Greetings! I trust that all of you had a wonderful thanksgiving holiday. It was sure wonderful spending time with my family.
Well…I have been involved in a very fulfilling study with my HomeTeam. We have been studying through Richard Foster’s, Celebration of Discipline. Each week we are taking a look at another one of the spiritual disciplines in the life of a disciple of Christ. This last week we studied about the discipline of “solitude.” While in this study, Foster led us to an interesting verse in Isaiah the 30th chapter, and then he followed that with an interesting question. I wanted to share the verse and question with you, as well as some of my insights as I have struggled to answer this question.
Here is the verse from Isaiah 30:15 (New Living Translation)…
“The Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel says, ‘Only in returning to me and waiting for me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength.’”
Foster asks the question, “How does solitude produce confidence?” I have really wrestled with my answer to this question. This morning as I was having some solitude, I believe the Lord began to reveal to me an answer (Ironic? I think not!) Solitude is what I like to call “God Time.” There are no other distractions. For 30, 45, or 60 minutes (you choose), it is just you and your heavenly Father…Sovereign Lord…the Holy One of Israel. Solitude doesn’t mean silence! Solitude simply means that you are controlling the environment around you to maximize your time with your heavenly Father. For you, worship music in the background may help you make the most of your time with God. For you, singing some worship songs may help you maximize your time alone with God. For you, maybe complete silence and solitude go hand in hand. Maybe, just maybe, the quieter it is, the more fulfilled you become in your time alone with God.
At any rate, as we practice the discipline of solitude, we pause to feel the presence of the Holy Spirit and hear the voice of God. It is here in this solitude that our relationship with God is deepened, and the deeper we go, the more confident we become. Why? Well, I liken it to the confidence of a young boy around his Father. I consider my son a brave young lad for sure, but it is amazing to see just how brave he becomes when dad is standing by his side watching. All of a sudden, that ball is not so hard to kick…that ball is not so hard to hit…that height is not so high after all…and that water isn’t so deep after all. For him, it is almost as if he is saying, “With my dad here, I can do anything?”
For me, that is how I see solitude building confidence in the believer. As we spend more time in solitude, as our relationship with our Father grows deeper, as we feel him getting closer, we become amazingly more confident in our faith and life. All of a sudden, that darkness isn’t so dark after all…that mountain isn’t so hard to climb…that gift isn’t so hard to give…that enemy isn’t so hard to love…and that gospel is all of a sudden so much easier to share.
My encouragement for you this week, friends, is to discipline yourself to make time in your day for the discipline of solitude. Go off somewhere! Sit in a chair in your backyard. Take a walk in your local park. Drive out to the lake. Whatever you need to do, just spend about thirty minutes to an hour in solitude with the Sovereign Lord. Listen for his voice. Drink in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Get to know the Holy One of Israel for Jesus himself has said…
“Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
- John 17:3 (NIV)
As you grow deeper and deeper in your relationship with Almighty God, may he inspire you with the confidence that moves mountains. Blessings…
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Thursday, November 15, 2007
"In Spirit and In Truth"
Jesus meets a Samaritan, tells her everything that she ever did, and offers her living water; water that will become in her a spring of water welling up to eternal life.
Now she wants to change the subject. “I can see you are a prophet,” she replies. She realizes that Jesus knows entirely too much about her life and her choices to be anything else. Since you are so smart, Jesus, let us talk about an “issue” that has been plaguing the Jews and Samaritans for quite some time. She asks, “Are we supposed to worship in the temple, or are we supposed to worship on this mountain?” Is she genuinely interested in getting the answer to this question, or is she trying to avoid any more unpleasant talk about her sin and poor choices.
Either way, Jesus obliges and continues to have a very meaningful conversation with her. He replies, “A time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.” Okay, let me say something here…both the Jews and the Samaritans are at fault in their worship. The Samaritans have missed the mark because they worship God, but they do not truly understand God. They accepted only the Pentatuch (Genesis through Deuteronomy), therefore, leaving out much of his revelation in the prophets, they really knew little of him (i.e. his character, his nature). The Jews truly knew God, and the Messiah was even to come from Jewish lineage; but, they missed the mark because their religious experience up to this point was confined to a building (one that was soon to be destroyed and what then?). Both groups had a thing or two to learn about worship!
Jesus defines it for her, and certainly later defines it for all of John’s readers (that includes you and me, by the way). Jesus says, “A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” Think about that for a second! Jesus just said that there is such a thing as a “true worshiper,” which also implies that there are people out there who do not truly worship. You mean, there are people out there who get together, they know God, but there is the chance that God does not accept their worship? Apparently so!! Why? Well, they are not truly worshiping God because they are not worshiping him in spirit and in truth.
God is spirit. Do you realize what that means? That means that God is everywhere. He is not a physical body that is tied down to any type of physical structure (mountain or building). God is spirit, therefore, he cannot be contained. He is everywhere and can be worshiped anywhere. Jesus has just redefined the location of worship. We cannot put ourselves in a position to dictate “how” or “where” we worship. We must only come in the way the spirit of God opens for us. God is to be worshiped in the place he is present. I once heard a man say, “God is not nearly as concerned with the ‘tune’ of worship, as he is with the ‘tude’ of worship (attitude/heart).” I truly believe that there is much truth in that.
This “truth” Jesus speaks of, what is it? I believe that he is speaking of worship that is done in a true way, worship that is genuine. A people who worship in truth are ones that recognize God, his character, and his nature. They also equally recognize their need for him. These people worship “in truth” because they worship what is true (Jesus, John 14). They approach God with an attitude like this, “Thank you for understanding where I am; I can hardly wait to be where you are!”
All of these thoughts bring me to ask a question, “Do we worship with instruments or without?” Does it really matter? But then again, thinking along the lines of this story, why do we get so wrapped up in asking such a question? Sometimes I wonder if we are not a lot like the Samaritan woman in this story. She, I believe, changed the subject to worship because she was tired of being confronted with the unpleasantness of her sin. I wonder if we like to focus so much on “issues” because we are afraid of confronting the real issues in our lives…pride, passion, arrogance, prejudice, hate, lust. It is so much easier to focus on some other “issue” that will soon be a matter of little consequence. I mean really, when Jesus comes back is he going to care whether we are worshiping with a piano, band, or a cappella? Or, is he just going to be ecstatic that he finds his church worshiping in spirit and truth upon his return? I mean, after all, he is coming with trumpets, right?
In closing, I want to leave you all with a passage of Scripture that I hope encourages some serious reflection from all of us. It comes from 2 Corinthians 3:17 and reads, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” What if we spent less time disputing the issues and more time swimming in the springs of water welling up to eternal life? Life in Christ. Let’s LIVE!
Now she wants to change the subject. “I can see you are a prophet,” she replies. She realizes that Jesus knows entirely too much about her life and her choices to be anything else. Since you are so smart, Jesus, let us talk about an “issue” that has been plaguing the Jews and Samaritans for quite some time. She asks, “Are we supposed to worship in the temple, or are we supposed to worship on this mountain?” Is she genuinely interested in getting the answer to this question, or is she trying to avoid any more unpleasant talk about her sin and poor choices.
Either way, Jesus obliges and continues to have a very meaningful conversation with her. He replies, “A time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.” Okay, let me say something here…both the Jews and the Samaritans are at fault in their worship. The Samaritans have missed the mark because they worship God, but they do not truly understand God. They accepted only the Pentatuch (Genesis through Deuteronomy), therefore, leaving out much of his revelation in the prophets, they really knew little of him (i.e. his character, his nature). The Jews truly knew God, and the Messiah was even to come from Jewish lineage; but, they missed the mark because their religious experience up to this point was confined to a building (one that was soon to be destroyed and what then?). Both groups had a thing or two to learn about worship!
Jesus defines it for her, and certainly later defines it for all of John’s readers (that includes you and me, by the way). Jesus says, “A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” Think about that for a second! Jesus just said that there is such a thing as a “true worshiper,” which also implies that there are people out there who do not truly worship. You mean, there are people out there who get together, they know God, but there is the chance that God does not accept their worship? Apparently so!! Why? Well, they are not truly worshiping God because they are not worshiping him in spirit and in truth.
God is spirit. Do you realize what that means? That means that God is everywhere. He is not a physical body that is tied down to any type of physical structure (mountain or building). God is spirit, therefore, he cannot be contained. He is everywhere and can be worshiped anywhere. Jesus has just redefined the location of worship. We cannot put ourselves in a position to dictate “how” or “where” we worship. We must only come in the way the spirit of God opens for us. God is to be worshiped in the place he is present. I once heard a man say, “God is not nearly as concerned with the ‘tune’ of worship, as he is with the ‘tude’ of worship (attitude/heart).” I truly believe that there is much truth in that.
This “truth” Jesus speaks of, what is it? I believe that he is speaking of worship that is done in a true way, worship that is genuine. A people who worship in truth are ones that recognize God, his character, and his nature. They also equally recognize their need for him. These people worship “in truth” because they worship what is true (Jesus, John 14). They approach God with an attitude like this, “Thank you for understanding where I am; I can hardly wait to be where you are!”
All of these thoughts bring me to ask a question, “Do we worship with instruments or without?” Does it really matter? But then again, thinking along the lines of this story, why do we get so wrapped up in asking such a question? Sometimes I wonder if we are not a lot like the Samaritan woman in this story. She, I believe, changed the subject to worship because she was tired of being confronted with the unpleasantness of her sin. I wonder if we like to focus so much on “issues” because we are afraid of confronting the real issues in our lives…pride, passion, arrogance, prejudice, hate, lust. It is so much easier to focus on some other “issue” that will soon be a matter of little consequence. I mean really, when Jesus comes back is he going to care whether we are worshiping with a piano, band, or a cappella? Or, is he just going to be ecstatic that he finds his church worshiping in spirit and truth upon his return? I mean, after all, he is coming with trumpets, right?
In closing, I want to leave you all with a passage of Scripture that I hope encourages some serious reflection from all of us. It comes from 2 Corinthians 3:17 and reads, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” What if we spent less time disputing the issues and more time swimming in the springs of water welling up to eternal life? Life in Christ. Let’s LIVE!
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
"A Crippling Fear"
Well, it has been a while since my last post, but I have really been struggling with how to say what it is I have to say. As you read the following, I pray that you read it in the spirit which it was written.
I am well aware that the Bible tells us that we should have a healthy fear of our Lord God. The question I guess that has been plaguing me is, “Is it possible to be so afraid of God that it actually keeps you from experiencing God in the greatest possible ways?”
For years, the two passages I have most often heard recited to me to support the view of a cappella worship only have been the following:
19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Eph 5:19-20 (NIV)
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
Col 3:16 (NIV)
I have really tried to wrap these two passages around my heart and mind for some time, but the more I read them and think on them, the more I come to believe that they are the furthest thing from proof texts for the a cappella only view. Let me make something very, very clear. I love a cappella worship, and some of my fondest and most meaningful worship experiences have come while worshipping without instruments. However, at the same time, I do not at all believe that a cappella is the only form of worship that is acceptable to God, nor do I approve of any who condemn others for worshiping with instruments.
I do not believe that either of the passages above is dealing with how a church should or should not conduct themselves in their praise and worship. So, to say that these verses support a cappella worship, and at the same time, condemn instrumental worship is a complete and irresponsible misuse of the text. Both are in the context of relationship. Paul is not instructing us on how or how not to sing to God, he is instructing us on how we should speak to one another, teach one another, and live with one another!
I am still looking, but I have not yet been able to find a Scripture that very explicitly condemns the use of instrumental praise and worship. I am also aware that there is not a Scripture in the New Testament that explicitly states that you can worship the Lord with instrumental music. But I have been able to find many passages in the Old Testament that inform us that God’s people worshipped him the instrumental music.
This now brings me to some thoughts and a question. My thoughts: God did accept worship with instruments in the Old Testament. Many of the psalms were written to the tune of instruments. Then when we get to the New Testament there never really is a clear position on worship with our without instruments. My question: If God accepted it in the Old Testament, but then decided after Christ that it was irreverent and unacceptable, why did he not provide some clear, concise instruction on how we should worship him (whether in the teachings of Jesus or the inspire writings of others)? Maybe someone can help me with this.
I understand the desire to avoid instrumental worship because the Scriptures never openly say that you “can” use instruments in worship. What I do not understand is how and why the use of instruments in worship has become a salvation issue. Many have said, quite harshly and confidently, that if you use instruments in worship you will lose your salvation. How does anyone get that from the Scriptures? Maybe someone can help me with this one too.
Do we lean so heavily on the view that God is this Almighty Judge that we are afraid to “experiment” with the grey areas for fear that God will crush us with his hands of justice? There were times that God’s justice and God’s wrath were necessary, but in all of those cases, God’s children had turned their backs on him and had begun worshipping idols and others gods. Should any of us be judging the hearts of those worshipping with instruments? What if this is their way to connect with God and use the talents he has given them to his glory? I said before that it is healthy to fear God in many respects. Is it possible to fear God to the extent that your fear is crippling you from experiencing God in new and powerful ways? I do not believe that God is going to dismiss sincere men and women of the faith on judgment day because they used instruments in their worship.
I prefer to see God as the All-Forgiving Father. That is the picture of God I believe Scripture paints clearly for us. I do not believe his forgiveness is a license to sin, but I do believe there is “grace” in areas where there is not much clarity given in Scripture. Just notice how many times God forgave his people for their selfishness. I have worshipped in churches that are instrumental. I have watched the lead singers, members of the band, and the other members of the church, and I have been impressed with the conviction and heart with which they praise God. I understand there is a risk when using instruments of becoming more concerned about the “show” than you are about the worship. But I truly believe similar risks are involved even in a cappella worship.
Please understand that I worship in a church that practices a cappella worship, and I enjoy the worship. I am not, however, willing to jump on the band wagon that condemns other brothers and sisters in the faith for worshipping with instruments. I just don’t understand how some have come to make this an issue of ones salvation when I see no evidence in the Scriptures that supports such a claim. I pray that one day we can all move past this “issue” and focus on those around us that still have not yet met the risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I am well aware that the Bible tells us that we should have a healthy fear of our Lord God. The question I guess that has been plaguing me is, “Is it possible to be so afraid of God that it actually keeps you from experiencing God in the greatest possible ways?”
For years, the two passages I have most often heard recited to me to support the view of a cappella worship only have been the following:
19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Eph 5:19-20 (NIV)
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
Col 3:16 (NIV)
I have really tried to wrap these two passages around my heart and mind for some time, but the more I read them and think on them, the more I come to believe that they are the furthest thing from proof texts for the a cappella only view. Let me make something very, very clear. I love a cappella worship, and some of my fondest and most meaningful worship experiences have come while worshipping without instruments. However, at the same time, I do not at all believe that a cappella is the only form of worship that is acceptable to God, nor do I approve of any who condemn others for worshiping with instruments.
I do not believe that either of the passages above is dealing with how a church should or should not conduct themselves in their praise and worship. So, to say that these verses support a cappella worship, and at the same time, condemn instrumental worship is a complete and irresponsible misuse of the text. Both are in the context of relationship. Paul is not instructing us on how or how not to sing to God, he is instructing us on how we should speak to one another, teach one another, and live with one another!
I am still looking, but I have not yet been able to find a Scripture that very explicitly condemns the use of instrumental praise and worship. I am also aware that there is not a Scripture in the New Testament that explicitly states that you can worship the Lord with instrumental music. But I have been able to find many passages in the Old Testament that inform us that God’s people worshipped him the instrumental music.
This now brings me to some thoughts and a question. My thoughts: God did accept worship with instruments in the Old Testament. Many of the psalms were written to the tune of instruments. Then when we get to the New Testament there never really is a clear position on worship with our without instruments. My question: If God accepted it in the Old Testament, but then decided after Christ that it was irreverent and unacceptable, why did he not provide some clear, concise instruction on how we should worship him (whether in the teachings of Jesus or the inspire writings of others)? Maybe someone can help me with this.
I understand the desire to avoid instrumental worship because the Scriptures never openly say that you “can” use instruments in worship. What I do not understand is how and why the use of instruments in worship has become a salvation issue. Many have said, quite harshly and confidently, that if you use instruments in worship you will lose your salvation. How does anyone get that from the Scriptures? Maybe someone can help me with this one too.
Do we lean so heavily on the view that God is this Almighty Judge that we are afraid to “experiment” with the grey areas for fear that God will crush us with his hands of justice? There were times that God’s justice and God’s wrath were necessary, but in all of those cases, God’s children had turned their backs on him and had begun worshipping idols and others gods. Should any of us be judging the hearts of those worshipping with instruments? What if this is their way to connect with God and use the talents he has given them to his glory? I said before that it is healthy to fear God in many respects. Is it possible to fear God to the extent that your fear is crippling you from experiencing God in new and powerful ways? I do not believe that God is going to dismiss sincere men and women of the faith on judgment day because they used instruments in their worship.
I prefer to see God as the All-Forgiving Father. That is the picture of God I believe Scripture paints clearly for us. I do not believe his forgiveness is a license to sin, but I do believe there is “grace” in areas where there is not much clarity given in Scripture. Just notice how many times God forgave his people for their selfishness. I have worshipped in churches that are instrumental. I have watched the lead singers, members of the band, and the other members of the church, and I have been impressed with the conviction and heart with which they praise God. I understand there is a risk when using instruments of becoming more concerned about the “show” than you are about the worship. But I truly believe similar risks are involved even in a cappella worship.
Please understand that I worship in a church that practices a cappella worship, and I enjoy the worship. I am not, however, willing to jump on the band wagon that condemns other brothers and sisters in the faith for worshipping with instruments. I just don’t understand how some have come to make this an issue of ones salvation when I see no evidence in the Scriptures that supports such a claim. I pray that one day we can all move past this “issue” and focus on those around us that still have not yet met the risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
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