Have you noticed lately that there are fewer and fewer people who are willing to take responsibility for anything? Recently I’ve noticed this in politics, it always seems the other party is to blame for the economy. I’ve also noticed it American culture with the emphasis on personal rights.
Speaking at the Sunday night fellowship
Unfortunately this attitude of irresponsibility has struck the church as well, which is why I decided to talk about the importance of responsibility for our Sunday evening fellowship.
Amazingly the first thing God did after he created Man was to give him a responsibility? Man’s first responsibility was to rule over the earth! God didn’t start Adam off with something little like taking care of a couple of cows and pruning a few trees, rather he gave Adam oversight of the whole earth!
Yes, Adam had a job to do before the sin entered the world and corrupted things. Adam worked and Adam fulfilled his responsibility perfectly, at least for awhile. Responsibility and the work that it requires are both good things that existed in a perfect world.
Participants sharing what they found in God’s Word
What does responsibility tell us?
- We have a job to do Matthew 28:19-20
- We must be faithful 1 Corinthians 4:1-2
- We live in relation Ephesians 5:18 -6:19
- We have others who depend upon us 1 Timothy 5:8
- We must give a report Matthew 24:46
As followers of Christ we should be known for our responsibility as citizens, in the family, at work, in school and in the church. So where do we start? We need to start with the greatest responsibility of every living person on earth, which is to worship God!
We wrote down some Biblical responsibilities on the whiteboard
Worship as a responsibility
You’ve may have never thought of worship as being a responsibility before, so let me explain a little. Man was created as a worshiping being, thus we all worship all the time. The responsibility is to destroy all other god’s in our life so that we worship the one true God only! This is exactly what God was talking about in the first commandment.
You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God
Exodus 20:3-6
Christina sharing some thoughts
Our responsibility to worship God is more than just singing a few songs and managing to sit through a sermon on Sunday morning. In order for true worship to happen all idols of the heart must be destroyed and our whole life dedicated to honoring the One True God! It is an all consuming passion that turns every aspect of our life into worship.
However, if you are like me you’ve found that this kind of worshiping lifestyle takes work and often we are irresponsible in our worship. Sometimes we forget that we can’t just get rid of idols in our life, we have to replace them with right worship of the right God!
Questions: Do you agree that worshipping God is man’s greatest responsibility? In what area of life do you find it difficult to worship God? What are some ways we can effectively destroy idols in our life and replace them with healthy worship?
Further reading:
Desiring God, Revised Edition: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist
