VOTD

Christian Kindness (Pt 1) – VOTD.10.03.16

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted.  Ephesians 4:32

I sometimes see bumper stickers urging other drivers to practice random acts of kindness. Personally, I’m all for kindness, because it’s one of those things that makes life a happier experience, both in the giving and in the receiving. But that’s mostly kindness in the natural realm.

Christian kindness is a special kind of kindness, because it’s undeserved, just like the grace from which it flows. Christian kindness has more than just warm fuzzies at the center of it. When Christians practice kindness it is not just an outward change of behavior; it something that comes from an internal change of heart. And that makes Christian kindness unique, because it comes from the heart that has been redeemed and transformed by God in to His own likeness.

Today’s verses say, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted.” At its core, Christian kindness is tenderhearted. That is, it comes from a tender heart. It’s not a hard heart on the inside that pretends to be kind and caring on the outside. It’s not “Well, the sun is shining and I’m having a good day so I treat people kindly”. That supposes that if I’m having a rotten day I have a free pass to treat people crummy…as if they are worthless. (more…)

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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 Practical Side of Worship – VOTD.09.19.16

Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Psalm 150:2

Most of us know Ps 46:10. It’s quoted often. It tells us, “Be still and know that I am God.” And we revel in the stillness and quietness of personally encountering Jesus with awestruck wonder.

But the in the context of today’s verse, the Bible also describes drums, cymbals, leaping and dancing, praising God with all our might, and shouting unto the Lord. This is not cacophony of confusion but joy-filled, overflowing worship—getting enthusiastic over WHO God is “His surpassing greatness” and WHAT He’s done—“His mighty acts of power”.

So which is it? Quiet meditation or outrageous, over the top, exuberance over God? Well, it’s both. There are times of the excitement of joy-filled, overflowing worship. And there are times to be quiet before the Lord in total awe at His character, amazing wonders, etc.

I was reading a list last week of ways we are called in the Bible to view God—to worship Him. It contained a whole lexicon of words like enthralled and exhilarated by God. Excited, astonished, amazed, and awed by God; ravished by Him, consumed, thrilled, obsessed, overwhelmed, enrapt, astounded, and absorbed, obsessed and eagerly preoccupied with God… (more…)

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Worship and Our Experience with God – VOTD.09.13.16

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God… For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.  Romans 11:33, 36

Where there’s a problem with worship there’s a problem with our experience of Jesus and the good news He conceived. That is why our worship is often hollow: our experience of Jesus has become hollow. As the eyes of our hearts are lowered from the greatness of God to our own failures, accomplishments and problems our worship quickly follows.

A robust experience of Jesus, however, is like pouring gas on the fire of worship. The more powerful our experience Jesus, the more we adore Him for who He is and for what He has done for us. This is because all worship, in the end, is personal worship—it’s about what happening to you. It’s about what happening to me.

Then, together, we can adore Him in a collective setting; where groups of other worshipers come together to proclaim God’s glory together. And in that setting worship is like a wild-fire consuming the hearts of others who are adding their personal worship to the group experience. (more…)

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Lighting the Fire of Worship – VOTD.09.12.16

When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “He is good; his love endures forever.” 2 Chronicles 7:2
Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:28-29

Metaphorically, worship is often likened to fire, biblically and traditionally. We’ve seen that the spirit of worship is fire within us, and the fuel that causes the fire to burn is our wonder and awe of Jesus. The more fuel, the hotter the fire. The more we seek God—the more we focus relentlessly on Jesus, the hotter our worship.

Problem is, it’s sometimes hard to get that fire started. For some Christians it’s just about impossible (without the Holy Spirit working in us). So how do we seek God? Today we’ll look at 3 ways we see in the Bible: (more…)

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Worshiping in Spirit – VOTD.09.05.16

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly give thanks his name.  Hebrews 13:15

God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.  John 4:24

Jesus taught that true worship involves both spirit and truth. In these two ingredients lie the center of what God desires for us in what we call ‘worship’. Today I want to look at worshiping in spirit. What’s that?

We have to assume that when Jesus said these words, at least two people understood what He meant: First, the woman He was speaking to understood Him; Second, Jesus’ disciple John, who wrote down this quote, understood Him. The woman immediately associated His words with the coming of the Messiah. Exactly how she made that leap we can only guess.

But we don’t have to guess about what John made of Jesus’ words because He wrote a whole Gospel from which we can gather his thinking. He uses the same word “spirit” to refer to feelings and emotions. He says in John 13:21: “After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit.” Clearly an emotional response to the fact that He would be arrested, tried and convicted that night. (more…)

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Eagerly Seeking God – VOTD.09.06.16

Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done.  1 Chronicles 16:10-12

Last time we finished with a question: How do we eagerly seek God? Today’s verse gives us a good list of things to do to prime the pumps of our praise:

“Glory in His holy name” Repeat His name often; repeat it over and over. Jesus is the name above all names (Phil 2:9,10). And there is power in His name. Even power to bring us into adoration. It’s in His name that every knee bows—even our overwhelmed hearts bow to His name.

“…let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice” Pursue joyfulness. “For the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Neh 8:10). Our culture pursues disgruntlement with all its heart. It values taking offense at everything. It’s hard to worship Jesus when we’re restless and dissatisfied. We need to instead, focus on God’s goodness to us. His love for us. His watchfulness. That’s how we cultivate joyfulness. (more…)

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Uniting Teaching and Worship – VOTD.08.30.16

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and advising one another in all wisdom and singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.  Colossians 3:16

Today’s verse comes right in the middle of Paul describing what it looks like to follow Jesus in the midst of a non-Christian society. So the entire passage is important to understanding how to get through each day. But, interestingly, right in the middle of it, he mentions two keys: teaching and worship. And while there’s many ways to express our love and awe to our God, the specific form of worship he talks about here is “singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs”.

Paul does something similar in Ephesians 5 where he uses singing out our thanksgiving as an introduction to his teaching on marriage and family relationships. In today’s church culture, where worship and teaching are firmly separate activities (with announcements and offering in between <grin>), why would Paul see teaching our Christian faith and worshiping our awesome God in such an integrated way?

Why is worship so important? For that matter, with all the ways we might worship God, why is singing our worship so important to Him? Why would God give music and song such a prominent place, not only in official “worship services”, but in all of life? (more…)

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