Gathering to Worship

Recently www.DesiringGod.org has posted a series of blogs on worship. As I was rereading some of them I had the thought, “How do we move from gathering together to worshiping together?” There are plenty of times when Christians gather and no worship takes place, even in so-called worship services. It’s tempting to blame the music, preaching, environment, and everything else under the sun. I think the root of the problem is that our focus is on the wrong person. David Mathis writes:

“The answer is that our focus should not be self-consciously preoccupied with how we’re being strengthened or what grace we’re receiving. Rather, our focus together is the crucified and risen Christ, and the incomparable excellencies of his person and work. Which illumines all the various spiritual disciplines. Corporate worship is a means of grace not when we’re caught up with what we’re doing, but when we experience the secret of worship — the joy of self-forgetfulness — as we become preoccupied together with Jesus and his manifold perfections” (http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/kindle-the-fire-in-corporate-worship).

Worship, in essence, is thinking highly of God and responding appropriately to His glory. But how can we think much of God when we are busy thinking about ourselves? It does take effort to refocus our attention, and worship is called a spiritual discipline for a reason. It’s not typically something that can be learned through one hour a week. If we spend the rest of our waking hours thinking about everything but God, then that’s where our thoughts will naturally go. Certainly the music, prayer, and preaching can help to redirect our thoughts to the One true God, but there are also times when we encounter God in spite of everything that might distract us.

I wonder how often we go to church and expect to encounter God there? I confess that is not usually in the forefront of my thoughts and desires on a Sunday morning (or any other time). I expect to be welcomed and encouraged by my brothers and sisters in Christ. I expect to be edified by the preaching and teaching. I expect to praise God in song and to express my needs in prayer. But I don’t really expect to be moved to worship God and experience His presence. During the week I pray that the service will draw people to God, and that the sermon will be God’s words that we need to hear at this time. But I don’t often think about worshiping the Lord “in the splendor of holiness” (Psalm 29:2).

Perhaps that is due in part to our overly familiar image of Jesus as friend and confidant. The majesty of Jesus illustrated in Hebrews 1 is often foreign to us. On one hand, it’s good that we know we can trust God with all our problems, needs, faults, and failures, and we can talk to Him at any time. But on the other hand, it is difficult to worship One who knows us so well and yet still loves us. We tend to focus on His love to the exclusion of His holiness, supremacy, strength, and majesty (among other attributes).

I, for one, need to adjust my expectations for “worship services”—to remember more of Who God is and actually believe that He’ll show up, not because of anything we say or do, but because we are His children and He desires to speak to us. I suspect that questions of “worship style” would become irrelevant if we all came to church expecting to meet God. And the fact is, He’s there whether we acknowledge Him or have some experience of His presence or not.

Zephaniah wrote: “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty One Who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing” (3:17 ESV). May that knowledge lead us in turn to rejoice and exult over Him, and truly worship our Creator, Redeemer, and Lord!

“Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness” (Psalm 29:1-2).

Abide in Me

Once again circumstances have converged to make me think about a particular topic, in this case, what is abiding in Christ? One trigger was an email from Pastor Matt and the other was the book Growing in Grace, by Bob George. What they said was that abiding in Christ (John 15:4), abiding in the Vine (John 15:5), abiding in the Word (John 8:31), abiding in love (1 John 4), and abiding in the truth (2 John) are all essentially the same thing. But only one of those things really tells us something we can do to abide, and that is to abide in the Words of Scripture. As Pastor Matt said, “Reading them, meditating on them, reminding ourselves and each other of them is abiding in Jesus and allowing His words to abide in us.” And that is certainly something we ought to pursue.

Bob George gives the illustration of a baby in the womb. It is abiding there, with all its needs provided, and there’s nothing it can do or needs to do to maintain the connection with its mother. If you’re like me, it’s hard to believe that abiding in the Vine doesn’t take some real effort to hold on. But as I thought about it, I realized that several of those verses that talk about abiding in Him also say that He abides in us (John 6:56, John 15, 1 John 2, 1 John 3:24, 1 John 4). Even if we could somehow fail to abide in Christ, we can’t force Him to stop abiding in us. John 10:27-29 says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand” (ESV). Other good images are found in Deuteronomy 33:27, “The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms,” and Psalm 37:23-24, “The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when He delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand.”

Now I’m not advocating a laissez faire, do-nothing attitude. I think Scripture is pretty clear that we should endeavor to resist sin (Romans 6:1-2), draw near to God (James 4:7-8), study the Word (2 Timothy 3:16-17), and assemble together to encourage one another (Hebrew 10:25). But we can tend to make things harder than they need to be. Sometimes we fall back into the trap of thinking we need to earn our way or we believe the lie that “God helps those who help themselves.” Then too we can start second guessing God and take matters into our own hands if He doesn’t seem to be working fast enough or doing what we think needs done. So it’s hard to abide and rest when we’re waiting for something to happen.

In a recent Christianity Today blog, Mark Galli says this about the pursuit of holiness:

“Then, in one of [Paul’s] last letters, he says he is the ‘worst’ of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15). I don’t know that we can chalk that up to false humility. I think Paul, the older he got, the more he saw all those layers of sin and wickedness in himself and realized that for all the progress he might have made, in the end, he knew he felt like the greatest of sinners. This is not a picture of the ‘victorious Christian life.’ Yet so much preaching and teaching in American churches seem to suggest that if we just do this or that more fervently—always depending on the grace and power of the Holy Spirit!—we can make significant progress in the life of holiness. We Americans are a very optimistic bunch with a can-do spirit. But I’m wondering if we’re overpromising, with the result that we’ll eventually underdeliver. This can only lead us into despair… Our real hope—and the real reason for our lack of despair and our continuing joy—is the promise of future transformation in Christ. ” (http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/may-web-only/real-transformation-happens-when.html)

I struggle to discover some balance between “trying” and “abiding.” Scripture indicates that God has done all that is necessary for our salvation and eventual sanctification, but as Galli points out in this article, the vast majority of our sanctification will take place after the Second Coming of Christ, not during this earthly life. That’s both reassuring and frustrating. It’s wonderful to know that we are saved by grace and not by our attempts to be good enough. But it’s also humbling to realize that we may have to face the same temptations and struggles for a lifetime. We’re forced to cling to our hope for that soon-coming day when God’s grace will be fulfilled and we’ll abide with Him forever in perfect holiness.

“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God” (Revelation 21:3).

Desperate for God

I recently read this quote from Augustine in regards to his struggle with sin:

“How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose…! You drove them from me, you who are the true, the sovereign joy. You drove them from me and took their place, you who are sweeter than all pleasure, though not to flesh and blood, you who outshine all light, yet are hidden deeper than any secret in our hearts, you who surpass all honor, though not in the eyes of men who see all honor in themselves. …O Lord my God, my Light, my Wealth, and my Salvation” (Confessions, Book IX, 1).

John Piper comments, “This is Augustine’s understanding of grace. Grace is God’s giving us sovereign joy in God that triumphs over joy in sin. In other words, God works deep in the human heart to transform the springs of joy so that we love God more than sex or anything else” (The Legacy of Sovereign Joy, 57).

It seems that Augustine had an encounter with God that drove the power of temptation from him (although he also took great pains to avoid temptation in later life by establishing a monastery). That made me wonder why some people experience rapid freedom from temptation and others don’t. The thought came to me—though God could easily change or remove our temptations and difficulties, He is far more interested in cultivating a deep desire for Himself and for the holiness that He confers and enables within us. An awareness of our sinfulness and weakness certainly should reveal how desperately we need God and His mercy and grace to change us from the inside out.

As I observe the American church in general, I don’t see a lot of people who are desperate for God. I see people who are content with their sin and comfortable with superficial spirituality. There are some who are eager to learn and to wrestle with applying Scripture and living out their faith, but we appear to be in the minority. If all the nominal Christians got serious about knowing God intimately, we would need a lot more pastors, discipleship groups, Christian counselors, Sunday school classes, prayer meetings, and churches. But as I wrote recently, God has to be the one to nudge us toward “holy discontent” (to borrow Bill Hybels term). So long as we are content with the direction our lives are going, there is no motivation to seek change.

Just taking a quick survey of the New Testament, there are many references to struggling, fighting, resisting, fleeing, and being burdened. I don’t think Paul and the author of Hebrews would have much understanding of or compassion for lackadaisical Christians.

• 1 Peter 4:1-2- “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God” (ESV).
• Hebrews 12:3-4- “Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”
• 1 Timothy 6:11-12- “But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”
• 2 Timothy 2:22- “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”
• 2 Corinthians 4:8- “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.”

Some of the harshest words to Christians in Scripture are recorded in Revelation to the churches in Sardis and Laodicea:

•          3:1-2- “I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.”
•          3:15-16- “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”

May we not be content to tolerate sin, but may God make us discontented with the world so that we become desperate for Him!

View from the Valley

Following up on last week’s post on the blessings of brokenness, I started thinking about various people in the Bible and how God impacted their lives. I suddenly realized that I couldn’t think of a single person who hadn’t suffered in some significant way. From Abraham to Moses to David to Paul, every one of them went through some pretty tough times in order to learn to depend on God and not themselves. Just think of the Hebrews 11 “Hall of Faith” and what each of those people endured.

So the question is, why do we think we can go through life without suffering difficulties? We are not naturally God-dependent in the flesh, so we should expect to have to learn some lessons through pain and trouble. Gerald Sittser writes in A Grace Disguised, “Can I expect to live an entire lifetime free of disappointment and suffering? Free of loss and pain? The very expectation strikes me as not only unrealistic but also arrogant. God spare me from such a perfect life! …To live in a world with grace is better by far than to live in a world of absolute fairness. A fair world may make life nice for us, but only as nice as we are. We may get what we deserve, but I wonder how much that is and whether or not we would really be satisfied. A world with grace will give us more than we deserve. It will give us life, even in our suffering” (110, 115).

That’s one reason the health and wealth “gospel” is so insidious. Sure, we’d all like comfort and success, but at what cost? If comfort means missing out on experiencing God’s sustaining grace, I’m not interested. If earthly riches means eternal ruin, no thanks! (See 1 Timothy 6:9-19.) Sometimes I wonder whether we are doing people a favor by praying for protection from suffering. We don’t want unnecessary suffering, but God can and will use all suffering for His glory if we give it to Him.

I can identify with C. S. Lewis’s comment, “We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will be” (Letters of C. S. Lewis). Having endured extended times of depression, I find that I am now more willing to pray “Whatever it takes, Thy will be done” rather than “Deliver me!” I’d rather go through the valley with God at my side than live on the mountaintop without really knowing Him.

I think that when we get accustomed to the “good life,” we find it harder to accept suffering when it comes. Would Job have complained as long if he hadn’t been so rich to start with? So many people turn to God when difficulties come, but then are inclined to ignore Him when life gets easier. Some of the godliest people I have known are ones who have endured suffering for a lifetime due to illness. John Piper said, “Any suffering person I’ve ever talked to bears witness to the fact that they have seen more of God and have come to know and trust God more deeply than if their suffering hadn’t come” (http://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/how-should-i-read-the-book-of-job). And Malcolm Muggeridge wrote, “Indeed, I can say with complete truthfulness that everything I have learned in my seventy-five years in this world, everything that has truly enhanced and enlightened my existence, has been through affliction and not through happiness, whether pursued or attained.”

Mountaintop views are made more glorious when contrasted with the dark valleys. And even the edge of darkness is glorious when you look into the light. I recently started reading The Pilgrim’s Progress, and John Bunyan describes well the sense of wonder and gratitude as he looked back on the darkness through which he had come:

“O world of wonders (I can say no less),
That I should be preserved in that distress
That I have met with here! Oh, blessed be
That hand that from it hath delivered me!
Dangers in darkness, devils, hell, and sin,
Did compass me, while I this vale was in;
Yes, snares, and pits, and traps, and nets did lie
My path about, that worthless, silly I
Might have been catched, entangled, and cast down;
But, since I live, let Jesus wear the crown.”

“We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:3-5 ESV).

Breaking Down Idols

The messages I heard Sunday in Sunday school and in the church service have melded together in my thinking this week. In Sunday school we’ve been talking about idols, which can be anything that we allow to take priority over God, and can even include good things. And the sermon was on the Christian practices that should point us to God but can sometimes lose their primary purpose.

I think a lot of church goers have made an idol of Christian practices and have entirely lost sight of loving God. It seems more obvious in the Catholic Church, where members are careful to attend mass, go to confession, and say their rosary, but may not have any clear understanding of Jesus as their Savior. However, Protestants can fall into the same trap. How many Bible scholars can quote chapter and verse but have no love for God and others? Some have called seminaries “Pharisee factories.” I think it was Mark Driscoll* who gave an example of a pastors conference he spoke at when he was fairly new in ministry, and some of the older ministers there confessed that they were only preaching because it was the only job they knew. They’d never really known God for themselves and didn’t believe the things they preached.

Bringing it a little closer to home, how many even in our churches can quote the “Sunday school answer” to most questions and are satisfied with that level of knowledge? They don’t care to dig deeper, apply their knowledge, or wrestle with the hard questions of life. It seems that only God can impart a desire for more, and many times that desire comes when we are broken from all our self-sufficiency and comfort. We aren’t likely to discard our idols if we think they are working. As C.S. Lewis said, we’re far too easily satisfied. If we’re comfortable with superficial knowledge and just doing enough to “get by,” then why should we jump into deeper waters?

Do we really want to wrestle with God if we know we’ll end up with a permanent limp like Jacob (Genesis 32)? Is it even possible to convince the comfortable that brokenness is actually preferable? It is in brokenness that we learn that God upholds us (Psalm 37:17); in emptiness that we find fullness of joy at His side (Psalm 16:11); and in weakness we find His strength (2 Corinthians 12:9). I don’t think you can appreciate the blessings of brokenness if you haven’t been there yourself.

I love the following song by Sidewalk Prophets, “Keep Making Me.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UI1obeb3A9c Is this something that we dare to pray? God just might answer by tearing down all our comfortable “Christian” idols!

*This blog was written before Mark Driscoll's downfall. I do not endorse him in any way.

Who Am I?

I am not a sinner
            I am redeemed
I am not guilty
            I am forgiven
I am not wounded
            I’ve been made whole
I am not weak
            I am an overcomer
I am not a victim
            I am a victor
I am not dead in sin
            I am alive in Christ
I am not in darkness
            I dwell in the Light
I am not forsaken
            I am deeply loved
I am not condemned
            I have peace with God
I am not dirty
            I am cleansed
I am not naked
            I am clothed in righteousness
I am not a doormat
            I am seated with Christ
I am not garbage
            I was bought with a price
I am not disgraced
            I am cherished
I am not ruined
            I am a new creation
I am not orphaned
            I am a child of God
I am not destitute
            I am an heir of God
I am not cut off
            I abide in the Vine
I am not ashamed
            I am accepted
I am not distressed
            I am at peace
I am not alone
            I am united with Christ and His body
I am not stuck
            I am being perfected
I am not helpless
            I have work to do
I am not hopeless
            I have hope for eternity
I am not fearful
            I know Whom I have believed

Lord, keep making me into who I am; remove all that I am not, until all that’s left is Your beloved child.

Delighting in Weakness

Some time ago I was reading 2 Corinthians and noticed that 12:10 varies depending on the version you read. The NIV says, “That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” However, the ESV starts out, “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses…” Others translate the Greek word εὐδοκέω (eudokeo) as “take pleasure.”

While I usually use the ESV, I think in this instance the translators have weakened the impact of the verse. There’s a significant difference, at least in the minds of modern readers, between being content and delighting or taking pleasure. Perhaps that wasn’t a problem for the original audience. I can think of many instances when we talk about being “content” with something that we really would like to change if we could. But to delight in something implies that it should not be changed, that it doesn’t need improvement, and that it is perfect as it is.

I suppose the reason for using the word “content” in this particular verse is that we don’t generally associate pleasure with weakness, insults, persecution, and difficulty. I’m sure most of us would like to avoid those situations if we could, but we learn to put up with them when we have to. But it appears that the Apostle Paul had a completely different attitude. He delighted in sufferings, he took pleasure in persecution, and he had no desire to end the difficulties, because God’s power was demonstrated in Paul’s weakness. “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (v. 9 ESV).

I can definitely say I’m not there yet, though I am perhaps closer than I’ve ever been. There is a sense of gratitude and joy in realizing that God has worked in and through me despite my weakness. I sometimes wonder how God can use my feeble efforts to accomplish His purposes, and yet He does it again and again. As Paul says, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” (2 Cor. 4:7). God’s intention is to glorify Himself, not us. So the weaker we are, the more glory God gets for displaying His power. And the more God is glorified, the more we should delight in our weakness.

We tend to get it all backwards. We think that God is pleased when we are strong enough to do the work on our own, like the boss who finally gets his employee trained on the job. The problem is that when we can do it on our own then we don’t need God’s strength, and He doesn’t get the glory. And God is the only One who is really worthy of glory.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of praising human efforts rather than praising God. I’m sure there were church services held this week that were a great display of musical talent and polished performance, but if God wasn’t glorified, what was the point? There were probably also services where virtually everything went wrong that could go wrong, but God touched hearts and changed lives and He was glorified. Some folks joke about the “demons” that possess sound systems and computers, but I wonder if God doesn’t plan His own difficulties for us so that He will be glorified in our weakness. He certainly is capable of making everything work perfectly if He so chooses. So maybe He chooses to let us stumble so He can be the One who is seen.

Most Christians probably want God to get the glory, but we also have a hard time giving up control. We’d rather not suffer if we can help it. Somehow we need to learn to embrace hardship as the Apostle Paul did rather than running from it.

Lord, do whatever it takes to teach me to be not just content with weakness, but to delight in it for the sake of Your glory. I trust You.