Worship Sanctifies
- Matt Timmons
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
When Moses came down off the mountain, his face burned bright with the glory of God (Exodus 34:29).
Moses had gone up the mountain to meet with the Lord. There, he encountered the radical nature of God’s holy presence. It was so dynamic that it transformed his appearance. It was like some sort of divine radiation. The experience was so monumental that his flesh was scalded by the infinite glory of God.
It stands to reason that contact with God’s presence will inevitably have some sort of effect on your life. You cannot meet with God and not be changed by it.
That’s why worship is the ultimate key to sanctification. If you want to break free from pornography, you must go into the presence of God. The more you worship God, the more you will be changed.
Scripture teaches that you become like what you worship (Psalm 115:8). The prophets mocked the Israelites for their idolatry by pointing out that the worshipper of the mute, dumb idol became mute and dumb himself. Little by little, these Israelites mutated into the likeness of futile pieces of wood and stone.
Those who worship God, on the other hand, will become like God. Just as Moses’ appearance glowed with God’s glory as he met with Him, believers begin to glow with the likeness of God as they meet with Him in worship.
Think about it. You know it is true. As you gave your life over to pornography, you were incrementally changed into a creature of shame. If you are honest, you will admit that you were not just looking at smut, you were becoming smut. Somehow, in your obsession with the flesh of others, you found yourself becoming more carnal, more driven by your own flesh, and less spiritual.
How is that reversed? How do you become holy? What can you do to break with the fleshly-oriented life and become more spiritually enlightened?
It is through the worship of God.
This is the most important reason why you must unite yourself to a strong, Bible-believing
church. You need a place where you can worship God. Committing to regular worship attendance will have a transformative effect on your life. You might not feel anything when you gather corporately with the saints. It will not be as dramatic as what Moses experienced on the mountain. In many respects, it may seem pretty bland. But as you sit under the ministry of God’s Word, participate in the Communion Supper of the Lord’s Table, and sing your praises to God, the Spirit of God will be doing something to you.
You will, little by little, become more like God. You will be renewed in the image of His Son.
You will find that worship will cause your desires to morph. Over time, you will be less attracted to pornography. You will actually become more and more repulsed by it. This is because the worship of God will transform your cravings. They will become more holy, more heavenly.
At some point, after having been immersed in God through true, heartfelt worship week after week and year after year, you will realize that something miraculous has happened. It may have been imperceptible, but, as you look back, you will not be able to deny that it happened. Because of your worship, you now savor that which you cannot see more than the pornography that you stared at for so long.
This article is an excerpt from Freedom from Porn by Matt Timmons, now available from Lucerna Press
Matt Timmons is the pastor of Hopewell Church in Ashland, Ohio.
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