When I am out of synch (part 3)

Then I ask myself how many false idols have I set up? (Micah 5:9-15) Do I recognize them for what they are? Or do I believe God won’t mind, or even so that perhaps these aren’t so bad after all? And have I fooled myself that this is what God allows as worship? Do I worship the stars and heavens that God made? Or am I intimately involved with thanking Him for making these? (Zephaniah 1:3-9) Do I give up my God for worshipping false idols, whatever they may be? (Rom1: 25) God knows my heart. He knows where my heart’s pleasures take it. And He will let me see one by one the gods I have put before Him fall to the earth and smash into a million pieces as though a valuable vase has just been made dust. (Acts 7:40-46) Before the one true God, all idols are destroyed.(Acts 19:27) And God will look upon my worship, and determine if I am truly trying to follow His blessed commandments, and remember Him by keeping His Word sacred and being involved in worship and fellowshipping with others that He has called. In Zachariah, the author is exhorted to keep the festival of the tabernacle, to worship the King, to go to Jerusalem to carry on such worship(Zech 14:14-20). If this does not happen, God will judge them accordingly. The Greek word for this is sebazomai (Strong’s reference: to honor religiously) This is true with my worship. If I say I worship the one true God, yet do not go to commune with others also in worship of Him then my worship will be judged. (Heb 10:25) Does this mean I have to keep “holy days”? Not neccessarily. But it does mean that I should keep special those times when God, and I and others that He has called are together and to treat them as He is in the presence of myself and others.  The divining rod is God’s word. Is my worship to honor God? (Luke 14:10-16) Or am I making a check list and, after doing each item, do believe that my worship to God is complete and I have done what the Father asks me to do? (Matt 15:5-12, Mark 7:5-12) That is, is my worship in truth and spirit? (John 4:14-28). There is always the possibility that my worship to God is so concerned with where and how and what scripture that I forget the why and the who (Acts 18:9-15). There is always the possibility that I can be worshipping and not understanding why (Acts 8:24-32, Acts 17:18-23). False worship denies the Sonship of Jesus and the power of God, or at least tries to transfer that power to us so that it becomes selfish and self-absorbed. False worship is being in the desert and giving into satan (Matt 4:7-13). False worship is taking the apple from the serpent in the Garden of Eden, simply because the devil whispered to me that I can take it. (Gen 3) False worship is seeing evil and being fooled by it. (Rev 13:4)  False worship condemns my heart because of what I have chosen to follow (Rev 13:8-12, 14:9) In false worship there is division. (Rev 13:6-8) It is so convincing and so insidious that I can even be convinced of the old idea “my way or the highway”, and I can believe that my righteous indignation is justified by nothing being written about how such-and-thus is done. While that may be true, I am reminded of the two people in Philipi that quarreled in the church there. Paul doesn’t give us the reason, and I am not so sure it matters. What matters is that Paul urged them to be of like mind to Christ. (Phil 4:2)  How ludicrous it is to assume that just because I believe one way is right that is the only possible way to do something! It’s God’s way that is important.(Rev 14:5-11) The one who made the universe, the Creator. And if God encourages us or if we allow God to encourage us, we can worship and not be afraid of the beast or even drawn away by the beast. If not, false worship will destroy everything, even to the death of myself. (Rev 13:15, Rev 14:11) That is not God being cruel. That is God giving me what I have told Him I wanted out of my relationship with Him. When I am out of synch with what He wants. (Acts 7:43)

 

When I am out of synch (part 2)

Then again, there are many false gods that I won’t give up in favor of Him, because I believe He doesn’t see me. I struggle with using the internet chat rooms simply because I don’t think He’ll care, after all, nothing is going on in reality, all of what I did was fantasy. Ah, but what is in a person’s heart that defines that person. If I act and fantasize about something, given the opportunity how can I assure myself I won’t act out the reality of it? I cannot hide from God. (Ps 73:9,11; Ps 10:11,13; Ps 78:19,20; Ps 94:7)  I cannot and He will as a consequence not hide His wrath from me should I deceive myself in such a manner. (Ps 50:21) The truth is I would rather not face His wrath, and so I would just as soon do things His way. Call it fear. Call it survival. But the minute I don’t take God seriously is when I don’t understand that God is in control. And I never want to get to that point, even though I don’t understand Him and His ways, at least not totally. (Prove 30:7-9) I don’t want to fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy off Is 8:21,22 when in my hunger and in all my despair I turn away from the one person that can save me from this. I don’t want to deny Him, even though my tendency is to do just that. What awful stumbling in the dark that is! Oh, how I need Jesus, to light my way, to show me how to trust God! And so this sentiment causes me to constantly consider: Do I refuse to worship false gods, such a power, position, money (Dan3:16-22)? Am I willing to go into the fires of hell so for what I believe, even and especially when all I have been blessed with on earth is gone? During the German occupation of Holland, Corrie Ten Boom put her faith on the line like this. She went into the hell of Ravensbruck and learned what it was to truly rely on God. (See the book, The HIDING PLACE, by Corrie Ten Boom) Do I trust God to know that if I don’t survive the fire, He’ll still be holding my hand and lifting me up to heaven to be with Him? Am I willing to be thrown into the lion’s den because I refuse to pay homage to a foreign god and will not discontinue acknowledging that God in heaven is the one true God? How brave am I?(Dan 6:11ff) And where do I get my courage? Do I allow satan to discourage me? Or do I ask God to encourage me? This is worship. The Greeks have a word latreuo meaning “to serve, to render religious homage, etc.” Do I adhere to Phil 3:3 and proclaim that all the confidence I have is not in the flesh but in the Spirit of God?

When I am out of synch

False worship destroys everything, whether or not the intentions are for the good of the congregation or with the vilest intentions in mind. False worship ends in death (Rev 13:15, Rev 14:11) And false worship will mark me for the Devil, almost as strongly as I am marked for eternal life by pure participation in the Lord’s supper. If I am more concerned about doctrines, as an ends and which were nailed to the cross of Christ (Col 2), than truly worshipping the Father and using those doctrines as a tool to do so, I am no better than the Pharisee of whom Jesus spoke in Matt 15:9 that worshipped Jesus in vain. It is impossible to have tunnel vision in the law and truly worship God. (Mark 7:7)  Does this mean that the law is bad? No, all it means is that the law is abused by man, because man chooses to have a measuring stick and apply it his own way. Along came Jesus and said, “I am the only one with the right measuring stick. Use nothing else.” (Mark 2:27,28) If I don’t look at the seriousness of man’s and thus my blasphemy and abuse of God’s word then my death is imminent. (Rev 16:12, 9:20) And there are very serious results for false worship (Acts 7:43). God  cannot bless any false worship, but what He will do is allow me to practice false worship and then reap what I sow. What am I sowing? Peace? Love? Joy? Am I sowing the fruit of the Spirit against which there is no law? (Gal 5:22,23)  If I am this is what God smiles about and loves. If on the other hand, I am sowing hate and jealousy, I will meet judgment and death of my soul. Basically, God is giving me what I want. What is frightening and sobering is that false worship doesn’t have to be from evil persons. I can have the best intentions in mind, I may wish to take care of my family. The mother of the sons of Zebedee knew her sons were good boys and wanted them to sit at either side of Jesus in heaven.(Matt 20:20) I may want the best for my friends and family. But if I worship like this lady, expecting my friends to be honored and my family to be glorified for their worship by having a special seat by the Father, then that is vain worship, because my motives were not the sole purpose of worshipping either God or Christ. Only to acknowledge what a good person I am or my friends are or my family is.

 

Those all serve (part 8)

When I seek to please God, the wall of Jericho is scaled!!! (Joshua 6:4) and the true Temple of the LORD can be built. (Judges 19:18)

 

Those who believed in many gods were often used to teach those that professed to believe in God. For example, in Luke 7:2 there is an account of the Roman centurion whose servant was dying who asked healing of that servant by Jesus. And Jesus rebuked the apostles for not having a faith as strong as that centurion.  The faith of the apostles should have been stronger because they were with the Son of God, the real item, the One and Only God. The reason God wanted Jews to separate themselves from aliens, as in Nehemiah 13:24-31, was because of the effects aliens could have upon the faith and walk of the Jewish people. Unfortunately Jews were still prone to adopt alien gods and not give God their all, as I am, when I put idols ahead of Him. Often times Jews required demonstrations of God’s power over alien gods, as in I Kings 18:21, when Elijah demonstrated an ability to produce water, and the false god’s inability to do so. How do I treat God when He calls me to do something that may involve separating myself from those that refuse to believe in God or His Word or those that ridicule others that do believe? How strong in the faith am I?

 

They also serve....(part 7)

Of course, not all strangers are my enemies. I have met those that I would consider closer friends than some of my own brothers and sisters in Christ. It is a shame to say that but true. A lot of the reason is the same attitude as the woman in Matt 15:22-28, she wants to eat of the Master’s table and recognizes that she is out of the loop, so to speak. And Jesus praises her for her steadfastness and belief.

Does this mean that under any circumstances all are free to come in to God’s church? This is after all not a market for display to see what the world likes and would like to buy. In Deuteronomy 23:18, a standard was set so that not everyone could come into God’s House, at least and not continue in those ways. Someone who was a whore or whoremonger, someone who was a thief. Yes, for sure, Jesus spoke with anyone willing to listen, but they had to want to change. The church sometimes has this backwards, come to church then change. No, the idea is to change and then come to church. When I come to God’s banquet, I am expected to wear the clothes He has provided, through His son. Others are too. Does that mean that those who have not put on Christ cannot visit? Not hardly. For how do they know what my family is like unless they visit? But before I could call myself His, I had to put on His clothes (2 Corinthians 5:2-4). God wants me to have eternal life in Him. (John 3:16) But it does not please God when I sacrifice my reverence for Him to bring more and more people into the church. Observe the parable of the wedding banquet in Matthew 22:1-14. There were those who rejected His invitation, so He sent His servants to get anyone they could find to come to the feast. And there was one man who was not dressed properly for the feast. And that man was thrown out. If I come in from the street, and choose not to follow God, not to clothe myself with eternal clothes, and not to obey God, I am no more His than I was when I was on the streets. On the other hand, it does me no good to seek to get something out of God’s worship service. I should be able to do that no matter whether I am praying or worshipping Him regardless. God is not there as a crowd pleaser. He is the Creator of the Universe, and my worship time is not so that I can be wowed, but so that I can give back to Him and learn from Him what He wants to write on my heart that day. There is a distinctive danger for me if I start looking for what is deep in a service or what is shallow. Because if I start looking for what is entertaining me then I have lost the intent of worship.