logic to it. I can see how a person would utilize or practice worship as a method for becoming more of a disciple.
Does that mean my original argument is dead in the water?
If Steve’s claim holds up under further scrutiny, then would that nullify much of what I’ve been writing about here and here?
Since I love having my perspective shift, I’m gonna get curious and ask:
Can worship lead a person to become a disciple?
The first thing that came up for me when I read Steve’s comment was a refrain that I often used back in my worship leading days: We become that which we worship.
We Become What We Worship
The idea here is pretty straightforward. If you put all your attention, all your focus, all your admiration on to something (which could reasonably be described as “worshiping” that thing) then you will, over time, become like that thing.
Using such a calculus we can easily drop in “Jesus” as the object of worship and say, “The more you worship Jesus, the more you will become like him.”
I can imagine plenty of church going people nodding their head in agreement, even mystified that there’s even a question about this.
But I’m not sure that closes the case and awards Steve the blue ribbon just yet.
And here’s why.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Perspective Shift by Colby Martin to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.