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.

the harvest needs our prayer first...

In Matthew 9:35-38 we have the ever popular missionary text that Jesus taught about the laborers and the harvest [note: this post is in no way attempting to diminish mission work. Missions (both local and international) is a very vital ministry and held in high regard by the author.]. As i was looking over this passage today I noticed something, nowhere in this passage does Jesus send the disciples to go collect the harvest that he is speaking about. Later on in chapter ten he does commission the twelve to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but in the immediate context of this passage Jesus does not send them out. I do not question at all that there needs to be an increase in the laborers around the world but I do not believe that was Jesus' main point in his teaching here in this text. He does propose the problem "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;" but notice the semi-colon (at least it is one in the ESV) , it means he does not stop there, he also gives the disciples (and us) the answer, or solution, to that problem. "Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." After noticing the need for the harvest (wherever it is Africa, New York City, the coffee shop in your home town) the first and only real solution that Jesus gives us in this passage is to pray for God to bring His laborers to come and collect His harvest. It is interesting how it all centers around God it is His harvest to bring in. This passage is not a call to action but a call to faith. We need to be trusting that God will bring His laborers to collect His harvest. However another responsibility is listen to God and desiring to follow HIs will in all we do. So God could call us to be His laborers for that harvest, but our first duty, or rather privilege, is to pray to God out of of a truly compassionate heart for the lost hurting and helpless people that we see.

preparation for future leaders

lately i have been going through the book of 1 Chronicles. Reading the stories of David in the last half or so of the book has been really interesting for me. Yesterday and today i have read of how David desired to build a house for God (a temple) for the people of Israel to come and worship in and a place for the ark of the covenant to reside. It sounds like a good plan right, build a permanent place one that is fit (or as close to it as man can come) to house the ark of the covenant representing the presence of God. Wrong, God had other things in store, because of David's history in the battlefield God informs him that although it is a good idea for a permanent building David would not be the one to build it, it would be his son Solomon. I'm sure this must have hurt David to know that he wouldn't be the one to build but it didn't stop him. he continued gathering materials getting plans ready etc. preparing for the time when he would step down and another would take his place. Solomon's temple turned out to be everything that David had pictured and probably more, but it all started when a leader decided that he would continue preparing even though he may not be the one to bring it to completion.

godly women

I recently saw a quote that enthralled me. It said, "a girl's heart should be so lost in God that a man has to seek Him to find her." This is an awesome and intriguing quote. A woman who takes this serious is the woman of Proverbs 31:9 " A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies." There are two truths that are found in this statement 1) there are still women that are desirous to serve God and glorify His name above all else and 2) there are still men who desire to find them. Though I am a single guy I still have the Word of God that governs my life and throughout the Scripture there are numerous statements of advice in choosing a spouse, many of them found throughout Proverbs. This statement falls right in line with many of them and goes against none of them. A word to women, if this is your hearts desire, continue in it there are men out there who would give anything to find a treasure like you. Men, are responsibilities are not given up in this statement, we still need to stand up and be godly men, spiritually leading in relationships giving the women a godly example to follow and if you find a woman who lives this out treat her like a treasure because that is truly what she is.

dying to live

i recently heard message that for the last couple of days has really been replaying in my mind. it was on Luke 9:23-25 "Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?" Along with hearing this sermon Wednesday night i taught from Ephesians 4 and 5 which speaks very much so about removing the old nature and living as, since in reality we are, a new man. i have been really contemplating how much i need to change in my daily life if i truly am to be that disciple of Christ living out my new life in him. In the message the pastor made this quote, "you can either live temporarily to die eternally or you can die temporarily to live eternally." there is a lot in those words. this should be not only a one time decision but an ongoing process of dying temporarily to our selfish, sinful desires because of the eternal life that our Lord has given us.

Real Transformation

I was asked recently about the balance between teaching to the heart and teaching to the head in regards to youth ministry. This line can be tough to distinguish at times but is one that we need to think about when ministering with teens. Tipping the balance too far to one side could result in good feelings when involved with the youth group and good emotional status but then upon leaving the youth ministry be pulled away by every wind of doctrine. However; a scale tipped too far the other way would result in the student being so engrossed with being correct in facts about Scripture and upholding their personal image that they would know a lot but fail in bringing that knowledge inward to allow their life to be formed into the image of Christ. These two polar opposites of teaching styles need reconciled (compromising one for the other) but also need not to be forgotten (focusing on one rather than the other). Ministering to people requires the minister to be proficient in both areas, upholding correct doctrine while teaching the students (whether child or adult) to be using that doctrine to impact their life. The head knowledge will probably tend to come out more in arenas of lecture (Sunday school, Worship Services, etc.) while the heart teaching will probably come to fruition more often throughout the week in meetings or conversations that one-on-one or discussion oriented (having coffee with someone, small group, texting conversations, etc.) These are the times when we can teach someone, more effectively, how to transition doctrine from paper to life.