worship

“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.” John 4:23

What did Jesus mean when He was speaking these words to the Samaritan woman at the well?

First, we must worship in spirit. That means worship needs to come from the heart. Like love, in 1 Corinthians 13, it must be genuine and real. It must come from a place of authentic faith. Does that mean we still worship even when we aren’t “feeling it”? Yes..and that’s because of what Jesus said next.

We worship God “in truth.” That means we exhalt God for Who He Is, and what He’s done for us. We humbly bow before Him because He is above every ruler, authority, and every other name that is on or under the earth. (Colossians 3). We worship Jesus, the image of the invisible God, who now sits at the right hand of God ever living to make intercession for us as our Great High Priest. (Hebrews ) And we worship the Spirit, who indwells believers, making us a holy dwelling, just as God the Father previously dwelled in a tent among the Israelite camp. We now have the Holy Spirit within us as believers, who, with many groanings, prays on our behalf to Jesus (Romans 4.)

So does that mean we worship even when we don’t feel like it? Yes. Does that mean we read the Bible when we don’t feel like it? Yes - searching the Scriptures is a form of worship.

Do we get together for worship just because it’s something to do? No. It’s not an emotional experience we’re seeking out. We are not looking for God to give US something - He’s already done that through Jesus. (Although yes, we also come to Him as our Heavenly Father for prayers of protection, peace, assurance, and more). But worship is something - really, it’s the only thing - that we can bring to our Heavenly Father. Just like the little drummer boy says: “I have no gifts to bring, that’s fit to give a king…” We don’t have anything to bring. Nothing but our sinful, broken selves. But being humbled by the grace we have been given, and amazed at the mercy we’ve been shown, we humbly approach the throne of Grace to life the name of the Lord. Like David says in Psalm 13, “But I have trusted in your steadfast love, my heart will rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for he has dealt bountifully with me.”

We, like David, have to be continually amazed at our salvation. We will all go through trials in life - Jesus promised us that. But what else did He promise - that He would be with us always, even to the end of the age.

When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai, after communing with God, his face shown with the glory of God so that a veil had to cover his face, for the Israelites were afraid. The glory of God is something to be feared; but not in a way that we’re afraid, like the Israelites. Isaiah also fell on his face when he was transported in the temple where the angels were singing “Holy Holy Holy.” We revere God for His Glory. Not in a fearful way, but because we know that as our loving Father, He will “graciously give us all things.”

True worship is costly. The person who perhaps demonstrates this the most is Mary, the sister of Martha, who broke a jar of expensive ointment and washes Jesus’ feet with it in John 12. The disciples protest, asking why the perfume wasn’t sold (it cost about $20,000 in today’s money) and given to the poor. Jesus replied, “the poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.” Mary understood the gravity, the weight of glory, of Who Jesus Was. His disciples didn’t yet realize. But Mary knew, and her worship reflected that. Her adoration cost her something. What is my worship costing me? Jesus said His followers must take up their cross, and follow Him. If I live my life pretty much how I please, and worship only when I feel like it, is that costing me anything?

On the contrary, what happens when we do give up something to follow Jesus and worship Him in spirit and in truth? We are blessed - with His presence, with His love, with His all-enveloping grace. We know that we have been given every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Hebrews). That’s already been done through Christ. We have been clothed with the righteousness of Christ (Romans 4), that’s already been done. The exchange has been made, and it wasn’t a fair trade (john Piper). None of us has ever sought righteousness or the things of God (Romans 3); none of us have looked for God; as a result, our lives are full of misery and pain. All of us have fallen short of the glory of God. But God, who is both Just and the Justifier, showed His righteousness at the present time by sending us Jesus (Romans 3:26). By doing this, He calls dead people to be made alive again (Romans 4:17) and those people, whom He calls into faith, will be justified, sanctified, and glorified (Romans 8:30).

This is Good News! Just as Lazarus was brought back to life physically, our spiritual lives are brought back from the dead when God chooses to “Make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy which he has prepared beforehand for glory” (Romans 9:22).

We praise God for this outpouring of generosity and offer Him all that we have through worship. When we come before Him to praise Him in spirit and in truth, we offer our lives to be a “living sacrifice, holy and acceptable and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual act of worship” (Romans 12:2).

When we do this, our lives will reflect the glory of God, and we will be effective ambassadors of the gospel, because our lives will carry the aroma of Christ.

lazarus

There is an old story that I love about someone named Lazarus, his two sisters, and a Man.

Lazarus died, and was buried in a tomb. His sisters were distraught. They couldn’t understand what was happening. Wouldn’t their brother’s death have been prevented if only things had been different?

The Man appears, but he’s too late. Lazarus has been dead in the tomb for four days. The Man tells Martha, the sister: Your brother will rise again. She, reaching deep into her theological toolkit, responds: Yes, I know he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. The Man said, in a response that the world had been waiting for: I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.

Do you believe this?

“She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.’”

What a beautiful response to Jesus.

Then, they head to the tomb with the other sister. When Jesus saw the two sisters, and those who were with them weeping, He also wept.

And then, the Bible says, Jesus was “deeply moved in spirit.” My Bible notes that this phrase also means “indignant.” Picture this: Jesus standing at the tomb of Lazarus, indignant — that means to “feel or show anger or annoyance at what is perceived as unfair treatment”.

Who is he indignant towards? Who else but Satan, sin and death? Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, ever-practical, notes: “Lord, by this time there will be an oder, for he has been dead 4 days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” They take away the stone.

And Jesus prays, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I thank you that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you have sent me.”

When he had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice: “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth.

Jesus said to those standing there, and to Satan, sin and death: “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Jesus, staring down the tomb, a picture of death, refused to let Lazarus be stolen by death. And because of Jesus’ perfect obedience to the Father, up to the point of dying a horrible death on a cross that He did not deserve, death and sin no longer have the final say in any of our lives. For His precious children, all of our sins are forgiven. Jesus came to bring life, that we may have it abundantly (John 10:10).

For Lazarus, and for us, death does not have the final say. Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. Will we trust Him today?

a greater Hope

“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

Have you ever wondered why a loving God allows suffering in the world? Starving children. Famine. Drought. Natural disasters. Why do these things happen if God is in control?

I’m not a theologian, and many people who are smarter than me have written about this before. But I would say this verse from Romans 5 says a lot about God and why he allows suffering in our personal lives. On a greater scale, He also allows suffering to happen in the world to bring people to Him — “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” Romans 5:6

I think everyone with a pulse can take a look around at the world and know that something is not right. Why are innocent children starving? The simple answer (much more to dive into later) is that we are all sons of Adam, born into sin, and destined to die in our sin. “For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.” -Romans 5:17

But what about when God allows hardships in our own personal lives? We can see from Romans 5 why he does it — to produce character. But why do we need character? Why can’t God just make my life easy and comfortable? Why can’t everything go right all at once?

I believe it’s because God wants to produce a character in us that will reflect the light of His Glory, and also the life of His Son. Jesus suffered and died for the sins of the whole world (John 3:16), and His followers are meant to be molded into the image of Christ. As we are molded and shaped by Him, why should our lives look different from His? The apostle Paul considered it an honor to suffer and die for the cause of Christ.

In our own lives, when suffering comes, do we resist it? How many times I have prayed and asked God for the thorn to be removed, the desire to be taken away, the answer to come? And yet, I pray these things because I can’t bear to trust Him. And yet He asks this of me. In the quiet, stillness of my heart, He asks me to trust Him. With my future, with my past, with my present. Because my life is not my own. It’s a vessel. And it’s meant to be poured out for His Glory.

Life looks different when we believe in a greater Hope.

“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements and how inscrutable his ways!” Romans 11:33

belief

As I was walking this morning something struck me out of nowhere. I gave up that dream last summer of buying Frank’s property… I always just assumed that was a dream that had to die. But today as I walked by his house i realized that I do still have that dream, God in his perfect timing didn’t allow it to happen last year, but the desires to have these dreams in the first place all come from Him. As I walked and prayed, it was as if He was saying to me, Don’t you believe that I love you?

So that’s my challenge for today. Believing that God really loves me.

the facts of election

The text is among the thorniest of all Scripture. I can tell you, we definitely didn’t memorize this verse in Bible memory camp.

The verse comes from Romans 9:12. “She was told, ‘The older will serve the younger.’ As it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’

It is a bitter pill to swallow. Does God really hate people? Does He really choose some people, and not others? But we must remember that God’s hatred is perfectly just. It is not like human hatred, full of emotion and self-preservation, anger and fear.

On the other hand, it is even more AMAZING that He loved Jacob.

Jacob…the deceiver.

Jacob, who was always trying to strike a bargain.

Jacob, who didn’t believe God’s promise to him and tried to wrestle him to get the blessing.

Charles Spurgeon has an excellent exposition on this, which everyone should read. My takeaways all come from this sermon.

1. Election is a fact, because God’s Word says it is so

2. God’s love of Jacob was a fact of free, unmerited grace

3. God’s hatred of Esau was based on Esau’s own sinful choices

But today I will just be talking about the first point, and that is the fact of election.

(Whew. Some of you are already done with me! We must all remember to have grace.)

But election is a fact. I don’t say that because it’s my own opinion. I say that because on every page of the Bible, God’s election is shouting at us from the rooftops. Let me give some other examples throughout history:

• God chose Abraham to be the patriarch of His family, even though Abraham was a pagan

• God chose Moses to lead his people out of Egypt, even though Moses was a murderer

• God chose many judges to judge His people and He didn’t choose others, even though some of them (like Sampson) did not have great track records

• He chose Saul to be the first king over Israel, even though Saul was from the least important clan of the least important tribe of Israel

• He chose David to make a covenant with, that a descendant of David would always be on the throne of Israel, even though David was a murder and an adulterer

These were all elected (chosen) by God to do good works that would bring Him the most glory.

We must also remember, when a person is chosen, that means by default that other people are not chosen. Abraham was chosen, not Lot. David was chosen, not any of his 7 brothers. Even Job was chosen to be the recipient of great evil that God allowed in his life. It wasn’t any of Job’s 3 friends that were chosen (and thank God for that!) but Job was chosen to bring God the most glory.

If we’re being honest, we can see the facts of election as reality in our everyday life. For one thing, you and I woke up this morning in different places. Is that our choice, or God’s doing? Yes. For another thing, you and I have different vocations. Is this because we went to different schools, or because God ordained and directed our lives that way? Yes. Both God’s election and man’s free will are facts. How can this be true? I don’t have an answer. All I know is what the Bible says, and those are facts I can stand on. And the facts are, that God chooses some people and not others.

But that doesn’t mean we wallow in nihilism, thinking “well, God has it all planned out already, so I don’t have to do anything” NO!!! It means we have GREAT freedoms to do all that God has called us to do, to walk in the works that He has prepared in advance for us to do! What a great privilege! We should all be AMAZED at the fact that we have been chosen, that God chose to set his love on us since before the foundations of the world were laid.

The beautiful mornings I get to spend with God remind me of these facts. I get to spend my mornings in prayer, meditation and reading of God’s Word. The desire to do this is a GIFT that God Himself has placed inside me.

Like David, I ask God to “Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I” (Psalm 61).

“What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.” Romans 9:14-16

The Prayer of Jehoshophat

There is a beautiful story in 2 Chronicles 20 about a king from Judah named Jehoshaphat.

The king and the people of Jerusalem are being invaded by an enemy army, a “great multitude from beyond the sea.”

2 Chronicles 20:3 says: “Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.”

He then goes into the temple and prays this prayer to God.

“O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you. Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land. before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?…

“And now behold, the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy— behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. O our God, will you not execute judgement on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”

After Jehoshaphat prays this beautiful, faith-filled prayer, one of the prophets of Judah says:

“Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s. Tomorrow go down against them…You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’”

Verse 18 says: “Then Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. And the Levites, of the Koathites and the Korathites, stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.”

I just love that last little line. They praised God with a very loud voice!

This beautiful pattern of prayer is something that I think we can still look at as we pray today.

1. Glorify God for Who He Is, and what He has done.

2. Admit our need for Him. Admit the futility of our own efforts.

3. Wait for the Lord to act. Take courage. See the salvation of the Lord on our behalf!

4. Worship. Praise the Lord with a very loud voice!

Romans 8:26 says:

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do now know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”

How beautiful it is that God’s people today have the Holy Spirit within us, who cries out to God the Father on our behalf! Even when we are facing the enemy of sin and darkness, the “great horde”, we can rest in the peace of knowing that the battle is the Lord’s. He fights for us on our behalf, and the victory over sin and death has already been won through the shed blood of Jesus!

As a result, we can sing to the Lord with a very loud voice, with great freedom because of the victory that has already been won as we “stand, and see the salvation of the Lord” on our behalf today!

horns of iron

“And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made for himself horns of iron and said, ‘Thus says the Lord, ‘With these you shall push the Syrians until they are destroyed.’ And all the prophets prophesied so and said, “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and triumph. The LORD will give it into the hand of the king.”

It’s so cool how the Bible is always relevant to everyday life.

In 2 Chronicles 18, there is a story about the wicked King Ahab of Israel. He decides to go conquer the king of Syria, so he rallies 400 prophets to “seek the Lord” and ask whether he was will be successful in battle. Yes, yes, they all assure him. Yes, you will surely be successful! Go into battle, and God will give you the victory!

But there’s one prophet who stands alone. Micaiah tells King Ahab that if he goes into battle, he will die, and Israel will be scattered.

King Ahab scoffs at him. He says, basically, “Why do you have to be such a Debbie Downer? Why can’t you be positive and make my life easy, like everyone else? Why can’t you just be agreeable?”

You see, King Ahab really did not want to hear or discern what God was saying to him. That is why he consulted 400 false prophets, so that they could tell him exactly what he wanted to hear. He wanted God to bless his plans, rather than listening and discerning what God wanted him to do.

And don’t we do this all the time?

Instead of going to God’s Word for answers, I find myself consulting approximately 400 other people in my life. “Should I do this, or that? Am I being too much of this, or not enough of that?”

While there’s nothing wrong with getting wise counsel — the Bible actually commands us to do that (see Proverbs and wisdom literature) — there is something wrong when we look to other people to tell us who we are. The truth of God’s word says that if you are in Christ, your life is hidden with him! What an amazing promise. We don’t need to seek out the opinions of everybody we know. We can rest in Him, believe His promises, and walk in obedience to His word by faith.

Romans 8:16-17 says:

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

A whole book could be written about this verse, but what I want to point out is that for those of us who are in Christ, we are fellow heirs with Jesus. We have received every spiritual blessing through Jesus Christ, and we are God’s adopted children! However, it’s interesting to note the rest of the verse: “…provided we suffer with him.” I think we are tempted, like King Ahab, to take the easy route; the people-pleasing route; to go along our comfortable way and choose the path of least resistance. And sometimes, maybe that works. But more often, I think we’re called to do the hard things. Obedience can be hard. Especially when it goes against something that YOU really want to do. Especially when it goes against what EVERYONE ELSE is telling you to do.

So what happened to King Ahab? I guess he did believe the one true prophet, at least a little bit, because when he went into battle, he disguised himself to look like a regular soldier instead of a king. (It’s funny how we think we can outrun God, isn’t it?)

But Micaiah, the one true prophet who went against the 400 false prophets, was right. The enemy, the king of Syria, won the battle, and a “stray arrow” pierced King Ahab between his armor. King Ahab died, and the Israelites were defeated. Because he listened to the false prophets, and because he went against the true Word of God, King Ahab paid the price with his life.

We can’t outrun God, and we can’t outrun His will for our lives. But I take great heart in knowing that as an adopted daughter of the King, I am an heiress to a fortune much, much greater than anything I can imagine. And I have something much more valuable than “horns of iron” to fight my everyday battles. I have the Holy Spirit of God in me, and the Word of God to guide me!

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

Romans 8:15

according to the Spirit

Is the Holy Spirit both more known, and yet more mysterious, than we can imagine? 

When I went to Casa Bernabe this year, it really moved me, emotionally and spiritually, to see the kids at the orphanage, and to see all that the staff at Casa Bernabe were doing to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them, providing for their physical and spiritual needs. I was certain God wanted me to move to Guatemala and start working at the orphanage right away! I thought that my emotional reaction was the Holy Spirit was showing me the direction that my life should take. (It wasn’t.)

In Romans 8:1-2, Paul talks about the Holy Spirit.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free from the law of sin and death.

What is the “Spirit of life” that Paul is referencing? It’s the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity: God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who have been in perfect community since before the beginning of time (see Genesis 1:1).

But who is the Holy Spirit? Sometimes we think about the Holy Spirit as this mysterious, woo-woo being. In one sense, yes, He is totally supernatural, and works sometimes in mysterious ways. But in another sense, I think the Holy Spirit wants to do a work within us that is very known. Simply put, He exists to glorify Jesus and to make us more like Jesus. He wants to do a work of death and resurrection in every area of our lives (see Romans 6).

God says, in Isaiah 55:9, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (KJV) 

Because God is always working for our good and for his Glory (Romans 8:28), we can be certain of “what” the Holy Spirit is doing, though we may not always recognize the who, when and how. Sometimes, God doesn't reveal that to us until later — or sometimes He doesn’t reveal it at all. And that’s actually a gift, because in His mercy, He keeps us from the temptation to boast over what we’ve done.

“For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:3-4

What is the gospel?

In our church, we have been going through the book of Romans this year. I have to admit that I struggle with the concept of alien imputed righteousness. A wise woman of the faith told me that the unfairness I feel about being disqualified to run the race, is the same amount of unfairness of my sin being imputed upon Jesus. That really made me think. If being disqualified from the race before it even started was unfair, then how much more Jesus felt, with alien sin being imputed upon Him from the whole world. :(

I recently went through our partnership class at church, which also gave me some much-needed material to answer some of my questions. This is from the Westminster Confession of Faith: 

“Our first parents, being seduced by the subtlety and temptations of Satan, sinned in eating the forbidden fruit. This their sin God was pleased, according to His wise and holy counsel, to permit, having purposed to order it to His own glory. By this sin they fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and so became dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body. They being the root of mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed, and the same death in sin and corrupted nature conveyed to all their posterity, descending from them by original generation.”

From Psalm 51: 

“For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.” 

After taking the partnership class at my church, I tried to write down the gospel in my own words. This is just my best (imperfect) effort.

I am a sinner who has deeply offended the One True God. Because He is Holy and Righteous and True, I cannot stand before Him on any merit of my own. The only way to be made right with God is through the alien imputed righteousness of Christ, which is the rightness and holiness and perfection of Jesus declared over me. Jesus Christ died on a cross, was buried in a tomb, and rose on the third day by the power of God, and now sits at the right hand of the Father always living to make intercession for me. 

I am clothed with the righteousness of Christ, and I am not my own; I was bought with a price. “And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). God’s Holy Spirit lives inside of me, and I have been given every spiritual blessing from above. 

I walk by faith, not by sight, yet knowing that someday I will see God. When I stand before Him to give an account of my life, the only thing I will have to say for myself is that Jesus paid it all for me. 

In this life and in the next, the only thing I have is Jesus.