Tuesday, May 19, 2009

THE WAY OF WORSHIP


“Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:24-25)

I think the phrase, “for My sake” beautifully encapsulates the concept of “God-Centeredness” – a subject which I have previously begun to address, for I believe it to be both foundational and prophetic for the Church. (See "God-Centeredness" blog) The Fall of Humanity has been a fall into self-centeredness, and this self-centeredness is the greatest hindrance to God-Centeredness. I have also written that The Way of the Cross is God’s way of displacing our self-centeredness to move us back in the direction of God-Centeredness. (See "The Way of the Cross" Parts I-IV blogs) In this present article, I will focus on what the Holy Spirit has been dealing with me about regarding the phenomena of our seeking to “save” our lives while the Lord encourages us to “lose” our lives. It is obvious that it takes faith to “Let go, and let God.” – that is, to “lose our lives”. What may be a little less obvious is that we “seek to save our lives” because of unbelief. It is that “unbelief” that the Holy Spirit has been speaking to me about in my own personal life and what I hope to communicate to you here.

“FOR MY SAKE”
“It’s not about you; it’s all about God.” Unfortunately this statement has almost become clichéd, but in its reality, it portrays a truly God-Centered perspective for our Christian faith. It’s a sad fact that we can travel very far along on our spiritual journey and still be trapped in “It’s all about me.” Typically we’re not aware of this until the Spirit of Truth Who “desires truth in our innermost being” (Psalm 51:6) removes the veil from our hearts and minds. When we do embrace the reality that “It’s all about Him”, we come to the place where we see God for Who He is and see ourselves for who we are – Creator and createes. Then, and only then, do we begin to understand and find our place in HIS story and how our lives can “serve the purpose of God in our generation”. (Acts 13:36)


SEEING THE “UP-LIFTEDNESS” OF GOD
We lived and ministered in South Africa for 13 years, and during this time I became very good friends with a Brazilian who was pastoring a Portuguese-speaking church in Johannesburg. He would regularly have me come to minister in his church there, and over the years, we became very close around the Person of Christ. He eventually returned to his homeland and planted a church in the Rio de Janeiro area. Five times, he arranged month-long ministry itineraries for me in Brazil. It was in 1995, during one of these missions, after ministering to a church in Pau Grande, a town outside of Rio, the local pastor invited us to travel up the old road towards the city of Petrópolis on a mountain overlooking the city of Rio de Janeiro. The purpose was to meet and pray with a man who had been living alone in a hut on the mountain for a number of years praying for Rio de Janeiro. After meeting the man, it was suggested that we separate on the mountain, pray individually, and then re-group and pray together.

As I stood on a large boulder and looked out on the panorama of Rio de Janeiro below, the opening verse to Isaiah 6 emerged from my spirit into my mind:

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.” (Isaiah 6:1) 

I immediately knew that this wasn’t necessarily pertaining to Rio de Janeiro. What the Holy Spirit was speaking was being spoken to me. The simple message was this: “Isaiah has seen Me ‘high and lifted up. You haven’t.” I did not feel “put down” by the Lord. It just seemed that He wanted me to see something I needed to see. Then these words came up from my heart: “You have seen very well the falleness of Humanity - and this is necessary and good. But you also need to see the ‘up-liftedness’ of God.” I knew what He meant: I had clear insight into the fallen human condition - sin and its pervasive and tragic consequences in the lives of people. It had repeatedly pierced my heart for 33 years on 4 continents. I knew well the theological and experiential “death (which is) the wages of sin”. But I hadn’t sufficiently seen the “up-liftedness” of God – His redemptive power over sin and death. I hadn’t received sufficient revelation or personal experience of this in my life and ministry. Indeed, this had a limiting effect on my life and ministry. The effect had been specifically on my faith – and “without faith it is impossible to please God.” (Hebrews 11:6)

FAITH

I need to explain what I mean by “faith”. I believe my understanding is based on what is conveyed throughout the scriptures of the Bible. The Greek word translated “faith” in the verb form (for faith is an “action” word) is pisteuo, which means to believe, to trust, to depend upon, to lean upon. Therefore to “grow in faith” is to grow in dependency. Biblically, the object of such reliance is God, not self. This is expressly why Worship, and also the Way of the Cross, displace our self-centeredness and move us in the direction of God-Centeredness. When we do not have sufficient faith (reliance) in God, we tend to become self-reliant, and also begin to place our reliance on people, places and things. Unconsciously, we begin to fall into the trap of “seeking to save our lives”.

I have to admit that 15 years after that experience on the mountain in Brazil, I cannot say that this deficit in my faith has improved. In fact, it seems that in the years I have been back in the States I have seen more of my own falleness and brokenness, more of the falleness and brokenness in the lives of those I love, as well as in the society around me. The Holy Spirit has begun to make me acutely aware that I still need to see the Lord’s “up-liftedness” by showing me even more clearly how my faith, life and ministry has been limited by this lack. The details are too deep and pervasive to try to communicate here. Suffice to say, I have come to a personal spiritual crisis point. As the father of the demonized son said: “I do believe; help my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24) As the apostles asked the Lord: “Increase our faith.” (Luke 17:5)

Recently I saw the 2008 film adaptation of the John Patrick Shanley stage play Doubt: A Parable, which starred Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Father Flynn and Meryl Streep as Sister Aloysius. I highly recommend the film. I attended a Catholic church school in the ‘60s, and I would say that Shanley set the story in a 1964 Catholic church school in New York in a very authentic way. Hofffman and Steep portrayed their characters excellently. Without giving away the story line, both characters had a crisis of faith – doubt – based both upon their own shortcomings, but also upon their ministry experience of the human condition. We might say, their faith had become “jaded”. One of the descriptions the Thesaurus lists under the word “jaded” is the very apt phrase - “world-weary”. In the character portrayals, I think Shanley and the actors ingeniously brought out some deep truths regarding “doubt” or incomplete faith. In the case of the Catholic priest, the natural outlet for him was to give a sermon about “doubt”. As it turns out, his weakness of faith was the root of a serious sin. In the case of the Catholic nun, her “doubt” is finally admitted to in the powerful closing scene of the film. But near the end of the film, one begins to realize that it was because her faith was almost gasping for its final breath, that she was driven to single-handedly work and succeed at exposing the sin of the priest – seemingly quite without the help of God. And that’s the point! If you don’t believe God can or will do it, almost out of necessity, you are driven to do it! If you don’t have faith in God, you find yourself struggling alone against the sin and death in this world! That will make you “world-weary”!

I long to be able to say like Isaiah: “I saw the Lord, and He was high and lifted up.” And like Job who said: "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You.” (Job 42:5) Think about all that Job went through – typifying the consequences of the brokenness of Man. But also think of the “the outcome of the Lord’s dealings” with Job. (James 5:11) The culmination of the Job story is that God had brought him to a spiritual place – Job came to the place of seeing the Lord – “high and lifted up”. It is there that we begin to have the “faith that overcomes the world” (I John 5:4) – namely, faith in God’s redemptive power over the sin and death that pervades human existence.

THE WAY OF WORSHIP

So, what will “help our unbelief”? What will help us see the “up-liftedness” of God? This is what the Holy Spirit has shown me – it’s really nothing new – it is something very foundational: Worship. By worship, I mean recognizing and responding to the worthiness of God. It can be said that “Seeing” is the first part of worship – that which precedes and precipitates the second part, which is Response. Certainly throughout the Scriptures of the Bible when someone “sees” the Lord, the immediate response is worship. (Genesis 35:7; Leviticus 9:24; II Chronicles 7:3; Matthew 14:33; Revelation 7:11, 11:16, 19:4)

An excellent form of worship is to reflect on the names and attributes of God through Bible teaching and /or small group discussion, with praise and thanksgiving to God for Who He is. There are good books on the names and attributes of God. Lists of God’s names and attributes are also available on the Internet. {The Names of God, Andrew Jukes (Kregel); The Attributes of God, Arthur W. Pink (Baker); Knowing God, J.I. Packer (IVP); The Knowledge of the Holy, A.W. Tozer (Harper Row)} But the following excerpt from the Westminster Confession of Faith gives a wonderful introduction to the concept of seeing and worshiping God for Who He is:

“There is but one only, living, and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions; immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute; working all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will, for his own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek him; and withal, most just, and terrible in his judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty.
God hath all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of himself; and is alone in and unto himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which he hath made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting his own glory in, by, unto, and upon them. He is the alone fountain of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things; and hath most sovereign dominion over them, to do by them, for them, or upon them whatsoever himself pleaseth. In his sight all things are open and manifest, his knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature, so as nothing is to him contingent, or uncertain. He is most holy in all his counsels, in all his works, and in all his commands. To him is due from angels and men, and every other creature, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience he is pleased to require of them.” (From Chapter 2 of the Westminster Confession)

Undoubtedly, when we see God for Who He truly is, our faith will be truly strengthened.

TRUTH: AN ATTRIBUTE OF GOD

Recently, we attended a training conference equipping us to lead small groups in the The Truth Project. The Truth Project is a Christian worldview curriculum presented by Del Tackett of the Focus on the Family Institute. I found it to be more than a series on the Christian world view – it is truly a series on a God-Centered world view. The series is founded upon and begins with Truth as an attribute of God.

Jesus said: “I am … the truth .…” (John 14:6) “…truth was realized through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17) Jesus said to Pilate: “…For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." (John 18:37) Jesus promised that His true disciples would “… know the truth and the truth (that is, the Son Himself) would set them free.” (John 8:31-32) His Spirit is named “the Spirit of Truth”. (John 14:17) And the Spirit of Christ still today “rides on victoriously for the cause of truth….” (Psalm 45:4)

It took us a few days by car to travel to this conference. I had plenty of uninterrupted time to “dump” on my wife about how terrible I was feeling spiritually under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. But I also managed to share with her what the Holy Spirit had and was speaking to me from the passage in Isaiah 6. What I poured out to her were actually the seeds of this article.

In the opening moments of the first training session I was impacted like I haven’t been impacted by the Spirit of the Lord for many, many years. Del Tackett was using that passage in Isaiah 6 as the introduction and basis of The Truth Project! As I sat through the excellent teaching for two days, “I saw the Lord high and lifted up”, my spirit quivered in my belly, I worshiped the Lord in silence and tears. I’ve had a fresh touch from the Holy Spirit. “He has made known to me the path of life”, (Psalm 16:11) and I am committed to the pursuit of seeing and worshiping God.

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