Biblical Worship Part 1

I am often asked by students "what is worship?" and "why would God want that if He is self-sufficient and doesn't need anything?" Now that is a really great question so what I will do is give an overview today and then come back with some specifics later.

The church exists to fulfill three priorities: worship, edification, and evangelism. Each priority corresponds to a relationship in which we exist:

1) to God,

2) to other believers, and

3) to the world without Christ.

A biblical church exists: to reflect the grace of God back to him in worship, (this is more, but not less, than singing) Romans 12:1-2 , 1 Cor 10. It also exists to apply (teaching and modeling) the grace of God to each other for edification in faith, service and love 1 Cor 14:26, and to extend the grace of God to unbelievers in domestic evangelism and frontier missions (great commission Matt 28:19)

Jesus totally devastated the worship of the most religious people in Israel with these words from the prophet Isaiah: "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines (so teaching is also worship if it is done properly) the precepts of men". Instead of asking for clarification the leaders defended their pride with anger.

Since God inhabits the praises of His people (Ps 22:3) then whether worship is done biblically is the difference between whether the people encounter God or go through dead motions in vain. Since God “opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” it is essential that a church follow biblical precepts with “gifted and called” people leading or the congregation will not encounter God. The responsibility and implications of that are staggering. To withhold the presence of God from the people is a grievous sin. In churches where this happens the people soon become cold, find church boring and eventually let their hearts loose in the world which devastates their faith and destroys their testimony.

The love of God is not God's making much of us, but God's saving us from self-centeredness so that we can enjoy making much of Him forever (worship). And, our love to others is not our making much of them, but helping them to find satisfaction in making much of God. “ “In His presence is fullness of Joy”(Ps 16:11). To not provide a venue for the expression of that joy is like going to the Superbowl to watch your favorite team play and be told you can’t cheer if your team scores. The “cheering” is what makes the game great in the first place. The application to church is obvious.

Psalm 149:1 says, "Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the faithful!" We are commanded to sing God's praises in the assembly of the faithful—in the church! The greatest commandment is simply to love God (Matt 22:38) so worship is the means to express that we are in compliance with that command. If there is no worship then there is no love; if there is no love there is no salvation ( 1 Cor 16:22 “If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed (damned) ).Phil 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice” is not an optional command for the charismatic.

Part of a church’s job is to teach in such a way as to stir affections for God and provide a venue for their expression. Here is just one example of hundreds where you see it played out with the Word evoking worship. Ps 119:9-16 “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. (OK David, what does that look like?) I seek you with all my heart (he feels something); do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Praise be to you, O Lord; teach me your decrees. With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth. I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.” David expresses his delight in God’s Word in worship. To not worship is to fail to truly honor God and His Word.

Matt 4:8-11 “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them; and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." Then Jesus said to him, "Be gone, Satan! for it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.'" Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him". There is one main truth that we should see from this text, namely, that worshiping God is the duty of every human being. The basis of the truth is this: if the Son of God counts it his duty to obey the command to worship God, then how much more must we count it our duty to obey this command? Jesus himself quoted in the book of Hebrews (2:12) “in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises”. Again, if this is a priority of Jesus what does that mean for us as his people?

Worship is an end in itself so that makes it more of a priority than evangelism or edification. The reason it's number one is that everything else churches do are a means to this end. When all other goals serve one goal, that goal is NUMBER ONE.

Edification Is Not the End

The priority of nurture, teaching and edification is not the ultimate end of faith. It is a means of building faith toward God and love toward man. But the reason faith is valuable is because it focuses on God and magnifies His all-sufficiency (Romans 4:20) otherwise what use is it as even the "demons believe and tremble"?. And the reason love is valuable is because it is the overflow and evidence of faith and leads people to give glory to God (Matt 5:16). So spiritual growth is not the ultimate end. It is crucial. But it is not number one.

Evangelism Is Not the End

If growth is not the end then is it evangelism? No, its aim is the ingathering of God's people from every tongue and tribe and people and nation into the joy of worship. So missions and evangelism are not the number one priority. They are a means to the end of number one. Only the priority of worship is not for any greater purpose than itself. It is an end in itself.

Rom 15:8-9 “For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs so that (the goal) the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy, as it is written: "Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to your name."

Rom 15:5-7 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that (the goal) with one heart (affection) and mouth (expression) you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

What does eternity consist of:
Rev 22:3-4 “no longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.” Rev 7:11-12 “All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God”.

God does not tell us to worship Him because He has self-esteem issues. If God is love then He must promote and give what is best (not sloppy seconds). When He looks around to see what is best He finds there is nothing better than Himself; thus He is ruthlessly self promoting. "For My glory" is the repeated cry of scripture! We can pollute that when we make things such as Calvary a testimony of our worth instead of a testimony to the worth of God who was sinned against (Romans 3).

Christians are to worship because God is glorified towards the creature in two ways:
1) When we think rightly about Him. (the result of line by line accurate teaching of the word)
2) That knowledge moves from the head to the heart and is rejoiced in (worship). To only have the first is to not glorify Him and basically say that He is not “worth being excited about” or “unworthy”.

When churches put “duty of service” over “delight in His person” the train wreck will eventually come. Deut 28:47-48 “Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you”. The joy of a Christian is a reflection of the value of God. God takes this very seriously and thus spends a great deal of His word addressing it.

May all of our hearts be restless until they find Jesus as the treasure He is.

The Goal of His Higher Ways!

The Lord really ministered to me today so I thought I would pass it along.

Is. 55:9-11.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it”.

We have all hear a lot of sermons on this passage but something else struck me deeply today. The reason it did is I kept on going. What is the purpose of the word of God? We all know the correct theological answer is “the Glory of God” but something else hit me, especially where we are at as a church going through a transition in worship leading. So what is the purpose of the word according to Isaiah? That’s what verses 12 and 13 explain.

“For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off”.

What’s the ultimate goal of the word of God? Worship! The deepest, most life-altering worship we can ever have. Notice the means of that. Look at verse 13. “Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle.” That is a very weird metaphor. Think with me. If you have a little thorn bush and it is rained upon and it is rained upon, what do you get? A bigger thorn bush. But that’s not what this passage says. It says that when the rain of God comes down on thorny hearts, what grows there is something entirely different.

The purpose of God’s word (faithfully taught) is radical, personal change that results in renewed living to his glory. That’s the purpose of the word of God. It’s not just theological awareness. All those things have their place, but all of those things are means to a deeper end: that God actually would change the organic content of people’s hearts, that selfish people would become sharing people, angry people would become peacemakers, lusters would become pure. God is not satisfied with anything less than that. That is the sovereign purpose of his word. I must never hold forth his word apart from this purpose.

The person that God is after first in your ministry is you. And you must never celebrate the content of the word of God without placing yourself under the implications of that content for personal, ongoing heart and life change.
"Ministry is never shaped just by your knowledge and skill. It’s always shaped by the true condition of your heart."

Praying for you all that our hearts would desire more of Him,

My Comments on "Hipster Christianity"

What a way to come back from vacation. I have been monitoring the development of this heresy for about the last 10 years. It is quite disturbing.

On a positive note there is a huge orthodox movement as well. It doesn't get any press but it is healthy and growing. The Resolved Conference, and others like it, are the result of young people discovering the real God of the Bible. Students want the truth so let’s give it to them. They can handle it. Sorry, I digress.

The “Hipster” trend is simply the latest efforts of weak leaders to make disciples after themselves. They care more about their own fame than that of Jesus. They know nothing of Isaiah 26:8 “your name and renown are the desire of our hearts”. They are so concerned with their own kingdom that they have abandoned the Lord’s. They preach themselves and their life as if it were something that everyone should strive for and esteem. They even ask the lost what they want to get them to attend, and since the lost are “captive by Satan” (2 Tim 2:26), “can’t understand spiritual things” (1 Cor 2:14), “love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil” (John 3:19) and “hate God” (Romans 1:30) the only way to get anyone to show up is to address “felt needs”. What does a sinner feel they need? More sin, money, happiness, selfishness, praise and everything else Jesus died to redeem us from. The truth is this premise caters to the “seeker” when God emphatically states; “THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD” (Romans 3:11).

Life coach guru (can't call him a pastor) Brian McLaren redefines Jesus' death on the cross by saying "Jesus will use his cross to expose the cruelty and injustice of those in power and instill hope and confidence in the oppressed." It’s junk like this that fuels the “social gospel” movement this article reeks of. Nowhere in scripture are we told to support Greenpeace or save a tree. Our mission is to make a disciple, teaching them to obey all that Jesus taught. We are to “feed His sheep” not placate the goats of the world.

I wonder how these leaders (goat herders) would explain how Christianity survived 2,000 years without out engaging in this kind of relevance chasing foolishness? Actually, the word “relevant” and “rebellion” are synonyms in this article.

Forget about all the postmodern word games and their faux 'spiritual sounding' irrationalism. This is not Christianity and it flat out trashes God's word and what God commanded when He said, "You will have NO OTHER Gods before me" (Exodus 20:3).
Once you jettison Sola Scriptura and redefine the gospel like these folks have, then you will be "tossed back and forth by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, and by craftiness in deceitful schemes (Eph 4:14)

The lives of these youth are barren of any spiritual fruit and the absence of truth among them will more than likely lead to even greater apostasy. Phil 3:18-19 “For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things”.

Anything that looks like, acts like and talks like the world IS the world. I’m sure I could have the largest college group in the country if we had free beer and bikini contests every week. Yes, these young people are deceived but it was the churches that did it to them. I too was disillusioned during the 80s when all you ever heard about was the “imminent return” of Christ. That “escapist” mentality is now causing havoc among these kid’s parents who don’t know how to cope in a world they thought they would have been removed from a long time ago. This lack of a biblical model has opened the door for error. Where are the leaders who can say “follow me as I follow Christ”?

Why is it that when we see a crowd we get excited but when Jesus saw one He was skeptical? Actually, Jesus would preach the crowd down to remove the goats with statements like “unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you have no life in you”. The results were “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him”. (John 6:66). Faithfulness is, and always has been, the goal.

I’m not trying to be sarcastic but the truth is these people are perishing while they think they are saved. Sure, you can change the method but you cannot change the content! These poor youth have had both switched on them and are too Biblically illiterate to even know it. That’s why these modern “churches” don’t use the Bible. They are afraid people will come to their senses and join a real church.

This article has reminded me of Paul’s tremendous statement to the Ephesian elders “I have not failed to declare to you the whole counsel of God”.(Acts 20:27). May that statement be true of all of us who minister. How will they believe unless they hear and how will they hear unless someone has a backbone?

Blessings,

Five Kernels of Thanks

1 Thessalonians 5:18 Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Why am I thinking about Thanksgiving in the Spring? I'm not really sure but I do know that for most of us thanksgiving is when we get out the turkey, prepare a huge meal, stuff our faces, sit back and watch a football game and fall asleep. Is there something missing here?

Paul urges us to be thankful in every situation and circumstance we encounter. This isn't restricted to just one day in the Fall but EVERY day and EVERY circumstance. Yes, even the tough situations? Why? Because we can truly see God at work in all things, even if we have to wait to realize what He is doing through our trials.

Have you ever read the accounts of the first Thanksgiving?

The pilgrims came to America in 1620. They spent 66 days in the hold of a ship called The Mayflower, arriving on Nov. 21. One month later, on Dec. 26, all 102 passengers set foot on land and began to establish the colony of Plymouth. Through the course of the winter 46 died, nearly half their original number.

One day in mid-March a pair of Indians appeared, one named Samoset, he had learned to speak English from the sea captains that sailed up and down the coast, and was friendly. The other named Squanto. Squanto had been captured and taken to England and lived there for 15 years. He had returned to America six months earlier only to find that his tribe had been massacred. When he learned that this colony of English were struggling to survive, he adopted them as his own, teaching them how to plant, fish, hunt, and trade with their Indian neighbors.

The following is adapted from The Light and the Glory, by Peter Marshall, and David Manuel.

“That summer of 1621 was beautiful. Much work went into the building of new dwellings, and ten men were sent north up the coast in the sailing ship to conduct trade with the Indians. Squanto once again acted as their guide and interpreter. It was a successful trip, and that fall's harvest provided more than enough corn to see us through our second winter.

We pilgrims were brimming over with gratitude, not only to Squanto and the Indians who had been so friendly, but to our God. In Him we had trusted, and He had honored our obedience beyond our dreams. So, Governor Bradford declared a day of public Thanksgiving, to be held in October.

Massasoit the chief was invited, and unexpectedly arrived a day early-with NINETY Indians! Counting their numbers, we had to pray hard to keep from giving in to despair. To feed such a crowd would cut deeply into the food supply that was supposed to get us through the winter.
But we had learned one thing through our travails, it was to trust God implicitly. As it turned out, the Indians were not arriving empty-handed. Massasoit had commanded his braves to hunt for the occasion, and they arrived with no less than five dressed deer, and more than a dozen fat wild turkeys! And they helped with the preparations, teaching the women how to make hoecakes and a tasty pudding out of cornmeal and maple syrup. Finally, the Indians showed us a special delicacy: how to roast corn kernels in an earthen pot until they popped, fluffy and white - POPCORN!

We in turn provided many vegetables from their household gardens: carrots, onions, turnips, parsnips, cucumbers, radishes, beets, and cabbages. Also, using some of the precious flour, we took summer fruits which the Indians had dried and introduced them to the likes of blueberry, apple, and cherry pie. That Thanksgiving Day was extended for three days.

One month later, in November, another ship from home dropped anchor in the harbor leaving off a cargo at Plymouth: thirty-five more colonists. In the air of celebration that followed, no one stopped to think that these newcomers had brought not one bit of equipment with them-no food, no clothing, no tools, no bedding.

In the cold light of the following morning, a sobering appraisal by Bradford, Brewster, and Winslow was taken, and a grim decision was reached: that we would all have to go on half-rations through the winter, to ensure enough food to see us into the summer season, when fish and game would be plentiful.

That winter we entered into a time of starving, much like the starving that took place at Jamestown that killed 8 out of 10 of our people. With all the extra people to feed and shelter we were ultimately reduced to a daily ration of Five Kernels of corn a piece.

In contrast to what happened at Jamestown, where they were driven to despair, the people of Plymouth turned to Christ, and not one of us died of starvation. When spring finally arrived (1623), we were well aware that we needed at least twice as much corn as our first harvest. The first planting would be for common use while the second planting would be for private use.
After the first planting, a dry spell set in that turned into a 12 week drought. The crops withered - along with our hopes.

In the words of Edward Winslow:

"These and the like considerations moved not only every goodman privately to enter into examination with his own estate between God and his conscience, and so to humiliation before Him, but also to humble ourselves together before the Lord by fasting and prayer.
To that end, a day was appointed by public authority, and set apart from all other employments.
But, O the mercy of our God, who was as ready to hear, as we were to ask! For though in the morning, when we assembled together, the heavens were as clear and the drought as like to continue as it ever was, yet (our exercise continuing some eight or nine hours) before our departure, the weather was overcast, the clouds gathered on all sides.

On the next morning distilled such soft, sweet, and moderate showers of rain, continuing some fourteen days [!] and mixed with such seasonable weather, as it was hard to say whether our withered corn or drooping affections were most quickened or revived, such was the bounty and goodness of our God!"

The yield that year was so abundant that the Pilgrims ended up with a surplus of corn, which they were able to use in trading that winter with northern Indians, who had not had a good growing season.

That fall a second Day of Thanksgiving was planned, and the Indians again were the guests of honor, and this time they bought 120 braves! Fortunately they again brought venison and turkey, as well. The occasion was described by one of the Adventurers, Emmanuel Altham, in a letter to his brother:

"After our arrival in New England, we found all our plantation in good health, and neither man, woman or child sick...... the fishing that is in this country, indeed it is beyond belief ... in one hour we got 100 cod .... We had about twelve tasty venisons, besides others, pieces of roasted venison and other such good cheer in such quantities that I wish you some of our share. For here we have the best grapes that ever you saw, and the biggest, and divers sorts of plums and nuts ... six goats, about fifty hogs and pigs, also divers hens ... A better country was never seen nor heard of, for here are a multitude of God's blessing."

What Altham neglected to mention was the first course that was served: on an empty plate in front of each person were five kernels of corn ... lest anyone should forget.

Sitting here in the middle of March thinking about Thanksgiving is probably a bit crazy but, as a Christian, I think I need to be a little bit more thankful than I am.

Five kernels of corn….. So, lest I forget, I wanted to let you know that I am thankful for each one of you.

Blessings,

This is a shot of a perfect wave. Its the kind of wave that makes regular visits into a surfer's dreams. There never has been, nor ever will be, another one just like it. It appeared for a brief three minutes of life and then faded into eternity. As I was pondering how my life would have been different if I had only gotten out there a few minutes earlier I noticed that not one person had caught this wave at all. This wave was left unridden! For most people, this would have been THE wave of a lifetime. I look back on that day now and then and search for applications to my life. Do I wish I could have a do-over? Sure, and I try and comfort myself with "there's always another day" but the reality is there is never going to be that same wave ever again. None of us can go back and start over with a new beginning but any of us can start today and make a new ending.

Becoming

The miracle of spiritual metamorphosis from a new-Christian caterpillar to a mature Christian butterfly does not happen through an unconscious chemical processes while inside a cocoon (church), but only through the conscious consideration and meditation of truth. Becoming is not automatic, it requires effort and determination. The Scripture is full of men and women, who are immature in their capacities for spiritual “flight” and yet are spoken to as responsible persons. The messengers of God speak to them with persuasions, evidences, exhortations, commands, warnings, promises and incentives—that they should be mature and flying! Becoming is simply the process of maturing in Christ – changing more and more into His image. This change is not an option but is commanded in scripture (Hebrews 6:1).

Christian maturity takes place when the people of God learn to treasure Jesus Christ above all things thus bringing God the greatest glory. Even the reality of our pain and losses in this life are always a test of how much we treasure the all-satisfying God in comparison to what we have just lost (See Dt 8:3 and Ps 66:10-12). This treasuring occurs as we “taste and see that the Lord is good”. The most important issue for our day is: how do these perfections and truths of God come to be known and loved by His people? The answer is that the perfections of God are to be known by the mind and relished by the heart. Therefore, if God is to receive all the glory, all becoming —all conversions and changes—must come about by addressing the mind and the will of new-Christians with the compelling truth and beauty of the person of Jesus Christ.

It is not enough to simply think right thoughts. Being a Christian does not mean merely believing with our head that Christ died for us. It means "being constrained" by the love shown in that act. The truth must press in on us; it grips and holds; it impels and controls. It surrounds us and won't let us run from it. A Christian is a person living under the constraint of Christ's love.

But that constraint comes from a "judgment" that we make about Christ's death: "When he died, I died." Since the sin of Adam was legally and effectively the sin of his race; so the death of Christ was legally and effectively the death of his people. And since our death has already happened, we do not bear the condemnation of our sin (Romans 8:1-3). That is the essence of the love of Christ for us. Through his own undeserved death, he died our well-deserved death, and opened his future as our future. That truth must move from the head to grip the heart. That can only happen through a personal encounter with the one who has done it. How shall we not live for the one who died our death that we might live by his life! Hodge puts it like this:

“A Christian is one who recognizes Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, as God manifested in the flesh, loving us and dying for our redemption; and who is so affected by a sense of the love of this incarnate God as to be constrained to make the will of Christ the rule of his obedience, and the glory of Christ the great end for which he lives.”

This change of heart and life is the essence of what it means to “become”. It means becoming all that Christ died to free us to be. It means finding our greatest satisfaction and joy in being what we were made to be. It is a new affection powered by a transformed mind. It means serving Him from delight and not from duty. Duty without delight is the essence of being a Pharisee.

1. The necessity of “becoming” does not nullify grace.“Becoming” is based squarely on the pardon of grace. “Becoming” demonstrates the power of grace. In 1 Corinthians 15:10 Paul said, "By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain but I worked harder than any of them. Nevertheless it was not I but the grace of God which is with me." Grace is not only the pardon that passes over our sin; it is also the power that produces our becoming. Yes my effort is required but it is “He who works in me to will and to do for His pleasure.” Anything else is simply a work that will produce nothing.

2. The necessity of “becoming” does not contradict justification by faith alone.
Justification is on the basis of Christ's work alone. This is the foundation of sanctification--not the other way around. The only sin we can fight against successfully is a forgiven sin. Without a once-for-all justification through Christ, the only thing that our striving for change produces is despair or self-righteousness.

The work of God in justification does not make the work of God in sanctification optional. The Bible doesn't say that forgiveness makes holiness optional. It doesn't make it optional, it makes it possible. The God who justifies also sanctifies. The faith that justifies also satisfies--it satisfies the human heart and frees it from the deceptive satisfactions of sin. “Becoming” is fueled by the power of a new affection. That is why justification and the process of sanctification always go together. They both come from the same faith. “Becoming” finds satisfaction in Christ and so is weaned away from the satisfactions of sin.

3. The necessity of “becoming” does not destroy assurance.
The immature Christian might reason like this: if some measure of holy living is required and if it cannot be precisely quantified--if you can't tell me exactly how much is necessary--then that requirement will always leave me unsure if I have enough. So any requirement for holiness, change or obedience at all destroys my assurance.
This is not the reasoning of the Bible. The Bible states that there is a "holiness without which we will not see the Lord" and we are told in Hebrews 12:14 to "pursue" it. This does not imply that this pursuit/change destroys assurance. The reason it doesn't is God's commitment to sanctify us--to make us as holy as we need to be in this life--is as sure as His work in saving us. What gives us assurance in this matter is not primarily focusing on the measure of our holiness, but on the measure of God's faithfulness to do the sanctifying work he promises to do.

In conclusion: I will “become” all that He wants me to be as I yield my life and abide in Him (John 15). I will become as I take His yoke and learn from Him and am transformed by the renewing of my mind. I become as I encounter God in such a way as I find Him irresistible and He becomes the reason I live. All change must occur in the affections or it will not last nor glorify God. Anything else falls short of His design.