Smash Your Idols
"David regarded obedience as the highest form of worship: 'In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted...burnt offering and sin offering You have not required...I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your law is within my heart.'" Putting the law of God within us is the way to maintain integrity, and "serious worshipers strive to be people of godly character and integrity. Jesus also equated obedience with worship. He said, 'If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.' You can't express love to Jesus and then ignore His will, do whatever you want, and break his commandments. Willful disobedience renders our worship unacceptable to God." It would be like if I told Abi I loved her and she was the only woman I ever wanted and then went out and cheated on her. That would make me a hypocrite at best and a liar at worst.
God says this to the people of Israel because of their superficiality, "I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer Me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from Me the noise of your songs, to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. (Amos 5:21-24)" "When what we sing doesn't match what we do, the result is hypocritical worship, which is something that God absolutely loathes."
I pray that we are not a people who worship idols. At first the idea seems a little ridiculous, I mean who bows down to a golden calf these days right? At least not anyone I know! But the truth is that idolatry runs rampant in our world and even lurks in our hearts daily. You see, "idolatry is simply worship directed in any direction but God's." To get a better idea of what idolatry is, listen to what Pastor Timothy Keller has to say in his book 'Counterfeit gods.'
"An idol is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give. A counterfeit god is anything so central and essential to your life that, should you lose it, your life would feel hardly worth living. An idol has such a controlling position in your heart that you can spend most of your passion and energy, your emotional and financial resources, on it it without a second thought. It can be family and children, or career and making money, or achievement and critical acclaim, or saving 'face' and social standing. It can be a romantic relationship, peer approval, competence and skill, secure and comfortable circumstances, your beauty or your brains, a great political or social cause, your moreality and virtue, or even success in the Christian ministry...An idold is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, 'If I have that, then I'll feel my life has meaning, then I'll know I have value, then I'll feel significant and secure.' There are many ways to describe that kind of relationship to something, but perhaps the best one is worship."
This is probably not new information for you, but I just want to remind you that not all idols are bad things in and of themselves. "Many of our counterfeit gods are actually good things, which is why we pin our hopes and dreams on them. But even the best things in life can never replace God. Sin, therefore, is not just a matter of doing bad things or breaking God's rules. Sin is letting a good thing become an ultimate thing and, therefore, taking the place of God in our lives."
So how do you identify idols in your life? Answer these questions:
1. What do you think most about? 2. How do you spend your money? 3. What sets your off emotionally? 4. What brings you joy, peace, security, or fulfillment? 5. How do you react when an idol is taken away?
I think that last one is the hardest one to answer. the true test of whether or not something has become an idol in our life is to find out whether or not we can give it up. If I can't live without it, odds are it has become an idol in my life. Jesus didn't pull any punches when it came to this stuff. He said we can't love our families more than Him if we want to follow Him! Jesus doesn't want to be part of your life and fit in to your agenda. You can't serve two masters. "The Christian life doesn't allow for Jesus and my porn habit, or my greed, or my selfish desires to coexist."
In order to get rid of these things in our lives, we have to repent early and often. Repentance isn't something you just do once and assume you're covered! Dying daily to our struggles is part of following Jesus. We have to flee idolatry. In other words, stop putting yourself in situations where you know you will struggle with an idol. Ask God to give you strength to part with any idols in your life. We have to replace our idols. It's not good enough to just stop doing something and replace it with nothing. Eventually that will come creeping back into your life unless you replace it with something better. Try replacing it with worship. Worship "can be a powerful tool against temptation." It is almost impossible to worship something else while you are worshiping God! We need to get to the point in our lives when we can truly say that God is enough. We need to come to a place where we really believe that God is all we need. Only then will idols be powerless in our lives.
"May the Holy Spirit grant you the courage to abandon any idols that hinder you from knowing God-and God alone-as your lasting satisfaction, deepest joy, and greatest pleasure."
Enjoy the Journey
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Establish a Regular Routine
"David lived a life of continuous worship and invites us to do the same: 'May those who love Your salvation say continually, Great is the Lord!'" (Psalm 40:16) Do you have a regular worship routine? Does your worship really extend beyond Sunday morning? In order to get the most out of our times together on Sunday we have to enter with a heart that is full of worship. In order to do that, we need to be worshiping throughout the week in addition to what we do on Sunday morning. So how do you worship throughout the week? I will offer a few suggestions, but keep in mind this list is far from exhaustive. It is good to try out different things in order to keep your time with God fresh, so feel free to add things to this list!
At the beginning of your devotions, try spending a few minutes praising God, "either verbally or in writing, drawing on whatever attribute of His" that comes to mind. Most of the time it will be the one that you have recently seen or experienced! Sometimes the attribute or characteristic of God that you will be drawn to will reflect a specific need in your life. For example, when times are tough, you may be drawn to God's comfort. Spend time praising Him for being the Comforter that you need. Reading the Psalms is a great way to find different attributes of God that you might not normally think of. When you are reading the Psalms, try reading them out loud. "Originally, psalms were intended to be sung or spoken. I find that reading psalms out loud forces me to slow down and read the words more carefully and thoughtfully."
During your devotions, with each passage of scripture you are reading, answer two questions:
1. How does this passage apply to my life?
2. What does this Scripture tell me about who God is?
"The Bible is our ultimate authority on God-what He's like, how He thinks, and how He acts." So throughout your reading, be on the lookout for attributes of God and names of God (He has many in scripture), and take time to thank Him for those!
How much time do you spend meditating? Let me clarify what I mean by meditating. When I say meditating all I mean "is simply taking the time to think about who God is and what God has done." To be honest, I find it difficult to meditate because my mind tends to roam all over the place. Here are some questions you might ask during your meditation time.
1. How have I seen this particular name or attribute of God manifested in my life or in the world around me?
2. Why am I drawn to this particular aspect of God's character?
3. How did Jesus embody this attribute of God?
4. How can I reflect this part of God to others?
5. Is God inviting me to do anything in relation to this particular name (of God) or attribute?
Try praying about the names and attributes of God that you are reading about! "Do you ever feel like you prayers are dull and repetitive? Try "to include a line or two of praise for an attribute of God when" you pray. It doesn't matter if you are praying during your devotions, at mealtime, or anytime in between! "If you want to breathe more life into your prayers, try praying as you worship and worshiping as you pray."
Have you ever written your own Psalm? Some of you are poets and songwriters! Every songwriter or poet will tell you that 98% of what they write will never see the light of day outside of the room it was written in. So don't think that everything you write has to be wordy or eloquent, because it doesn't! It just has to be a genuine offering of praise before God! I find that this greatly enriches my personal worship time. I have probably written at least 10 songs for every 1 song that you will ever hear. Sometimes I sing them when I am doing my devotions as an expression of praise to God. Maybe you should try it too!
Maybe you aren't really into writing your own songs or poems. Have you tried singing other people's songs or reading other people's poems to God as an act of personal worship? Christianity has a deep and rich tradition of songs that date back to the first century, surely you can find a few that you would want to sing to God during your personal time of worship!
Others of you may find that worship happens spontaneously when you are out in nature. "If you're a nature lover, you need to schedule regular field trips to the nearest forest preserve, nature center, or beach. You could go for long leisurely walks every day or once a week. Consider a bike ride or road trip into the country. Bring a camera and take pictures. Draw or sketch your favorite scenes. Write down your thoughts. Describe what you see. Read Scripture. And don't forget to worship as you go. Sing praise to the Lord. May you join David, a fellow nature lover, in exclaiming, 'The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork' (Psalm 19:1)."
"Whether it's listening to music, being out in nature, or doing something else that calls forth your worship, make sure you intentionally incorporate those activities into your regular routine." Again, the things we have talked about today are not even close to all of the things you could do to worship. But whatever you are doing, I hope that God will lead you into a deeper and exciting discipline of private worship.
Enjoy the Journey
"David lived a life of continuous worship and invites us to do the same: 'May those who love Your salvation say continually, Great is the Lord!'" (Psalm 40:16) Do you have a regular worship routine? Does your worship really extend beyond Sunday morning? In order to get the most out of our times together on Sunday we have to enter with a heart that is full of worship. In order to do that, we need to be worshiping throughout the week in addition to what we do on Sunday morning. So how do you worship throughout the week? I will offer a few suggestions, but keep in mind this list is far from exhaustive. It is good to try out different things in order to keep your time with God fresh, so feel free to add things to this list!
At the beginning of your devotions, try spending a few minutes praising God, "either verbally or in writing, drawing on whatever attribute of His" that comes to mind. Most of the time it will be the one that you have recently seen or experienced! Sometimes the attribute or characteristic of God that you will be drawn to will reflect a specific need in your life. For example, when times are tough, you may be drawn to God's comfort. Spend time praising Him for being the Comforter that you need. Reading the Psalms is a great way to find different attributes of God that you might not normally think of. When you are reading the Psalms, try reading them out loud. "Originally, psalms were intended to be sung or spoken. I find that reading psalms out loud forces me to slow down and read the words more carefully and thoughtfully."
During your devotions, with each passage of scripture you are reading, answer two questions:
1. How does this passage apply to my life?
2. What does this Scripture tell me about who God is?
"The Bible is our ultimate authority on God-what He's like, how He thinks, and how He acts." So throughout your reading, be on the lookout for attributes of God and names of God (He has many in scripture), and take time to thank Him for those!
How much time do you spend meditating? Let me clarify what I mean by meditating. When I say meditating all I mean "is simply taking the time to think about who God is and what God has done." To be honest, I find it difficult to meditate because my mind tends to roam all over the place. Here are some questions you might ask during your meditation time.
1. How have I seen this particular name or attribute of God manifested in my life or in the world around me?
2. Why am I drawn to this particular aspect of God's character?
3. How did Jesus embody this attribute of God?
4. How can I reflect this part of God to others?
5. Is God inviting me to do anything in relation to this particular name (of God) or attribute?
Try praying about the names and attributes of God that you are reading about! "Do you ever feel like you prayers are dull and repetitive? Try "to include a line or two of praise for an attribute of God when" you pray. It doesn't matter if you are praying during your devotions, at mealtime, or anytime in between! "If you want to breathe more life into your prayers, try praying as you worship and worshiping as you pray."
Have you ever written your own Psalm? Some of you are poets and songwriters! Every songwriter or poet will tell you that 98% of what they write will never see the light of day outside of the room it was written in. So don't think that everything you write has to be wordy or eloquent, because it doesn't! It just has to be a genuine offering of praise before God! I find that this greatly enriches my personal worship time. I have probably written at least 10 songs for every 1 song that you will ever hear. Sometimes I sing them when I am doing my devotions as an expression of praise to God. Maybe you should try it too!
Maybe you aren't really into writing your own songs or poems. Have you tried singing other people's songs or reading other people's poems to God as an act of personal worship? Christianity has a deep and rich tradition of songs that date back to the first century, surely you can find a few that you would want to sing to God during your personal time of worship!
Others of you may find that worship happens spontaneously when you are out in nature. "If you're a nature lover, you need to schedule regular field trips to the nearest forest preserve, nature center, or beach. You could go for long leisurely walks every day or once a week. Consider a bike ride or road trip into the country. Bring a camera and take pictures. Draw or sketch your favorite scenes. Write down your thoughts. Describe what you see. Read Scripture. And don't forget to worship as you go. Sing praise to the Lord. May you join David, a fellow nature lover, in exclaiming, 'The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork' (Psalm 19:1)."
"Whether it's listening to music, being out in nature, or doing something else that calls forth your worship, make sure you intentionally incorporate those activities into your regular routine." Again, the things we have talked about today are not even close to all of the things you could do to worship. But whatever you are doing, I hope that God will lead you into a deeper and exciting discipline of private worship.
Enjoy the Journey
Thursday, February 09, 2012
Make Worship a Priority
King David made worship a priority in his life. You can tell because he said that the one thing that he longed for was to be with God and worship Him forever. Is worship a priority in your life? "You can always discern your priorities, for better or worse, by what angers you or stirs you, what frustrates you and what excites you. Honoring God was the utmost priority for David." I mean come on, that was the reason he ended up fighting Goliath! He didn't like the way that Goliath was talking about God! He went out there to defend His honor!
We are created to worship. God says in Isaiah that He created us for His glory. Psalm 150 says, "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord." So not only are we created to worship, we are commanded to worship. We are also destined to worship Jesus. You know what we are going to be doing in heaven right? Psalm 44:8 says that we will tie thanks to God forever! "Worship is one of the few things that we're currently doing that we will do forever-all the more reason to make it a priority in our lives."
Worship is something that covers every aspect of our lives. Colossians 3:17 says, "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus." That means everything. That covers everything from singing on Sunday morning to filing that report for work on time to taking the garbage down on garbage day. "Understanding even the mundane aspects of our jobs as acts of worship brings new energy to our work."
Worship should be our top priority because it is God's top priority. Everything that happens is for God's glory. That is His purpose in everything He does. So the next time you are wondering why God is doing something, you already know the answer...it's for His glory. Creating us, the plagues of Egypt, yes even the cross was for His glory. "As unusual as it may sound, God's ultimate purpose is not that we be saved but that He be glorified. Redemption is not all about us; it's all about God. We are saved so that we can know and proclaim God's glory. That's why Pual referred to the gospel as the 'glory of the blessed God.' Jesus' ultimate goal on the planet was to bring God glory, why should our goal be any different? When we make worships a priority, we will see some changes in our lives.
We will have an increased awareness of God's presence. "Our worship does not lead us into God's presence; Jesus does! 'For Christ also suffered once fl ruins, the righteous fl rthe unrighteousness, that He might bring us to God' (1Peter 3:18). So while worship, in and of itself, doesn't summon God's presence, it reminds us that God is continually near."
We will also have increased delight in God's attributes. How we view God affects everything: how we think, act, and how we feel. Like a painter who is doing a portrait, we need to continually look at who God really is so that we can have an accurate picture in our mind of who God is. We can only do this by staying in the Word of God. We must dive deeply into the scripture to discover the true character of God. We cannot take for granted what the preacher says or what our culture says about God, but we must let Him speak for Himself. A wrong view of God will lead us down a wrong path of worship. We can't appreciate the attributes of God if we don't know what they are. And we can't know what they are unless we are in the Bible finding out what they are for ourselves. On the contrary, if we are in the Word we will begin to see the attributes of God more clearly, and we will see Him move in ways we have never seen before! May we be a people who make worship a top priority in our lives.
Enjoy the Journey
King David made worship a priority in his life. You can tell because he said that the one thing that he longed for was to be with God and worship Him forever. Is worship a priority in your life? "You can always discern your priorities, for better or worse, by what angers you or stirs you, what frustrates you and what excites you. Honoring God was the utmost priority for David." I mean come on, that was the reason he ended up fighting Goliath! He didn't like the way that Goliath was talking about God! He went out there to defend His honor!
We are created to worship. God says in Isaiah that He created us for His glory. Psalm 150 says, "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord." So not only are we created to worship, we are commanded to worship. We are also destined to worship Jesus. You know what we are going to be doing in heaven right? Psalm 44:8 says that we will tie thanks to God forever! "Worship is one of the few things that we're currently doing that we will do forever-all the more reason to make it a priority in our lives."
Worship is something that covers every aspect of our lives. Colossians 3:17 says, "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus." That means everything. That covers everything from singing on Sunday morning to filing that report for work on time to taking the garbage down on garbage day. "Understanding even the mundane aspects of our jobs as acts of worship brings new energy to our work."
Worship should be our top priority because it is God's top priority. Everything that happens is for God's glory. That is His purpose in everything He does. So the next time you are wondering why God is doing something, you already know the answer...it's for His glory. Creating us, the plagues of Egypt, yes even the cross was for His glory. "As unusual as it may sound, God's ultimate purpose is not that we be saved but that He be glorified. Redemption is not all about us; it's all about God. We are saved so that we can know and proclaim God's glory. That's why Pual referred to the gospel as the 'glory of the blessed God.' Jesus' ultimate goal on the planet was to bring God glory, why should our goal be any different? When we make worships a priority, we will see some changes in our lives.
We will have an increased awareness of God's presence. "Our worship does not lead us into God's presence; Jesus does! 'For Christ also suffered once fl ruins, the righteous fl rthe unrighteousness, that He might bring us to God' (1Peter 3:18). So while worship, in and of itself, doesn't summon God's presence, it reminds us that God is continually near."
We will also have increased delight in God's attributes. How we view God affects everything: how we think, act, and how we feel. Like a painter who is doing a portrait, we need to continually look at who God really is so that we can have an accurate picture in our mind of who God is. We can only do this by staying in the Word of God. We must dive deeply into the scripture to discover the true character of God. We cannot take for granted what the preacher says or what our culture says about God, but we must let Him speak for Himself. A wrong view of God will lead us down a wrong path of worship. We can't appreciate the attributes of God if we don't know what they are. And we can't know what they are unless we are in the Bible finding out what they are for ourselves. On the contrary, if we are in the Word we will begin to see the attributes of God more clearly, and we will see Him move in ways we have never seen before! May we be a people who make worship a top priority in our lives.
Enjoy the Journey
Thursday, February 02, 2012
Growing as a Private Worshiper
How can we improve worship at our church? That's a loaded question if there ever was one! Truthfully though, the best answer is not a new keyboard, new sound system, or new worship leader! The truth is if we want worship to be all it can be on Sunday mornings, then we need to grow in our personal worship of God on the other days of the week! D.A. Carson writes: "In the same way that, according to Jesus, you cannot find yourself until you lose yourself, so also you cannot find excellent corporate worship until you stop trying to find excellent corporate worship and pursue God Himself. Despite the protestations, one sometimes wonders if we are beginning to worship worship rather than worship God. As a brother put it to me, it's a bit like those who begin by admiring the sunset and soon begin to admire themselves admiring the sunset."
We are put here on this earth to worship God and bring Him glory. Truthfully it's just practice for heaven, where we will...you guessed, worship God and bring Him glory forever and ever! If you aren't into that, I'm afraid heaven going to be a major letdown, because I have news for you, heaven isn't about you! Heaven is about God, and so is earth.
The book of Psalms is like a worship journal written by David (mostly anyway). Each page is dripping with passionate worship that extends far beyond the walls of the synagogue and reaches into every area of his life and touches on every emotion a person can have. The Psalms are both intensely personal and deeply passionate. May we be known as intense, passionate, devoted worshipers of God.
This is the part where you may think I am going to say that this will look different in each of your lives. You may think I should say something like, 'worship God the way you feel most comfortable, do what feels natural.' But I am not going to say that. The Ark of the Covenant was a central part of worship in the Old Testament because it represented the very presence of God. When David was bringing it back to the temple (because it had been captured) they had it on a cart and the cart hit a bump in the road and the Ark started to fall off! Uzaah reached out his hand to steady the Ark and God immediately struck him dead! Seems a little harsh right? Maybe, unless you know that God had prescribed that the Ark be transported using polls slid through the rungs on the side of the Ark and carried by four priests. NO ONE was to touch the Ark, and no one would have had to touch the Ark had they followed God's instructions in the first place.
Eventually David figured out why this happened and brought the Ark back to Jerusalem the way it was supposed to be. Like David, "we too need to scour the Bible to learn how God wants to be worshiped. For it doesn't matter how you and I want to praise God. It's not ultimately important whether worship makes us feel good or if the music is to our liking. True worship must always be offered on God's terms, not ours. So we need to learn how God wants to be worshiped." I know that isn't a popular thing to say, but at the end of the day, it's not about us or what we like, it's about God and what He likes.
"Christians can be stubborn as mules, set in their ways, especially when it comes to worship. Let's you and I respond differently by laying aside long-held notions and searching the Scriptures to learn all we can about how God desires to be worshiped." Then we can grow as private worshipers, and then we can grow as corporate worshipers as well.
Enjoy the Journey
How can we improve worship at our church? That's a loaded question if there ever was one! Truthfully though, the best answer is not a new keyboard, new sound system, or new worship leader! The truth is if we want worship to be all it can be on Sunday mornings, then we need to grow in our personal worship of God on the other days of the week! D.A. Carson writes: "In the same way that, according to Jesus, you cannot find yourself until you lose yourself, so also you cannot find excellent corporate worship until you stop trying to find excellent corporate worship and pursue God Himself. Despite the protestations, one sometimes wonders if we are beginning to worship worship rather than worship God. As a brother put it to me, it's a bit like those who begin by admiring the sunset and soon begin to admire themselves admiring the sunset."
We are put here on this earth to worship God and bring Him glory. Truthfully it's just practice for heaven, where we will...you guessed, worship God and bring Him glory forever and ever! If you aren't into that, I'm afraid heaven going to be a major letdown, because I have news for you, heaven isn't about you! Heaven is about God, and so is earth.
The book of Psalms is like a worship journal written by David (mostly anyway). Each page is dripping with passionate worship that extends far beyond the walls of the synagogue and reaches into every area of his life and touches on every emotion a person can have. The Psalms are both intensely personal and deeply passionate. May we be known as intense, passionate, devoted worshipers of God.
This is the part where you may think I am going to say that this will look different in each of your lives. You may think I should say something like, 'worship God the way you feel most comfortable, do what feels natural.' But I am not going to say that. The Ark of the Covenant was a central part of worship in the Old Testament because it represented the very presence of God. When David was bringing it back to the temple (because it had been captured) they had it on a cart and the cart hit a bump in the road and the Ark started to fall off! Uzaah reached out his hand to steady the Ark and God immediately struck him dead! Seems a little harsh right? Maybe, unless you know that God had prescribed that the Ark be transported using polls slid through the rungs on the side of the Ark and carried by four priests. NO ONE was to touch the Ark, and no one would have had to touch the Ark had they followed God's instructions in the first place.
Eventually David figured out why this happened and brought the Ark back to Jerusalem the way it was supposed to be. Like David, "we too need to scour the Bible to learn how God wants to be worshiped. For it doesn't matter how you and I want to praise God. It's not ultimately important whether worship makes us feel good or if the music is to our liking. True worship must always be offered on God's terms, not ours. So we need to learn how God wants to be worshiped." I know that isn't a popular thing to say, but at the end of the day, it's not about us or what we like, it's about God and what He likes.
"Christians can be stubborn as mules, set in their ways, especially when it comes to worship. Let's you and I respond differently by laying aside long-held notions and searching the Scriptures to learn all we can about how God desires to be worshiped." Then we can grow as private worshipers, and then we can grow as corporate worshipers as well.
Enjoy the Journey
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
The Next Reformation
How much do you know about Martin Luther (not Martin Luther King Jr, Martin Luther). He was a monk that started the Protestant Reformation. In Luther's day salvation was for sale. You would buy things called indulgences, and the more you paid out, the less time you had to spend in purgatory. Martin Luther, although the unlikely hero, started a revolution (or reformation) when he penned his 95 thesis. The rallying cry was 'By faith alone.' He wanted to break this mold of buying salvation. You can't buy salvation, it is a free gift from God!
Maybe it is time for a new reformation. Maybe it is time that we stop playing games with our faith and started living authentic lives as disciples of Jesus Christ. Hear this, "reformations are not born out of new discoveries. Those are often called cults. Reformations are born out of rediscovering something ancient, something primal. They are born out of primal truths rediscovered, re-imagined, and radically reapplied to our lives." So what is this truth that we need to rediscover? "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength." We have to be great at this. "We must not be great at things that do not matter." To be clear, nothing else really matters at the end of the day except loving God and following His commands. To be great at something other than loving God is a waste of your time. The call of the next reformation should be, "Love God!"
Everything we do, everything that we are should be an expression of our love for God. The way we do our taxes, the way we study for exams, the way we treat each other, the way we love our spouses should be because of our love for God! This doesn't mean that we will all look the same though. It doesn't mean we will all express our love for God the same way. "Every relationship with God begins the same way: at the foot of the cross. But then our lives become unique expressions of compassion, wonder, curiosity, and energy. And no one else can take your place." No one loves God exactly the same way you do, that is why He wants your love!
Each of us has a spiritual love language. The way we express our love for God looks different based on what comes most naturally to us. Some of us show our love for God because compassion pours out of us every second of the day, it is just natural. Others show their love for God by their curiosity, they can't wait to find out more about His creation and praise Him for it. We should do the things that come natural to us! But "sometimes the greatest act of love isn't the one that comes most easily. It's the one that is most difficult or requires the greatest sacrifice." We are called to love God with our heart, soul, mind, AND strength. It isn't an either/or scenario. God wants it all. When we come to a place where we love God with everything we have, a radical transformation will take place within us, our church, our city, and this world. We will start a reformation, and the rallying cry will simply be, "Love God."
Enjoy the Journey
How much do you know about Martin Luther (not Martin Luther King Jr, Martin Luther). He was a monk that started the Protestant Reformation. In Luther's day salvation was for sale. You would buy things called indulgences, and the more you paid out, the less time you had to spend in purgatory. Martin Luther, although the unlikely hero, started a revolution (or reformation) when he penned his 95 thesis. The rallying cry was 'By faith alone.' He wanted to break this mold of buying salvation. You can't buy salvation, it is a free gift from God!
Maybe it is time for a new reformation. Maybe it is time that we stop playing games with our faith and started living authentic lives as disciples of Jesus Christ. Hear this, "reformations are not born out of new discoveries. Those are often called cults. Reformations are born out of rediscovering something ancient, something primal. They are born out of primal truths rediscovered, re-imagined, and radically reapplied to our lives." So what is this truth that we need to rediscover? "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength." We have to be great at this. "We must not be great at things that do not matter." To be clear, nothing else really matters at the end of the day except loving God and following His commands. To be great at something other than loving God is a waste of your time. The call of the next reformation should be, "Love God!"
Everything we do, everything that we are should be an expression of our love for God. The way we do our taxes, the way we study for exams, the way we treat each other, the way we love our spouses should be because of our love for God! This doesn't mean that we will all look the same though. It doesn't mean we will all express our love for God the same way. "Every relationship with God begins the same way: at the foot of the cross. But then our lives become unique expressions of compassion, wonder, curiosity, and energy. And no one else can take your place." No one loves God exactly the same way you do, that is why He wants your love!
Each of us has a spiritual love language. The way we express our love for God looks different based on what comes most naturally to us. Some of us show our love for God because compassion pours out of us every second of the day, it is just natural. Others show their love for God by their curiosity, they can't wait to find out more about His creation and praise Him for it. We should do the things that come natural to us! But "sometimes the greatest act of love isn't the one that comes most easily. It's the one that is most difficult or requires the greatest sacrifice." We are called to love God with our heart, soul, mind, AND strength. It isn't an either/or scenario. God wants it all. When we come to a place where we love God with everything we have, a radical transformation will take place within us, our church, our city, and this world. We will start a reformation, and the rallying cry will simply be, "Love God."
Enjoy the Journey
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
The Hammer of a Higher God
God is powerful. Now that's the understatement of the century isn't it? His power is incomparable. "His power isn't just incomparable. His power isn't just great. It is incomparably great. In other words, there is no comparison point. None of us can imagine what God is capable of. Which means none of us can imagine what we're capable of if we give God control of our lives." Doing it on our own was never the plan. Yes we should do things for God, but the weird thing is that we need to do those things we do for God THROUGH His strength. Many of us never make that connection. We all received the power of God when we became Christians, but we settle for living without it! "And without His power, we become nothing more than theological Christians. Our testimony is reduced to words. Our impact is reduced to our abilities. And not only is that less than exciting, it's wrong. Without His power at work within us, we cannot accomplish His purposes."
Again, the problem is that we have a small view of who God is. God is bigger than your biggest problem, and He is bigger than the best idea you ever had...infinitely bigger. "It's not about what you can do for God. It's about what God can do in you and through you. The moment you put your faith in Christ, the best thing you can do is no longer the best YOU can do. The best thing you can do is the best GOD can do."
Would you agree that loving God with everything is hard? I certainly think so. "In and of ourselves, we're not capable of loving God. We cannot manufacture love for Him. We can only respond to His love for us. And I hope that sets you free. Religion is all about doing things for God. Christianity is all about receiving what Christ has done for us on the cross. And what we do for God is a reflection of and response to what God has done for us." Sometimes even that is hard. I find myself from time to time in a slump. It is in those times we need to remember the words of Revelation 2:5, "Do the things you did at first." Fall in love with God all over again by going back to the things you did when you fell in love with Him the first time.
Again, we cannot manufacture love. Our love for God is simply a reflection of His love for us. Check this out: "Albedo is the measurement of how much light a celestial body reflects. Our night-light, the moon, has an albedo of 0.07. In other words, 7% of the light that strikes the moon's surface is reflected. Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, has the highest albedo of any celestial body in our solar system. It reflects 99% of the light that hits its surface. In a similar sense, we are called to reflect God-His compassion, His wonder, His creativity, and His energy. You cannot manufacture those things. You can only reflect them."
In the beginning, God spoke the world into existence. Seems a little far fetched, but think about it for a second. Do you know what ultrasonic sound is? It is anything over 20,000 hertz, which is inaudible to us, but "has the power to kill insects, track submarines, break glass, perform noninvasive surgery, topple buildings, clean jewelry, catalyze chemical reactions, heal damaged tissue, pasteurize milk, break up kidney stones, drill through hard materials, and of course give you the first glimpse of your unborn son or daughter via sonogram." Sound is powerful huh? The sound of God's voice isn't limited to our ability to hear. His vocal range is unlimited, and His words are powerful. So maybe you've never heard the audible voice of God, but I'm betting you've SEEN His voice (that's a weird thought huh?)! "Everything you see was once a sound wave in the vocal cords of God. When you look at creation, you are hearing with your eyes an echo of the Creator's voice." So I pose this question to you now: "If God can create billions of galaxies with four words (Let there be light), what can't He do?"
We need to remember that "most of what God accomplishes through our lives isn't because of us. It's in spit of us. God never calls us to do something we're capable of. God calls us to do things that are beyond our ability so He gets all the credit. That's how we learn to rely on Him. And that's how we learn to love Him." God puts things in our hearts that He wants us to do, and that we don't have the ability to do on our own. But when we accomplish those things with His help we have to answer a very serious question. When God gives us our dream we have to decide, "Which do you love more: your dream or God?" "In its purest, most primal form, loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is loving God for God. Nothing more. Nothing less. Nothing else."
The ultimate goal of life isn't accomplishing your dreams and goals. It's loving God. It isn't getting your dream job, it isn't getting your song published, it isn't retiring at 40. It's loving God. "You can put yourself on the throne of your life. You can try to get everyone to bow down and worship you. But you will run out of stuff to worship real quick and your universe will become smaller and smaller until the only thing that fits inside your tiny universe is you. But if you put God on the throne, you universe will get larger and larger. It will expand chronologically into eternity. It will expand experientially into heaven." It's your choice. Who do you love most?
Enjoy the Journey
God is powerful. Now that's the understatement of the century isn't it? His power is incomparable. "His power isn't just incomparable. His power isn't just great. It is incomparably great. In other words, there is no comparison point. None of us can imagine what God is capable of. Which means none of us can imagine what we're capable of if we give God control of our lives." Doing it on our own was never the plan. Yes we should do things for God, but the weird thing is that we need to do those things we do for God THROUGH His strength. Many of us never make that connection. We all received the power of God when we became Christians, but we settle for living without it! "And without His power, we become nothing more than theological Christians. Our testimony is reduced to words. Our impact is reduced to our abilities. And not only is that less than exciting, it's wrong. Without His power at work within us, we cannot accomplish His purposes."
Again, the problem is that we have a small view of who God is. God is bigger than your biggest problem, and He is bigger than the best idea you ever had...infinitely bigger. "It's not about what you can do for God. It's about what God can do in you and through you. The moment you put your faith in Christ, the best thing you can do is no longer the best YOU can do. The best thing you can do is the best GOD can do."
Would you agree that loving God with everything is hard? I certainly think so. "In and of ourselves, we're not capable of loving God. We cannot manufacture love for Him. We can only respond to His love for us. And I hope that sets you free. Religion is all about doing things for God. Christianity is all about receiving what Christ has done for us on the cross. And what we do for God is a reflection of and response to what God has done for us." Sometimes even that is hard. I find myself from time to time in a slump. It is in those times we need to remember the words of Revelation 2:5, "Do the things you did at first." Fall in love with God all over again by going back to the things you did when you fell in love with Him the first time.
Again, we cannot manufacture love. Our love for God is simply a reflection of His love for us. Check this out: "Albedo is the measurement of how much light a celestial body reflects. Our night-light, the moon, has an albedo of 0.07. In other words, 7% of the light that strikes the moon's surface is reflected. Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, has the highest albedo of any celestial body in our solar system. It reflects 99% of the light that hits its surface. In a similar sense, we are called to reflect God-His compassion, His wonder, His creativity, and His energy. You cannot manufacture those things. You can only reflect them."
In the beginning, God spoke the world into existence. Seems a little far fetched, but think about it for a second. Do you know what ultrasonic sound is? It is anything over 20,000 hertz, which is inaudible to us, but "has the power to kill insects, track submarines, break glass, perform noninvasive surgery, topple buildings, clean jewelry, catalyze chemical reactions, heal damaged tissue, pasteurize milk, break up kidney stones, drill through hard materials, and of course give you the first glimpse of your unborn son or daughter via sonogram." Sound is powerful huh? The sound of God's voice isn't limited to our ability to hear. His vocal range is unlimited, and His words are powerful. So maybe you've never heard the audible voice of God, but I'm betting you've SEEN His voice (that's a weird thought huh?)! "Everything you see was once a sound wave in the vocal cords of God. When you look at creation, you are hearing with your eyes an echo of the Creator's voice." So I pose this question to you now: "If God can create billions of galaxies with four words (Let there be light), what can't He do?"
We need to remember that "most of what God accomplishes through our lives isn't because of us. It's in spit of us. God never calls us to do something we're capable of. God calls us to do things that are beyond our ability so He gets all the credit. That's how we learn to rely on Him. And that's how we learn to love Him." God puts things in our hearts that He wants us to do, and that we don't have the ability to do on our own. But when we accomplish those things with His help we have to answer a very serious question. When God gives us our dream we have to decide, "Which do you love more: your dream or God?" "In its purest, most primal form, loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is loving God for God. Nothing more. Nothing less. Nothing else."
The ultimate goal of life isn't accomplishing your dreams and goals. It's loving God. It isn't getting your dream job, it isn't getting your song published, it isn't retiring at 40. It's loving God. "You can put yourself on the throne of your life. You can try to get everyone to bow down and worship you. But you will run out of stuff to worship real quick and your universe will become smaller and smaller until the only thing that fits inside your tiny universe is you. But if you put God on the throne, you universe will get larger and larger. It will expand chronologically into eternity. It will expand experientially into heaven." It's your choice. Who do you love most?
Enjoy the Journey
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Sweat Equity
God loves it when we tell Him we love Him. It is something that we should do all the time. But you know what I think He loves even more? When we show Him that we love Him. And He loves it when we get sweaty doing it. We are supposed to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and STRENGTH. "So what does it mean to love God with all your strength? It means expending tremendous amounts of energy for kingdom causes. It means servanthood and sacrifice. It means good old-fashioned work." Let's be honest, you can tell what we love by what we do. Gentlemen, that is why taking out the garbage is romantic, because love isn't measured by words. Love is measured by action.
"Talk is cheap, and we have cheapened the gospel long enough. At the end of they day, God isn't going to say, 'Well said, good and faithful servant.' There is only one commendation when everything is said and done: 'Well done, good and faithful servant.' God doesn't reward what we know. He doesn't reward what we say. He rewards the expenditure of energy."
One of the saddest things we can do is make plans and not follow through on them. So many of us spend so much time "preparing" that we never actually get whatever it is we are "preparing" for off the ground. That never happens because we never feel like we are quite ready to launch. "Listen, you'll never have enough education or enough experience. And you'll never have enough time or enough money." You will never be ready for what God has planned for you, get over it. That is why God promised to be with us! I'm not saying we shouldn't prepare, but most of us go way overboard on this and use it as an excuse not to act. Don't give up on your God ideas just because you don't feel ready.
Last week we talked about creativity. Creativity is hard work. Thomas Edison said that it is "10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration." Can you relate? Nolan Bushnell said, "Everyone who's ever taken a shower has had an idea. It's the person who gets out of the shower, dries off, and does something about it who makes a difference." What God idea of yours never made it out of the shower?
We have work to do. But here is something amazing that I know you will find to be true. "If you love someone or something enough, the expenditure of energy isn't seen as a chore. It's a privilege. It's not something you have to do, it's something you get to do. Love turns work into worship." At Mark Batterson's church, they have a saying that I think we should adopt: "Pray like it depends on God and work like it depends on you." We need to bathe everything in prayer, but at some point we have to put some work in ourselves!
The truth is "faith is not faith until it is acted upon. That is the litmus test. Faith without works is dead. So is love without energy." When it comes to our God ideas, too often we are guilty of sins of omission. That is when you don't do what you know you should do. Too many of us "falsely view righteousness as doing nothing wrong." The problem is that "you can do nothing wrong and still do nothing right. Goodness is not the absence of badness." "Love doesn't play it safe; it takes risks. Love doesn't make excuses; it takes responsibility. Love doesn't see problems; it seizes opportunities to step up and step in. The Greek word for 'strength' means 'the antithesis of apathy.' And Jesus is the ultimate example."
Jesus was anything but apathetic, He was the most passionate man who ever lived. We are called to be just like Him, so that means we should be the most passionate people on the planet! "I love the way Dorothy Sayers described the wild side of His personality. 'To do them justice, the people who crucified Jesus did not do so because He was a bore. Quite the contrary; He was too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround Him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have declawed the Lion of Judah and made Him a house cat for pale priests and pious old ladies." Wow!
"So don't just point out the problems; be the solution. Don't just criticize what's wrong; do something right. Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention." Break a sweat."
Enjoy the Journey
God loves it when we tell Him we love Him. It is something that we should do all the time. But you know what I think He loves even more? When we show Him that we love Him. And He loves it when we get sweaty doing it. We are supposed to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and STRENGTH. "So what does it mean to love God with all your strength? It means expending tremendous amounts of energy for kingdom causes. It means servanthood and sacrifice. It means good old-fashioned work." Let's be honest, you can tell what we love by what we do. Gentlemen, that is why taking out the garbage is romantic, because love isn't measured by words. Love is measured by action.
"Talk is cheap, and we have cheapened the gospel long enough. At the end of they day, God isn't going to say, 'Well said, good and faithful servant.' There is only one commendation when everything is said and done: 'Well done, good and faithful servant.' God doesn't reward what we know. He doesn't reward what we say. He rewards the expenditure of energy."
One of the saddest things we can do is make plans and not follow through on them. So many of us spend so much time "preparing" that we never actually get whatever it is we are "preparing" for off the ground. That never happens because we never feel like we are quite ready to launch. "Listen, you'll never have enough education or enough experience. And you'll never have enough time or enough money." You will never be ready for what God has planned for you, get over it. That is why God promised to be with us! I'm not saying we shouldn't prepare, but most of us go way overboard on this and use it as an excuse not to act. Don't give up on your God ideas just because you don't feel ready.
Last week we talked about creativity. Creativity is hard work. Thomas Edison said that it is "10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration." Can you relate? Nolan Bushnell said, "Everyone who's ever taken a shower has had an idea. It's the person who gets out of the shower, dries off, and does something about it who makes a difference." What God idea of yours never made it out of the shower?
We have work to do. But here is something amazing that I know you will find to be true. "If you love someone or something enough, the expenditure of energy isn't seen as a chore. It's a privilege. It's not something you have to do, it's something you get to do. Love turns work into worship." At Mark Batterson's church, they have a saying that I think we should adopt: "Pray like it depends on God and work like it depends on you." We need to bathe everything in prayer, but at some point we have to put some work in ourselves!
The truth is "faith is not faith until it is acted upon. That is the litmus test. Faith without works is dead. So is love without energy." When it comes to our God ideas, too often we are guilty of sins of omission. That is when you don't do what you know you should do. Too many of us "falsely view righteousness as doing nothing wrong." The problem is that "you can do nothing wrong and still do nothing right. Goodness is not the absence of badness." "Love doesn't play it safe; it takes risks. Love doesn't make excuses; it takes responsibility. Love doesn't see problems; it seizes opportunities to step up and step in. The Greek word for 'strength' means 'the antithesis of apathy.' And Jesus is the ultimate example."
Jesus was anything but apathetic, He was the most passionate man who ever lived. We are called to be just like Him, so that means we should be the most passionate people on the planet! "I love the way Dorothy Sayers described the wild side of His personality. 'To do them justice, the people who crucified Jesus did not do so because He was a bore. Quite the contrary; He was too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround Him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have declawed the Lion of Judah and made Him a house cat for pale priests and pious old ladies." Wow!
"So don't just point out the problems; be the solution. Don't just criticize what's wrong; do something right. Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention." Break a sweat."
Enjoy the Journey
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