Tag Archives: worship

January 5; What Is Your Answer?

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Job 1-3

Job was the George Bailey of the ancient world. He was “the richest man in town.” Sure, he had wealth. But he was also rich in family, friends, prestige, reputation. He had it all.

And he lost it all.

The book of Job has many lessons for us concerning suffering. Who hasn’t wished at some time or another, that they’d never been born? Life is hard. Loss is painful. And sometimes things happen that we’re convinced we just don’t deserve. Job will have a lot to say about that in the next few days.

But I don’t think suffering is the main theme in this book. If you look at chapter 1, Satan is suggesting that people only worship God when they are blessed by Him; only when the bills are paid, and they get a good report from the doctor. Satan is still suggesting that.

And sadly, we often equate health and wealth with God’s blessings yet today.

Not that God doesn’t sometimes bless us with those things, but I think the main theme in the book of Job is worship. The issue at hand is, “Is God worthy of worshiping even when times are hard and we feel abandoned by Him? Or, is God only worth worshiping on good days?”

You probably know Job’s reaction to the news that his livestock and slaves were gone, and all his children were dead. He heard of one disaster after another, then another, and another. It was too much. He fell to the ground and said these words:

Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised. (1:21, emphasis mine)

In the first throws of unimaginable grief, Job praised the Lord. And we will find that…

In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. (1:22)

I think the main theme of Job is the question, “Is God worth it?” And that’s the question I’d encourage you to answer for yourself today. Does God deserve your worship regardless of your situation or your feelings? Does He deserve your worship when you aren’t getting the answers you think you need? Do you use worship as a bargaining tool to get what you want?

Friend, the truth of the matter is, God deserves our worship for the simple fact that HE IS.

Job won’t be happy about his situation. Job will ask some hard question of God. Job probably didn’t “feel” like worshiping God in the midst of his pain. But in all this Job will not sin, he will not turn His back on God or deny God. Job will worship God despite his circumstances.

And so should we. Because God is worth it. Do you believe that?

What is your answer?

Malachi; Driven

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Have you known  anyone you would describe as “driven?” People who work ten hours a day, then bring work home with them? People who haven’t taken a vacation in years, never turned down an assignment, or overtime because they are focused on advancing in their careers or padding their bank accounts?

Some people are driven by their hobbies. They spend thousands of dollars and hours on finding the next piece in their collection, or on improving their golf swing. They surf the net, pour over magazines, and know exactly who to talk to for the latest information on their favorite activity. And these same people have a knack of turning every conversation you have with them around to what drives them.

Malachi has me looking at my own drive today. He’s talking to people who seem to have thought they were doing a pretty good job as far as their religion went. But God is calling them – and me – out for hypocrisy.

He first got my attention in 1:8. The priests had evidently been faithfully offering sacrifices like Moses had told them to centuries before. But the animals these priests were offering were the left-overs. The crippled and diseased animals of the flock were being used in their sacrifices to the Lord. God, in no uncertain terms, says, “This is just wrong!”

Then He goes on to challenge the priests with this: “Try giving those animals to the governor. Would that make him happy? Would he reward you for bringing him a diseased animal?”

Have you ever worked so hard throughout the week that you just couldn’t make yourself get out of bed on a Sunday morning to go to church? Do you fill your evenings up until late, so you let yourself sleep until the very last minute, then you just don’t have time in the morning to be alone with God, praying, and reading His Word? Have you ever agreed to teach a Sunday School class but, because your schedule was so full during the week, you didn’t even look at the lesson until Saturday night?

Now, what if you applied those same principals to your job? Malachi, in a sense says, “Try offering that to your boss. Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?”

What do you think?

I think it’s significant that God inspired this particular book to be placed at the end of the Old Testament, the last thing we read before Jesus’ birth: Service. Honest worship. Making God our priority. Sacrifice. I think it’s significant because when we turn the page we are going to see those things lived out in the lives of Jesus, Peter, Paul, and others who make God, and serving Him, their number one priority.

So the question I believe God wants us to consider today is, where does He fit on our own lists of priorities? How much time during our day do we devote to God as compared to our attention to other things and people? Are we guilty of offering Him the left-overs?

I hope you’ll read the book of Malachi today and let God speak to you from His heart. He demands – and deserves – our best. Is that what we are giving Him?

Nahum; Jealous and Patient

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We read about Jonah a few days ago; how he went into Nineveh, a city condemned to destruction because of their sin, and told them the truth about God. 120,000 people confessed their sin, and God forgave them. The city was spared.

But now it’s about 100 years later, and God is warning them once again, this time through Nahum, that their sin-debt has come due. They will be destroyed because they were back to their old sinful ways.

My parents were born in the 1920’s. My sisters and I were born in the ’50s. My nieces and nephews were born in the ’80s, and their children have been born in the 21st Century. We are six years from the 100th anniversary of my parents’ births. It puts the number “100” into perspective.

It took Nineveh only the span between a man and his great-grandchildren to go from repenting of sin, to living in sin once again to the point God had had enough.

Nahum tells us God is a jealous God, and I know that offends some people who define jealously as a middle-school girl whose BFF has a boyfriend or something. God is NOT envious.

But God demands our total devotion, and will jealously protect His throne. He will not tolerate worship of any other god, or thing, or desire, or person.

Nahum tells us God is a jealous God, but in the next verse he tells us this same God is slow to anger and great in power. Nahum tells us these people were depending on their wealth, power, position, on intellect – on themselves – when they should have been depending on God alone. They might have acknowledged God, but their devotion was divided. And God will not accept that. Not even a little.

Are you single-minded in your worship of God? Or is God just one of the several things you are devoted to? God does not accept an “and.” He demands an “only.”

I’d like you to consider the level of commitment to God that you see in your own “100.” Are you singularly devoted to God? Do your children share the same devotion? How about your grandchildren? We may be one generation from experiencing what God is telling Nineveh through Nahum, unless we heed Jonah’s warning, and repent.

Because, as true as it is that God is a jealous and avenging God, that He will not let the guilty go unpunished, He is still slow to anger. He still forgives sin. And He still is not willing that anyone should die without Him.

Yes, God is a jealous God in that He will not accept partial worship of Him. But He is also patient, long-suffering, gentle, and kind. In fact, He went ahead and paid the awful penalty for our sin Himself, and pours out His grace on all who believe.

God demands our exclusive worship. And He deserves it.

 

Ecclesiastes 3-4; Religion?

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One of the things Solomon looks at in his search for the answer to the meaning of life is religion. In 5:1 he warns us to watch our step when we go into God’s house. Watch our step? Why?

There are many religions in the world. But all religions have something in common – ritual. Like: before entering, dip your fingers in water and make the sign of the cross. Pick up the beads and recite a prayer over and over. Bow down facing east every day at just the right time. Touch the box before entering the house.

Religions have set rules one must obey in order to follow that religion. That’s why you hear that Christianity is not a religion. It’s a relationship.

There are dozens of churches on this island where I live, and you will find dozens of expressions of worship. Oh, there is order to worship. But each church has the freedom to express worship as they wish, and still be a Christian church IF Jesus is proclaimed as Savior, Lord, and the Son of God whose death on the cross paid for the sins of the world.

But there might be a danger to making even our freedom in worship become religion. So many of us barge into a worship service like we’re attending a family reunion or a football game. We come laughing, joking, and high-fiving, while we sip on our lattes. We sing the praise songs over and over with our minds on what’s for lunch, or we work up that feeling of euphoria some equate with worship. We go through the motions, because that’s what we’re supposed to do.

But is that worship? Or is it religion? Is that nurturing a relationship or going through the motions?

Solomon goes on in chapter 5 to tell us our worship may be the same as the sacrifice of fools. Don’t be hasty in word, rather listen. Worship is communion with God, not performing for Him. It’s that connection that allows Him to place a finger on sin in our lives, to encourage us, to teach us. We’ve got to quiet our hearts, and listen.

The king also talks about the kinds of vows we make to God. Do not be mistaken, God takes us seriously. You don’t say something to God, then later take it back.  “Oops. My bad” doesn’t cut it with our Holy God. How serious are we when we come into the presence of that Holy God in order to worship Him?

Whether you attend a church that uses rituals, or one in which there are no rules, why are  you there? My prayer is that we will attend our churches because we love Jesus, because we have acknowledged that we are sinners in need of the Savior, and have accepted Him as the only means to the Father. I pray that as we walk through those doors, we have hearts that are open to fellowship with the Creator God, and worship Him like He deserves.

Don’t let religion get in the way.

 

Psalms 142-150; Praise and Worship

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These last chapters in the book of Psalms really has me thinking about praise and worship. The psalmists say all of creation praises God.

I’m sitting in my sunroom, looking at a flowering rose bush, listening to chirping birds, hearing the wind rustling the leaves on trees, enjoying the sunlight after yesterday’s rain, and wondering how any of that translates into praising God.

The beauty of creation is doing exactly what it was created to do. The pine tree in my back yard doesn’t seem to be trying to be a live oak. And it’s branches grow upward, pointing to heaven as though lifting hands in worship.

Now I’m not suggesting the pine tree is choosing to do what God wants it to. It just can’t help itself because it’s a tree, and God is God. And I think that’s the kind of praise these psalms talk about in reference to all of God’s creation… including us.

I love that I am reading these psalms the day after my pastor preached from Mark 7, where Jesus called out the Pharisees for their insincere worship of God. They had been more concerned about their man-made traditions than about God.

My pastor reminded us that not everyone who attends church worships, not everyone who sings the songs worships, not everyone who carries a Bible and says an occasional, “Amen,” worships.

The difference between the praise and worship of my pine tree and me is, I have a choice. Worship for me involves a setting aside of the cares of my day, my plans for the week, the chip in my nail polish, or the baby in my lap, and intentionally focusing my attention on God alone.

If I am distracted, my worship becomes like unauthorized fire. If you want to know God’s take on that, read about Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10.

One of my concerns about modern day worship services is the tendency to replace thinking and intention with feeling. The “worship experience” turns attention away from God and toward me, my own experience. When the drummer does a solo, or the guitar player performs an impressive run, where does my attention turn? If I sing the same phrase eight times so that my heart “soars,” my attention in on my heart, on my feelings of euphoria.

Now, lest you think I think singing hymns is the only acceptable form of worship, how many times have you had your eyes on the words in the hymnal, and your mind on the roast in the oven? Distraction is distraction whether you are are praising God with a rock band or a pipe organ.

Our God is worthy of praise. Our God demands worship. I believe Scripture tells us distracted praise and worship is neither praise nor worship.

God deserves better than that.

Job 1-2; It’s Not The “Why” You Might Think

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Have you ever asked the question: “Why do bad things happen to good people?” I think most of us have at one time or another questioned why a God-loving, church-going, volunteer at homeless shelters, a giver to charities, and an all around nice guy gets ALS, or loses his job, or has a child addicted to drugs. Why does a godly church secretary find herself fighting cancer diagnosed late, effecting her major organs, in great pain, and having a severe reaction to chemo?

Why do you suffer? Why do I?

If you read the book of Job hoping to get those answers, you will be disappointed. Job never finds out “why” those things happened to him. Oh his friends think they know “why.” But they don’t. Not really.

If you read the first two chapters of Job you’ll discover the deeper question that Satan asks of God: “Do people follow You, God, because You bless them? Do they worship You so they can feel good? Do they obey You for what’s in it for them?”

Satan’s premise is that as soon as hard times hit, people turn their backs on God. Is he right to think that?

What about you? Have you given God an ultimatum: “I’ll serve You, God, as long as you don’t mess with my health, or my family. I’ll worship You, but don’t touch my career. If you do, I’m outta here.”

The question isn’t “Why do bad things happen to good people?” The question is “What do good people do when bad things happen?”

I am looking forward to spending some time in Job. I want to hear what the world has to say about worship. I want to define the “why” of my worship of God. And I want to hear from God about why He deserves my worship in every circumstance of life.

When all is said and done, I want to say with Job:

The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised,

and mean it.

Nehemiah 10-13; Worship and Obedience

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Well, that’s a downer. The wall had been built agains all odds. There was a revival among the Jews, hearts once again turned toward God. People were determined to obey the Word of the Lord. And a joyful ceremony was held to dedicate the completed wall that so many had worked so hard on.

The enemy defeated! The wall restored! Sins forgiven! Choirs singing! People worshiping God together. Now that’s a happy ending.

Then there is chapter 13. Things aren’t always as they appear to be. The emotional worship experience didn’t translate into real life obedience.

The Bible demonstrates that our emotions are engaged in worship. We see accounts of people dancing in the streets, shouting praise, singing songs. We also see people grieved over sin, tearing their clothes, falling on their faces, and wailing as they worship.

We don’t turn off our emotions when we worship. But if experiencing worship is your goal, if going to church to get your weekly shot in the arm is your motivation, stay home.

First of all, worship is about God. It’s not about you. But secondly, we need to be reminded that those worship services end, and the daily grind begins. That worship service is meant for us to stop, focus on God, set aside self and care and heartache, and give what is due our Holy God. Then we continue our worship as we obey Him in the day to day.

It’s Christmas morning. I pray you and your family will be blessed as you celebrate Jesus’ birth. And I hope you’ll take time to set aside the busy-ness of the day, the laughter, and presents, and worship that baby who grew to be the man who died for you.

And may your worship translate into obedience for Jesus’ sake and for His glory.

Ezra 3:10-13; The Good Old Days

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I got stuck here in Ezra 3. Something I read the other day has kept coming to mind, so I decided to take a closer look. It’s the picture of the celebration over the finished foundation of the temple.

Priests, dressed in their finest, trumpets, cymbals, the choir singing, “He is good; his love to Israel endures forever.” All the people shouting praise to God.

Well, maybe not all the people.

Scripture tells us many of the older folk wept aloud. Why? Did they not want the temple rebuilt? Were they lamenting a personal loss? Scripture tells us their weeping was as loud as the praises of the others.

I used to hate it when Dad would talk about “the good old days,” how great things “used” to be, and how awful things were in the present. (That was fifty years ago when I was young. Ouch!)

Now all these years later, I hear Dad’s words coming out of my own mouth. Maybe there was something to what Dad was feeling all those years ago.

The old folks who cried when they saw the new foundation were the ones who remembered Solomon’s magnificent temple back in the day. They remembered the splendor adorning God’s house, and could recall the worship that was given Him there. Those truly were the good old days.

No wonder some of the people were grieved as they realized the refurbished temple wouldn’t come close to what it once had been. No wonder they were sad to know this new generation had no idea what they were missing.

We were talking in Sunday School recently about how things used to be in the church, the years of Billy Graham crusades when the focus was on meeting God, the main draw was the preaching, and the thought of being entertained was the furthest thing in anyone’s mind.

I remember walking into a church and feeling like I was in a church and not a venue. I remember sitting there for an hour without a coffee in my hand. I remember caring how I presented myself to God for worship in His house. I remember altars at the front of churches where people were able to kneel for as long as it took to get right with God. I remember pulpits.

Forgive me if I “weep aloud” when I see the refurbished church today. You see, I remember the splendor.

Now having said all that, let me also say I know worship is happening in churches today where Jesus is proclaimed as the Savior. I praise God that sin is being confessed, souls are being won through the precious blood of Jesus. I love my church where guitars accompany praise songs and hymns, where people aren’t all in suits and dresses.

But there is a part of me that wishes we could go back to the way things used to be, and I’m not apologizing for that. You see, I remember Solomon’s temple.

Now before you jump down my throat, I know things weren’t perfect back in the day. I know there were problems in churches fifty years ago, disagreements, lukewarm hearts, and sin isn’t something that just reared it’s ugly head in the twenty-first century. But I would be foolish to think a new approach to worship has eliminated those same problems in churches today.

In fact, I’m not sure the church is any better at addressing those problems today than they were fifty years ago. Maybe we aren’t even doing as well at it.

All you young people out there, mark my words. If God tarries another fifty years, you’ll be looking back at 2017 as the days of Solomon’s temple. And one day you might hear your own voice talking about “the good old days,” and wishing your grandchildren could know what worship was like when you were young.

Heavenly Father, Thank you for churches where Your Holy Spirit is free to work in the hearts and lives of people, for pastors who proclaim the truth of Scripture, where Jesus is known to be the only way to You, and where You are worshiped as You demand. But God, I also see that the further we get from the cross, the more tolerant we are of sin, the more we talk about Your love, and fear You less. I see an increasingly casual approach to worship that is contrary to Your Word, and I am grieved. I don’t want to live in the past, Lord. But I also don’t want to discount what was right and good about the way things used to be. Give us wisdom. Give us discernment. May Your Church throw away tradition and trend, for the sake of tradition and trend, and just be people who want to worship You, serve You, love You, obey You, learn about You, and please You. May our worship of You be about You, and not about how it makes us “feel.” May we all, young and old, be the Church You want us to be, for as long as You give us life on this earth.

I Kings 9-12; Golden Calves in 2017

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Jeroboam could have been a great king, on the order of King David. (11:38-39) God was giving this son of a slave the kingdom, and would have blessed him… IF.

Jeroboam did become king over ten Jewish tribes. And even though God had handed him the throne and promised to bless him, Jeroboam seems to have doubted God could or would pull through.

Jerusalem was located in a part of the nation still ruled by Solomon’s son, the rightful heir. Now it was time for the people to go to Jerusalem for the feasts God had commanded them to celebrate. Jeroboam was afraid if his people went back to Jerusalem to worship, they would switch their allegiance to King Rehoboam.

So the first thing Jeroboam did as king was to make two gold calves, place them in convenient spots for the people, and declare that the statues were their gods to be worshiped. “Why go all the way to Jerusalem when you can worship in your own back yards? Does it really matter who you worship so long as your worship is sincere?”

Well, for one, God commanded the people to worship in Jerusalem. Two, gold calves never have and never will hear your prayers. And thirdly, the worship of anything other than the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is a sin.

Now here’s what makes me sad about this story: the people went along with Jeroboam’s plan. They worshiped the idols on the same day, in the same manner God had instituted for His people. Their’s looked like the worship services going on in Jerusalem. But their worship was meaningless. And Jeroboam’s shortcut, and the people’s acceptance made God really mad.

Is this a picture of the church in 2017? The name “Christian” is worn by many who go to a service every Sunday morning. They sing songs and hymns, hear a lecture based on a Bible verse, get a pat on the back, and forget it all until the next Sunday.  Folks, there is no shortcut to God.

Here’s the Truth: Sin is keeping you from God. Sin: anything you think, do, or say that doesn’t please Him, stands between you and a Holy God who demands holiness of us.

Sin and God cannot exist together. It’s like trying to unite two magnets by their north poles. Ain’t gonna happen.

I can say with confidence if you attend a fellowship that doesn’t talk about sin, that doesn’t call sin sin, and doesn’t preach forgiveness of sin through the blood of Jesus, you are looking at a gold calf. Get. Out. Now.

True worship of God was never designed for your convenience, or for your delicate sense of self. Worship is about God, and there are no shortcuts to worship that He recognizes, no shortcuts that He will bless.

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I am back home after Hurricane Irma, and the extent of the damage to my property is a smashed mailbox. I don’t know why God spared me again. I am humbled and grateful, as I realize how many people lost everything, including loved ones. Please continue to pray for those effected by Harvey and Irma, and pray for our country that we might come together, and that Jesus will be glorified.

2 Samuel 4-6; What Does Worship Look Like?

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Some have said 6:12ff is a blueprint for worship; that David, dancing and praising God with abandon, offering sacrifices, freeing himself from his robe, is the picture of true worship. It certainly is a happy picture of worship, a joyful occasion celebrating God’s Presence. Are we missing something if our church services are not like that?

If you’ve read many of my posts, you know I am not a fan of what is referred to as contemporary worship styles. And I am adamantly against church services with an agenda to entertain church-goers. But I am not discounting this picture of worship here in 2 Samuel.

First, David has reason to rejoice. The Presence of God represented by the ark, is coming home! I don’t know about you, but God’s Presence in my life makes me want to rejoice, too. When I confess sin and experience the rekindled relationship with God that had been broken because of sin, I want to sing His praises.

Hallelujah!

However, what we witness here in 2 Samuel is not a church service. It did not occur in the temple. Although it is a glorious picture of what worship can be, I do not believe it is a blueprint for what worship should be. There are many examples in Scripture where worship is expressed by falling flat on your face, laid out on the ground in humble submission and awe before our Holy God. I see examples of church services where Jesus taught with no mention of dancing or even of smiling.

When I hear a “worship leader” reprimand a congregation for not smiling or looking joyful as we sing, or for not bringing the same enthusiasm to worship as we bring to a football game,  I immediately know that person is looking horizontally, at people, and not focused on his own worship of God. Personally, I don’t want anyone leading me to look at people. Period.

I honestly don’t care what you look like when you worship. If my head is lifted toward heaven and tears of joy are falling from my eyes, I’m not going to judge you if your head is bowed and tears of conviction are falling from yours. If you raise your hands in worship, don’t judge me if I stare at the hymnal in my hand and let the words of the song break my heart in worship.

I don’t know what worshiping God looks like for you because I can’t see your heart. That’s where true worship occurs. Let’s not be bullied into looking like someone thinks your worship should look like. It’s not a performance. It’s not a contest.

Let your worship of God focus only on Him. Your expression of that will follow in a personal, God-directed and God-honoring way. You may end up singing at the top of your voice with hands raised and heart soaring. Or you may bow your head in humility as you worship your Holy Father in the quietness of your heart.

The only worship leader I’m interested in following is God Himself. The only worship  I want to offer Him is that which comes from my heart, no matter what that looks like to anyone else.