July 20, 2025: Five Things that Jesus Never Said "Worship Me", Rev. Dr. Rhonda Abbott Blevins
He called the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
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Recently I got back on Instagram after a long hiatus. I know, I know . . . probably not my best decision. I blame my friend, who keeps sending me Instagram posts expecting me to comment. This brain rot is surely not my own fault . . . right?
It’s interesting, the Instagram algorithm . . . what it shows me based on the data it’s collected from me. For some strange reason, Instagram thinks I’m interested in learning from weight-lifting influencers, showing me all the best exercises to do with free weights. To be fair, and to give Insta some cred, I quite enjoy watching these people show me the exercises. I’m kind of low-key obsessed watching other people work out from the comfort of my sofa.
But do you want to know the last time I actually lifted free weights? Let’s see, it was one . . . two . . . three . . . decades ago?
Do you see a disconnect here?
It’s one thing to watch others demonstrate exercises, and another thing entirely to engage those exercises ourselves.
I fear this is how too many of us engage our faith. Sure, we come to church, maybe even most Sundays. We sing the hymns, pray the prayers, read the liturgy, and we think we’ve done our part.
The question I want to ask today is this: what if God cares more about how we live Monday through Saturday then what we do on Sunday mornings? What if the life of faith is less about worship, and more about our daily walk?
Father Richard Rohr takes this thought a step further: “Worship of Jesus is rather harmless and risk-free; actually following Jesus changes everything.”
Here’s the thing: Jesus never said, “Worship me.” This is so important, and why I decided to conclude the “Top 5 Things Jesus Never Said” series with this. Jesus never said, “Worship me.”
Do you know what he said instead? He said, “Follow me.” Say that with me? “Follow me.” To substantiate this claim, here are some of the times we read about Jesus telling someone to follow him:
Matthew 4:19 & Mark 1:17 - Jesus calls Simon Peter and Andrew while they were fishing, saying “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Matthew 8:22 & Luke 9:59 - Jesus responds to a disciple who wanted to first bury his father, saying “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
Matthew 9:9 & Mark 2:14 & Luke 5:27 - Jesus calls Matthew (Levi) the tax collector, simply saying “Follow me.”
Matthew 16:24 & Mark 8:34 & Luke 9:23 - Jesus tells his disciples, “If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
Matthew 19:21 & Mark 10:21 & Luke 18:22 - Jesus tells the rich young ruler, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
John 1:43 - Jesus finds Philip and tells him “Follow me.”
John 21:19 - After predicting Peter’s death, Jesus says to Peter, “Follow me.”
John 21:22 - When Peter asks about John’s fate, Jesus responds, “What is that to you? You must follow me.”
In contrast, here are all the times Jesus said, “Worship me”:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Oh that’s right! Jesus never said, “Worship me.”
Now, I’m not suggesting that we shouldn’t worship Jesus. With that, let’s think about the nature of worship itself.
The word “worship” comes from the Old English “worthscipe” - literally meaning “worth-ship” or ascribing worth to something. When we worship, we’re making a declaration about what we consider valuable, precious, and deserving of our highest regard. Worship is fundamentally about attribution - we’re saying, “this has ultimate worth in my life.”
Worship isn’t inherently wrong - in fact, it’s unavoidable. Every human being worships something. The question isn’t whether we’ll worship, but what we’ll worship. We ascribe ultimate worth to career success, to family approval, to financial security, to comfort, to political ideologies, to our own self-image - and yes, sometimes to Jesus himself.
But here’s what I want us to consider: Jesus didn’t come primarily seeking our worship. He came offering us a way of life. When he said, “Follow me,” he wasn’t asking people to gather in circles and sing songs about how wonderful he was. He was inviting them into a radical new way of being human - a way marked by love for enemies, care for the marginalized, simplicity, forgiveness, and self-sacrifice.
The problem comes when we make worship the end goal rather than the beginning point. When we ascribe worth to Jesus but then stop there, we’ve missed the invitation entirely. It’s like telling someone “You’re the most valuable person in my life” and then ignoring everything they say. True worship of Jesus - truly ascribing worth to him - means we value what he valued, we prioritize what he prioritized, and we live like he lived.
The Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard gave us a penetrating critique of what we’ve made of worship through what he called the “theater of worship.” Picture this: you walk into a grand cathedral on Sunday morning. The music is beautiful, the sermon is eloquent, the atmosphere is reverent. Everyone is moved, everyone feels spiritually uplifted, everyone goes home feeling they’ve had a meaningful religious experience.
But Kierkegaard asked a troubling question: What if we’ve got the whole thing backwards? What if we’ve turned worship into entertainment where we’re the audience, the pastor and worship leaders are the performers, and God is . . . well, God has somehow been relegated to the role of prompter, whispering lines from the wings?
In Kierkegaard’s understanding, authentic Christian worship should work very differently. God should be the audience - the one we’re performing for. Each individual Christian should be the actor, living out their faith before the watching eyes of the Almighty. And the pastor and worship leaders? The worship leaders should simply be the prompters, quietly reminding us of our lines when we forget them.
You see the radical difference? In the theater of worship that Kierkegaard criticized, we come to be spiritually entertained. We evaluate the “performance” - was the music good? Was the sermon inspiring? Did I feel moved? We’re consumers of a religious product. But in true worship, we’re not the audience - we’re the ones on stage, and our real life is the performance that matters.
This is exactly what happens when we focus on worshipping Jesus rather than following him. We turn our faith into a weekly theatrical experience where we feel good about Jesus, sing about Jesus, and think beautiful thoughts about Jesus - but the curtain comes down, we leave the theater, and our actual lives remain unchanged.
Kierkegaard would say that most of what we call “worship” is actually a sophisticated form of avoiding the real challenge of Christianity. It’s much easier to sit in a pew and feel religious emotions than it is to actually pick up our crosses and follow Jesus into the uncomfortable places where God’s love demands we go.
The question Kierkegaard forces us to ask is this: Are we performers in the drama of discipleship, or are we just audience members in the theater of worship? Because Jesus didn’t call us to be spectators - he called us to be actors in the greatest story ever told.
Imagine someone who owns every cookbook, watches every cooking show, and can quote recipes from memory. They know all about Italian cuisine, French pastries, and exotic spices. They can make your mouth water describing the perfect meal - but they never actually cook. Their kitchen is pristine because it’s rarely used. They’re slowly starving to death.
This is what happens when we become collectors of spiritual truth rather than practitioners of it. We accumulate sermons like cookbooks. We can quote Scripture, discuss theology, and feel moved by worship music - but our actual lives remain unchanged.
This reminds me of a friend who has a sister who became a nun—devoted her life to the faith—but who isn’t a very nice person. She says of her sister, the sister, “She’s an excellent Catholic but a terrible Christian.” In other words, her sister is good at religion, but not so good at following Christ. O God, let that not be said of us!
When our focus is on worship rather than on following Christ, we can know all about Jesus’ teachings on forgiveness, but until we’ve actually forgiven someone who hurt us deeply, it’s just theory. We can be moved by his words about loving our enemies, but until we’ve practiced kindness toward someone who opposes us, we’re just spiritual cookbook collectors.
Remember the Richard Rohr quote? “Worship of Jesus is rather harmless and risk-free; actually following Jesus changes everything.”
If each of us began to prioritize following Jesus over worshipping him, what might that look like in our daily lives?
Practice forgiveness in real relationships - Instead of singing about God’s forgiveness, actively forgive someone who has hurt you this week, even if they haven’t apologized or asked for it.
Challenge your consumer habits - Before making purchases, ask “Would Jesus need this?” and consider how your spending aligns with his teachings about simplicity and caring for others.
Practice enemy love in your actual conflicts - Instead of just believing Jesus taught us to love enemies, actively show kindness to a coworker who annoys you, a neighbor you disagree with, or someone with an opposing political view.
Listen to marginalized voices – Rather than just singing about Jesus’ love for the oppressed, seek out and genuinely listen to people whose experiences differ from yours – someone of a different race, sexual orientation, economic background, or life circumstance.
There are countless ways to more intentionally follow Christ. Do you see how following Jesus might just change . . . everything? This, dear friends, is the call of discipleship. Less about what we do on Sunday mornings . . . so much more about how we live our lives Monday through Saturday.
Jesus never said, “Worship me.” He said on repeat, “Follow me.”
The question is . . . will you? That’s the million-dollar question we heard God ask of us in the hymn we sang together earlier:
Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?
Will you go where you don’t know and never be the same?
Will you let My love be shown, will you let my name be known,
Will you let My life be grown in you and you in Me?
Jesus never said, “Worship me.” He said on repeat, “Follow me.”
I close with something I read by an anonymous source:
Dear Church,
Stop gathering around the name of Jesus while ignoring the ways of Jesus.
Remember the poor.
Visit the prisoner.
Feed the hungry.
Clothe the naked.
Welcome the stranger.
Deliver the oppressed.
Serve the least.
And rise for the marginalized.
He waits for us there.