Jesus

The Majesty of God in Worship – VOTD.09.26.16

“Then another servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your (money); I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.’ Luke 19:20-21

Today we’ll look at a second change that affects our Scriptural basis of worship…our view of God changes from a wrath-filled, exacting God to a majesty-filled Father God. In today’s verses, the third and worthless servant explains why he has not done what the king asked. He was afraid of the wrath of the King—if he risked the money he might lose some or all of it and he was scared stiff. The other two servants were just the opposite. They saw the majesty of the king and went out and used the king’s money to create more money.

In recent time: the character of God has shifted in Christian thought. God didn’t change, but how the church views Him has. We have moved from a focus on the wrath of God to the majesty of God. A good thing. A holy fear of God is not a cringing fear, but a reverential awe (and yes, even an un-reverential camaraderie with the Holy One. Jesus wants friends, too –Jn 15:15.).

This has powerful implications for worship. We might grovel before a wrathful God, but we can’t worship Him. We can’t really even follow Him. But the more the majesty of God moves to the forefront the more we will desire to worship Him and follow where He leads.

So what is the majesty of God? To try describe God’s majesty is kind of like describing the splendor of the Grand Canyon. Words can’t do it justice. Even pictures don’t really provide the full impact. You just need to see it! (more…)

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The Scriptural Basis for Worship – VOTD.09.20.16

Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem. John 4:20

I had spent much of a Saturday morning on the platform of an evangelical church’s sanctuary worshipping my heart out. It was a glorious time, where those who wanted to, came and joined together with voices and instruments and anyone could call out the next worship song from a sheaf of about 500 chord/lyric sheets provided (the only real limitation to what you could choose). People came and went as they needed to, something like a pick-up volleyball game, but mostly people stayed.

Of course, stalwart worshipers had an awesome time worshiping with fewer fetters than a typical church service would allow. And many of them enjoyed having my gang there because we came with fewer fetters than they were used to. On the music stand underneath the sheaf of chord/lyric sheets I found a detailed blueprint of the service which was scheduled for the next day…right down to the minute, exactly how long each song, prayer and spoken words would take to fit into the package called ‘Sunday Worship Service’.

I was there the next day and marveled at how well the worship leader feigned spontaneity and freedom while meticulously following the schedule I’d seen. Nothing wrong with this, mind you; he did a good job; it was practically a work of art. But it reminded me of the worship struggle that has emerged in churches over the past few decades between format and freedom. (more…)

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The Love Measure: Maturity (pt 1) – VOTD.07.13.16

“‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.  A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40

Summarizing Jesus words in today’s verses, Augustine said, “Love God and do whatever you please: for the soul trained in love to God will do nothing to offend the One who is Beloved.”

Great words. True words. Something inside me resonates with these often-quoted words…and saddens me a little, too. And I think, if only we could pull it off better. We seem to do a lot better at the “do as you please” part of Augustine’s famous quote, than the “love God” part. And this is compounded because the pandemicly shallow grasp of loving God among His people.

It seems like the phrase is more often used to justify what we want to do than to describe the life of a passionate lover of God. (more…)

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The Freedom Measure: Maturity (pt 2) – VOTD.07.05.16

 …The truth will set you free…Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom…
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.  John 8:32; 2 Corinthians 3:17; Galatians. 5:1

Augustine said that true freedom is not choice or lack of constraint, but the ability to be what we are meant to be. Therefore, he reasoned, humans were created in the image of God, so true freedom is found in living it out. In other words, the closer we conform to Jesus, the freer we become. The farther we drift from this, the more our freedom shrinks.

Not to disagree with Augustine, but I think this is only one part of the vast subject of Christian freedom. “The truth will set you free”. Jesus is the truth and He does set us free. No question about that. He found freedom in doing what He saw His Father doing, and we find freedom in doing what Jesus is doing (Jn 5:19).

But another element of Christian freedom that is central to Christian maturity is found in His presence, as 2 Cor 3:17 points out. What we were recreated in Jesus for is “to love God and enjoy Him forever”. This goes beyond anything the the image of God within us to the purpose of God for us. (more…)

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The Freedom Measure: Maturity – VOTD.07.04.16

One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. Romans 14:2

In Romans 14 Paul turns the tables on those who treat duty, disciplines and deprivation as a sign of Christian maturity. In fact, he shows this sort of thing to be a sign of weakness. This former Pharisee, who had once celebrated self-denial, had come to understand that Christian maturity leads to freedom and is lived out in freedom.

Many Christians live in a kind of slavery despite Jesus’ promise that we “are extremely free” because He has set us free (Jn 8:36). They remain slaves to other masters. Unhealthy commitments and relationships (even within our churches); unhealthy attitudes (festering resentment, self-pity over past hurts and disappointments, bitterness); other addictions, affluences, etc.

They reward themselves and each other on the level of self-righteousness they have attained rather than walking in the Holy Spirit’s liberty; “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor 3:17) (more…)

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Winners – VOTD.06.30.16

To God, the blessed and only Ruler of all, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, who alone is immortal, whose home is in inaccessible light, whom no man has seen or is able to see, to him be honor and everlasting power. Amen  1 Timothy 6:5-16

Nobody likes to lose. And we live in a culture that continually threatens to make us losers—or at least feel like losers. A lot of the lure for Christians to live in a fantasy world is that is one place where we can be winners—or at least identify with winners as they fight evil against insurmountable odds and win.

I believe that one of Christianity’s more compelling truths in our time is that in Jesus we are winners. Jesus is rarely presented or seen in this all-surpassing glory. And we share that glory…every single Christian. Jesus embraced losing for us so that He would ultimately win, and we would win with Him.

When we turn to Him we go from ignoring God’s glory to broadcasting it. And Jesus goes from a mythical hero to a living Savior. And we know He’s living because we encounter Him. (more…)

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One Day – VOTD.06.16.16

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church.   Ephesians 3:20

On the day of Pentecost, suddenly while the disciples were together in one place praying for the coming of the Spirit, the wind blew–the house was filled with the fire of God. The Holy Spirit came upon the people there. What did they do?

Well, there was one man there who 3-years earlier had been told he’d be a fisher of men—he’d be called an evangelist in our day. He hung in there for 3 years with no record of him winning a single soul to the Lord. Then suddenly one day the heavens opened, the Holy Spirit fell on Peter and he preached a sermon and 3000 people got saved.

In one day when the heavens opened Peter moved out. We really don’t know what happened to anyone else, personally, but we’re told about Peter. Maybe what happened to the other 119 people in the upper room was just spectacular, maybe they were out winning souls, themselves. (more…)

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VOTD.06.07.16 The Peace Measure: Maturity

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.  John 14:27
Come to me all you who are heavy-laden and I will give you rest.  Matthew 11:28

Our next milepost on the journey of Christian maturity: Rest. Peace. Simply put, stress is a character trait of this world and its system. God gives peace, instead.

We’ve all been there. Too much on our plates and feeling overwhelmed. Or we face impossible problems, setbacks, disappointments, discouragements… Add to that, we’re exhausted. Jesus calls this “Weary and heavy-laden”.

How does the world respond to stress? Well, there’s always TV (books, surfing the web and other distractions). Then there’s endurance—putting our shoulder to the tasks and bulldozing through (that’s me). Some get into pumping ourselves up with positive self-talk. Others find something in the fridge. And don’t forget pity-parties and complaining. (more…)

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VOTD 06.06.16 The Worship Measure: Maturity

I saw the Lord, high and exalted… And I cried, “Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”  Isaiah 6:1,5

Last time we saw that our faith in Jesus is the measure of our significance and value and respect, because faith means looking away from ourselves to Jesus and embracing Him as the personification of all that is significant, valued and worthy of honor and respect.

And when that happens, we become Jesus-worshipers.

Focusing on Jesus is all it takes to transform you and me into passionate worshipers. (more…)

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VOTD 05.24.16 Childlikeness: Maturity

At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.  Matthew 18:1-5

Mature Christians have a childlike nature. Let’s get a few things straight from the beginning; Being childlike doesn’t mean we’re immature…And being mature doesn’t mean we accept the joyless, bored life that is often associated with adulthood. (more…)

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