Worship is Warfare

You have come here this morning to worship. And you have come as a soldier in the army of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of life for a Christian is war - war against the world, the flesh, and the devil. You are "casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5).

Worship is warfare. As you magnify the name of Christ, you are making every thought a captive to Christ's Word. The day is coming when our worship in heaven will be in perfect peace, when the war will be over. But here and now, God prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies. We sing and pray within earshot of the camp of the adversary.

When we walk outside after worship, we don't have to look far to see many who have not bowed their knee to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. But the answer is not to accost them and demand why not. The answer is for us to learn how to bend our knee to Christ - and that more and more. Unbelievers do not understand worship because we do not fully understand worship.

So as you prepare to worship this Lord's Day, know that you are part of an army that is on the offensive. You are the church militant. Your banner is the glory of the Lord, and your captain is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Prepare yourself. Gird up the loins of your mind. You are going into battle.