knowledge leads to worship

This last week was spent preparing a message that I was to give in one of my classes in seminary. The passage I was explaining was 1 Chronicles 13-16. in this account David is seeming to do the will of God by transporting the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem to establish a central place of worship for Israel; however, as he is doing this he breaks two commands of God in regards to how the Ark should be transported (only by the Levites and carried by the poles that were in it). While on their trek to Jerusalem the ox pulling the cart that the Ark is on stumbles and in an effort to catch the Ark Uzzah reaches out and places his hand on the Ark. In response to this God kills Uzzah and David becomes fearful of God (not the fear that is awe/respect but rather fright/scared). Throughout this situation David has an incorrect view of who God is. He doesn't understand that God not only has a will he is accomplishing but also a way in which he wants it accomplished. In the next couple chapters David goes through a transformation of his understanding ultimately a correct view of who God is in regards to doing His will His way. At the end of chapter 15 and nearly all of chapter 16 we see David's expression of passionate worship of God. Instead of responding in an inaccurate fear of God he responds in inspired worship of Him. IN my study of this passage, in conjuction with other situations that have occured in the past couple weeks, I have come to a conclusion that when we come to a new or refreshed understanding of who God is it will motivate the passion of our worship of Him. If we are experiencing dull boring worship the first place to look is not the style of the worship or the structure of the song, the first place to look is our understanding of God. If we have been learning about God the passion of our worship will ultimately be affected by it. There is another area that i have been thinking and wrestling with for a few days is in the area of our corporate worship. the typical Sunday morning service has singing first and then the sermon; however, if it is true that coming to a new or refreshed understanding of God will impact the passion of worship then why do we structure our service in this way? Should we not learn about God through the sermon and then give opprotunity to the body of Christ to express that corporatly through the singing of praise to Him.

submission not death

In my Greek class this semester one of the passages we were asked to translate was Mark 8:34-38. This is the section where Jesus says the line "if anyone desires to follow after me, he must deny himself and take (or carry) his cross and follow me." My professor, as he was working through the text with us, pointed this out. Jesus was not commanding that the disciples sacrifice their lives for him as a martyr (though that would ultimately be the case for all of them, including John though not tortured was sent as an exile to Patmos where he would eventually die.) in the time of Christ carrying your cross was not about the punishment, it was not really even about the crime that was committed but it had to do with the criminal showing their submission to the authority. I believe that this is what Christ was getting at when he made this statment, not that we would seek to be a martyr for him (I do not want to take away from those who have died a martyrs death because of the cause of Christ, this is remarkable and a level of sacrifce that should be modelled but I do not believe that martyrdom is the ultimate end or pursuit that every believer should be striving for) we need instead to consecrate our lives in a way that would prevent us from falling into the same trap that Peter fell into in the few short verses before this verse. Jesus calls Peter out because he has set his mind on the things of man and not on the things of God. In an effort to get the disciples on board and having an attitude of submission towards God's perfect will, that of Christ being sacrificed on the cross Jesus brings to mind an illustration that would be very prevelent in the minds of the disciples. "Take up your cross and follow me." We are fulfilling this teaching of Christ as we live our lives in a way that would demonstrte our submission to the will of God.