This is faith.

A call to worship.

Themes

Transforming power • Submission • Selfism • Authenticity • Pride • The powers of our age • The cross of Christ • The faith of Christ • Grace • Acts of Love • Surrender • Freedom • Self-abandonment • Will • Service • Devotion

Our culture of selfism, built on false notions of individual authenticity and pride, renders us morally and spiritually dysfunctional and, in the end, disorders our relationship with God and our relationships with others.

We are either oriented toward God or away from Him. This seems to be a most fundamental truth embedded in every choice and in every action we take. Apart from God, we cannot be free from these disabling powers of our age and from their ever-growing effects on our lives, and our thinking, and our relationships.

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Scripture reading

Romans 10:17
Romans 1:5
Galatians 2:20

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This call to worship¹ comes from the Apostle Paul. He writes this about faith:

Faith — 
faith comes from what is heard, 
and what is heard 
comes through the Word of Christ.

And he writes about the impact that faith has on us. He writes:

Through Jesus Christ, 
we received apostleship —
Paul says of himself —
we received apostleship
to call all to the obedience of faith 
for the sake of His name.

And he writes further about what enables our obedience of faith. He writes: 

It is no longer I who live, 
but it is Christ who lives in me. 
And the life I now live in the flesh, 
I live by the faith of the Son of God, — 
not by my own faith, 
but by His faith; 
by the faith of the Son of God — 
who loved me and gave Himself for me.

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Prayer

Father in heaven, 
in light of Your gospel, 
help us to have 
the appropriate posture 
as we meet and live 
in front of You. 

Open us up
to all of Your transforming power. 
And enable us 
to respond in obedience to it, 
in fidelity with it, 
and in submission. 
These are words that rub against us 
because of the culture we’re in — 
a culture of selfism 
built on false notions 
of individual authenticity and pride 
that render us 
morally and spiritually dysfunctional, 
and in the end
disorder our relationship with You 
and our relationships with others.

We are either oriented toward You 
or away from You. 
This seems, Father, 
to be a most fundamental truth 
embedded in every choice 
and in every action we take. 
And apart from You, 
we cannot be free 
from these disabling powers of our age 
and from their ever-growing effects 
on our lives, 
and our thinking, 
and our relationships.

The only solution to this 
is the cross of Christ, 
which is His faithfulness to You 
and His loving service to us. 
The cross of Christ
is the faith of Your Son, 
who loved me 
and gave Himself for me. 

And His faith 
is our faith. 
His life 
is our life.

So, Father, 
continue to transform us — 
that is, continue to open our eyes 
and our minds 
and our hearts —
toward all the options and choices 
that flow from a right relationship with You — 
that flow out of His life 
and into ours. 
Continue to form within us 
over and over 
that simple and basic decision 
to always accept the love and grace 
You offer to us 
in Christ. 
Free us 
and gift us 
to keep refusing ourselves 
and to do so over and over again 
as ongoing acts of love to You. 

For this is what faith is — 
a total act of ongoing complete surrender 
of ourselves to You 
and to the demand You make on us. 
We want to be placed 
unreservedly at Your disposal; 
You created us 
and so You hold 
the greatest claim on us.

Father, we want to be so activated 
by this most basic freedom — 
the freedom to serve You. 
We want it so integrated 
into our every intention 
and into every part of our being, 
into all areas of our lives, 
such that every choice we make
flows from a love of You  
and changes the lives of those around us 
and the worlds we occupy — 
the world of our home, 
our employment, 
our sports team, 
our place of volunteering, 
our classroom, 
our dance recitals. 

Help us, Father, 
to experience faith 
that is greater than intellectual assent 
to a set of creeds and doctrines; 
that is greater than simply trusting; 
that is bigger than only an initial experience 
we’ve had of You.
It is some of this, 
but it is more than this. 
Help our faith
to be an ongoing response to Your gospel — 
to be abandonment 
to You as Father, 
as it was and is 
the life of Your Son

Invade our will 
with Your grace 
and free our will 
for the glad service of You 
and our neighbor. 

This is our only appropriate posture before You. 
This is faith. 
It is devotion. 
It is the refusal of all other loves and loyalties. 
It is our self-abandonment. 
It is the faith of Jesus. 
It is the fundamental stance 
that defined His life 
as the one true human being, 
having the perfect posture 
of faithful obedience to You, 
expressed supremely in His death, 
even death on a cross. 

Father, turn our various notions 
and understandings of faith 
into Christ-faith, 
into the relationship with You 
that Jesus himself made real, 
such that because He lived this way, 
it now characterizes our own existence. 

Turn our static beliefs, 
turn our assent to the various truths 
we know of You, 
turn them into a constant way of living — 
a constantly unfolding narrative toward You. 

In the name of Jesus Christ, 
whose one cosmic 
and apocalyptic 
act of obedience to You — 
his obedient death — 
brought an end to death’s reign, 
and thus began life itself again 
such that sin is no longer our norm, 
and the righteousness of One 
has led to the righteousness of many,
Amen

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Inspiring resources

A call to worship creates wonderment, amazement, curiosity, yearning, captivation, provocation, hopefulness, thankfulness, affection, rapture, delight. As these mix together, the response is worship.

If this call to worship leaves you wondering or curious or provoked or hopeful, consider diving into this awesome book which inspired me to write this call to worship.

1. This call to worship was given to the small assembly of Christians that gathered in Pathway Church, Beaverdam, Michigan, on June 19, 2022.