Worship...what really is worship? Most people think of praise and worship as the act you do before the offering and the preaching at church. Webster's dictionary defines worship "as a form of religious practice with it's creed and ritual." If you know me at all you would safely assume that I absolutely despise that definition of worship. But lets face it...if we are honest that's what the majority of our world thinks about when they think of worship. I'd like to take a moment to talk about true worship. I think it's something that we need to understand, even those of us who say we are NOT religious. We can easily say we aren't religious but it seems to me that even us who almost laugh when faith in God is termed religion can unknowingly get caught up in creeds and rituals that we think are non religious...jumping up and down in praise to God...raising our hands, closing our eyes, singing our songs...none of these things are wrong. I in fact participate in all of them. However these things too can simply become form and function the if there is no true heart connection. So how do you know if there is a true heart connection? How do you know if you are a true worshiper?
To really understand what true worship is we have to understand where it originates. The word "worship" was used for the first time in the Bible in Genesis 22:5. This is when Abraham was on his way up to sacrifice his only son Issac at the command of God. Abraham states in the text "the lad and I will go yonder and worship and we will return to you." I believe that there are three main ingredients that we can take from the life of Abraham as it relates to his worship of God. First of all Abraham had no band, no singers, no lights, no smoke...so if we think true worship is when we get together in our churches and sing songs we are absolutely mistaken. That can be a part of our worship to God, but true worship begins long before we ever get to the house of the Lord. If we look back in Abraham's life which the Bible begins to account in Genesis Chapter 12,we see a track record develop of some key components to worship in Abraham's life. Genesis 12:1-3 God instructs Abraham to leave his country and go to a land he will be shown by God, with this instruction is also the promise from God to Abraham that he will make him a great nation and to bless all the families of the earth through him. What does Abraham do? He obeys...but before he ever obeyed he had to have believed that God would do what he said he would do or else he would have never made the conscious decision to obey God. So we see in Chapter 12 that Abraham begins to establish his relationship with God on faith and obedience. Also in chapter 12 was it not a sacrifice for Abraham (then named Abram) to leave all he had and go to a land that God would show him? Absolutely it was...this began Abraham's pattern of life lived out in relationship with God of faith, obedience, and sacrifice. But what would happen when Abraham would go through the pattern of faith, obedience, and sacrifice? God would always show up to Abraham and reveal more of himself to him. In Genesis 12:7 the Lord appeared to Abram and and told him of the land he would give him and his descendants. In Genesis 22 Abraham repeats the same pattern, we first see his obedience but his faith is displayed to us when he says "the lad and I will go yonder and worship and return to you." Wait Abraham knew that he was going to sacrifice his son to God, so how were they both going to return? I don't think he knew, he just had faith in God that his word to him about his descendants was true. At the end of the text an Angel of the Lord appears to Abraham and shows him the provision for the sacrifice, a ram caught in a thicket by it's horns. Thus repeating the same pattern: Faith, obedience, sacrifice, and encounter. I believe this pattern is absolutely the pattern of true worship, and it doesn't all happen on Sunday morning during the song service. It's got to be lived out in our daily lives!
In theology the "Law of first Mentions" states in essence when a writer gives first mention to a subject matter they intend for that definition to be followed throughout the course of the writing. Therefore if the writer of the bible (God) is laying this foundation of worship for us we must consider it a foundation of true worship.
In John 4:23 Jesus tells us that the Father is seeking those who worship him in spirit and in truth. If I'm supposed to worship God in spirit and truth i felt like it was a good idea to really know what that meant. When I studied out the text in it's original Greek language I found that the word used originally for true was alethinos which means: that which not only has name and semblance but the real nature corresponding to the name. We have too much name and semblance in our churches today. It's time we begin to have the real nature of that which we believe in! The word that is used for spirit in this writing is pnyuma. Pnyuma's meaning refers to the spirit and the soul interchangeably which is: the power with which a human feels thinks and decides. I had always thought that this verse meant that I should be worshipping God in other tongues (or in the holy spirit) and I believe that we all should because Paul said "I will pray in the spirit I will pray with the understanding, I will sing in the spirit I will sing with the understanding" But that is not at all what Jesus was saying God is seeking as we understand once we study this text out.
Based on what we know about the meaning of the words of John 4:23 in the original Greek language and what we know about worship and it's biblical foundations from looking at the life of Abraham I beleive you could accurately restate the text this way: God is looking for those who will live out true worship (not just sing in church) by giving up their feelings, thoughts, and decisions. Forcing them through a lifestyle of faith, obedience, and sacrifice into the divine nature of Christ. Therefore thinking, feeling, and making decisions the same way Christ would feel, think, and make decisions. Is it just me or is that more costly than just singing or even singing in tongues? The Holy Spirit living inside of us should produce a lot more in our lives than merely tongues. Tongues is good but we as the body of Christ have to get to a place where we are living out true worship or else, like the Greek word alethinos describes; we are merely name and semblance, and our worship is merely form and function...or you could call it religion...and that would absolutely be a shame. However even if this restatement of John 4:23 may seem difficult it's also absolutely empowering because it tells us not only how to be a true worshiper, but I beleive it gives us the line upon line precept upon precept appraoch to fulfilling our ultimate desitny which is to be conformed to the image of Chrsit Jesus (Romans 8:29). I exhort the reader of this writing to live out a life style of true worship...everyday, by making the decision to walk in faith, obedience, and sacrifice, which will position you for new encounters with your Heavenly Father...producing in your life more faith, obedience, and sacrifice. Keep going...don't give up! Live your life in a lifestyle of true worship...it's not cheap and it's not always easy, but encounters with the Almighty God makes it all worth it! This cycle of faith, obedience, sacrifice, and encounter is a cycle we can absolutely repeat, I beleive, without worrying about it becoming just another routine. Why...because it takes us out of our comfort zone every time, and true encounters with God are never going to produce in us a religious spirit. Let's worship our brains out when we come to God in praise and worship in the house of the Lord, but lets also remember that True Worship begins long before we ever get there. Only a life lived out in faith, obedience, and sacrifice for God allows you to be counted as a true worshiper!!
Produce Fruit!
Chad
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Nemesis
I’ve lived seasons of my life full of sin, full of some of the worst things you could think of: Drugs, illicit sex, pornography, lying, cheating, stealing, just to name a few of my past vices. Today I can gladly say by the grace of God and by the blood of Jesus, by the cross I have been set free and delivered from my past life of sin and shame. But even today as a child of the living God there are moments when my flesh truly desires and longs for some of the sins of my past. It longs to feed on the things that it craves, and will give it the momentary satisfaction it so desperately longs for. There are times not where I walk into the sin of my past, but the desire of my flesh to do so becomes a weight on my spirit and in my life. The desires of my flesh seem truly overwhelming.
This is a struggle we all face. Maybe your flesh does not crave the things I mentioned above that we often consider the more serious sins this world has to offer and tempt us with. Maybe it prefers to tell white lies that make you seem like something more than you are, maybe your flesh wants to talk about your spiritual leaders and those in authority over you, or your peers in a negative way, maybe your flesh just wants to be lazy and spend hours in front of the TV when you know you could be doing something constructive for the Kingdom of God. Maybe your flesh even says there is no God, the gifts of the spirit aren’t real, or I’m going to heaven I can do whatever I want in terms of how I live my daily life and its okay. Whatever the battle is you engage with your flesh, know that you are not alone. We all face the same battle. The only perfect man EVER was our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We will not live a perfect life. But let’s realize at the same time that the grace of God doesn’t give us a license to live our lives however our flesh desires to live.
In the Kingdom of God there is Law and there is Order. Many of our modern day churches love to say that the Law has been done away with and we as New Testament believers live under the grace of God. That’s absolutely true but also only part of the truth. If you believe there is no longer law in the Kingdom of God, you have been taught poorly or you are simply looking to excuse your own sin and perversion.
The Law which the apostle Paul refers to as having been abolished by Christ over and over in the New Testament is the Ceremonial Law of the Old Testament Jews, a religious law whereby right standing with God was accounted for by animal sacrifice and other religious acts. The Blood of Jesus Christ was not a release government in our lives or a permission slip to live our lives however we desire and think because we once repeated a prayer we are part of God’s Kingdom. The blood of Jesus paid the “Blood Price” once and for all for our sins. No longer do we have to endure animal sacrifices to the Lord for the propitiation of our sins. We simply receive Jesus’ sacrifice. We believe in our heart and confess with our mouth that Jesus is the son of God and was raised from the dead and he is our King, and the price for sin has been paid. We no longer walk in sin we walk in life.
However God is a holy God, and he is a just God. He has called us to be holy as he is holy. The word Holy means to have a divine nature, which means to me our nature (in the spirit) and the desire of our hearts if we are truly born into the Kingdom should be to not sin (Paul talks about this over and over in the book of Romans). Not see how much sin we can get away with and still make it to heaven. If that’s our thinking we’ve missed the point entirely, and we can roll the dice and hope that the once saved always saved theology really means “once repeated a prayer = Heaven forever” but that’s just a roll I’m not willing to make, and I haven’t been called to barely make it to heaven. The goal of the believer once we begin to grasp the reality of God, and begin to study the Bible isn’t heaven. Once our heavenly citizenship is secure our focus, our attention, our actions, and our thinking has got to get off of us making it to heaven when we die to us getting heaven to earth while we live! The bible tells us that our DESTINY as children of God is to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ Romans 8:29.
Breaking past the point of making it to heaven into living as the image of Jesus on the earth until he returns, a productive Kingdom advancing Heaven on Earth life does not come without a price. Salvation is free; to walk with the creator of the universe in a world that has largely rejected him and is full of sin, to be a true representation of Jesus on the earth is costly. We are constantly being bombarded and attacked with devises from our adversary the devil who walks around like a roaring lion seeking those he can devour. Our enemy is aggressive in coming after us. We must be aggressive in going after him. The great masses of Christians seem to be seeking a problem free, convenient, life without conflict existence on Earth. We even believe we are entitled to that it seems when I hear Christians talk. But my Bible describes FAITH as a fight at its very core when it instructs us to “Fight the Good Fight of Faith” 1st Tim. 6:12. I love Matt 11:12 in the New Living Translation which says the Kingdom of God is forcefully advancing and violent people attack it. Both of these scriptures and many, many more in the bible give us the picture of the fight we are supposed to be engaged in as men and women of faith.
As we forcefully advance the Kingdom of God on the earth and as we fight the devil by taking the gospel outside the walls of the church and proclaiming the good news to the lost, let us not forget that we also have another adversary, the one that we spoke about at the beginning of this writing. That adversary is our flesh. 2nd Corinthians 7:1 instructs us to put our flesh to death by saying: Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God. (NLT). Notice that Paul (in the New Testament after the law had been abolished) instructs us to work towards complete holiness by cleansing our flesh. The usage of the words work toward indicates to me that holiness is a process. God doesn’t excuse sin, he detests it, but he also knows that we are human. We do not have a high priest (Jesus) that cannot relate to our temptations and our battle with sin. So don’t get discouraged if you fail and give into your flesh. If you fall into temptation identify it, don’t sweep it under the rug, and don’t ignore it. GO TO BATTLE WITH IT! Confess it to the Lord because God’s word says in 1st John 1:9 if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Confess your sin. Get it on the table before God. His word promises a cleansing once you confess it to him. Don’t go back to the sin run from the sin, run to the things of God. Corinthians 7:1 told us to work towards holiness. Romans 12:2 tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds…both of these scriptures (Romans 12:2 and 2nd Corinthians 7:1) show us a picture of a progressive walk toward holiness and purity. It’s up to you how quickly you make the progression. We all know Christians who have been saved for 40 years and still struggle with the same junk they did when they were born into the Kingdom. Don’t let that be you! Renew your mind! Read the word, pray, get good teaching from good spiritual leaders, submit to Godly authority and progress towards holiness in your spiritual life. Most importantly: Keep your eyes on Jesus and his finished work. Focusing on yourself and trying your best to live holy isn’t going to cut it! It never did! That’s why the original law was abolished in the first place. The only way to keep ourselves holy and pure before God is to keep our eyes on him…otherwise the whole thing just becomes about you and your works and what you did and didn’t do. It was never supposed to be about us. It was always and will always be about Jesus! The King of Kings!
The Genesis of this writing was simply to get my thoughts out there because my flesh was waging war against my spirit today. Just reminding myself as I write about the battle we must engage in and the promise of God to be faithful to us in the midst of our battle and the striving towards holiness in our walk with him has encouraged me to keep fighting the good fight of faith! I hope it’s encouraged you, I also hope it’s provoked you to examine your walk and ask “am I progressing towards the holiness God has called me to?” I pray that you are!
Produce Fruit,
Chad
This is a struggle we all face. Maybe your flesh does not crave the things I mentioned above that we often consider the more serious sins this world has to offer and tempt us with. Maybe it prefers to tell white lies that make you seem like something more than you are, maybe your flesh wants to talk about your spiritual leaders and those in authority over you, or your peers in a negative way, maybe your flesh just wants to be lazy and spend hours in front of the TV when you know you could be doing something constructive for the Kingdom of God. Maybe your flesh even says there is no God, the gifts of the spirit aren’t real, or I’m going to heaven I can do whatever I want in terms of how I live my daily life and its okay. Whatever the battle is you engage with your flesh, know that you are not alone. We all face the same battle. The only perfect man EVER was our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We will not live a perfect life. But let’s realize at the same time that the grace of God doesn’t give us a license to live our lives however our flesh desires to live.
In the Kingdom of God there is Law and there is Order. Many of our modern day churches love to say that the Law has been done away with and we as New Testament believers live under the grace of God. That’s absolutely true but also only part of the truth. If you believe there is no longer law in the Kingdom of God, you have been taught poorly or you are simply looking to excuse your own sin and perversion.
The Law which the apostle Paul refers to as having been abolished by Christ over and over in the New Testament is the Ceremonial Law of the Old Testament Jews, a religious law whereby right standing with God was accounted for by animal sacrifice and other religious acts. The Blood of Jesus Christ was not a release government in our lives or a permission slip to live our lives however we desire and think because we once repeated a prayer we are part of God’s Kingdom. The blood of Jesus paid the “Blood Price” once and for all for our sins. No longer do we have to endure animal sacrifices to the Lord for the propitiation of our sins. We simply receive Jesus’ sacrifice. We believe in our heart and confess with our mouth that Jesus is the son of God and was raised from the dead and he is our King, and the price for sin has been paid. We no longer walk in sin we walk in life.
However God is a holy God, and he is a just God. He has called us to be holy as he is holy. The word Holy means to have a divine nature, which means to me our nature (in the spirit) and the desire of our hearts if we are truly born into the Kingdom should be to not sin (Paul talks about this over and over in the book of Romans). Not see how much sin we can get away with and still make it to heaven. If that’s our thinking we’ve missed the point entirely, and we can roll the dice and hope that the once saved always saved theology really means “once repeated a prayer = Heaven forever” but that’s just a roll I’m not willing to make, and I haven’t been called to barely make it to heaven. The goal of the believer once we begin to grasp the reality of God, and begin to study the Bible isn’t heaven. Once our heavenly citizenship is secure our focus, our attention, our actions, and our thinking has got to get off of us making it to heaven when we die to us getting heaven to earth while we live! The bible tells us that our DESTINY as children of God is to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ Romans 8:29.
Breaking past the point of making it to heaven into living as the image of Jesus on the earth until he returns, a productive Kingdom advancing Heaven on Earth life does not come without a price. Salvation is free; to walk with the creator of the universe in a world that has largely rejected him and is full of sin, to be a true representation of Jesus on the earth is costly. We are constantly being bombarded and attacked with devises from our adversary the devil who walks around like a roaring lion seeking those he can devour. Our enemy is aggressive in coming after us. We must be aggressive in going after him. The great masses of Christians seem to be seeking a problem free, convenient, life without conflict existence on Earth. We even believe we are entitled to that it seems when I hear Christians talk. But my Bible describes FAITH as a fight at its very core when it instructs us to “Fight the Good Fight of Faith” 1st Tim. 6:12. I love Matt 11:12 in the New Living Translation which says the Kingdom of God is forcefully advancing and violent people attack it. Both of these scriptures and many, many more in the bible give us the picture of the fight we are supposed to be engaged in as men and women of faith.
As we forcefully advance the Kingdom of God on the earth and as we fight the devil by taking the gospel outside the walls of the church and proclaiming the good news to the lost, let us not forget that we also have another adversary, the one that we spoke about at the beginning of this writing. That adversary is our flesh. 2nd Corinthians 7:1 instructs us to put our flesh to death by saying: Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God. (NLT). Notice that Paul (in the New Testament after the law had been abolished) instructs us to work towards complete holiness by cleansing our flesh. The usage of the words work toward indicates to me that holiness is a process. God doesn’t excuse sin, he detests it, but he also knows that we are human. We do not have a high priest (Jesus) that cannot relate to our temptations and our battle with sin. So don’t get discouraged if you fail and give into your flesh. If you fall into temptation identify it, don’t sweep it under the rug, and don’t ignore it. GO TO BATTLE WITH IT! Confess it to the Lord because God’s word says in 1st John 1:9 if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Confess your sin. Get it on the table before God. His word promises a cleansing once you confess it to him. Don’t go back to the sin run from the sin, run to the things of God. Corinthians 7:1 told us to work towards holiness. Romans 12:2 tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds…both of these scriptures (Romans 12:2 and 2nd Corinthians 7:1) show us a picture of a progressive walk toward holiness and purity. It’s up to you how quickly you make the progression. We all know Christians who have been saved for 40 years and still struggle with the same junk they did when they were born into the Kingdom. Don’t let that be you! Renew your mind! Read the word, pray, get good teaching from good spiritual leaders, submit to Godly authority and progress towards holiness in your spiritual life. Most importantly: Keep your eyes on Jesus and his finished work. Focusing on yourself and trying your best to live holy isn’t going to cut it! It never did! That’s why the original law was abolished in the first place. The only way to keep ourselves holy and pure before God is to keep our eyes on him…otherwise the whole thing just becomes about you and your works and what you did and didn’t do. It was never supposed to be about us. It was always and will always be about Jesus! The King of Kings!
The Genesis of this writing was simply to get my thoughts out there because my flesh was waging war against my spirit today. Just reminding myself as I write about the battle we must engage in and the promise of God to be faithful to us in the midst of our battle and the striving towards holiness in our walk with him has encouraged me to keep fighting the good fight of faith! I hope it’s encouraged you, I also hope it’s provoked you to examine your walk and ask “am I progressing towards the holiness God has called me to?” I pray that you are!
Produce Fruit,
Chad
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Seek...
The Bible, God's word to the human race tells us to SEEK first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to us (an addendum; it's talking about our needs in this verse. Let's not extrapolate that verse to mean if we go to church we should have a bunch of stuff. Stuff Is cool...I really like stuff in fact, but let's be more spiritually mature than to feel the need to justify our greed for stuff by using scripture and our vain puffed up imagination to think that because we can take this text out of context to show that if we read our bible, pray and go to church we are qualified for a godly inheritance we somehow have amazing revelation. And preachers...lets not ever feel the need to conform ourselves to the thinking of greedy individuals who can only get pumped up to come to church if they are going to get taught how to get blessed. I absolutely whole heatedly believe in Godly prosperity. I believe that God NEEDS his children to inherit wealth because he has things on Earth that he wants to accomplish using the wealth of the Godly to do it! I believe he does want to bless us in every way..."beloved I pray that you prosper and are in health even as your soul prospers" - 3rd John:2. But blessing lets remember is a direct result of obedience (Deuteronomy 28) not church attendance. So let's be obedient to ALL of God's word, and remember that faith at it's core is a fight and the destiny of all believers is to be conformed to the image of Jesus (Romans 8:29), not be millionaires. I believe that true and Godly prosperity as indicated in 3rd John comes from a prosperous soul. It's a process y'all. Let's fight this fight...be faithful over little and God will MAKE you ruler over much...Okay got that off my chest.) So Gods word tells us to seek him first...before anything, above everything in our life we have got to begin to seek God. Beyond providing for our needs the Bible says God is a rewarder of those who diligently SEEK him. David says to Solomon that if you seek God you will find him. Jesus tells us in Matthew anyone who seeks finds. I ask...is there any greater reward than finding God. Not simply in a sense of "I received the free gift of salvation I'm going to heaven." Don't misunderstand me...going to heaven is a great thing and considering the alternative...it's the only reasonable choice to make (believing in you heart and confessing with your mouth that Jesus is the son of god, he died for our sins and was raised from the dead). But once that salvation experience takes place there is so much more that is offered to us. 2nd Chronicles 16:9 says the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth SEEKING to show himself strong through those whose hearts are loyal to him. So not only should we be seekers, because God has a reward for seekers. But God himself is also a seeker. He is seeking those who's hearts are loyal to him, and them whos HEARTS are loyal he desires to show himself strong! God showing himself strong through me...is to me a greater reward than any THING i could ever receive from him. Jesus told us that the works he did and greater works will we do...but that offer does not come without a price.
God says that when we seek him we will find him, when we find him we have an opportunity to begin to be conformed to the image of Christ. As we pay the price to seek God and be conformed to the image of Jesus through reading of his word, worship, being instructed by spiritual authority and spiritual leaders...and just flat out seeking God however he personally instructs us. I believe at that point...in the midst of our seeking journey and in a progressive manner God will qualify us as those whose hearts are loyal to him and begin to show himself strong through us! Suddenlys' follow everydays...we have to live a seeking lifestyle.
No matter where you are in this journey there is always another step. If the destiny and goal is to be conformed to the image of a perfect Savior, and there is no man that is perfect, we must realize we are never there...but I believe the more we pay the price the closer we will get, and the closer we get the more of the works that Jesus did and greater works will begin to be poured out through us into the earth. We have a world desperately in need of a Savior, in need of a shaking, in need of an awakening. Will you be one that pays the price to be one that God can use in a mighty, beyond anything we can ask or think according to the power that works in us though Jesus way? The world is crying out for you! Fight the fight! And always remember the greatest reward of our seeking is not the works that will be done through us, it's not the prosparity, it's not even the harvest of souls. The greatest reward we can ever obtain in our seeking is a deeper personal relationship with the Holy One, our creator, the God of the universe.
Produce Fruit,
Chad
God says that when we seek him we will find him, when we find him we have an opportunity to begin to be conformed to the image of Christ. As we pay the price to seek God and be conformed to the image of Jesus through reading of his word, worship, being instructed by spiritual authority and spiritual leaders...and just flat out seeking God however he personally instructs us. I believe at that point...in the midst of our seeking journey and in a progressive manner God will qualify us as those whose hearts are loyal to him and begin to show himself strong through us! Suddenlys' follow everydays...we have to live a seeking lifestyle.
No matter where you are in this journey there is always another step. If the destiny and goal is to be conformed to the image of a perfect Savior, and there is no man that is perfect, we must realize we are never there...but I believe the more we pay the price the closer we will get, and the closer we get the more of the works that Jesus did and greater works will begin to be poured out through us into the earth. We have a world desperately in need of a Savior, in need of a shaking, in need of an awakening. Will you be one that pays the price to be one that God can use in a mighty, beyond anything we can ask or think according to the power that works in us though Jesus way? The world is crying out for you! Fight the fight! And always remember the greatest reward of our seeking is not the works that will be done through us, it's not the prosparity, it's not even the harvest of souls. The greatest reward we can ever obtain in our seeking is a deeper personal relationship with the Holy One, our creator, the God of the universe.
Produce Fruit,
Chad
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