Thanks and Worship

Because we are people with needs and desires, we need to be intentional to express thankfulness to God.  If we are primarily focused on what we lack, we might not consider how God has always been faithful to meet our needs--regardless how we feel at the moment.  When we focus on what others have and we do not have, we can become bitter and without gratitude for all God has done for us.  Should we focus on what we have, we are easily lifted up with pride when our possessions exceed others or we can feel down when we have little by comparison.

I was reading through ministry material today that reminded me how thankfulness is worship.  When we worship God, freely giving Him the honour and glory He is due, it works to humble our hearts before God.  Those who humble themselves with thanksgiving and gratitude to God are those He will lift up.  We do not express gratitude to God with the aim to gain but with contentment and joy for who He is, all He has done and given us according to the riches of His grace.  What do we have that we did not first receive? (1 Corinthians 4:7)  How good it is for us give God the praise and thanks He is due!  In exalting the almighty God, we are encouraged in faith.  By proclaiming publicly what God has done for us privately, we delight to make Jesus our boast.

Psalm 100:4-5 exhorts God's people, "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. ⁵ For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations."  To know God by entering the Door--by grace through faith in Jesus--means to enter His kingdom and to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy and peace, very sweet fruit indeed!  We have been thankful to people for kindness shown to us:  hasn't God's goodness and kindness to us been infinitely greater?  Shouldn't we thank God and bless His name because He is always good?  All the resources on this planet are limited and soon gone, yet God's mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.

Psalm 95:6 says, "Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker."  How blessed we are to be called and chosen as children of God, the people of His pasture.  Our awesome God is good, and we ought to express our eternal gratitude every day.  As we bow our knees before our LORD God in adoration, may we thank Him with our lips from the heart.

Hearing and Doing

Have you ever given thought to what it would have been like to have lived during the season Jesus walked through Jerusalem and Israel with His disciples?  They were blessed to have heard Him teach, see the miracles He performed and know He was the promised Messiah and Son of God.  It would have been interesting for Joseph and Mary to have Jesus grow up as their son, and for your older brother to be the anointed One of God and to hear Him speak of repentance for sin and the kingdom of God.

After Jesus cast out a demon and gave insight concerning the spiritual realm as God who knows all things, Luke 11:27-28 says:  "And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, "Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!" ²⁸ But He said, "More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!"  Mary was blessed to be the mother of Jesus, for the angel Gabriel and her cousin Elisabeth said this before she gave birth (Luke 1:28 & 42).  Mary was blessed to bond with Jesus as His mother and see Him grow into a man, but Jesus said there was a greater blessing for anyone who heard the word of God and kept it.  Some would be content to merely identify with Jesus as a mother or brother, yet there is a more blessed relationship possible today with Jesus Christ by faith and obedience today.

This statement by Jesus that emphasised the blessed relationship people can have with Him followed on from a circumstance that occurred a couple chapters earlier.  After Jesus explained the Parable of the Sower to a great gathering, Luke 8:19-21 says:  "Then His mother and brothers came to Him, and could not approach Him because of the crowd. ²⁰ And it was told Him by some, who said, "Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see You." ²¹ But He answered and said to them, "My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it."  Even as the seed that fell on good ground would sprout and bear much fruit, so those who hear the word of God will demonstrate having heard and believed God by obedience.  Their loyalties and convictions would be outwardly plain.  Jesus taught all who hear the word of God and keep it have a closer relationship to Him than His mother or brother related by blood.

A blessed relationship with God is freely offered by Jesus Christ who shed His blood to redeem sinners and adopt us into His own everlasting kingdom as beloved children.  Rather than wishing we could have been in Jesus' inner circle, by faith in Him we are new creations in whom the Spirit of Christ dwells (Romans 8:9).  Jesus likened the one who hears and obeys His words to a wise man who built his house upon the rock, and when the rains came and the winds blew it would stand firm.  Since He is our LORD, we ought to do as He says--and we are indeed blessed when we hear and obey Him.

Heeding and Receiving More

Jesus taught His disciples in Mark 4:23-25:  "Then He said to them, "Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. ²⁵ For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him."  This teaching is affirmed in a parable Jesus told of a master who delivered talents to his servants according to their ability, and while he was away two of his servants doubled the amount given while the lazy, wicked servant buried his talent in the ground.  It was given to the servant who had 10 talents, and it is wise management of resources to take away the talent from the lazy servant and give it to the one who had been faithful.

In this passage, Jesus taught those who hear Him--and the implication is to heed all He says--will be given more from Him.  Those who do not listen, however, what he has will be taken away from him.  In discussing this recently, I was reminded of an experience I had in a trade as an illustration of this principle.  When I ran a small crew on a jobsite, a new apprentice was sent to work who was the son of a current foreman in our shop.  He was young, arrogant and acted like he knew everything despite having no practical experience.  As a pre-apprentice I was taught the most important qualities for an apprentice was to arrive early, have a good attitude, and do what you were told.  I don't believe any of these had sunk in with this lad.

I took the apprentice to a wide open area of duct with the intention of giving him a little demonstration with tips that would help him.  I showed him the rolls of duct wrap, wire and tape.  He was bored with everything I said, assuming he knew what to do because his dad was a duct-wrapping legend.  I decided since this punk already knew everything, there was no use wasting my breath on giving him pointers and tips.  What followed was 30 minutes of tradie hilarity at his expense.  As I slammed on material like a well-oiled machine, from across the room I watched him struggle and fumble with the most basic things.  His wire was a tangled mess, his pieces of duct wrap insulation were hacked crooked with a dull knife, and because he did not consider the thickness of the material all the pieces were cut too short and wasted.

Finally, having been soundly beaten by his failure to successfully install one piece of insulation, he sheepishly came over and asked for help.  That's what I had been waiting for.  He was far more receptive to instruction the second time, and I showed him exactly what to do.  Whenever I had an apprentice who was eager to learn and put into practice my directives, I was much more apt to give more pointers, tricks and opportunities to do better work.  These quality apprentices were groomed to do finish work with an aim to retain them throughout their apprenticeship, continue to develop as journeyman and even run work as a foreman.  But lazy, late and arrogant apprentices would not be working for a local shop very long.  Journeymen were not interested to teach apprentices a valued skill who had no intention to learn.  Before long, even the job they had would be taken away.

My interaction with my apprentice illustrates how God speaks of the true riches of His kingdom in the Bible, He will be more inclined to say more to those who listen and are faithful to obey.  If we will not waste our words on those who are bored by them and will not obey them, should God do differently if we are bored by Him?  Those who value and treasure God and all He has to say will be given more from His word to understand.  God did this concerning Abraham in Genesis 18:17-19:  "And the LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, ¹⁸ since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? ¹⁹ For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice, that the LORD may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him."  God went on to converse with Abraham who believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness.  His faith in God was shown by his works, and the wise will walk humbly in his steps with our Saviour Jesus.

If we heed God much, more wisdom and responsibility will be given us from Him.  However if we refuse to heed what God has said, we ought not to expect to hear much from Him.  Our peace, joy and rest can be taken from us by circumstances of life.  The arrogant apprentice did one thing admirable that day worthy of emulation:  he humbled himself and came to me and asked for help.  If we are struggling and realise we need God's help, let us be those who come to Him humbly with intent to do all He says.

Food that Satisfies

There are many biblical terms Christians can use that are disconnected from practical experience.  This is reasonable for it is difficult to translate the spiritual meaning into practical applications without dumbing it down to a formula to follow.  As little kids we had the idea the very important part of prayer is to bow our heads, fold hands and close our eyes when these in a spiritual sense are not even requirements to have an audience with the Almighty.  These directives were more practical than spiritual:  bowing our heads was a show of respect, closing our eyes prevented us from being distracted by what we could see, and folding our hands meant we would not be touching others or fidgeting with objects.  From a biblical perspective, the posture of our bodies was never as important as the condition and posture of our hearts in the sight of God.

As we continue to read the Bible and grow in understanding, we begin to separate style from substance. identify traditions and sound theology, and our outward appearance from the condition of the inner man.  Still, we need the Bible with help of the Holy Spirit to guide us continue to "flesh out" spiritual disciplines in practice.  Tucked into countless passages of Scripture in the Old and New Testament, God supplies wisdom and guidance concerning how we ought to live.  Recently I read Isaiah 55:2-3 and found it good food for thought:  "Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. ³ Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you--the sure mercies of David."

Through the prophet Isaiah, God called all who were thirsty to come to the waters and drink.  It seems a strange thing thirsty and hungry people would spend their money to obtain what they could not eat or drink, but this is our natural tendency when it comes to spiritual things.  Our deepest need is a spiritual one to know God, yet we can imagine this need can be satisfied by worldly things other than God.  The God of Israel asked His people why they spent their money for what was not bread and never could satisfy their hunger and needs.  Notice in the second half of verse 2, how listening carefully to God is equated with "eating what is good."  God's word is indeed food for our souls, for Jesus is the Word of God sent as the Living Bread who provides eternal life for all whom by faith receive Him.  This shows us spiritual eating and nourishment takes place when we listen to God's word carefully with intent to obey.

Verse 3 begins with saying, "Incline your ear, and come to Me."  This teaches us we do not need to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, go to a church building or even move a muscle to truly come to God.  The Bible is a revelation of God in flesh (Jesus Christ) who preached repentance and the Gospel for all sinners to hear, repent of sin and receive Him by faith.  The New Covenant alluded to in Isaiah 55:3 is the covenant in Christ's shed blood by which He atoned for the sins of the world.  How satisfying it is for our souls to be born again, made children of God by grace through faith!  In hearing God's word and by faith receiving it as true, based on these verses we spiritually come to God and eat what is good.  As a result of receiving Christ our souls delight in the abundant life of Christ, His everlasting covenant and sure mercies.

Friends, let us eat what is good and come to Jesus whenever we are spiritually hungry, thirsty and without satisfaction.  Why should we spend our money for what is not bread when we are starving?  Why should go elsewhere when Jesus alone has the words of the life and the Living Water of the Holy Spirit?