December 30, 2018

Where Were You Today?

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching. – Hebrews 10:24-25

Once again they’d taken the boat and gone fishing. It was Sunday. She and her husband, their kids and their friends were all on the lake. It was a fun day.

They just felt so close to God on the lake, she explained. It was no different than being in church, she rationalized. They were enjoying God’s creation. It was all good.

Except it wasn’t.

Attending services on Sunday morning is about worshipping God. It’s about remembering who He is and all that He’s done for us. We pause and remember to praise God for all things.

Going out on the boat with friends and family for a day of fishing is all about us. It’s about enjoying ourselves. Sure, we’re enjoying God’s creation but it’s not about Him. It’s all about us. And that’s the difference between going to church and going to the lake.

I could substitute any number of activities for fishing on the lake. The beach is also a popular place for a Sunday trip. And we deserve to sleep in at least once a week. Doesn’t a lazy day watching movies sound good? We’re supposed to rest. Surely, God understands.

Do we understand when God delays in answering our requests? Do we make excuses when He says no? Do we believe that God is much, much more than a vending machine whose sole purpose is to grant our every wish?

It’s not about us. Oh, we know that. Except we don’t always act as though we believe it. We don’t live as though we believe it.

I’m all about having fun and enjoying life. God wants that for us too. But there has to be a balance. God must come first. Always. Because when you put the desires of the flesh before the worship of our Creator, your heart slowly turns away from God. He becomes an option and, well, options get moved further and further away from priorities.

What did you do today? Our services, and those at other area churches, had extremely low attendance. People are tired. People are traveling. People are otherwise occupied. Jesus’ birthday has come and gone and we’re back to normal.  Self is first. God is a distant option somewhere down the line.

The body of Christ is to gather regularly, to worship God and to encourage one another in our faith walk. When church attendance becomes an option, we’ve lost sight of our purpose.

December 27, 2018

Honor the Sabbath

“Also I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would know that I the LORD made them holy.” – Ezekiel 20:12

“because they rejected my laws and did not follow my decrees and desecrated my Sabbaths. For their hearts were devoted to their idols.” – Ezekiel 20:16

“You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths.” – Ezekiel 22:8

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.” – Exodus 20:8-10

How do you spend your Sabbath day? For most Christians, we have set apart Sunday for that day. But do you set it apart for God?

I know. There’s lots of reasons that doesn’t happen in your life. Some people work to feed their families and pay bills. Some people work to provide for the rest of us. These include doctors and hospital staff, police officers and fire fighters. But what about the rest of us?

In the area in which I live, baseball is huge. There are night games during the week. Saturdays are filled with ball games. And, increasingly, Sunday too is occupied with baseball.

Now, I love baseball. I do. But when it comes to kids and families I sometimes wonder if we’ve misplaced our priorities.

We talk a lot about putting God back into our schools and government. We’re adamant about our beliefs when it comes to what the Bible says about controversial subjects. But it’s difficult not to see the hypocrisy when it comes to how we view the Sabbath.

One parent explained that he always led a devotional for the players and coaches before the Sunday games. Besides, he continued, the kids enjoy playing so it’s not really work. My question was this: When do they rest? The hard truth he couldn’t deny is that they don’t rest.

We have become a land of busy people seeking God in all the wrong places. We make excuses when it’s something we want to do and we condemn others for doing what we think they shouldn’t do. We ignore God’s clear laws in order to chase after idols.

Please don’t try and tell me that baseball isn’t an idol. Anything – baseball, money, job, fishing, yard work – that comes before God is an idol. When you choose to ignore the Sabbath, you choose to ignore God.

Everyone needs a day of rest, whether that day is Sunday or another day of the week. We need a chance to recharge and to remember God and all that He does for us. We need time to refocus our priorities back on our Creator. It is from Him that we draw our strength, gain our wisdom, and live according to His calling on our lives.

So, what are you doing on Sunday? If the answer doesn’t involve worshipping God, you need to rethink your faith.

October 14, 2018

It’s All About Perspective

All the believers were together and had everything in common. – Acts 2:44

People met today to worship God. For some, it was another routine Sunday. They gathered in their sanctuaries and other buildings to sing and hear a sermon. Some complained about the temperature. Others noted the loudness of the music or the appropriateness of the pastor’s message.

There was another group of people who met today to worship God. They gathered outside, bringing their own chairs to sit in. The only music was what came from their voices. They listened intently to the pastor’s voice, desperate for a word of hope and thanksgiving.

They met outside because Hurricane Michael had ravaged the sanctuaries of the churches they once attended. They brought their own chairs, or sat on the ground, because there was nowhere else to sit. They weren’t concerned about how loud the music might be or how long the sermon went.

Priorities shift when the life you once knew is gone forever. They came today to hear that God always keeps His promises. God promises to turn bad into good if we’ll just hand it over to Him. God promises to never leave us. God promises to sustain us, to give us strength and courage, to show us the way.

God always keeps His promises. That’s what they were holding tightly to today.

The “church” in our world today means a building that houses worship services. But, actually, the church is the body of believers. It’s you and me. We are the church.

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. – Ephesians 2:19-21

We get so caught up in comfort and control and things that really don’t matter. Sometimes it takes losing everything to refocus our lives on what’s important.

A dear woman posted today that it finally occurred to her that while she was whining about being without power, others have lost everything. It’s not just that their home and possessions are gone. They don’t have jobs anymore because their employer is gone too. She finally understood that while she was focused on her own discomfort, there was people who would give anything if electricity was all they were missing.

It’s all about focus, isn’t it? It comes down to what is truly important. People are important. Stuff, well, it can vanish quickly in the face of 150 mph winds.

Today people gathered to thank God for their lives. They thanked Him for volunteers and bottled water and so many other blessings. And they asked for courage as they cling to hope that one day this will all be a distant nightmare.

September 20, 2018

Who Do You Worship?

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the LORD your God, and serve him only.’” – Matthew 4:10

Do you remember when Jesus said this? It was when He was in the wilderness being tempted by Satan. The devil had offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and all of their splendor. He promised it to Jesus if He would only do one thing: worship Satan.

Of course, we’re to worship God first. We know that. It’s one of the Ten Commandments. We would never bow down and worship another god. That’s what we say anyway. But are you sure?

There are many types of gods in our lives, whether we acknowledge them as such or not. For some, their god becomes the volunteer work they’re committed to. It becomes their life and everything else revolves around it. Volunteer work is a good thing. Surely, it is. Until it becomes more important that God.

Another common god is money. There are those who will do anything, sacrifice anything, to earn more and more money. They are never satisfied. Every dollar seems to fuel a need for ten more. It’s what they think about constantly. Money has replaced God in their hearts.

Or consider the children in your life. They are gifts from God and, surely, we are to prize them above all else. Except how often do we opt out of time with God because the kids’ activities interfere with it? How often do we miss church because of a sporting event? How often do we forgo tithing because that new pageant dress or tech toy that all the other kids have is really more than we can afford? We want our kids to be the best and have the best – even if that means God gets less and less and less.

Is any of this making sense yet? Whatever you focus your time and attention on the most is what you worship. It is your idol. It is what you value more than God.

Don’t get me wrong. None of the things I’ve mentioned, nor any of the many others I could have mentioned, are bad. They aren’t. It’s good to volunteer. It’s good to work hard. It’s good to give and do for your children. It’s when it reaches an extreme that it starts to edge deeper into your heart, pulling you farther and farther away from God.

God wants your heart. He wants all of you, but He understands that it’s our heart that determines how the rest of us will go. God made us with a thirst that only He can quench. One pastor called it a worship chip. It’s the only thing that will fill us up and make us whole.

When we try to shove all the other things of our lives into that hole, it only pulls us away from God and makes us miserably unhappy. We are made to worship God first and nothing else will ever satisfy us.

So, the next time you find your focus pulling away from God stop and consider your priorities. The next time you make a choice that puts something or someone before God, take a moment to really think about why you are making that choice. The slope away from God is slippery. Satan makes sure of that. Don’t let him lead you someplace you never intended to go by worshipping an idol you never intended to worship.

April 8, 2018

The Easter People

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” – John 4:23-24

Last Sunday the sanctuary was full. The Easter people had arrived, dressed in their finery and lining up to take photos in front of the flower-filled cross.  Most, no doubt, had plans afterward for dinners and brunches, egg hunts and fellowship. It was a holiday, after all.

I attend a contemporary service that gathers twice each Sunday in the fellowship hall. It was full. There were no more chairs to put out. The traditional services in the sanctuary had very few seats available. It was truly a blessing.

Some of those seats were filled with people who were visiting from out of town. But many were filled with people who just don’t view attending worship services as a priority. It’s all about the beach or the lake or the ballgames. God falls far below the list of things one must do on a Sunday morning.

How sad. How would we feel if God only showed up for us on special holidays? How would we react if Jesus only saved us one day a year? Why do we think it’s okay to expect Him to always be there for us when we can’t even give him an hour or so once each week?

I looked up the definition of sanctuary. I wanted to make sure I could correctly use the word to explain how we use the church fellowship hall each Sunday morning. Some of the definitions I expected. Sanctuary means a church, a temple, a holy place.

But it also means a refuge. A sanctuary is a place of safety where people who are in danger can go to be safe. How powerful is that?

We all need His protection. Whether we realize it or not, whether we accept it or not, we are under attack 24/7, 365 days a year. Satan and his followers want nothing more than to derail God’s good plans for His people. We encourage that when we fail to surround ourselves with the most basic things, such as worshiping our Lord in the presence of other believers.

Faith in God, gratitude to Jesus, and being filled with His Spirit isn’t just something we can trot out on special occasions and call ourselves good. It’s a daily thing, a way of life. That’s true faith. It’s a life that worships our Risen Lord every single day.

We want that but we don’t. We’d rather spend our days living in the world, enjoying its pleasures. We want what God can give us but we don’t want to sacrifice anything, including our precious time, to give Him something in return. It’s all about us. At least that’s what Satan whispers in our ears. We fail to notice, to understand, that it’s never been about us at all.

Sunday services will be back to normal today. All the guests have returned home. All the Easter people are back about their business, doing what they do on Sunday mornings. Church is a distant memory. They’re good. No need to attend every week.

I wonder what would happen if we were Easter people all the time. I wonder how our lives, our world, would change if we truly embraced Christ every day. I wonder how our hearts might love others if we filled ourselves with the love that He gives so freely to us.

Where are you this Sunday morning? Are you worshiping God or are you embracing the world?

November 11, 2013

This comes from David Jeremiah's daily devotionals.

 

Knowing the God We Worship
Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the LORD, and spoke, saying: ... "The LORD is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him."
Exodus 15:1-2

Recommended Reading Ezra 3:10-13

Many people come to know Christ personally after having attended church for many years. And they often give testimony to experiencing a different kind of worship after becoming a Christian. Before being saved, they were singing worship songs about God; after being saved, they were singing to God. It boils down to the difference between knowing about God and knowing God Himself.
After Moses led the Hebrew slaves across the floor of the Red Sea, out of the reach of the Egyptian army, he led them in a song of worship to the God who had just delivered them from death. For understandable reasons, their song was sung in personal terms: "The LORD is my strength ... my salvation; He is my God" (Exodus 15:2, italics added). Up until this point, they had learned about God through the plagues on Egypt. But their knowledge had suddenly become personal!

People who know the works of God in their own lives are the ones who worship with the most meaning. The next time you are involved in worship, consider what God has done for you personally.

If worship does not change us it has not been worship.
Richard J. Foster

Sunday, March 4, 2012

God Wants Our Love

And so the Lord says, “These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away. And their worship of me amounts to nothing more than human laws learned by rote.” -- Isaiah 29:13

They go through the motions. They follow the rules. They know the rules well. They interpret them as they see fit, frequently looking down on those who either don’t know the rules or don’t follow them. They’ve got religion figured out. It’s the faith that alludes them.

We are all hypocrites of one kind or another. We want to be better than we are. We pretend we’re happy when we’re not. Part of life is always fake, whether we intend it or not. We are taught to be nice, to tell people what they want to hear, to be tender with the feelings of others.

Some of that is good. Taming the tongue, James says, is impossible. But we must try because our tongue sends forth evil whether we intend it or not. That is a different kind of hypocrisy than that of those who believe they are better people, better Christians, than those around them.

I once attended the same Sunday school class as a woman who did just that. She was so filled with the rules -- some of which were just simply not part of the Bible. For example, she insisted that the Bible tells us not to drink alcohol. It doesn’t. It warns us against drunkenness, which is not the same thing. She insisted that we aren’t suppose to do anything to lead someone else to sin. True. So what about banning desserts from the potluck? Our nation has an obesity problem and that’s just too much temptation. She didn’t find it funny.

I suppose it isn’t. Because telling people something is in the Bible when it isn’t is wrong. And misrepresenting something is wrong as well. It’s why I encourage people to read or listen to the Bible for themselves. Ask questions. Study. Pray.

But I digress. One topic that really upsets the rules folks is the traditional vs. contemporary church serves. They can get quite vocal when it comes to the “proper” way to worship God. From their point of view, it’s about the proper songs and the proper liturgy, the proper dress code and the established length of time. I always thought it was about the heart.

God wants us to love Him for who He is. God wants us to worship Him for who He is. God wants us to desire a relationship with Him for who He is. It’s not about rules and tradition and style of music. It’s about love and trust and faith.

There’s that word again: Faith. It’s dancing before the throne of God because He is who He says He is. It’s about singing words with hands lifted up toward the Almighty who has joined us in His place. It’s about standing beneath the light of His love and knowing, really knowing, who we are in Him. It is loving God and giving Him all we have because of all He has already given us.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Worship God From Your Heart

But as the Ark of the LORD entered the City of David, Michal, daughter of Saul, looked down from her window. When she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she was filled with contempt for him. -- 2 Samuel 6:16

Times are changing in our church service. A new outreach program has brought in many new people. We are thrilled. But not everyone worships exactly the same. There’s nothing wrong with that and, indeed, many things right with it. But change can open our eyes in ways we didn’t expect.

I attend a contemporary worship service. The congregation claps and sings along with the band performing on stage. We are outspoken and committed to learning and growing in Christ. The folks in the traditional services think we’re a little bit nuts. Maybe we are.

We are also a welcoming bunch. Unlike some Deep South churches, we genuinely welcome everyone into our fold. We have homegrown folks sitting next to people from different parts of this country and a few from other countries. We’ve got white, black and brown all sitting together. We’ve got young, old and some in between. Who you were doesn’t matter. Who you are -- a child of God -- is what draws us to this time and place.

I mention all this so that you can understand we’re open to just about anything. The new folks that have joined us fit right in. They do. And we’re slowly getting used to the “Hallelujah’s” and “Praise Jesus” being yelled out at unexpected times. And, well, we’ve had dancing before Jesus before so that’s okay too. Really.

But it’s amusing to watch the more conservative among us trying not to stare at those who are worshipping a little bit differently. They don’t want to be amazed or uncomfortable but they are. And that, in turn, makes them uneasy with themselves. We want to be open to everyone but what happens when we aren’t as open as we thought we were?

One thing I’ve always loved about King David was his willingness to show his love for God. He gladly danced in the streets before His God. So what if others didn’t approve? I want to have that kind of faith. I want to be open to worship God with that kind of love and abandon.

We are so delighted to have the new folks in our midst. I pray they learn and grow in Christ and that our church family can somehow be a blessing to them. I pray also that they continue to be a blessing to us, that we learn to let go and worship God from the deepest parts of our hearts and soul, without worry of how we’ll appear but focused totally on our LORD and our Creator.