Receiving the Downpour: Christ-Centered Worship
Pastor John Son
Colossians 1:15-20
Introduction
We live in a world that is obsessed with efficiency.
We want faster internet, shorter meetings, and quicker results. We measure value by how much we can get done in the least amount of time. And that way of thinking doesn’t stop when we walk into church.
Recently, I received some honest feedback that our worship service at New Hope can feel long—because of announcements, testimonies, and long sermons. And I want to say clearly: that feedback wasn’t wrong or offensive. It was honest. And to be transparent, I am intentionally trying to keep my sermons a bit shorter.
That feedback reflects the world we live in, especially here in downtown Toronto. We’re busy. Our schedules are full. Time feels scarce. So it’s natural to ask, “Is this the best use of my time?”
But beneath that question is a deeper one: What do we believe worship is actually for?
If worship is mainly about efficiency, then shorter is always better. Less is always more. Anything that doesn’t feel immediately useful feels unnecessary.
But Scripture presents worship very differently. Worship isn’t designed to be efficient; it’s designed to be formative. It’s not meant to get us quickly back to our lives; it’s meant to re-center us so that we can live rightly.
So the question isn’t, “How efficient is our worship?”
The question is, “What is worship forming us to remember?”
Because worship shapes our memory, and what we remember shapes how we live.
If worship is centered mainly on efficiency, what we tend to remember is how quickly we got through it. But that kind of memory doesn’t form lasting faith or deepen our love for God.
When worship is centered on Jesus, we remember His grace, His love, His truth, and His work on our behalf. And those memories carry into our lives—shaping our hearts, guiding our decisions, and forming how we live.
1. Worship Reveals What Shapes Our Lives and Holds Our Lives Together
Whether we realize it or not, worship is never neutral. Every time we gather, something is being highlighted. And whatever is highlighted doesn’t just inform us—it forms us.
Constance Cherry compares worship to architecture. For an architect, no space is accidental. The design intentionally directs your attention and shows you what matters most. In the same way, worship is not just something we do; it is something that is shaping what we notice, what we value, and what we learn to love.
Every human being worships something. Whether we realize it or not, we all center our lives on something we believe will hold us together—and worship reveals that center.
For some, that center is work. For others, it’s relationships, money, family, or a certain lifestyle. None of these things are bad in themselves. Many are good and God-given. But when they become the things we look to for meaning, security, or coherence, they begin to shape what we love and trust.
That’s why the Westminster Shorter Catechism begins where it does.
It doesn’t start with behavior. It doesn’t start with morality, duty, or rules for living a good life. It begins by addressing the center.
The very first question asks:
“What is the chief end of humanity?”
In other words: What holds together the meaning of our existence?
The reason this question comes first is because if we get the center wrong, everything else becomes disordered—even good things. But when the center is right, everything else can find its proper place.
And the answer the Catechism gives is simple, but profoundly countercultural:
“To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.”
To glorify God means recognizing His worth and His weight—that He is not one important thing among many, but the One around whom everything else is ordered.
And to enjoy God means that He is not only the One we serve, but the One in whom we find our deepest joy, stability, and security.
When you put those two together, you have worship.
Worship is how our lives are trained and shaped—over time—to look to God as both our highest worth and our deepest joy.
And Paul presses this truth even further in verse 17:
“He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”
Here Paul reveals the decisive truth beneath all worship: it is Jesus Himself who holds our lives together—not our effort, not our planning, not our success or relationships. Christ is the One in whom our lives find meaning and coherence.
And if that is true, then Jesus cannot simply be part of our worship. He must be the center of it.
2. True Worship Must Be Built on Jesus at the Center
If worship reveals what we love and what we believe holds our lives together, then the most important question becomes this: Who belongs at the center of our worship?
Paul is very intentional here. He does not point us to a better structure of worship, a stronger emotional experience, or a more effective strategy. He points us to a Person.
Verse 15 begins: “He is the image of the invisible God.”
If we want to know what God is like—what He values, how He loves, how He rules, how He saves—we don’t look inward and we don’t speculate. We look to Jesus.
True worship is built on revelation, not imagination. We don’t create a version of God that fits our preferences, comfort, or culture. We respond to the God who has revealed Himself in Christ. Jesus is not one possible picture of God; He is the definitive picture.
Paul continues in verse 16: “For by Him all things were created… all things were created through Him and for Him.”
This means worship is not primarily about what we bring to God. It is about recognizing who Jesus already is. Everything exists through Him—He is the source. Everything exists for Him—He is the goal.
So worship is not us inviting Jesus into our space. It is us recognizing that we are already standing in His.
Then Paul presses even deeper in verse 17: “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”
Jesus is not only the Creator of all things; He is the Sustainer of all things. Our lives, our faith, our relationships, and the church itself continue to exist only because Christ holds them together.
This is why worship cannot be built on our emotions, focus, or performance. Those things fluctuate. Some weeks we feel strong; other weeks we feel weary or distracted. If worship were built on us, it would collapse. But worship is stable because Christ is stable. Worship is possible not because we are faithful, but because Jesus is.
Paul then applies this truth directly to the church in verse 18:
“He is the head of the body, the church.”
The church does not exist because we organize well or try hard. It exists because Christ gives it life, direction, and unity. The church is not held together by shared preferences or personalities, but by our shared dependence on Jesus Christ.
And finally, Paul grounds everything in the cross.
Verse 20 says: “and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things… making peace by the blood of His cross.”
Worship is not our attempt to move toward God. It is our response to the fact that God has already moved toward us.
It is built on reconciliation already accomplished, peace already made, and grace already given.
And when worship is built there—on who Jesus is and what He has done—it becomes a place of rest rather than pressure, trust rather than performance, and gratitude rather than striving.
Application
So what does this mean for us as a church family?
We don’t come to worship to bring something impressive to God. We come to receive again the truth that Christ is enough and that He is holding us together. Worship is built on Christ’s faithfulness, not our readiness.
How we participate in worship matters. When we sing, listen to Scripture, hear testimonies, and share fellowship, we are being re-centered on Christ. These practices train our hearts to trust the One who holds us together.
We measure worship differently. Not by efficiency, smoothness, or attendance, but by this question: Did we leave more aware of Jesus than when we arrived?
Worship doesn’t end when the service ends. What we center on Sunday is what we carry into the rest of the week. When Christ is at the center, He shapes our work, relationships, priorities, and generosity.
My brothers and sisters, this is how a life of overflow begins—not by striving harder, but by returning again and again to the One who is already holding us together.
