Were you ever as a kid disappointed when you opened your presents on Christmas day? You had been asking for a particular something. You just knew you were going to get it and then...the big disappointment. It wasn't there. And, it wasn't that your folks forgot to put it out or were messing with your mind...it just was not there. As a consequence your Christmas was a bust.

Ever leave Sunday worship feeling the same way? I have. Many do. "I came looking for something, expecting something...and it wasn't there. The service was a bust." No doubt, in these days the service may truly have been the pits. That certainly is a possibility given the liberalism that infests much of Christianity on the one hand, and the modern silliness that infests much of the church on the other.

However, the first factor in this equation that needs examination is you and me. The first question that needs to be asked is, "Is the problem the service of worhip, or is it me?" The child's disappointment at Christmas was not that he failed to get something. The problem was that his whole frame of mind and orientation were wrong. In his childness immaturity Christmas was defined in terms of what was coming his way. When the child grew into an adult, Christmas began to be defined in terms of giving to others. This change in perspective makes all the difference in the world. Joy at Christmas is no longer defined in terms of what on receives but in terms of what one gives. And lo and behold, when this is the case it is remarkable what joy the smallest and humblest of gifts received brings.

		Worship Is Not... Worship is not, first and foremost, about receiving something! It is about giving something.

Professor Blackwood used to say, "The wrong way to worship is to strive to get. The right way to worship is to wish to give." The old Puritan, well, actually he's not old, he's dead, Thomas Chalmers wrote, "When we believe that we should be satisfied rather than God glorified in our worship then we put God below ourselves as if He had been made for us rather than that we had been made for Him."

I rather suspect that one reason many Christians are disappointed on a regular basis with worship is because they are looking for the wrong thing. They're looking for that celestial Christmas present on Sunday morning rather than for the opportunity to give something to God.

Worship is not, first and foremost, about receiving something! It is about giving something. If you're coming to get you're going to go away disappointed. If you're coming to give you're going to go away satisfied and filled with joy.

What Christians do on Sunday morning is worship. It differs radically from what one did the night before at, say, a performance of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. One goes to the symphony to be entertained by a performance. One's enjoyment of the performance depends in large part on the quality of the performance. If the musicians are up to snuff and inspired and their play is good then it's a great performance and one goes away satisfied. The review in the Star Telegram the next morning focuses on the orchestra and how they did. Not on the audience.

Worship is altogether different. When one goes to worship one goes not to be passively entertained by a performance, but to actively perform worship for God. In worship the congregation is the orchestra. God is the audience. The review in The Star Transcendentgram the next morning focuses on the performance of the worshippers.

This means that your preparations and expectations will focus not on what you expect the minister or choir or musicians, etc., to do for you, but on what you will do to ascribe all worth and thanksgiving and praise to God.

And guess what happens when you are so committed to giving as opposed to receiving. That's right. But after all, didn't Jesus say, "It is more blessed to give than to receive"?