True Worship

There is always a danger that the Christian life will be compartmentalized into set activities rather than a complete lifestyle.  Worship of God does not occur after we pack into the car on a Sunday morning and gather in a building to sing songs of praise or listen to the Word of God preached.  The song should be in our hearts from the moment we rise, a song of thanksgiving unto God.  Our lives are intended to be an continual spring of worship, a life of obedience lived unto God for His glory.  Consider a paragraph from a message delivered by G. Campbell Morgan on the subject of worship (The Westminster Pulpit, Vol. 2, pg. 98):

"I do not worship God by going to China as a missionary if God wants me to stay at home and do the work of a carpenter.  I do not worship God by aspiring to some mighty and heroic thing for Him if the capacity He has given me is for doing the quiet thing, and the simple thing, and the hidden thing, and the unknown thing.  It would be very foolish for the hummingbird, instead of entering the tulip, to try to beat back the air and combat with the eagle.  It worships by staying where God puts it.  It would be very wicked for the eagle to cultivate a mock modesty, and say that it preferred to remain among the tulips when it ought to be soaring sunwards."

There is something in the heart of every person that desires greatness.  I believe all Christians with any depth of faith waxes warm at the prospect of doing something great for God.  To put it in a different way, we want to see God do great things and would be thrilled to be an instrument He uses to further His kingdom.  The question is, will I be content to play guitar and sing songs on a city street for His glory if the opportunity presents itself, or will I limit my gift for use in the most prestigious music halls?  A life of worship is not one lived in the spotlight, but behind the scenes.  If you reserve your service unto God until you have a grand task which suits your ambitions, you waste the talents and life God has given you.  Compelled by the love of Christ, it is adoration for God which motivates and moves us to live a life which fully pleases Him.

In the most simple terms, worship is obedience.  How many times does it say in scripture, "Praise the LORD?"  Many, many times!  We are told to pray without ceasing and in everything give thanks.  We are told not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, and the joy of the LORD will be our strength.  When we are obedient to Jesus and the leading of the Holy Spirit, we worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth.  Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and has baptized His followers with the Holy Spirit and with fire.  How fulfilling it is to worship God!  It is so amazing how God has made the eagle and hummingbird so different, but with the same purpose - to bring honor and glory unto their Creator!  The eagle is girded with strength and amazing eyesight, while the hummingbird is lightning quick and has dazzling plumage.  One eats meat while the other drinks nectar, yet they are both birds with distinct beauty and inspire awe even in casual observers.

God has made people in like fashion.  You might be a carpenter, doctor, lawyer, fisherman, salesman, or work in the retail industry.  Perhaps you enjoy sports, music, dancing, collecting, traveling, or reading.  But you are not to be defined by any of these activities because you are a human being created in the image of the Everlasting God for the purpose of worshiping Him forever.  I close with a description of worship found in Colossians 3:12-17:  "Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; ¹³ bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. ¹⁴ But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. ¹⁵ And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. ¹⁷ And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."

Life has Purpose

After my sons and I arrived at their bus stop yesterday, Zed picked this up off the ground.  I tried to convince him that over many years this small piece of metal had been formed by random, natural processes.  The letters "BIC" had stamped themselves into what appeared to be red plastic.  He looked at me as if I claimed to have swallowed the moon.  "But what is it for, Dad?" he asked.  "What does it do?"  No one in our family smokes, so Zed would have no clue that this little piece of metal and plastic is part of a cigarette lighter.

I appreciated Zed's insight into the lighter piece because without even knowing what it was, he instantly recognized it had been made by an intelligent source for a specific purpose.  I did not need to explain this to him:  it was as obvious as the sun in the sky.  Man invents and manufactures products to perform functions which make life easier to be sold for financial profit.  Zed knew this assemblage of metal and plastic did not just happen, but it exists for a purpose.  In its current state, it looked worthless.  We then turned our attention to the trees, the flowers, and even our fingers.  All these living things have been created by God for a purpose too:  the glory of God!

What is more remarkable:  the little inanimate part of the lighter made by man, or the living, growing tissue of my fingers which nimbly plucked it from the ground?  The answer is so elementary I need not answer.  But I am deeply shamed and embarrassed that men who have been crafted in the wombs of their mothers can look at the trees, birds, flowers, and even their own bodies and believe they have simply occurred through the random processes in nature without any intelligence behind it.  Can intelligence and information come from nothing?  There must be a source of wisdom and intelligence, even as the mechanical part of the lighter could be traced back to a manufacturing plant.  The raw materials came from somewhere, the design was carefully engineered, and was produced by professionals in massive quantities who invented machines to extrude plastic and form the metal in the proper shape.  I don't know a single one of those people who made this little part.  But I know the all wise and intelligent Being who has created the heavens, the earth and all that is within them both living and inanimate:  God!

The Bible speaks of Jesus Christ as the "Word" who became flesh.  John 1:1-3 reads, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made."  When we see the beauty and splendour of the world and universe, it exists to teach us of God and glorify Him.  Psalm 19:1-3 states, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. ² Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. ³ There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard."  God is the one who has placed the DNA in each one of your self-replicating cells.  He is the one who formed you and breathed into you a living soul.  Therefore it is God who has designed you with a purpose to honor and glorify Him too.  When we are separated from God because of our sins, we're like that lighter part all alone:  it cannot fulfill the function for which it was designed.

Don't buy the lie that everything around you is the result of some cosmic accident or alien encounter.  Realize the purpose for which you have been created.  As it says in the Westminster catechism, "Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever."  The way to do that is to repent, trust in Jesus Christ, and honor Him with obedience.  God has given us the Bible so we might know Him better and grow in our relationship with Him.  Never forget that your life has a purpose, the sole purpose to live for God!

Pure Motives?

"So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do."

Luke 17:10 

This morning in church we talked about how Jesus has provided a pattern of being the servant of all.  Greatness in the kingdom of God comes through humble service and sacrifice motivated by the love of God.  Sometimes we aren't motivated to act by pure motives.  On the outside we might look like a servant, but in honesty we are serving ourselves.

After our monthly BBQ at church, I started breaking down the tables to clean up.  As I collapsed each leg, I considered how many different motivations I could have in packing up the tables.  Perhaps I had seen someone starting to do it and because of my pride - unwilling to be outdone - jumped in.  I could have started to work on the tables because I want to race home to watch a game on TV.  Maybe I just wanted to make a good impression on someone.  Because of the message preached this morning, maybe I wanted to show the pastor I was listening AND putting it into practice.  Or maybe as the pastor I want to make a point that I'm going to practice what I preach!  With the help of others, the clean tables were stacked neatly in short order.  Funny how I'm still thinking about it.

It occurred to me that throughout my life, my motivation in service has not always been pure.  How good we can look on the outside and have our hearts in the wrong place!  It is so easy to neglect to examine our motives in doing what we do.  Indeed, it is a wise practice to examine our hearts - but even better still to ask God to examine them and see what He finds.  He is the righteous Judge, and it is what He says that counts.  Jesus says that to be great in God's kingdom we must be the servant of all.  It is obedience compelled by the love of Jesus Christ which should motivate us:  not a desire to be seen, to build a reputation for ourselves, to receive praise or recognition, or out of guilt.

Praise God for the light of His Word and the penetrating insight of the Holy Spirit!  How good He is to expose our faults that we might repent so He can rectify them and free us from the rut of sin.  Instead of living in the past in shame and regret, we can look to Jesus now and into eternity with joy and steadfast love.  Thank you God for purifying my heart, and may all service I perform for you be truly unto you with honesty, always motivated by your love.  I am unprofitable, and you have done wondrous things to use me to transform menial tasks into an act of worship.

Jesus Is Life

As I stopped at a red light today, a banner featuring Bear Grylls adorned a fence outside an Anglican church.  It read, "My Christian faith is the backbone of my life."  It is wonderful when famous people freely proclaim they follow of Jesus Christ.  Being a born-again Christian myself, it made me think.  Is my Christian faith the backbone of my life?

The backbone (or spine) is the central part of the skeletal system.  Through the center of the spine runs the spinal cord which connects to the brain and together comprise the nervous system.  For human beings, the spine and spinal cord are a fundamental necessity of life.  The term "backbone" does not only relate to anatomy, but is used to describe someone who is true to their principles.  For me, Jesus is my life.  Without Him, I would be dead in sins and doomed to eternity separated from God in hell.  I agree with Bear Grylls:  Jesus has given me life, principles, and the power of the Holy Spirit to walk uprightly.  Christianity is not rules, but the personal experience of repenting from sin, trusting in Jesus, and receiving His love, grace, acceptance, and forgiveness.

It is faith in Christ which makes Christians, but my faith is not the central "backbone" of my life:  it is Christ.  To prevent this misunderstanding if I was printing posters, I would say Christ is the backbone of my life - or even simpler, Jesus Christ is my life.  This is not to say that I am perfect, or that I don't make mistakes.  Sometimes my faith falters and I forget to focus on Jesus.  But the only reason why I am alive in this body and born again with the Holy Spirit is because of Jesus.  It is His shed blood which has cleansed me, and by grace His righteousness has been imputed to my account.

Keep following Jesus, Bear Grylls.  Thank you for using your voice to promote your LORD and Saviour who has died so all might live through Him!