Worship, pt 2

The Object of Worship

Genesis 1:1-3 (New Living Translation)
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  The earth was empty, a formless mass cloaked in darkness.  And the Spirit of God was hovering over its surface.  Then God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.

Imagine the power to take nothing and create everything.  The human brain cannot truly comprehend that concept.  We cannot see "nothing."  We cannot physically hold "nothing" in our hands.  We can see an empty space where there is "nothing."  We can see that we are not holding "something".  But we cannot see the nothing.  Nothing has no mass.  It does not have weight.  It does not have substance.  But God used the material of nothing to build, to create.  Kind of makes your head hurt, huh?

God was there when there was nothing.  He saw the "nothing".  He peered into the "nothingness" and spoke.  The rest, as they say, is history.  His spoken word created everything from nothing.  He took nothing and created everything we can see and even things we cannot see.

Scientists claim that the cosmos is constantly expanding, reaching to distances too great for the human mind to comprehend.  I have no doubt in this claim.  As we read in the third verse of the previous passage of Scripture, He said, "Let there be light."  And light was.  I don't see where He ever said, "Light, stop."  Could this be the "big bang" scientists like to point at as the beginning of everything?  Why not?

This is the object of our worship, He who spoke and everything was.  He who said, and it became.  He who decided and it came to be.  A God so big, so powerful that he sees...no...he IS time.  Distance means nothing.  Time means nothing.  He exists outside time and space...NO time and space exist in HIM!  Wow.  What a concept!

So big, yet so caring.  So powerful, yet so concerned about His creation that he came, in the fleshly form of Jesus to save His creation.  So expansive the he holds everything in His hands, yet so personal that each of us can have a personal relationship with Him.  It was His plan from the beginning (Revelation 13:8 New Living Translation)...to save mankind...to deliver us from the evil that would befall us.

It is this Creator, this God who, after resting on the seventh day, formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed His own breath into man.  He hand crafted man in His own image then imparted His spirit into man and he became a living soul (Genesis 2:7 New Living Translation).  He did not breath in to animals, plants, the water, the skies, the sun, the moon.  Just man.  He gave man life by imparting His spirit into man.

HE alone must be the object of our worship.  We let other things take His place:  family, jobs, money, hobbies, people, ideas, philosophies, false god's, fear, doubt, self.  We let them take preeminence.  We let them take His place as the object of our worship.  We place our trust in them when He alone is the one who can sustain us in times of trouble.  He alone is  the one who can protect us, comfort us, keep us.

Psalm 18:2 (New Living Translation)
The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection.  He is my shield, the strength of my salvation and my stronghold.

In addition to this reference, the Psalmist David referred to the Lord God as his shield or fortress 26 times.  David, although not perfect, knew his God and depended on Him.  We, too, can know him as not just Savior, but as the protector of our salvation.  Salvation is running to him for protection; depending on Him; trusting Him.

Worship means to acknowledge Him for who He is; Creator, Protector, Savior, Keeper, Divine, Holy, Highly Exalted, Superior, Healer.

When we know Him and acknowledge Him for who He is we can join the living beings in Heaven who, as related in Revelation 4:8 (New Living Translation) "...day after day and night after night keep on saying, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty--the One who always was, who is and who is still to come."

Worship, pt 1

The Privilege of Worship

Picture this...It's 9:55 on Sunday morning.  The church service is about to start.  You have made the rounds greeting your friends; shaking hands, passing out hugs, smiling, talking, catching up on the previous week's events, TV shows, the movie you saw last night, and so on. You make your way to the seat you have chosen.  Perhaps it's the seat you sit in every Sunday.  Or maybe "your" seat is occupied by someone else.  How dare they?  The nerve; taking MY seat.  At straight up 10:00 someone takes the microphone and issues the standard corporate welcome, perhaps says an opening prayer, and we're off.

In the "standard" course of events in the modern-day church, what occurs next?  We enter into a period of time widely known as "Praise and Worship."  What is this time?  For some it is "what we do" to take up the time between that opening prayer and when the Pastor or other speaker takes the pulpit to deliver a message from the Word.  Ordinary.  Mundane.  Ritual.  Tradition.

Others see this time as great entertainment.  A time when very talented people sing some awesome songs written by awesome people.  A concert where the only difference between this and any other concert we might attend is that in this one the words to the songs are flashed a screen so we can follow along.  Thoughts cross our minds, "That's nice."  "NOW I know what they are saying."  "What a beautiful song." "WOW!  I've heard that song a hundred times on Christian radio and I never knew that's what that line was!  You mean I've been singing it wrong all this time?!"

Others see this time for what it should be.  A time to come before God and pour our hearts out.  A time to recognize Him for what He has done...what He is doing...what He will do...for who He is.  Worship is not a ritual; it's not a tradition.  It's not a rite; it's a right.  It is a privilege.

The sin of Adam and Eve caused a wall of separation between God and man.  The Book of Genesis tell us that when Adam and Eve listened to the serpent and disobeyed God's instructions to them, He banished them from the garden and place an angel to guard the way to the tree of life (Genesis 3:23,24).  Why?  Was this some great punishment for their wrong-doing?  Was He angry because they had not listened?  We find the answer to these questions in a previous verse.

Genesis 3:22Then the LORD God said, "The people have become as we are, knowing everything, both good and evil. What if they eat the fruit of the tree of life? Then they will live forever!"


Their banishment from the garden was not a punishment.  Scripture does not tell us that God was even angry.  He banished them from the garden so that they would not live forever in their fallen state!  His concern was that they have the opportunity to be forgiven and freed from the curse they had brought on themselves.  He was protecting them!  


It took some thousands of years for their (and our) freedom to come.  Again, it all comes back to the cross and the work done there.  Seems to be a common theme of this blog, doesn't it?  The work accomplished on the cross.  


Matthew 27:50, 51Then Jesus shouted out again, and he gave up his spirit.  At that moment the curtain in the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom... 
The curtain, or veil, in the Temple represented the separation between God and man.  It separated the Inner Court from the Most Holy place where the Ark of the Covenant, which represents the very presence of God Himself, was kept. According to some scholars, the veil was crafted from the finest material and was some 30 feet high and 3 feet thick and weighed hundreds of pounds.  Scripture teaches that at the exact moment of Christ's death, that veil was ripped in two from top to bottom demonstrating that no man could have accomplished this feat.  The rending of the veil represented the reality that because of Christ's death, ANY man could enter freely into God's presence at any time, not just a certain man at specific times of the year.  ANYONE could now enter into the presence of God without fear of retribution unlike the Priest who entered cautiously and with trepidation, hoping that no fault could be found in him so that he would be struck dead in the presence of the Holy God.
Ephesians 3:11, 12 This was His plan from all eternity, and it has now been carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord.  Because of Christ and our faith in Him, we can now come fearlessly (with freedom and without fear) into God's presence, assured of His glad welcome.  (emphasis added)
What a privilege we have been granted through Christ...the ability to enter God's presence at any time.  All because of Christ and what He did for us on the cross.  No work of ours could have ever made us worthy to come to God. We were separated from Him.  A wall prevented us from coming to him.  We were lost and alone without hope.  But He came to bring hope and help in time of our greatest need.
What an awesome privilege!
Next week's blog entry will focus on The OBJECT of Worship.  
 

Truth, Freedom

John 8:31-32, 36

Jesus said to the people who believed in Him, "You are truly my disciples if you keep obeying my teachings.  And you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.  So if the Son sets you free, you will be indeed be free."

Two important words here..."truth" and "free".  In order to fully understand this passage of Scripture, we mus first attempt to understand both terms.

TRUTH

We'll start with "truth".  What is "truth"?  What a question.  Mankind has been asking that question for centuries if not millennia.  Some have tried to make it relative, situational. Others have gotten no further than to ask the question, "What is it?"  Greater people, philosophers and theologians, smarter people than I have asked the question so I'm not sure I will be able to answer the question in the few paragraphs of this blog entry.  As a matter of fact, I will say positively that I will not be able to satisfactorily answer the question in the minds of everyone.  I can say assuredly, however, that if we truly seek Him for truth, we will find it. 

Looking at Scripture, in his response to Thomas's question in John 14, Jesus responded, "I am the way, the truth, and the life."  In 1 Chronicles 26:9, instruction was given that, "...if you seek Him, He will be found (by you)."  Yet another example in Isaiah 55 comes with the instructions to, "seek the Lord while He may be found."  Pulling the Scripture together, this tells me that if we seek Him (Truth) we will find Him (Truth).  We find Him, not because we are such excellent "seekers" but rather because He wants to be found.  It's kind of like playing hide and seek with a 2 year old child.  We don't find the darkest corner of the room, hide ourselves in the most discreet, super-secret location,do we?  No.  We sit right in front of the child, cover our eyes or his with our hands and ask, "Where's baby?  Where are you?"  We then drop our hands and excitedly proclaim, "Peek-a-boo!  Here I am!  you found me!"  The child finds us, not because of they are excellent hide and seeker's, but because we place ourselves in a position to be found.  He is the same way.  He does not conceal Himself from us in such a way to keep us from finding Him. He is not avoiding us.  He wants us to find Him.  He places Himself in a position to be found.  That's why he says that if we seek Him, we will find him!  How awesome is that?!

It may sound somewhat confusing, but I do not believe "truth" is something that can be quantified with words. I do not believe "truth" is relative.  I believe in only ONE "truth".  But I also do not believe it is a concept that can be given a definition with which everyone will agree.  Someone will always disagree with the definition or context.  I do believe, however, that it can be sensed, felt, known; not in a person's mind, brain or with some type of physical understanding.  It is known in the heart, in the spirit.  When a person finds "truth" it is confirmed in a man's spirit.  It is known in the heart.  It's just "right".  Whatever the physical definition of "truth," Jesus said in His own words in John 8 that He is the "Truth" and that finding, knowing and living the "Truth" would make us free.

FREE

What does it mean to be "free"?

Again, different people will have differing opinions of the definition of "free(dom)".  Although there are many definitions of the term "free,"  for the purpose of this discussion, we'll discuss freedom as it pertains to the practice of slavery.  At one time in our nation's history, as in the histories of many other societies, people were allowed to own other people.  Despite our Declaration of Independence which states that "all men are created equal," for some reason, men thought it was acceptable to purchase and treat other human beings as chattel, treating them as no more than, and in some cases, even lower that cattle and other livestock.  Then, on January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln, using his war powers, issued the Emancipation Proclamation.  In effect, this executive order proclaimed freedom for over 3 million slaves.  Human beings who had to ask permission of another human being to do anything and who were required to do anything they were told no longer had to do so.  No man could legally own another man.  It would be many, many years until the full extent of their freedom was realized and many died having never experienced true freedom.  But this was the beginning...President Lincoln's proclamation of freedom.

One of my favorite dissertations on freedom is found in the writings of the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatians chapter 5 verse 1.  It reads, "So Christ has really set us free.  Now make sure that you stay free, and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law."  Christ's proclamation of our freedom came on the cross when he spoke those famous 3 words, "It is finished."  His death on the cross paid the penalty for our sins; past, present and future.  His blood reached back in time and redeemed the Old Testament prophets and believers who had looked forward in faith for a Savior as well as reaching forward in time to cover the sins of people who were as yet unborn.

Hebrews 9:12 says, "Once for all time He took blood to that Most Holy Place, but not the blood of goats and calves.  He took His own blood, and with it He secured our salvation forever."  WOW!  Jesus Christ is the fulcrum of time.  Everything hinges on Him.  The saints of old...Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Daniel, David, Solomon, and the others depended on the blood of Jesus being taken to that Most Holy Place to secure their salvation just like all of those who, like you and I, came after His death.  We are not "free" from sin because of anything we do or can do.  We are "free" because of the shedding of His blood and that alone.  Paul's letter to the Romans declares that Abraham did not earn righteousness, rather it was "imputed" or "declared" to him because of his faith in the Savior, Jesus who had not yet come. 

This is the reaching that Paul had been imparting to the Galatians; that salvation (freedom) comes only through faith in Christ and not through any human effort or works of the Law.  However, after they had received Paul's revelation and he had then left them to go spread the Good News to other churches, false teachers had come in to teach that in addition to the blood of Jesus, they must also keep certain elements of the Law of Moses, particularly the rite of circumcision.  Paul's response to this teaching is very clear.  Galatians 5:2-4 says, "Listen!  I, Paul, tell you this:  If you are counting on circumcision to make you right with God, then Christ cannot help you.  I'll say it again.  If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey all of the regulations in the whole law of Moses.  For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ!  You have fallen away from God's grace."  One cannot find salvation, or freedom, from sin by adhering to the Law!  Paul even went so far as to say in verse 1 of this same chapter that people who are chasing the Law are in slavery!  Can freedom exist in slavery?  Slavery is bondage.  Slavery represents punishment, oppression and death!  While addressing this topic in Galatians 3:1, 3 Paul wrote, "Oh foolish Galatians!  What magician has cast an evil spell on you?  For you used to see the meaning of Jesus Christ's death as clearly as though I has shown you a signboard with a picture of Christ dying on the cross...Have you lost your senses?  After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?"  Sound pretty plain to me what Paul is saying.  True freedom cannot be earned or bought!  

Only once we know Christ can we know "truth."  And then only when we accept what Christ did for us as the only payment needed for sin and apply it to our lives as He intended can we know what it is to be "free."  Not free from one thing (sin) only to be died again into bondage to another (the Law or works), or, on the other hand, also no free to sin and do whatever the flesh desires.  Paul admonished that line of thinking, too, when he asked the rhetorical question in his letter to the Romans 1:1, "What shall we say then?  Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?"  and then by answering it with a resounding "GOD FORBID" in the very next verse.  Instead, we are free to live lives full of HIS righteousness.  Freebe forgiven.  Free to serve Him without fear of retribution.  Free to do good works because it is an extension of who we are and not as a result of trying to earn salvation and His favor.  Free to live in His presence. Free to follow Him.  Free to live in His blessings.  Free to be His and free to grow in Him.

Question:  Do you now Him?  Really know him?  Are you free?  Truly free"  Are you struggling to do the right things?  Are you trying hard to please Him by keeping a set of rules and regulations by finding yourself failing more than succeeding?  Are your efforts making you feel like a failure because you can't seem to live up to the standards the the Laws set?  This may sound controversial, but let me urge you to try something different.  STOP TRYING.  Take human effort out of hte equation.  Christ fulfilled the sacrifice the Law required as payment for sin.  Place all of your trust, all of your confidence in Him.  Depend on His efforts alone.  Relax.  Let his blood cover your sins.  let His forgiveness cover you.  Take "you" out of the equation and make it all about Him.  Trust me.  Once you find yourself fully depending on Him and not yourself for righteousness, only then can you know the Truth and only then can you be free indeed.   

Rescue

Have you ever seen the television show on the Animal Planet called "I Shouldn't Be Alive"?  If not here's the basic premise of the show.  A person or group of people starts out on an adventure...sometimes a new one and sometimes one they've done before.  A typical adventure might include a kayak trip on a river or on the ocean, a hike up a mountain, a family sailing trip, a day trip into the desert, etc.  The adventures typically start out simple enough, but inevitably something goes wrong and a seemingly-innocent day of fun turns into a fight for survival.

An episode I saw recently was one in which a couple's first date consisted of a day hike in a desert-like location in Texas.  The couple started out their day of fun embarking on a couple-hour hike that would end back at their car.  However, after a short amount of time they got turned around.  They lost their bearings.  At some point their surrounding became unfamiliar.  They no longer recognized their path.  The fight...the struggle for survival was on.

Soon the young couple was in a fight for their very lives.  The 100+ degree heat soon began to take its toll on the couple.  Dehydration began to sap their energy.  Heat and dryness began to crack their lips.  Their skin soon began to turn red as it cooked in the sun's rays.  After a couple of days they began to hallucinate...see things that were not there...hear things that were not there.  In their desperation to escape their predicament, they began wandering...looking for a way out...trying to find their way back to safety.

Part of their struggle was due to the fact that they were ill prepared.  They carried no water.  Instead of sturdy hiking shoes they were wearing running shoes.  Why not?  They weren't going mountain climbing.  They were only out for a walk in the desert.  They had no ability to build fire as the sun began to sink into the horizon and the temperatures began to drop to the mid 30's.  Why would they?  They weren't planning on being out after dark.  Their adventure was only to take a couple of hours.  They had plenty of time.

As with many of the hour-long episodes, the couple's relating the details and the staged reenactments of their struggle came down to the last 10 minutes.  They were done.  They had resigned themselves to the fact that there was no way out.  They laid down to die in the desert.  They made peace with each other and themselves.  They gave up and prepared for the worst.

But then there's a noise...a sound in the distance.  The sound of a helicopter.  The sound of help coming to find them.  The sound of rescue. 

Sounds like a good show, although my wife would disagree, but what is my point? 

Here's the point...

Think of this adventure as a parable, a story designed to illustrate a spiritual truth. 

People start out innocently enough, but somewhere they hit a rough patch.  They make a wrong turn down a path they did not intend to go down.  They end up in a place they did not intend to end up.  They lose their bearings.  They lose their way.  Then the struggle is on.  The fight for survival is on.  I once heard it put like this...It's kind of like Denny's.  No one plans on going there; they just end up there.    

They fall into a cycle of self-deliverance that, even though physical habits might be broken, the inner, spiritual pain continues.  They are ill prepared for the struggle.  They have the wrong equipment.  They fight and struggle for survival.  They wander around looking for help, a way out.  They try to reason themselves into happiness.  They try to work harder, believing that if they say and do the right things everything will get better.  Work more hours.  Do more good things.  Others try more "spiritual" things...just pray harder, read their Bible more, go to church more, obey the commandments, everything will get better.  But nothing works.  There is no relief.  There is no help.  There is no freedom.  The heat of battle begins to take its toll.  They become spiritually parched, dried up.  They cannot find their way back to a life of peace. 

The day must come when we give up. 

Stop trying. 

Stop fighting. 

Stop struggling. 

Listen.

Listen. 

Hear that sound?

Hear that faint noise in the distance?  What is it?  Am I imagining it?  What is that noise?

Don't ignore that sound.  It's the sound of rescue.  It's the sound of deliverance.  If you listen closely you'll hear it.  The sound gets closer and closer.  Soon, up over the horizon pops the source of rescue.  In the case of the couple in the desert of Texas, it came in the form of a helicopter.  For us it comes in the shape of the cross.  What Jesus did on the cross is the answer.  It is the deliverance.  It is our rescue.  Hebrews 9:12 (NLT) tells us that, "Once for all time (Jesus) took blood into that Most Holy Place, but not the blood of goats and calves.  He took his own blood, and with it he secured our salvation (or rescue...my emphasis) forever."

The final scene in the Animal Planet show is usually that of the characters climbing aboard the rescue plane, helicopter, boat, etc. and being taken to safety.  The cross is our rescue vehicle.  Without going into too much detail in this blog entry (look for more of that in future posts!), our complete rescue was provided for on that "vehicle".  Jesus bore our sins and freed us from its penalties.  We no longer have to wander in the wilderness looking for a way to safety.  Before time began, God knew we needed to be rescued.  He knew you and I would be in dire straits, in need of rescue and provided it in the form of a cross.  All we have to do to find peace and safety is climb aboard.  Allow Him to rescue us.