The Heart Of Worship

 "Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name: worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness"  (Psalm 29:2, NIV).

"Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, LORD," (cf. Psalm 89:15, NIV). 
"But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of thy Israel" (Psalm 22:3, KJV).

God desires those who worship to do so in spirit and in truth (cf. John 4:24), and this implicates our whole being and that we do it in the right spirit, or filled with the Spirit, and in truth or not hypocritical, phony, or mere lip service--but also consistent with sound doctrine--God is the God of Truth!   We are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and this means everything that we are--our whole being!  It doesn't mean you be something you're not, but to be what God made you and do what you were designed to do. 

There's no "one-size-fits-all" way to worship:  some are traditionalists, seeking liturgy and ritual; some are musical; some caregiving; some activists; some contemplative; and some are even intellectual.  We are not all hard-wired the same, but we are all meant, designed, and made for worship.  Dostoevsky said, "Man cannot live without worshiping something."  That is, if we don't worship God, we will worship something; i.e., we will worship!  We've been called Homo religiosus, or the religious man or being.  We all have a spark of the divine in us and have been called Homo divinus (penned by John Stott) to point that out.

Worship (meaning worth-ship or ascribing worth that's due) isn't always corporate or in the church assembly--though this is highly rewarding and encouraging.  We offer ourselves to God or consecrate ourselves in surrender.  The believer must learn to live his life as a sacrifice to God and as a service to Him in offering himself.  God doesn't want our achievements--He wants us!   We don't want to just go through the motions, or get into a rut, but seek meaning and purpose in our worship.  We don't just go to church to worship--we go to work!  For example, A man laying bricks was asked what he was doing and he responded that he was building a chapel!  The condition of our soul and spirit is what is our aim, not just where we are. 

We are to keep the channel open and the link connected to God as we continually practice the presence of God in our daily chores and activities. Martin Luther proclaimed manual labor as dignified and to the glory of God.   All that we do is to be to God's glory (cf. 1 Cor. 10:31).  Living our lives in God's will is our sacrifice to Him, and this is our yoke, not the Law, as in the old covenant--this is real spirituality.  God wants our obedience in life and this is more important than being religious or having religiosity:  "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams" (cf. 1 Sam. 15:22).

The reason we meet together for corporate worship though is that we all have different gifts and need mutual edification.  Like it says in 1 Cor. 14:26 (NIV) that when we meet together "everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation." The gifts are given for the benefit of the body as a whole, not just for our personal growth.  The point of corporate worship is that the singing of hymns and spiritual songs is not the only form of worship:  We worship in giving of our monetary blessings; we worship in the Lord's Supper as a memorial to Him that contemplate; we worship by heeding the preaching of the Word, and we worship by our fellowship with our brethren. 

By way of analogy, our entire lives are to be an act of giving or of worship and thanksgiving as we render to God His due and live according to His will and walk with Him in the Spirit.  Worship is sacrifice among other criteria:  There are two sacrifices that the Bible stresses, besides the ones given in the Mosaic Law:  The sacrifice of praise (cf. Heb. 13:15); and the sacrifice of thanksgiving (cf. Ps. 50:23).

In summation, Psalm 100:1, 3, 4 (KJV, boldface mine)  portrays the right mental attitude or formula for opening the door to the throne room of God into His dimension for spiritual worship as follows:  "MAKE a joyful noise ...  Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with thanksgiving, know ye that the LORD he is God ... Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful  unto him and bless his name." [Note that we worship in making noise (i.e., audible attention-getting devices), serving (missions, ministry), coming (approaching in prayer--corporate and private, and fellowship--corporate and one-on-one) to Him, offering praise, being thankful (in everything), and in giving blessings (to God and others).]   Soli Deo Gloria!

Authentic Worship

"... [Shout] unto God with the voice of triumph" (Psalm 47:1, KJV).

"I WAS glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD" (Psalm 122:1, KJV).
"Blessed is the people who know the joyful sound..." (Psalm 89:15, KJV).
"Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with song of praise" (Psalm 95:2, ESV).
"Blessed are the people who know the festal shout [call to worship]" (Psalm 89:15, ESV).

The heart of the matter of worship is that it's a matter of the heart; it reflects the condition of your heart and the extent of its surrender and offering to God, not how much of the Spirit you have, but how much of you the Spirit has. When someone says that he didn't get much out of worship, it only reveals his ignorance of its purpose--to glorify, extol, and lift up the Lord--that your motives are wrong and your worship for the wrong reason. The reason we worship is that we are designed for it and it is only natural--we are called homo divinus, or homo religiosus, meaning we are fulfilled and meant for worship as religious beings--much more, we will worship someone or something, if not God for we are hard-wired for it; however, God is the only one worthy of our worship. "Worthy are you ... to receive glory..." (Rev. 4:11, ESV). That’s because worship is from the contraction worth-ship.


Worship is about having an encounter with the God who is there; in fact, Christianity is not about believing in God, but the God who is there. Francis Schaeffer says, "He is there, and He is not silent." Indeed, God melts us, molds fills us, and then uses us in worship as we recharge our spiritual batteries and get our checkup in the corporate worship experience of the local body of believers that we congregate and assemble with regularly. There is no one-size-fits-all for worship and that's probably why there are so many worship experiences; some are demonstrative, some stoical, but God sees the heart, while man looks on the outward appearance (cf. 1 Sam. 16:7; 1 Chron. 28:9) or “Your name is on their lips, but you are far from their hearts,” (cf. Jer. 12:2, NLT). Posture and gestures can be important, but mere lip service is vain and fruitless. We don't want to be like Israel: "... 'Is the LORD among us or not?'" (Ex. 17:7, ESV).


Worship is what church is all about, even in our giving we are doing it. Going to church should not be considered something on our to-do list or something we do perfunctorily, but something we gladly and willing do; you could say we "get to" worship God, not that we have to. Some say that they can worship God in the cornfield, so why attend church? Worship is more than music (Jubal invented in Gen. 4), and some think they only go to church to hear a sermon, but we must realize that there is a purpose for each part of the service in our worship experience. They haven't discovered the power of corporate worship and that whenever two or three are gathered together in His name, Jesus promises to be present. Hebrews 10:25 exhorts us not to forsake the assembling together of ourselves--this is a command--God gives no advice, suggestions, or hints except in 1 Cor. 14:26 describing the gathering of believers.


Worship is important to us because we learn to connect with God and it changes us, not God--God invites us to join Him in His joy and gladness (cf. Neh. 8:10). The call to worship is to focus on who God is and what He has done as we thank Him for His actions and praise Him for His being. We have the right attitude when we are in awe and humble ourselves before Him in Spirit and in truth. Remember, worship is about God, it's not about you! We learn to seek the presence of the Lord and His face and to be used by God in our surrender to bring Him joy, focusing on His presence and face.


We need to be reminded of the Spirit on a regular basis to keep in touch and not lose track of our fellowship--it's easy to drift off and backslide without regular fellowship and corporate worship--none of us is a rock or an island that needs nobody else--we all need each other for expression and mutual ministry Remember, worship is active and not passive, not something we listen to, but take part in and put all that we are able into it. Some have a form of godliness in so-called will worship, but deny the power thereof (cf. 2 Tim. 3:5).


Church, then is not a place for the goody-goodies to gather or those who think that it's a crutch for weak people or losers--indeed, no perfect people need to apply, as God calls not the righteous, but sinners to repentance, and church should be viewed as a hospital for sinners, not a hotel for saints. They say that it's filled with hypocrites too, but we should tell them to join in because they'd feel right at home! We don't abandon church or Christ as believers, but we can drift away slowly and should know the warning signs like our worship becoming routine, perfunctory, and hypocritical. The church is our lifeblood and the means of our renewal because the body needs each member and we are all in it together to glorify God and fulfill the Great Commission. The church is not meant to be a comfortable place for sinners to feel at home, but where the gospel is preached and people are enjoined to come to a decision, and making no decision is making a "No!" decision.


We must realize that "God inhabits the praises of His people" (cf. Psalm 22:3) and that we enter His gates with thanksgiving, His courts with joy (cf. Psalm 100:3) and that we should bless Him with all that is within us--all our being (cf. Psalm 103:1)--and be ourselves, not hypocritical. God thrives on worship and "The Lord takes pleasure in His people" (cf. Psalm 149:4a, CEV). We must worship God "in Spirit and in truth" (cf. John 4:24). The essence of worship is bringing joy and pleasure to God, and whenever we feel this joy in the Spirit, no matter what our endeavor--even working--it is worship and brings glory to God. "... [W]hatever you do, do to the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31, ESV). When God smiles on you, or you feel His pleasure, you're worshiping.


You can go to church to worship God or you can go to the factory to worship Him, for authentic worship is the offering of ourselves (as a living sacrifice (cf. Rom. 12:1.) The way we are in our daily lives is worship or sacrifice--we live and breathe worship! We must see the whole world as His temple and fertile territory for worship. Wherever we sense awe, love, respect, and fear we have the right attitude to come before His presence in thanksgiving for what He's done and praise for who He is, and put ourselves in the frame of mind to worship. Our life is an offering to God as we present ourselves to Him in devotion and live to His glory as vessels of honor! Let all that is within us praise the Lord!


Just like prayer, worship should change us, not God, and one should say that they realize we have been in the presence of God or have been with the Lord, as your "cup overflows." Finally, we must realize our need for worship and that it is a litmus test of our spiritual growth and condition, and we cannot thrive or grow without it having its rightful place.


Surely the fear of the LORD is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!’” (cf. Gen. 28:16). Or worst-case scenario: As Abraham said, “Surely the fear of the LORD is not in this place.” (cf. Gen. 20:11). Worship is the serious business of God and heaven. Soli Deo Gloria!

What Unknown God Are You Guilty Of Worshiping?

 "If a person comes and preaches some other Jesus than the one we preached, or if you receive a different spirit than the one you had received or a different gospel than the one you embraced..." (cf. 2 Cor. 11:4). 

"Those who worship false gods turn their backs on all God's mercies," (cf. Jonah 2:8, NLT) 

On Mount Areopagus or Mars Hill in Acts 17, Paul mentioned to the Athenians that he had noticed a shrine "to the unknown God."  They were unwittingly worshiping God without knowing who He is!  But we can worship unknown gods ourselves by the false worship of God, putting Him in a box, or diminishing His deity or glory. It may have all started when Satan told Eve that she could be "as the gods." Men have historically tried to "make a name for themselves" (cf. Gen. 11:4) since the tower of Babel. It is obvious to the pious man that people today aren't interested in being godly anymore, but in being gods, as Satan deceived Eve "You shall be as gods."  

In humanism, they deify man and dethrone God:  "Glory to man in the highest" so to speak. Actually, the Greeks of antiquity thought of humanism in the terms of man being the "measure of all things" ("homo mensura" from Protagoras).  In other words, starting the calculus with man, not God in the equation. 

What I want to point out is that we all can be idolaters without our knowledge, but thank God it's only he who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it is sinning: we sin in ignorance and fall short of true worship in spirit and truth--God for who He really is in reality.  When God loses His awe or becomes commonplace and trite, and the pizzazz of worship seems perfunctory and we even become frauds at worship because of lack of sincerity but in hypocrisy, we are committing idolatry. We must give God his due worship for that is what worship is: what one is worthy of.   

We can have many false gods that we invent and concoct or imagine.  God demands Number One Priority and first place in our hearts.  Anything that takes God's place in our life and removes Him from the equation or picture and inserts ourselves is idolatry. We are to fear God, so fearing anyone else is idolatry  God created man in His image but Voltaire said that man has created God in his image: we imagine that God is like us only more so! 

But we are only in His image so we can worship, love, know and serve Him, not so we can look to Him as our equal or that He is like us.  It was the Greek pantheon that was created in man's image: the gods lusted, got drunk, and deceived just like men, and it was that philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were offended by this image of God as they saw Him: Especially in being the Supreme Good, the standard of perfection and goodness. 

We are not to quarrel with our Maker (cf. Isaiah 45:9) and worship the true and living God as we are commanded and see ourselves in the true light of Scripture as sinners in need of salvation.  We have no glory of our own and our glory is the gift of God. We are not to trust anyone but God and that means any false senses of security and false hopes.  But God is no respecter of persons and demands we worship Him no matter who we are; there's no partiality with God and He shows no favoritism. We are all born sinners in need of grace! God levels the playing field and puts us all in the same boat. Even as believers, there is no caste system or elitism and we are all one in Christ (cf. Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:11).  

Now, there are so many ways to commit idolatry that no one can be immune from sin.  It's the First Commandment and also the greatest and what the others depend on. You could say that all other sins are corollaries of this one; failure to let God be God.  We aren't just appeasing an angry God but rendering Him all that is due to His glory. We find out that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom and this it's the first base with God. The definition of a Victorian Englishman is a self-made man who worships his creator. The roots of self-adulation, self-admiration, and narcissism are obvious.

Now, just think of the typical American.  In primitive times men worshiped creation such as the sun or moon and had gods for everything like Baal the fertility god.  Israel had to be deported to Babylon and taken captive before learning its lesson not to commit idolatry with the false gods of Canaan.  But we are no better today, though not pagan worshiping idols of stone or clay. Just wonder what impresses you or what your security is in.  There's hero-worship of celebrities, politicians, experts, academics, and athletes.  

What's more, there's the worship of intelligence, beauty, college degrees, technology, success, security,  against loss of it in ID theft, job security, the hype of media or a moment in the limelight, one's party, church, or nation, military superiority, sexuality, toys big and small, but most of them can be included in the lust for fame, power, and fortune instead of seeking God's will. John sums up all sin as either lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (cf. 1 John 2:16). 

People are on a mad search for happiness no matter the cost and no matter whom they worship along the way in a dog-eat-dog world of survival of the fittest and might become right. What America has become is a  materialistic society that survives on greed and possessions.  It's become a competition of keeping up with the Jones and a society that sees itself as haves and have-nots. People aren't satisfied with what God blesses them with and seek riches no matter the cost to their honor or integrity. 

   

A word to the wise is sufficient:  "Thou thoughtest I was altogether as thyself" (cf. Psalm 50:21). 

CAVEAT:  To worship God for who He isn't in reality as some figment of your imagination or anything less than who He is  (human thoughts of God) make you an idolater like Luther said to Erasmus of Rotterdam:  "Your thoughts of God are too human."  Like so many sects that are heretical and teach another Jesus (not divine), and selling him short: we must label this as idolatry.   Soli Deo Gloria! 

Are We Supposed To Worship Jesus?

FROM A QUORA POST OF GODWIN GOZIEM JIREH

 Know that Jesus Christ who came from heaven to earth is God the Son (John 1:1, 14, 18; Hebrews 1:1–3; 1 John 5:20). He was worshipped, is still worshiped, and will be worshipped throughout eternity.

God the Father commanded all His angels to worship His Son Jesus when He was born on earth (Hebrews 1:6) and as soon as the Wise men from the East laid eyes on the infant Jesus, “they fell down and worshiped him” (Matthew 2:11).

All through the public ministry of Jesus, people from all walks of life recognized His divinity voluntarily and spontaneously worshipped Him. For example, Jesus accepted the freewill worship of the following persons:

• a leper who was healed - Matthew 8:2
• a nobleman whose son was healed - Matthew 9:18
• Jesus' disciples who saw Him walked on water- Matthew 14:33
• a Canaanite woman who requested Jesus to heal her daughter - Matthew 15:25
• the mother of James and John - Matthew 20:20
• a man tormented by evil spirits - Mark 5:6
• a blind man who was healed - John 9:38
• some women who met Jesus after His resurrection - Matthew 28:8-9; cf. Mark 16:1; Luke 24:10
• Jesus' disciples who saw Him after His resurrection - Matthew 28:17
• Apostle Thomas acknowledged Jesus as "My Lord and my God!" - John 20:28

Also know that all the angelic beings are currently worshipping the Father and Son Jesus (Revelation 5:11–14; 7:9–10) who are, spiritually speaking, “the temple of heaven” (Revelation 21:22). Eventually, all will worship Jesus someday; “so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10–11).

So, from all the scriptural data presented so far, it is very obvious that we are posed to worship Jesus. Moreover, we find several passages in Scripture revering Jesus in worship as Lord and where the names attributed to Him indicate that other believers recognized Jesus as Deity- John 1:1–3, 14, 18; Acts 20:28; Philippians 2:5-8; Colossians 2:9; 1 Timothy 3:16; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 1:3, 8.

Rendering To Caesar And To God Their Due

 It was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German playwright, who quipped:  "To rule is easy, to govern difficult."  Also, don't forget Plutarch, Italian poet, who said wisely, "Who shall govern the governor?"  It was Rev. Samuel Rutherford who said that the law is the king, not the king who is the law, writing Lex Rex, or the law is the king translated, setting up the rule of law in Western Europe and restraining the so-called divine right of kings like King John who had to submit to the nobles at Runnymede and sign the Magna Charta.  The Bible has always been considered the basis of  Common Law in the UK.  Note that in democracies we have the right to express ourselves, protest, and do whatever opposition requires in the spirit of the Reformation: I dissent, I disagree, I protest!  That refers to civil disobedience delineated by Henry David  Thoreau but articulated in the Bible as well in Acts 5:29 when the apostles said, "We ought to obey God rather than men."  

Yes, we have the right to oppose the government when it is immoral and goes against the Bible's orders or guidelines.  Even St. Augustine of Hippo said that an unjust law is no law at all.  And Isaiah said, "Woe is the one who decrees unrighteous decrees" (cf. Isa. 10:1).  This all goes to show that Christians ought not to stand on the sidelines but show their Christian colors and dare to be Daniels who stood alone in his defiance of the king's decree. 

Now, Christians have dual citizenship and must be loyal, patriotic, and good upright citizens where possible but there comes a time to take a stand and be ready to be counted besides going to the polls. We respect our leaders and obey them but that doesn't mean we have to like them--we are still obliged to pray for their enlightenment and to be good leaders as well as safety.  But it can go too far when we focus on hero worship and idolize our leaders even like seeing them with charisma such as Hitler mesmerizing his crowds of adoring fanatic followers. This type of devotion or loyalty to a man and not the truth and God is akin to idolatry and no man owes any other man what is due to God alone!  We depend upon God and seek His guidance, not the government's.  This is especially bad when a leader demands personal loyalty and agreement. 

We are here not just to earn a buck and make a living but to make a difference (especially eternally for God and His kingdom). That's why we say in America:  In God we trust!  Jesus did say to render to Caesar that which is Caesar's and that means his taxes, prayer support, obedience, and proper respect so as not to bad mouth or spread disinformation or even misinformation--no conspiracy theories or fabrications; all amounting to good citizenship.    We owe God all that we are: our time, talents, energy, relationships, opportunities, money, etc.  But note that the government is obliged to be sure that employers don't exploit workers but give them their due wages.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Worshiping the Real Jesus

Note that 2 John 9 says that we must remain in the doctrine of Christ to have the Father.  Paul warns against "another Jesus, another gospel, another spirit." (Cf. 2 Cor. 11:4)  Test the spirits!

Jesus as revealed in Revelation 1:12-17 in the vision that John the Elder saw is the true Jesus as He really is.  Reigning over everything and mighty to judge and oversee all the earth.  The description is in imagery,  figures of speech cryptic language, and symbolism and hard to decipher but scholars have decoded it and made its lessons clear.  Jesus is glorified now and forevermore. We are to put Him in our boxes of convenience and limit His sovereignty, power,r and glory.

Know this:  a different Jesus is going to come the second time in the consummation of history than from the first advent. He came first as Savior and now as King of kings and Lord of lords with a name that no one knows but himself and as called "the Word of God." The point of His two advents is that the Jews never anticipated this and was looking for a deliverer from Rome, as was the conventional wisdom and talk of the day.  They failed to receive the First Advent of Christ.  The Jews were subject to Rome and saw the Messiah figure as another Moses or King David that would liberate them militarily and restore old glory days. 

Worship isn't about us, but to focus our minds on Christ in the spirit and being filled with the Spirit of the Father seeks such to worship Him in spirit and in truth, implying that truth is important. "Perfect love casts out fear" and we are to be in love with our Lord and do it in this spirit, not out of a sense of duty or in a perfunctory manner, merely memorizing the Dance of the Pious.  All of us are equal at the foot of Jesus and He is no respecter of persons and we all may have different gifts, but the same Spirit.  

Real worship is for what He has done (especially for us) and for who He is (we must worship Him as God in the flesh, not some demigod, surrogate of God, or any kind of lesser deity not to be equal to the Father).   We can reevaluate our conception of Him during our worship and actually encounter God.  Worship can reinforce our faith in God and in knowing Him for who He is and what He has done and even will do in the future.  "But we do see Jesus," (cf. Heb. 2:9). 

We will surely see Him in a new light every time and benefit from the encounters of other saints. We must anticipate the beatific vision in heaven seeing Him the way He is in glory  We should never take our experience in worship for granted but as a blessing that God has shared with us and expects us to share.  Worship can become a medication to service and orientation to God's will and plan for our lives.  Worship restores us in the image of God for this is what we are made for: to worship God, and if we don't we will find someone else to worship, for we are hard-wired to do it.  Soli Deo Gloria!

The Heart Of Worship

"... [Shout] unto God with the voice of triumph" (Psalm 47:1, KJV).
"I WAS glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD" (Psalm 122:1, KJV).
"Blessed is the people who know the joyful sound..." (Psalm 89:15, KJV).
"Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with song of praise" (Psalm 95:2, ESV).
"Blessed are the people who know the festal shout [call to worship]" (Psalm 89:15, ESV).

The heart of the matter of worship is that it's a matter of the heart; it reflects the condition of your heart and the extent of its surrender and offering to God, not how much of the Spirit you have, but how much of you the Spirit has. When someone says that he didn't get much out of worship, it only reveals his ignorance of its purpose--to glorify, extol, and lift up the Lord--that your motives are wrong and your worship for the wrong reason. The reason we worship is that we are designed for it and it is only natural--we are called homo divinus, or homo religiosus, meaning we are fulfilled and meant for worship as religious beings--much more, we will worship someone or something, if not God for we are hard-wired for it; however, God is the only one worthy of our worship. "Worthy are you ... to receive glory..." (Rev. 4:11, ESV). That’s because worship is from the contraction worth-ship.

Worship is about having an encounter with the God who is there; in fact, Christianity is not about believing in God, but the God who is in there. Francis Schaeffer says, "He is there, and He is not silent." Indeed, God melts us, molds, fills us, and then uses us in worship as we recharge our spiritual batteries and get our checkup in the corporate worship experience of the local body of believers that we congregate and assemble with regularly. There is no one-size-fits-all for worship and that's probably why there are so many worship experiences; some are demonstrative, some stoical, but God sees the heart, while man looks on the outward appearance (cf. 1 Sam. 16:7; 1 Chron. 28:9) or “Your name is on their lips, but you are far from their hearts,” (cf. Jer. 12:2, NLT). Posture and gestures can be important, but mere lip service is vain and fruitless. We don't want to be like Israel: "... 'Is the LORD among us or not?'" (Ex. 17:7, ESV).

Worship is what church is all about, even in our giving we are doing it. And going to church should not be considered something on our to-do list or something we do perfunctorily, but something we gladly and willing do; you could say we "get to" worship God, not that we have to. Some say that they can worship God in the cornfield, so why attend church? Worship is more than music (Jubal invented in in Gen. 4), and some think they only go to church to hear a sermon, but we must realize that there is a purpose for each part of the service in our worship experience. They haven't discovered the power of corporate worship and that whenever two or three are gathered together in His name, Jesus promises to be present. Hebrews 10:25 exhorts us not to forsake the assembling together of ourselves--this is a command--God gives no advice, suggestions, or hints except in 1 Cor. 14:26 describing the gathering of believers.

Worship is important to us because we learn to connect with God and it changes us, not God--God invites us to join Him in His joy and gladness (cf. Neh. 8:10). The call to worship is to focus on who God is and what He has done as we thank Him for His actions, and praise Him for His being. We have the right attitude when we are in awe and humble ourselves before Him in Spirit and in truth. Remember, worship is about God, it's not about you! We learn to seek the presence of the Lord and His face and to be used by God in our surrender to bring Him joy, focusing on His presence on face.

We need to be reminded of the Spirit on a regular basis to keep in touch and not lose track of our fellowship--it's easy to drift off and backslide without regular fellowship and corporate worship--none of us is a rock or an island that needs nobody else--we all need each other for expression and mutual ministry Remember, worship is active and not passive, not something we listen to, but take part in and put all that we are able into it. Some have a form of godliness in so-called will worship, but deny the power thereof (cf. 2 Tim. 3:5).

Church, then is not a place for the goody-goodies to gather or those who think that it's a crutch for weak people or losers--indeed, no perfect people need apply, as God calls not the righteous, but sinners to repentance and church should be viewed as a hospital for sinners, not a hotel for saints. They say that it's filled with hypocrites too, but we should tell them to join in because they'd feel right at home! We don't abandon church or Christ as believers, but we can drift away slowly and should know the warning signs, like our worship becoming routine and perfunctory and hypocritical. The church is our lifeblood and the means of our renewal because the body needs each member and we are all in it together to glorify God and fulfill the Great Commission. The church is not meant to be a comfortable place for sinners to feel at home, but where the gospel is preached and people are enjoined to come to a decision, and making no decision is making a "No!" decision.

We must realize that "God inhabits the praises of His people" (cf. Psalm 22:3) and that we enter His gates with thanksgiving, His courts with joy (cf. Psalm 100:3) and that we should bless Him with all that is within us--all our being (cf. Psalm 103:1)--and be ourselves, not hypocritical. God thrives on worship and "The Lord takes pleasure in His people" (cf. Psalm 149:4a, CEV). We must worship God "in Spirit and in truth" (cf. John 4:24). The essence of worship is bringing joy and pleasure to God, and whenever we feel this joy in the Spirit, no matter what our endeavor--even working--it is worship and brings glory to God. "... [W]hatever you do, do to the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31, ESV). When God smiles on you, or you feel His pleasure, you're worshiping.

You can go to church to worship God or you can go to the factory to worship Him, for authentic worship is the offering of ourselves (as a living sacrifice (cf. Rom. 12:1.) The way we are in our daily lives is worship or sacrifice--we live and breathe worship! We must see the whole world as His temple and fertile territory for worship. Wherever we sense awe, love, respect, and fear we have the right attitude to come before His presence in thanksgiving for what He's done and praise for who He is, and put ourselves in the frame of mind to worship. Our life is an offering to God as we present ourselves to Him in devotion and live to His glory as vessels of honor! Let all that is within us praise the Lord!

Just like prayer, worship should change us, not God, and one should say that they realize we have been in the presence of God or have been with the Lord, as your "cup overflows." Finally, we must realize our need for worship and that it is a litmus test of our spiritual growth and condition, and we cannot thrive or grow without it having its rightful place.

Surely the fear of the LORD is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!’” (cf. Gen. 28:16). Or worst-case scenario: As Abraham said, “Surely the fear of the LORD is not in this place.” (cf. Gen. 20:11). Worship is the serious business of God and heaven. Soli Deo Gloria!

The Joyful Call To Worship

"Blessed are the people who know the festal shout..." (Psalm 89:15, ESV)
"... You are ever on their lips, but far from their conscience" (Jer. 12:2, HCSB).  
"... Because these people approach Me with their mouths to honor Me with lip-service--yet their hearts are far from Me, and their worship consists of man-made rules learned by rote"  (Isaiah 29:13, HCSB).  
"I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the LORD" (Psalm 122:1, KJV).

God pours out blessings on those who hear the call to worship, who prepare their hearts, and tune in to meditate on His nature and work.  The essence of this is making a "connection" with God as we make "contact" as it were into His dimension and throne room.  Worship is "worth-ship," and we give God His dues respect (render to God what is God's and to Caesar what is Caesar's ).  Worship is an attitude we can take with us beyond the sanctuary to the workplace, doing all, whatever we do, to the glory of God as one theologian espoused (cf. 1 Cor. 10:31).  Work is a form of prayer which is a form of worship, when done to the glory of God, as Augustine of Hippo said, "To work is to pray."  All work can be done to the glory of God (i.e., worship). 

But we should especially rejoice corporately with the body of Christ:  "I was glad when they said unto me, 'Let us go into the house of the LORD.'" (Psalm 122:1, KJV). We can get into a celestial or worship fix by not letting it become perfunctory or routine, or just memorizing the Dance of the Pious, and going through the motions--any lackadaisical spirit can be avoided and changed by adequate preparation--you cannot just expect to walk into the house of the Lord and expect a miracle at the door!

The point is to spread the cheer: "Once you've experienced it, you want to pass it on!"  Church is a spiritual checkup when we take inventory of our soul's needs and condition, but we must learn that it's not about us!  We must learn to focus on God; getting our eyes off ourselves and our problems long enough to realize the divine. Some may need to get into the mood so to speak, realizing that worship is not passive nor vicarious--we don't admire someone else worshiping!

The call to worship involves both thanking God for what He's done and praising Him for who He is!  When we do this we realize the inherent power of praise, for God inhabits the praises of His people (cf. Psalm 22:3).  This will help us to cultivate a heart of praise and worship as we learn to have the right attitude that no one can take away.   The real key to worship is the measure of our surrender, not the amount of the Spirit we have, but how much of the us the Spirit has.  We rightly submit to God's ownership of our soul.  We don't want to be like those who are the nod to God crowd on Sunday and go about their regular routine on Monday--we want the experience to last and to grow in us.  Some merely offer lip service to God and don't have their hearts in the right place!  But we must realize that there is no "one-size-fits-all" manner or style of worship, we are all built differently and find fulfillment in different ways.

But one thing is sure:  we are hard-wired and designed for worshiping God and won't be fulfilled without doing it.  Dostoevsky said that if we don't worship God, we'll worship something or someone else.  Woe to him who strives with his Maker (cf. Isa. 45:9).  Worship should be seen as a privilege and honor and we can say, "I get to worship!" For this reason, worship ought not ever to become blase!   Church is more than a social event and worship more than an existential encounter (it must be put into action as we turn our convictions and creeds into deeds).   The whole purpose is to get our batteries recharged and to get right with God, back into His service, and to learn more to seek His face and make course corrections in our life.

Malachi was written to those in Israel whose worship had become a sham, mockery, and travesty--and they were not taking it seriously--but their worship had become an insult to the grace of God all because their hearts were not right with Him and they didn't give Him His rightful place, playing church and he exposed the formalism of the worshiping--they were in a worship rut and this is what the doctor ordered:  a spiritual workout!   God frowns upon mere lip service and the memorizing of the Dance of the Pious (cf. above:  Jer. 12:2; Isaiah 29:13).   Soli Deo Gloria!

Come As You Are Party!

"Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound"  (Psalm 89:15, NKJV). 

God wants us to celebrate a new life with Him, which began upon acceptance of Him as the owner of our life and in the dedication of ourselves to Him and whatever that may involve, known as our cross to bear.  We must be willing to follow through thick and thin, come what may, wherever the chips may fall, even when they are down,  nor to faint in adversity but go from faith to faith.   The Christian life, though no easy affair, is a family affair lived with the Godhead indwelling us and engaging the fellowship of the church body.

It has been said that Christian living is not hard, but impossible!  The only way to have victory is to walk in the Spirit and to abide in Christ, for without Him we can do nothing and are nothing but weak vessels of clay in the hands of the Potter (cf. Isaiah 45:9; 64:6).  We must live to glorify and enjoy Him as we desire to honor Him in all we do and think and rethink--for our religion isn't just externalism, but internally affecting our thought life and meditations.

God invites all to come to Christ in the message of the gospel and opens our hearts to have faith and repent, in that they are not meritorious works, but acts of grace by the Holy Spirit.  We believe through grace!  God quickens faith within us and we become alive in Christ with a whole new perspective and outlook on life.  We can do no pre-salvation works to prepare for salvation (the only qualification is to acknowledge we are unqualified as sinners), but we all must come as we are in faith and believe God for a miracle to transform us into new creatures in Christ--it's all a work of grace, God getting all the glory.  But the good news is that we will not stay that way, no matter what our prior condition was, Jesus is still in the resurrection business and the power that rose Him from the dead can be alive in us as we come to know it first-hand (cf. Phil. 3:10), not second-hand or hearsay.

We live our lives as works in progress realizing all the while God is not finished with us yet, till we arrive in glory.  God always finishes what He starts and He has begun a good work in us!   When we enter eternity we will receive a threefold commendation:  an affirmation of "well done, thou good and faithful servant!" a promotion of "thou hast been faithful in small things and shall be faithful in much," and a final celebration of "enter thou into the joy of the Lord!"  The party that will last for eternity and we must realize that this world is passing away and is temporal while we are pilgrims with our real citizenship and portion are in heaven forever. 

Oh, the joy of those who have learned to walk by faith and not by sight or even feeling, but have learned by faith that God is real and seeing Him at work in the world, in their lives, and in circumstances known as Providence.  Noah probably had the best resume in the Bible, for he was a just man and perfect in his generations, and he walked with God!  (cf. Gen. 6:9).  We all have the opportunity and ability to do likewise--walk with God, because we have the indwelling Spirit to convict us of our sins, illuminate the Word, and to enjoy in fellowship, even to inspire us for life.

What is worship, but celebrating what the Lord has done and who He is?  We can learn to appreciate and adore Him for all His works and to realize that we are His greatest miracle because He transformed us from the inside out and made us new creatures in Christ.  Christians realize that Christ is the Lord who made us and owns it all, and worshiping is a way of giving back to Him spiritually and acknowledging this ownership of our spirit as a mere token of our gratitude.  We are led by the Spirit to worship the Godhead and thus celebrate the glory of God realized in Christ's work.

In our celebration, we should keep certain things in mind:  our past is forgiven, our present is given meaning, and our future is secured.  We have a reason for living and can live on purpose for God's glory and not for ourselves.   Our salvation is more than mere forgiveness, it's a new adventure with Jesus, a way of life or relationship, turning our creed into deeds (cf. Titus 2:14). How shall we escape if we neglect such great salvation? (cf. Heb. 2:3).

Don't view the faith as an escape, a crutch, a way out, or a way to just cope with life, but how to live victoriously through life with the peace of God, and the purpose and power to overcome our sin nature--our worst enemy could be ourselves! (Cf. John 10:10)  We can view our salvation as past (saved us from the punishment due our sin); present  (being saved from its power); and pending (awaiting glory and freedom from the presence of sin in glory).  We even see new meaning in our trials and adversities that build our character, and it is our privilege to suffer for \the sake of the Name.  In the final analysis, it's not just forgiveness for what we've done, but deliverance from what we are! 

CAVEAT:  NO ONE REMAINS THE SAME AFTER AN ENCOUNTER WITH THE LORD, WE COME AS WE ARE, BUT ARE GUARANTEED NOT TO STAY THAT WAY!  SO ASK YOURSELF IF YOU ARE READY FOR A NEW LIFE WITH CHRIST AT THE HELM OWNING YOUR SOUL AND DESTINY.    LET THE PARTY BEGIN! THE BEST IS YET TO COME!        Soli Deo Gloria!

Christians Rock Too!

Jesus may be different things to different people, often depending on your culture and background. If you are partial to Rock, you may believe Jesus rocks or rather can rock; however, if you love the Classics, you may be inclined to believe Jesus loves orchestras, and so forth!  Listing to Johnny Cash, I believe Jesus may speak Country! Many of the classical composers were devout Christians and I can say personally, that God has given me a great degree of appreciation for the Classics, now that I have His Spirit.  I sense the Holy Spirit especially when I hear the organ music of J. S. Bach, written as a prelude to worship services.  Haven't you ever heard the oratorio, Handel's Messiah and recognize the glory of heavenly choruses singing the "Hallelujah" in harmony? He claims to have seen a vision of God while composing it.  In my opinion, heavenly music is beautiful and doesn't have to carry a beat.  Is Jesus in a choir? Truly, Jesus is different strokes for different folks.  There is no one-size-fits-all type of worship or musical genre that pleases believers or God.

It is dangerous to put God in a box and claim that Jesus exclusively endorses a certain genre of music--some may rightly claim that Jesus has a soul, or that Jesus raps, too.  God is out to reach as many people as possible and can use any medium He chooses, but that doesn't mean we have to like any medium against our nature or culture. If you liked Rock & Roll, you are bound to feel an affinity to "Christian Rock."  What we need to do is find the genre we can relate to and not think that we have cornered the market on Christian music with it--as they say:  "To each his own." I do not see the heavenly choruses of angels rock and roll myself, but that's my opinion.  It seems that heavenly music is of a different dimension!

It is a dangerous doctrine to interpret an enthusiastic gathering as meaning that God endorses it in any special way, or that "Jesus is there!"  Christ wants us to learn to walk with Him wherever we go and to find Him in all our situations, not just at a concert.  According to Scripture, whenever two or three are gathered in His name, Christ is present.  He warned against saying, "Christ is here," or "Christ is there," to mean a blessing or sanction on the music genre or a special presence.  We believe Christ is present in a special way at the Lord's Supper--not at concerts (you shouldn't feel that you have to go someplace to be filled with the Spirit, as it is written of David, who "strengthened himself in the LORD his God), because concerts often feed on emotions and not truth.

I take issue at some of their lyrics; however, music often rules and you can get people to believe almost anything by putting it to a tune. Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world, according to Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Today's phenomenon is that the musicians seem to be dictating the doctrines of the church.  Truth still matters!

If you are not musical, meaning, by definition, you cannot carry a tune, sing in key, or even sense rhythm, then how can you agree that Jesus fits into your box or you know what music He favors or blesses?   Are we at the mercy of the musicians to decide for us or can we find our own way that God speaks to our souls? Before the dawn of Rock & Roll, was Jesus musical, or was He silent?  Has God changed?  I decry the way the Christian music scene today has become so dominated with professionalism and musicians out to hold concerts, charging for admission--you shouldn't have to pay to worship God! Have we witnessed the professionalization of worship?

And so, one must say that "his Jesus" (Jesus as he knows, relates, and sees) rocks, but others may take issue and posit that "their Jesus" has the preference for soul, raps, or personifies the ageless appeal of the classics. When you say, "Jesus rocks," you should make it clear what you are saying, because those are loaded terms, easily misconstrued.   There is no such thing as "Christian music" because God transcends our limits and cannot be defined musically (i.e., put in a box), who invented it:  it is not the music that is non-Christian, but the lyrics in many cases.

Case in point:  I get goosebumps every time I hear the "Star-spangled Banner," or "God Bless America." Does this mean that Christ is a patriotic American?  There is so much unnecessary confusion in the church due to not saying what we mean, and leaving it open to private interpretation. Just because drums and guitars are used, doesn't define it as Rock; but merely contemporary--we should never limit ourselves, nor God!  Soli Deo Gloria!

I Write The Songs...

"Beautiful words stir my heart.  I will recite a lovely poem about the king, for my tongue is like the pen of a skillful poet" (Psalm 45:1, NLT).   "You are always on their lips but far from their hearts (Jer. 12:2, NIV).  "Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness." (Psalm 29:2, NIV).  "To sing is to pray twice."  --Augustine

Barry Manilow was known in the '70s for his song that assumed the personification of music.  "I wrote the very first song.  I write the songs that make the whole world sing,  [I am music]..."    Music is symbolic language (NB:  musical instruments are symbols too and music isn't mentioned until Gen. 4:21) and those who speak the language know that it can be interpreted in many lights too, it can soothe the savage beast and lift the spirits, as well as arouse to patriotism and warfare readiness.  They used to march into battle at the sound of a trumpet or horn's ram.

Music is essentially worship in essence and we all have this inclination to express this because our God is musical and invented it.  As man is the religious creature he is--hard-wired for worship, he will worship someone or something (even himself), if not God, to fill this gap and need of ours. Hero worship and celebrity enchantment or fascination are two examples prevalent today.

The Scripture, especially the psalms, exhort us to "sing unto the LORD," but not everyone has musical ability to carry a tune or sing in key and some may feel embarrassed at their voice handicap.  That's all right, because not every believer is called to be the voice of God or to bring Him praise in the same way.  We all must find our niche by virtue of exercising our gifting and make ourselves useful in God's service as unto the Lord (we must try out to test our gifting).

One thing I want to point out about interpreting the psalms is that poetry is another type of genre than teaching or didactive type found in the epistles.  And the principle is to interpret metaphoric poetry in light of didactive portions, not vice versa.  Don't try to base your doctrine solely on a poetic phrase.  When the psalm says to sing unto the Lord, it may mean in a symbolic or spiritual sense--singing in the Spirit and with one's spirit--which is much better than going through the motions and memorizing the song and dance routine of the pious!  After all, if the mountains can break forth into song and the seas can roar, we know it's metaphoric and not necessarily to be taken literally  The hermeneutic principle is that we take the Bible as literally true, but not everything is literal!

Everything we do is to be as unto the Lord and in His name; for instance, the writing of a hymn requires the filling and anointing ministry of the Spirit.  In that case when someone pens a song unto the Lord, he is the hand of Jesus that is worshiping God and not being inhibited.  In a sense, writing is a form of singing in the Spirit, just like playing an instrument is, and whistling and humming are, and one's spirit is singing aloud the praises of God realizing fulfillment in song.  That's why we believe in the freedom of expression.  A song is incomplete until sung!  A poem is incomplete until read.   That's what brings life to them and satisfaction and fulfillment.  The Jews used to believe that they had to read aloud to bring life to what they were reading.  We don't want our thoughts to remain that--just something in our head as head belief!

We must be careful not to judge another's worship or expression of it by whether he's audibly singing or voicing aloud his worship publicly. There are those who are inhibited and refrain from verbalizing their praise, but often to their regret:  One dying man said, "If I had the strength, I'd shout praise to God!" The reply by the chaplain, "It's too bad you didn't praise God when you had the strength!"  God doesn't look at the outward appearance, but the condition of the heart--He alone is in a position to judge and we don't have enough info to do it; for instance, it says to sing a new song, and they may not like the song it's not new to them and they would be just giving mere lip service hypocritically. Some are very discretionary as to what they will sing, and agree with.  But it's better to be silent than to pretend worship or do it without a heart after God or being after God's own heart.  

Corporate worship is complicated and involves input from instruments, writers, worship leaders, and even choruses--it's not a performance, but service and ministry of the Spirit.  Worship is done throughout the service (offering, the preaching, sharing, fellowship, gift usage) and when people know their niche, are edified, and feel part of the fellowship, they are worshiping in spirit and in truth. Singing unto the Lord is not just vocalization, but also instrumentalism and instrumentation, silent reverence and awe, and finally, even singing in one's spirit.

We don't need a list of dos and don'ts, for our faith is not a to-do list, because God wants us to want to sing unto the Lord, and not do it from compulsion. He wants it to be a natural response.  He seeks joyful and glad adoration from the heart; it's paramount that we be ourselves and act without hypocrisy--how you act alone might be indicative of your real identity.     Soli Deo Gloria!

Can Man Live Without God?...

"Men have forgotten God." (Alexander Solzhenitsyn)
"A person cannot live without worshiping something." (Fyodor Dostoevsky)

The whole concept of modern Secular Humanism is to exalt man (glory to man in the highest!) and to dethrone God and put Him in His place, as they see it. In other words, they proclaim: Up with man, down with God! Man has attempted to make a name for himself ever since the tower of Babel (cf. Gen. 11:4) and believes he can get along without God's intervention, grace, or providence. Man is deluded into thinking he can rule God out of the universe and doesn't need Him or He is irrelevant or unnecessary to explain reality.

Pertinent remarks by great thinkers: "Religion is indispensable to private morals and public order" (Cicero); "No society has ever been able to maintain a moral life without the aid of its religion" (William Durant). Humanism has been defined as "religion without God." And you don't have to be an atheist to have no place for God in your life, practical atheists believe in God, but live as though there is no God. Psalm 10:4 (HCSB) sums it up: "There is no accountability since God does not exist."

Humanist historian/philosopher (and author of The Story of Civilization) Will Durant posed the dilemma we face today as the postmodern philosophy (that "God is dead") that permeates society, and humanists try to be good without God in the equation: "The greatest question of our time is not communism vs. individualism, not Europe vs. America, nor even the East vs. the West; it is whether men can bear to live without God." People have no excuse not to believe in God (cf. Rom. 1:20), but they foolishly suppress the fact and are in a state of denial. They seem to think that God is no longer relevant, that we can solve our issues and problems without His input or intervention, and that we are basically good, not evil, or are perfectible. 

We live in an age when sinners decide that they are their own judges of morality and can make their own value judgments: "Everyone did what was right in their own eyes," much like Israel did, as recorded in Judges 21:25. Men find themselves judging God, rather than realizing He's their judge. Now the biggest problem nations face is that of keeping the peace, and there shall be wars and rumors of wars till the end, and when we reach peace we will no longer feel we need God. America is a so-called good nation by human standards as recorded by secular Alexis de Tocqueville, in his work Democracy in America, which he wrote after visiting the U.S, posited that our strength lies in our "goodness," and when we "ceased to be good we will cease to be great." This is not based on biblical nor historical precedent, but only personal deduction and observation.

Yes, America is different (we are probably the most religious nation on earth), yet we are failing on the world stage due to poor leadership and the good citizens (believers) cease to be salt and light and evil is winning by default, not because Christianity has failed, nor because its worldview is faulty, but because Christians fail to stand up and be counted, to take their stand for the right and to fly their Christian colors. It has been said by philosophers and historians that morality in a nation cannot be upheld without the aid of religion: George Bernard Shaw said that "no nation can survive the loss of its gods." George Washington said, "It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible." Christians ought to protest the secularization of a society that seeks to eradicate God from the public square and discourse. 

But we cannot silence God, though! If we try to go to war with Him we will lose and our nation will lose its blessing and providential hand. We fight this by speaking up against the evils of society, even if it entails becoming activists and doing whatever you can to mobilize the church and equip them for the battle. We are not to passively allow Satan to seize control!

When you take God out of the picture, there remains a vacuum that is filled with satanic activity. When we cease to worship God, we will ultimately find something else to worship, because man is meant and designed for worship!  No one actually worships, reveres, adores, or esteems nothing. God is the motive people have for good behavior because you see very few hospitals, orphanages, relief organizations, leprosariums founded by infidels. In India, they think that the suffering of man is caused by bad karma and you shouldn't interfere with another's karma!

We are at the point in our society where we don't know right from wrong and have lost our moral fiber because there's no moral compass and God condemns those who call good evil and evil good (cf. Isa. 5:20). There is an absolute standard to judge by and people do instinctively know right from wrong due to having a conscience and everyone is culpable to be blamed because of transcendent or natural law, which is above national law and even nations are subject to. You could say that the new battle is against God and the new war of independence is from God! People, in general, think that the Ten Commandments are obsolete or are the Ten Suggestions, and don't apply to a modern society and don't feel bound by them,  and they are free to make up their own rules as they go along to suit themselves. As long as they can think of some reason to justify themselves and have good motives, the reason that they are doing the right thing.

But goodness isn't defined by man, but by God and is in conformity with His nature. The basic diagnosis of man is that he does things his way and not God's way (as Isa. 53:6 says, "... we have turned everyone to his own way..."). We cannot know good without knowing God, for He is the final arbiter of it and will judge us and our standards of good versus His. Without God, Shakespeare summed up the essence of life as Macbeth mused in Hamlet: "... 'tis a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing." If we are not in God's image, we are mere animals and glorified apes: "Do you think we are mere animals? Do you think we are stupid?" (Job 18:3, NLT)--teach man he is an animal and he will act like one.

"Without God, life makes no sense," according to Rick Warren!"  If there is no God all things are permissible," according to Fyodor Dostoevsky, and there can be no absolutes or standards to measure perfection by. The world has nothing against religion as long as it remains privatized, but we are to spread the word and be obedient to the gospel without suppressing it--it's a command to obey not an option to consider. The implications of atheism are profound: No judge to make us feel guilty; no Lord ot guide us, no lawgiver to obey; no ruler or sovereign to submit to, no creator to emulate, know, and love; no hell to shun; and no heaven to look forward to--how dismal and bleak an outlook!

Romans 1:18ff shows what transpires once a man leaves God out of the reckoning. In the final analysis, God will bless America by association again when the church repents and gets back on track fulfilling the Great Commission (not the Great Suggestion), and not when it tries to implement sharia law or usher in the Millennial Kingdom, in order to "advance the cause of Christ" through legislation or government, though this may be the trend towards righteousness and a worthy cause. Soli Deo Gloria!

The Sacrifice Of Contrition

"For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings" (Hos. 6:6, NIV).   "You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God you will not despise" (Psalm 51:16-17, NIV).   "... 'Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD?  To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams'" (1 Samuel 15:22, NIV). 

 "... All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife..." (hymn by Bill Gaither--Maranatha Music: "Something Good").  

Christians offer multiple sacrifices:   of thanksgiving, of praise, of doing good and sharing, of a broken heart, and even of offering themselves as living sacrifices; however, "to obey is better than sacrifice" (cf. 1 Sam. 15:22).  Jesus came to be the fulfillment of all sacrifices; i.e., the law's demands.  He did this by fulfilling the law and doing everything it required on our behalf--He not only died for us but lived for us as well!  Jesus learned obedience by what He suffered (cf. Heb. 5:8) and feels our pain because He's been there; however, we are completing the suffering of Christ and living out His life in our adversities (cf. Col. 1:26).  Could you trust in a God who didn't understand suffering and couldn't identify with us and know what we are going through?

We must bear in mind that there is always light at the end of the tunnel and "this too shall pass!"   We experience brokenness so that we can be patient with others in the same boat and witness or minister to them in their pain.  We can thus comfort others with the same comfort we have known in Christ.  God knows everything about us and always did!  He is not surprised by our failings and shortcomings.  He knew of them before our salvation.  There is a reason for suffering, but God isn't obliged to explain Himself: He's too deep to understand, too wise to make a mistake, and too kind to be cruel.  We are not to think like Job's friends that we are only getting punished for our sins and aren't even getting what we deserve.  Jesus paid the full penalty for our sins, and we are not punished for our sins, but by them!  By and large, we don't break God's laws; they break us!  What we do is break God's heart and that's why He knows what hurt is and wants to heal us of our suffering.

Christ's legacy to be gained is a peace that passes all understanding and cannot be taken away. We can experience this legacy in the midst of suffering and find out it works by experience--the proof of the pudding is in the eating!  We can become seasoned believers having been trained in the trenches of the warfare of life and having had O.J.T. in battling the enemy.  Thank God, His mercies are new every morning and they never come to an end for us--He never gives upon us and we are just "works in progress" no matter how mature we are and should not assume we are always good soil or that we've arrived--even Paul didn't claim to have laid hold of it yet.  There are no hopeless believers, only those who've given up hope!

This is precisely why we must localize or tailor the gospel to the recipients. Paul was the evangelist to the Gentiles while Peter was to the Jews, but Paul strived to be all things to all men so he could, by all means, save some!   Not everyone is on the same page and God must use different strokes for different folks. Some water, some plant, some reap!  But God gives the increase!  God is only using us as honorable vessels or servants to do His will, we can only venture to boast of what He does through us, not what we do for Him, but what God does through us is what counts.

We need to know about the prowling of Satan to devour us in our weak spots because he knows our vulnerabilities.  The danger we must beware of is Satan using us for his schemes or giving us temptations and thoughts that we carry out, like when Peter was rebuked by the Lord to get behind Him.  Satan can put thoughts into our minds and can distract us from the Word.  Winning entails knowing our enemy as well as knowing ourselves.  Shakespeare (Polonius in Hamlet) said, "To thine own self be true"!  The Greeks of antiquity said, "Know thyself!" and Sun Tzu, the Chinese author of The Art of War,  said, "Know your enemy!"   But the Bible says "Know God!"  All three are necessary to mature in Christ and to engage in the angelic conflict with all the onslaught of Satan known as the Anfectung (attack in German) by Martin Luther in order that we do not succumb to the schemes of the devil.

Only when we realize our sinfulness and realize that we are no better than sinners are we grace-oriented.  George Whitefield was asked what he thought of a man going to the gallows:  "There but for the grace of God, go I."  We must come to Paul's awakening when he said, "I am what I am by the grace of God."  William Jay of Bath said, "I am a great sinner, and I have a great Savior."  We are in essence just beggars tellers other beggars where to get a meal, it's been put.  Peter realized his unworthiness and said, "Depart from me O Lord, for I am a sinner."  It's a fact that the closer we get to God, the more we become sensitized to sin and aware of our failures.  Samuel Rutherford said we should pray for a lively sense of sin, "the greater sense of sin, the less sin!"

We must realize our sinfulness in toto and not cling to any self-righteousness, fully repentant and willing to change our ways exhibiting it by a change in behavior to be saved--believing repentance or penitent faith is necessary for salvation.  A person who feels he is righteous or has no sin cannot be saved, and Christ and His gospel have nothing to say to those unwilling to confess and repent of their sins.  If we feel no brokenness for our own sin (contrition), how can we feel brokenness for the lost and feel their pain knowing and feeling their despair?

In sum, we must be reassured and comforted in knowing that Jesus was indeed a "man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" and was "tempted in all ways like we are, yet without sin."    Soli Deo Gloria!

Man, The Religious Creature

"I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:32, HCSB).
"... God have mercy on me, the sinner!"  (Luke 18:13, NASB--the sinner's prayer). 
"...But I am not ashamed, because I know the One I have believed in ..." (2 Tim. 1:12, HCSB).
"... My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection..." (Phil. 3:10, HCSB).
"If only I knew how to find Him..." (Job 23:2, HCSB). 
"Yes, You are a God who hides Himself..." (Isa. 45:15, HCSB).

Kids are taught in the schools they are animals, and is it any wonder they act like them?  But we are not animals!  Have you ever observed an ape building a chapel?  Man is incurably religious in his core being and nature and if he doesn't worship God, he'll worship something in its place: himself, fame, fortune, power, celebrities, heroes, an engrossing hobby, a sport or sports team, you name it!  Mankind is hard-wired for worship and religion--it's his nature!  Religion dates back to the Garden of Eden when Adam and Even made themselves aprons of fig leaves--Operation Fig Leaf!  Mankind has been termed Homo religiosus or the religious being.  He's also been called Homo divinus, or the divine being.  It is really obvious that man has a spiritual dimension and inclination, which in itself is a sort of proof of God's existence, as when one feels the tug of a kite, knowing it's there.  We feel pulled toward God as if gravitating in His direction.  Man has always been on the quest to find Him but God hides Himself (cf. Isa. 45:15) only to be found by the diligent (cf. Heb. 11:6) and not triflers. He will authenticate Himself if searched for!

The answer though is that we cannot find Him unless He reveals Himself and He has in Christ. But a poll was once taken in the UK and they found out that a certain percentage of people actually believe in "the Force," of Star Wars fame, though it's fictional!  People grasp at each passing straw hoping for hope and light at the end of the tunnel.  And George Lucas, the producer of the Star Wars saga, said that he's come to the conclusion that all religions are right!  This is impossible due to the inherent contradictions of beliefs, but it is logically possible they all could be wrong!

As Pascal said, "There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which only God can fill through His Son, Jesus Christ." Augustine said that our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God.  We are empty, unfulfilled beings without God in the picture.  We need God to find meaning, purpose, and fulfillment in our life.  Without God, life makes no sense--it's a useless passion.   The ontological proof of God is that He is worshiped in some manner in every culture around the globe.  All culture, it's been claimed, is shaped by religion.  The stability of society depends upon religion as the guiding light and principle of moral principle.  In fact, George Bernard Shaw, quoted by William Barclay, said that "no nation has survived the loss of its gods."

As a matter of fact, we are all inclined to think we can gain the approbation of God in many ways:  religion, morality, good deeds, philosophy, or ritual!  We aren't called to become do-gooders or goody-goodies or even Goody-Two-shoes!  Our good deeds or do-goodery amount to naught in God's eyes, even as filthy rage according to Isa. 64:6!  We must do all to the glory of God (cf. Col. 3:17, 23) and in the Spirit of God, not by might nor by power (cf. Zech. 4:6).  Religiosity accounts for zilch in God's economy and the way up is down, it's a matter of how low we can go, not how high we can attain on our own merit.  We all like to compare ourselves with others (cf. 2 Cor. 10:12) and think we are more "religious," righteous, or holy (cf. Isa. 65:5) than others, but God doesn't grade on a curve and we are all in the same boat--God has leveled the playing field.  We are all justly condemned apart from grace and fall short of God's glorious ideal and standard of holiness (cf. Rom. 3:23).

But God has not called us to a to-do list; He's called us to a to-know list instead. The bottom line is that man is incurably addicted to doing something for his salvation and wants to give himself some credit.  We don't need a to-do list and Christianity is not a catalog of rules or list of dos and don'ts, but it's a list of to-knows!  We need to know God, know we are saved, know the will of God, know Jesus as personal Lord and Savior, know the Word, know the gospel, know our enemy, know our calling, know Christian ethics, know sound doctrine, and to know the Lord first-hand not second-hand, and even to know ourselves for who we are, etc. But don't forget, in knowing, we must apply what we know!  Christianity is a religion of knowledge and we know that we know--we don't conjecture or surmise, but know by the testimony of the Word itself with certitude.  There are basically three ways of knowing something:  experience (the empirical), revelation, and rational thought processes and reasoning faculties--we have the revealed Word of God.

Christianity is a revealed religion, not one of religious imagination or concoction.  It's the only faith that is based on facts, history, and evidence and we can know for sure of what we are talking about or believing.  Many religions are referred to as "faiths," but only Christianity stresses this as the instrumental means of salvation--faith is stressed as the goal and primary virtue!  But note that it's the object of the faith that saves, not faith per se--we don't have faith in faith, but faith in Jesus!  Jesus is the only Savior!  We don't just acquiesce or agree to a creed or recitations, we know a person!  Christianity isn't selling some good work or philosophy of life, but freely offering the gift of salvation to all!  But note that Christianity has nothing to say to those who don't realize they are lost and in sin.  The prerequisite is being lost before being found!

But fortunately, Christ doesn't call us to religion!  The Bible even frowns upon the term itself and prefers to call our religion a "faith" or the Way.  We know the way to eternal life!  What we are called to specifically is a life of holiness, righteousness, good works, and fellowship with God.  We are called to walk in the light and be lights.  To be the salt and light of the world at large.  Our righteousness is as filthy rags and all our good deeds don't benefit God--He just turns everything to His glory, even making the wrath of men to praise Him (cf. Psa. 76:10).  Our righteousness, then, is God's gift to us--not our gift to God!  We have nothing to boast of, and nothing that we didn't receive (cf. 1 Cor. 4:7).

Man naturally wants to do something for his salvation and must receive it by grace as the free gift of God, unearned, and unmerited.  Salvation is much more than the offer of forgiveness for our past, but the power to live in the present, and hope for the future.  Only Christianity promises and delivers on that promise from the power of sin and also the freedom from its bondage.  We cannot pay it back nor do we deserve it--or it wouldn't be grace.  God owes no one salvation and didn't have to save anyone (or it would be justice), but freely chose to save those whom He foreknew according to His favor and will or purposes (cf. Eph. 1:5). As a result, we are all called to a life of walking with Christ in fellowship and getting to know Him personally and spreading this message--to know Him and make Him known as the marching orders.

Salvation is open to all and offered freely to all (cf. Titus 2:11) who realize their sinfulness and deem themselves unqualified and sinners by nature, birth, and choice, i.e., born in sin and a slave to it.  In fact, the only qualification is to recognize one's not being qualified!  We all need grace and no one is any more righteous than another--we cannot claim holier than thou type (cf. Isa. 65:5) attitudes.  The fact is, that we are never good enough to be saved and cannot do any so-called presalvation work to qualify--but we are bad enough to need salvation.  God has judged all under sin, that the gift of grace may be offered to all.  God doesn't grade on a curve and no one gets in automatically, we all go through the turnstile of salvation one at a time via the same formula:  by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, and God alone getting the glory, while the Scriptures alone are the rule of faith and authority.

Christianity is more than a religion or philosophy--it's a more abundant way of life with Christ, knowing Him personally and putting this faith into action.  It was originally called the Way!  The phenomenon of Christianity is "changed lives" that cannot be attributed to anything but the work of God's transforming power.  And subsequently to translate creeds into deeds.  It would be an insult to tell a Christian that he has "found religion," when he has found the Lord! In principle, religion is based on human achievement, not a divine accomplishment; what we do, not what God has done!  Religion is man reaching out to God, not God reaching out to man. Religion is basically a do-it-yourself proposition and a lift-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps undertaking.  Viva la difference!  

Finally, there is no caste system, no elite, neither are there any spiritual classes to be conscious of (there's no class warfare!)--we are all saints and children of the King and members of the royal family of God as brethren of Christ. We're all one in Christ (cf. Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:11).  We are all family in Christ!  (A word to the wise:  pure religion, as described in James 1:27, won't save; only Christ saves through faith by the grace of God.)   Soli Deo Gloria!