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Day 352: Hosea 9 & Revelation 4 — Holy Worship vs. Unholy Harlotry

Saturday, December 18th, 2010

The Old Testament reading from Hosea 9 and the New Testament reading from Revelation 4 present an interesting contrast in worship.

God sends Hosea to judge the sin of Israel. They have played the harlot (v. 1)—in effect, they have cheated on God. God had saved them from the oppression of Egypt and led them to a land flowing with milk and honey. And in return, Israel nestled in with the native Canaanites and adopted their Baal gods as their own.

There is always a price to be paid for spiritual adultery and Hosea runs down a laundry list of punishments that Israel will suffer because of their infidelity.

1. They will lose their joy (v. 1-2). In another 250 years, Nehemiah will tell Israel, “The joy of the Lord is your strength!” But Israel’s unfaithfulness to God in places like Baal Peor and Gilgal will rob them of any joy at this time.

What about us? We lose our joy when we live for ourselves instead of living for God and others. Selfishness produces only bitter cynicism in the end. But selflessness is the greatest way to live because it was the way of our Savior.

Our faith in Christ produces in us an “inexpressible and glorious joy” because the end result is the salvation of our souls (1 Peter 1:8-9). James says that we can even be joyful when we go through dark times and deep valleys, because hard times produce in us perseverance and maturity (James 1:2-3).

2. They will be cast into exile (v. 3-6) and will be abandoned by God (v. 17). The Assyrian army is coming. And they are going to take Israel captive and exert their will into their lives. It’s like Egypt all over again! And while in exile, they will not be allowed to offer sacrifice … they will be forced to eat food they considered unclean … it’s not going to be a pleasant experience.

Have you ever felt exiled from God—felt “separated” from Him? Have you ever felt like God was far, far away? The wonderful thing about God is that He is never far away. If we will just take one small step toward Him, He will run to meet us (Luke 15:20). He loves us that much!

When we came to Jesus, we were provided with a great promise—that we would never again be separated from God’s love. Nothing can come between us—for we are “MORE THAN conquerors through Jesus Christ, who loves us” (Romans 8:37-39).

3. They will lose spiritual discernment (v. 7-9). Their prophets will be fools. Their spirituality will be insanity.

It’s very easy for us to lose sight of what’s truly spiritual, too, isn’t it? We are enticed by the wily ways of Satan and we fall prey to his cleverly designed traps. We trip over our own sins. It seemed like a good thing to do at the time. It felt right. Our spiritual eyesight has been blindfolded.

The only way for us to stay on the right path—the spiritual path—is to play follow-the-leader. We must “fix our eyes on Jesus” and “set our hearts on things above”.

Israel did a great job of showing us what not to do and we must learn from their mistakes.

Contrast that to the beautiful picture John paints in Revelation 4.

You want to talk about Spiritual discernment! John said he was “at once in the Spirit”! Immediately! Suddenly he found himself in the very presence of Almighty God with trumpets and angels and multiple thrones. White robes, golden crowns. Thunder, lightning and the very Spirit of God.

And then John sees four creatures whose only job in heaven is to praise God’s name endlessly. And when these creatures praised God, the twenty-four elders seated on the thrones would fall down and cast their crowns at the feet of the True King!

And praises flowed! Shouts of, “Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty who was, is and is to come! You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power—for You created all things and by Your will they exist and were created.”

Now that’s a worship service I want to be a part of! Amen? Wow! By the way, you know who the twenty-four elders represent? US! You and me! God’s church! I can’t wait!

Playing the harlot and cheating on God is a cheap, short-lived, thrill of the moment way to live. There’s no joy there—only exile and sadness and loss of spirituality.

But when we give ourselves completely to God, he will reward us with things that last—eternal things like joy and peace and love. And one day, we will take part in an eternal worship that will go beyond our wildest imagination!

Grace and peace, church. Deborah and I are praying for you. See you soon, Lord willing.

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Day 260: 1 Corinthians 14:6-25 — Building up the Church

Friday, September 17th, 2010

Quite a challenge here — write a post about spiritual gifts in less than 500 words. Actually that’s not a huge problem; I’ll let Scripture do most of the talking, so I’ll assume you’ve read today’s NT passage.

Points for the day…

  1. I’m not going to say anything about speaking in tongues, mainly because I don’t see that as Paul’s main focus here, so let’s not get distracted.
  2. So what is his main focus? Simply that spiritual gifts should “build up the church”. (1 Cor 14:12)
  3. He’s mentioning more than tongues & prophecy here — he also mentions singing and praying. He doesn’t call them spiritual gifts, but it’s in the same context as his exhortation to build up the church. When you participate in these acts of worship, it should be in a way as to build up the church.

Ask yourself this: when you attend a service of worship, what is your goal? Let me put it another way — when you leave, how do you judge whether it was a “good” service or not? If the singing was not to your liking, was it not a good service? If you don’t like something the preacher said, even though it was scriptural, is it still a good service? If few people (or nobody!) spoke to you or shook your hand, it must be an unfriendly bunch, right?

Do you see the problem with these questions? I don’t mean to be negative, but we’ve all heard people say these things (and probably at one time or another have said some of them ourselves — I have).

My point is simply this: The primary purpose of a worship service is to glorify God and give praise to His Son — no one’s denying that — but think about the worship services where you came away really feeling good about being a Christian. Were those the services where you sat back and just took it all in, or did you perhaps put a little more into the singing that day? Maybe you went out of your way to encourage someone who was having a bad day, and cheered him up. Or you spent yesterday taking someone (not your relative) to a funeral 3 hours away that she wouldn’t otherwise have had a chance to attend, and today she’s telling everyone how much she appreciated it. So the point is the same as Paul’s point in chapter 14 — whatever you do, do it such that it builds up the church. In so doing, you will also glorify God.

Suddenly, that song the leader pitched a half note too low doesn’t seem like that big a deal after all.

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Day 229: Psalm 28 — From the Pit to Praise

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

Psalm 28 is an interesting Psalm where the writer moves from an unknown threat to a song of thanks and praise. The “pit” is a metaphor for death or Sheol (cf. Job 7:9; Psalm 30:3; Psalm 88:6; Psalm 143:7). The writer struggles to escape the silence of God. How many times in our troubles do we feel like God is not there for us? Yet, the Psalmist cries out to God to hear him (Psalm 28:1-5). He is concerned about experiencing the ultimate punishment of wrongdoers. The Psalmist apparently is in worship and calls out for help and lifts his hands to God’s most holy sanctuary. Makes me think of the inadequacy of our contemporary worship experiences that often lack this type of sacrifice. We gather to worship to fulfill our religious duty, while the Psalmist gathers to cry out to God for help in a concern over substance (death) than trivia (our wants). The Psalmist is looking for justice and I wonder if his friends would have counseled him not to judge or that he needed to be more inclusive of his enemies. The Psalmist is not concerned about our contemporary feelings or political correctness. He sees clearly the wrongs people have done against God (Psalm 28:4-5). The bottom line is that God hears (Psalm 28:6) and the writer moves from his concern about the pit to praising God. I wonder if our worship experience moves us this way? Do we worship in fear of something? Is the conclusion a movement from fear of the pit to praise of God? The psalmist ends in Psalm 28:7-9 in praise. He recognizes God’s protection, he offers a song of thanks, he moves to seeing that God is the strength for all his people and not just an individual, he focuses on salvation, and he sees God as a shepherd carrying his people (cf. Isaiah 40:11).

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Day 169: 1 Chronicles 5:1-26, John 13:18-38 — Shoutout

Friday, June 18th, 2010

Today’s passage in 1 Chronicles 5:1-18 is what in modern day language might be considered a “shoutout”. It’s like when you call up a radio station to wish someone a happy birthday and have their name read aloud over the air. Or when you put their name on the scoreboard at a sporting event. Here is a list of names of the descendants of the sons of Israel. While I realize they were important to the Hebrew people, it can be hard to read the long, seemingly pointless genealogies. But I like to look at passages like this in another way. Imagine that the creator of the universe mentioned you in his instruction book to his children. In a sense, he’s giving you a “shoutout”. That’s quite an honor. The point is that whether these people did good or evil or nothing more notable than being born to someone else who was mentioned, God knew their names. God knows my name. He knows who I am. Just like he knew who each of these people was. He’s not too busy running the universe that he can’t take just a moment and think about me.

In return do we ever give God a “shoutout”? Do those around us know the name of God? In John 13:35 Jesus clearly tells us how we can reciprocate: “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” When we choose to love those around us, we’re spreading the name of Jesus around and honoring him.

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Day 144: 1 Kings 4:1-5:18; John 2:1-22 — What will you do with your gifts?

Monday, May 24th, 2010

Judah and Israel, a united kingdom, a population as numerous as the sands of the sea, flourish. The promise of a homeland for Israel had been fulfilled and all were blessed, each man rested under his own vine and fig tree. Solomon has more than enough to make his rule secure, and the wisdom God gave Solomon abounds in proverbs, songs, and teachings about the world God had given them. Now he will build the temple his father had planned for the God who blessed them. This will be a place to draw the nations and the place all Israel will come to worship the true King of the earth.

Jesus takes His place in the lives of the people He created. As one of us He shares the good times with us. A wedding party, a happy time, provides Jesus the opportunity to begin to demonstrate what He brings to us. We can study and exegete and postulate all day on the wine and verbs in the passage, and perhaps learn something after our minds become soaked with readings and discussions, but the great importance of John’s account would be lost. In the Word made flesh, God communicates to us that He always wants to bless us and give joy and meaning to both this life and the life to come. Jesus, as Man and God, states very powerfully that gifts have meaning and find their fulfillment when used to bless man and glorify God. At this wedding party He does both at the same time. When gifts are used as God intends, they will lead those looking for God to be turned to Him and be given reason to believe and live His will.

What a wonderful example we have! Yes, we know more of what comes later in both accounts, but take them as they are, now. Our Creator blesses us with gifts of many kinds. Take stock of them today. Ask how these abilities, whether many or few, may be used to bless the lives of people and in turn glorify the great and gracious God who freely gives to all, and gave His Son that we might live now and have hope of life to come.

Prayer: Holy, Righteous Father, help us today to see the goodness You provide, the gifts You give, that we may use them to bless others and bring glory to Your name.

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Day 133: Luke 22:14-20 — The Last Supper

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

DaVinci's The Last Supper

The Last Supper has come to represent an image in a recent movie of a conspiracy of the church to hide Jesus’ wife and children. It has resulted in arguments between churches over how often you take it. I have often heard discussions about the mundane repetition that is not entertaining…in other words, it is boring. I am always surprised by these points of view. The Lord’s Supper is a historical fact that has been an integral part of worship since the early church. In today’s world of entertaining worship, it would be sacrilege not to have a praise team perform. However, to follow Jesus’ command to eat the bread and drink the cup of the new covenant is boring. How things have been turned upside down and our forms of worship ignores a command of Jesus to replace it with our worship desires. To ignore the Last Supper is to refuse to stand in the presence of mystery and wonder. It is disdain on the body of Christ. Have we forgotten its foundational message of what God has done to correct our broken relationship with Him and our neighbor?

The act of eating together paved the way for Jesus’ fellowship with his disciples, the crowds, and the outcasts in Galilee on various occasions and Luke emphasizes the meal scenes of Jesus’ ministry. Instituted at the time of the Passover meal, the Lord’s Supper also embraces and fulfills the celebration of God’s deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt. When we eat the bread and drink the cup, we declare that the Lord whom we worship is also the God committed to the deliverance of His people today. In the early church, the Lord’s Supper was observed in connection with a fellowship meal. The risen Lord becomes known to the early disciples in the breaking of bread (Luke 24:30-31). The early Christians broke bread at home (Acts 2:46), they gathered on the first day of the week to break bread (Acts 20:7), and problems arose when the meal did not express the oneness and fellowship of the church (1 Cor. 11:17-22). The supper, therefore, relates the community of believers physically and spiritually to the Lord, who laid down his life that we might live. It is a commemoration of the life and death of Jesus, a celebration of his real and spiritual presence now, and an affirmation of the hope that we shall eat and drink with him in the kingdom of God. I look forward to this Sunday, the next Sunday, and the next Sunday to take the Lord’s Supper and remember my Lord’s death until He comes again. I do not find this mundane, nor do I find the banquet in heaven something that I choose not to participate in. Each opportunity to take the bread and drink the cup is an opportunity to live the gospel and experience the grace of God that invites me to salvation.

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Posted in Discipleship, Exodus, God, Grace, Jesus, Lord's Supper, Worship | 2 Comments »

Day 117: I Samuel 2:25 — “It was the will of the Lord to put them to death.”

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

I love this passage! It is one of the passages in the Old Testament that shows the “good news” and “grace” of our God. You see there is a false teaching that has infiltrated our world, our lives, and our church. It is the false teaching that God is not just. You see it in those who would teach we have grace without consequences. These are code words for “God is not just”. If this passage of God’s will to put someone to death shocks you, it is a good sign that you have been infiltrated by this false teaching. I would suggest that you do not understand justice. You do not understand God. You do not understand the creator. This is a story of sin and its consequences. Eli’s sons are sinful and even Eli warns his sons (1 Samuel 2:22-25). I love this passage because just like so many other sin and consequences stories if you look for it there is judgment and the grace of God involved and vice versa. We, like Eli’s sons, deserve death but in 1 Samuel 2:26, we see there is one who is growing in stature with God and man. This is grace and hope. In the midst of judgment God has a plan to redeem us.

I love this passage because in God’s justice, we are all deserving death, yet God our creator chooses to prolong our relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. God sends His son through history to save us and pay the price for our crimes. I deserve death but the good news is that I am still alive.

However, we must not be fooled…having a relationship with God is both demanding and dangerous. Those who would serve God place themselves under both God’s grace and God’s judgment. I love this story because God is just. I don’t have to make sense of a world gone bad but I know who is in control and who is worthy to be worshiped. I don’t have to seek a warm fuzzy feeling to know God. To know God is to be judged by Him and to be judged by Him is to receive His grace. Grace and judgment are intertwined and to try to separate one from the other is foolishness. Do we really want justice (1 Samuel 2:25) or have we gotten used to injustice (we should be able to sin like Eli’s sons with no consequences)?

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Posted in 1 Samuel, Creation, Sin, Worship | 2 Comments »

Day 107: Judges Chapter 5 — The Rest of the Story

Saturday, April 17th, 2010

Welcome to the ramblings of a guest blogger, or ballad-eer. Ever listen to a ballad, a song that tells a story? As a fourth generation Church of Christ family member, I have verses one, two and four of most church songs memorized. Even before I could read music or understand what soprano, alto, tenor and bass parts were, I could sing these verses from memory because ‘that’s the way we always did it.’

I was shocked when a guest song leader added a verse in “To Canaan’s Land I’m on My Way,” only to find out the verse was actually written in the song book. While singing the many verses of “Blest Be the Tie That Binds” I realized most hymns tell a story, and singing all the verses was important to understanding that story. I was disappointed as a twenty-something song leader when I learned the number of verses sung was usually determined by the amount of time left in the worship service. Adding or dropping verses in the songs was the best way to ensure the worship service ended at the right time. Timing is everything, and verse selection had little to do with telling or singing the story.

As I read Judges, Chapter 5, I realized Deborah and Barak were singing praises to God after a victory for Israel. This song tells the story of how the Lord delivered Israel during Deborah’s time as a judge. All of the verses are important, giving credit for the victory to the Lord. So, don’t be surprised the next time I lead singing if the service is a little long as we sing all of the verses.

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Posted in Exodus, Judges, Worship | 1 Comment »

Day 104: Joshua 23:1-16 — Have We Learned the Lesson of History?

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010

history collageAs I read our text for today from Joshua 23:1-16, I thought this might be the text I would liked used for my funeral. This is sometimes called “The last sermon of the dying hero and leader.” It is a literary form used to preach to an audience. Covenant theology is an important theme in these texts. In the context of Joshua’s day, the message is a warning. Rest is not the final word for life in the promised land. Temptation is still present and can easily overpower the people if they are not careful. Blessing can last only as long as total faithfulness to Yahweh continues. When Israel begins to experiment with other gods, trying to be like the nations and worship every god possible, trouble is imminent. They could lose the promised land. They could end up wandering around searching for a home. They could experience destruction, death, and disintegration of their identity as the people of God.

The sad thing is that this is exactly what happened. Israel was lured in by her culture. The temptation to be like others resulted in a divided monarchy, a loss of the land, a loss of their worship system, and judgment by God. During the exile, Israel must have wondered if their God has fought and lost? If so, maybe they need another god, one who can fight and win with modern weaponry and in modern political reality? The answer to this question is that it is the wrong question to ask. The answer is not in political power in the short term. The answer is the longer historical perspective. God proved his power to conquer long ago. The exile only proves God’s power to be self-consistent as he fulfilled His word even when it had negative consequences. The real issue is whether Israel has learned the lesson of history.

I wonder if we have learned from our history. The amazing thing is that we seem to be experiencing the same historical difficulties. Have we let the false gods of our world intermingle among us to the point that the church is now a pluralistic entity? Are we ready to face our own disloyalty, our own faithlessness, are we ready to repent, are we ready to recommit to our God and trust in Him through thick and thin? I wonder as a Christian that mourns our loss of values, morals, and identity if God is not trying to provide us with the grace of a warning to return to Him? God has proved his power to conquer long ago. Our exile only proves God’s power to be self-consistent as He continues to fulfill His word even when it may have negative consequences. The real issue is whether we have learned the lesson of history.

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Posted in Deuteronomy, God, God's Word, Joshua, Obedience, Rest, Worship | 1 Comment »

Day 95: Deuteronomy 32:48-Joshua 1:18; Luke 4:31-5:11 — On the road

Monday, April 5th, 2010

on the roadToday’s readings detail an august, hallowed ending and bright, powerful, robust beginnings.

Moses blesses Israel by tribe, describing their futures and God’s work with them. He then ascends mount Nebo from which he sees that land to which he has brought Israel but into which he himself cannot enter; Moses had failed to revere God as holy before Israel, Numbers 20:8-13. His eye was not dim nor his vigor abated. He just passes from this life to the next. The Creator, YHWH Himself, buries Moses in an undisclosed location. Such a life, such a wonder of courage, intimate relationship between God and man; no prophet like him arose in Israel after him. Moses had laid hands on Joshua and he received the Spirit of God for the work ahead. Now Joshua will take them into that land, “Be strong and courageous,” Joshua 1:6-9. A new leader, a new land, new challenges. A work to be done, evil to be conquered, promises to receive, a kingdom to build.

Jesus, prophet and priest and king, comes to Israel; new wonders to herald a new age. Those denizens of the darker spirit world know Him, but He commands them to be silent, it is not theirs to reveal the Messiah. The works declare Him, the people begin to adore Him, to need Him. The fishermen enter rather abruptly into that procession by a boat load of fish. Peter falls and declares himself unclean. They leave all and follow Jesus, the Glorious Leader to take then to a new land, to face new challenges. A work to be done, evil to be conquered, promises to receive, a kingdom to build.

When the church comes together we see such a mix of lives, of people, like a living stream swirling and flowing. We smile as new parents scramble to “do something” about crying babies. We see ourselves in the aged…perhaps that IS “us”! The aged sing the songs of a faith that is now more exciting and full of hope for them than the day they first believed. New Christians and old soldiers of the cross share in worship and the bread and the cup. We travel with a great host, many entering ahead of us, many after us, moving on the road of life to a new land of promise. A work to be done, evil to be conquered, promises to receive, a kingdom of priests, a kingdom to receive. Jesus truly is that Way, that path for godly living now and the life to come, John 14:1-6, 1 Tim. 4:8.

Question: On what path and with what people do you travel?

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Posted in faith, Lord's Supper, Moses, Obedience, Salvation, Worship | 1 Comment »

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