Generations Worshipping Together

Rooted deeply in the Old Testament as well as the practice of the church in the first century are the generations worshipping together.  The concept of the family not worshipping together as families in an intergenerational experience would have never entered the minds of the early church steeped in Jewish tradition.  In Deut. 6 we see the parents charged with teaching the precepts of God to their children as a daily activity.  The whole of the Jewish community was responsible for the spiritual education of both children and youth.  The first use of the Hebrew word which translates, "worship" happens in Genesis  22:5.  The scene is the offering of Abraham's son, Issac on Mount Moriah.  He states, "the boy and I will go over to worship."  This is an amazing image of intergenerational worship with father and son side by side with their face to the ground.  What a powerful picture!

Then in the New Testament, Paul encourages Timothy to, "Let no one despise your youth; instead, you should be an example to the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.  (I Tim. 4:12)  Paul traces the intergenerational influence of Timothy's grandmother and mother in the forming of young Timothy's faith.  Both Old and New Testaments suggest that worship should be modeled by the older generation to the younger. (Titus 2:1-80, and that the older generations should affirm the spiritual gifts of the younger generations as the elders observe the Spirit of God's anointing on a new generation.  (Joel 2:28)  

As the faithful gather for worship, we must be intentional in creating intergenerational worship moments where all generations are able to participate fully in the worship of Him!  mjm

Asking the Right Questions

When it comes to worship in the church today, we need to be sure we are asking the right questions.  I know when people find out that I am a worship leader, usually the questions go like this . . . "Do you do contemporary music (whatever that means)?  Do you do traditional music?  Do you do hymns?  Do you do blended?  Do you do gospel?  Do you do country?  Do you do classical?"  Usually, my answer is . . . "Yes. "

But, should that really be the question?  We as human beings never seem to get to the basics.  The basic question should be . . . Is your worship God-centered?  Sometimes we still don't get it.  Worship is about Him, not us.  We should have a commitment to have meaningful, understandable, inspiring worship that is totally focused on Him - rather than being consumer-driven.  According to scripture, worship should be our highest priority as believers.  It demonstrates God-centrality in the life of the church.  

ALL the people of the church should be able to unite as one, using many different music and worship styles that "glorify God and exalt our Lord Jesus Christ" so that we have "authentic Biblical worship" as opposed to entertainment.  Our goal should be that different ages, different ethnicities, and cultures be able to come together as the local body, with mutual love and respect, enriching and building up one another in Him!  Let's make sure we ask the right questions. mjm

The Face of Worship

To purpose  in our worship to go and meet God is the desire to see Him face to face.  I am reminded of Psalm 5:3 - "O Lord, in the morning You hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for You and 'watch' (for you and your presence)." And then, Psalm 42:2 - "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?"

In contrast, once again this week we, as a nation, have had to look evil in the face as many of our fellow Americans were killed and wounded in a senseless crime.  As I thought about this, I began to remember that we are given a choice to look into the face of evil or the face of God.  In Genesis, worship started out perfectly, and then there was the fall where satan and self sought to become the face of worship.

Psalm 42 talks about our longing for God, thirsting for God, desiring to see His face.  But it also addresses the fact that men will suffer and will say - "Where is your God?".  Then it addresses the fact that our hope is in God and that we must wait expectantly on Him.  And we are promised that His loving-kindness and song shall be with us.  In our praise, we wait and hope in Him.  Many times we as believers want to seek God's hand before seeking His face.  Our Sovereign God is in control.  He sees what we cannot.  Even in the face of evil, He truly is our mighty fortress and our God. As the old hymn says, "The body they may kill: God's truth abideth still, His Kingdom is forever."  Wait on Him in worship and hope in Him, as you walk in Him.  mjm

Heart Worship

"For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the whole earth, that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His" (2 Chronicles 16:9)  Who has your heart?  That is the question.  God is searching for worshippers who are completely "sold out" to Him.  When He finds a heart that is completely His, He finds a heart that worships God and God alone.  He has found a heart which makes Him first priority, above self, above spouse, above children, above grandchildren (ouch), above friends, above ministry, above work and above recreation.  In the heart, God is truly on the throne. That is the attitude of heart that God is seeking in His worshippers.

Our Lord seeks the complete heart and makes a promise.  He promises His strong support, His presence, power and victory when our heart is completely His.  This speaks in tandem with Matt. 22:37 " . . . You shall love the Lord with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind." We do this by worshipping Him with a completely committed heart.  We were created to fellowship with Him and worship Him.

Whether we are a congregational worshipper, a worship choir member, or a worship leader, we need to assess where we are as we prepare to gather as the church in public worship of Him.  Who has our heart?  Is there unconfessed sin?  As we approach worship..."Let the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our rock and redeemer." (Psalm 19:14) mjm

"You Reign . . . i will bow down"

These are the words of Dennis Jernigan from his devotional book, Daily Devotions for Kingdom Seekers.  As we worshipped in our church today with only his music, I thought you might like to hear directly from him:

"As a little boy, my brothers and cousins were always playing games.  Fantasy is such an important part of shaping our souls.  I believe my imagination was given by God as a tool for creativity - because He is so imaginative and creative as our Maker.  One of the things little boys pretend is that he is a knight in shining armor who slays the dragon and defends the honor of the princess, thereby gaining the blessing of her father, the King.  Games like that prepared my heart to recognize the deep reality of the King of Kings . . . and led me to freedom . . . and gave me full access to His Kingdom . . . and calls me His own!  How awesome that the imaginations of a little boy were actually a picture of my spiritual reality.

"Allow the Holy Spirit to spur your imagination today.  Begin by seeing yourself as a man or woman in service of THE King!"  - Dennis Jernigan, Daily Devotions for Kingdom Seekers.

"And I saw an angel come down from heaven, 

having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent,

which is the Devil, and satan, and bound him a thousand years.

And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up,

and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more,

'til the thousand years should be fulfilled:

and after that he must be loosed a little season."

Revelation 20:1-3 KJV

mjm

Tabernacle/Temple Worship

There is so much to study in this area that there is hesitation for me to bring it to a blog.  I will try to whet your appetite for further study in the area of Tabernacle/Temple worship.  In ancient Hebrew worship the bottom-line of the tent-shrine and temple of Jerusalem was to make it possible for God to live among his people.  

Both tabernacle and temple worship emphasized the importance of preparation on the part of the worshipper and congregation in meeting with a holy God.

The great detail given for both construction and the worship shows us that the Hebrews worshipped God on His terms not theirs.  Worship was for God, a vertical focus.

The dress and priesthood in the Old Testament point to the person and character of God emphasizing His sovereignty, majesty, glory, and holiness.  A sense of awe and holy was created.

The very floor plan, furnishings and order of worship in the Old Testament lead the worshipper step by step into a close encounter with the holy God.  

The Old Testament sanctuaries dedicated to the worship of God took center stage in the life of the Hebrews.  Worship was life and life was worship in the Old Testament and should be no less true today.

The renewal of this theme in the New Testament of God's presence among His people came with the declaration in John's gospel that "the Word became flesh and lived [or tabernacled] among us".  The shift is from a building to a person.  The apostle Paul then writes that the believer in Christ is now the temple of God (I Cor. 3:16; 6:19-20).  Praise the Lord, the church of Christ is now the "spiritual house of God" and now gives witness to the presence of God in a dark and needy world. (I Peter 2:5) mjm

Time in Worship

It is clear when looking at the Bible that God thinks in very different terms about time then we do today in the western world.  My own first thoughts, when time in worship came to mind, was Psalm 5:3 which I used years ago with a youth group, encouraging them to spend personal time in worship each morning.    Along with that, I used a pamphlet by Stephen Olford titled, "Seven Minutes with God".  Biblically, time in worship means much more than a short time every morning with God.  We find in he O.T. Hebrew worship that special and sacred times were a yearly reminder that all time was in God's hands.  These times demonstrated how God was working out His process, showing his faithfulness and the redemption of His people.  It was sort of a rehearsal or reenactment annually of the way God had worked in the past and how He would work in the future.  Our personal worship should be that same thing every day. And, our gathered worship  should be very much the same kind of weekly rehearsal or reenactment.

There are some Biblical principles that inform "time" in worship.  All time is God's gift and we are encouraged to number our days, making the most of time because our days are short.  It is not some measurement of time as much as the content or events that fill time.  In both the Old and New Testaments, we see that the very essence of time is worship, praise, joy, thanksgiving, and service.  Time as we know it will end.  Our future time should shape and determine our present behavior.  

There are many times we are told to "wait on the Lord".  When we wait on Him, He enables the righteous to make the most of the time given us by His Holy Spirit.  Worship is the key to the believer's understanding of life and time.  Only worship can put all of our experience as beings in the larger context of our ultimate purpose and meaning in life.  All of our life is a response to our loving and merciful God.  Our worship is a constant response of joy and hope through every experience of life including our work, play, and the discipline of service to Him.  All of our worship and, yes, all of our time belong to Him! mjm

Holiness and Holy Ground in Hebrew Worship

First of all in O.T. worship we see the importance of the worshipper being holy as he approaches worship.  Do we not need to give thought to this principal in our approaching worship?  According to Lev. 10:3, we need to both approach God and address God in ways that acknowledge both His glory and His holiness.  There is much in the O.T. given to the way we are to approach worship.  We need to see that in the context of the teaching of the O.T., that we see both a formal and free worship.  Formal structures of worship are rooted in God's holiness, and also spontaneous worship comes from the very nature and character of God.  He is a covenanting God who enters into a covenant relationship with God's people. But, He is also a Sovereign and free Spirit who can be elusive not to be taken for granted or put into a box.  The very paradox of God's immanence and transcendence creates "tension between structure and spontaneous freedom in worship experience."  Any worship that represents the fullness of the Godhead must always show a healthy balance between freedom and structure. As God's glory and holiness will be made manifest to all through worship, it behooves us to approach with clean hearts and clean hands as we come to worship Him.  So, we must approach with a right heart.

Also, in the O.T. we see the principle of "removing your sandals, because you are on holy ground" (a sacred place). What can we learn from the idea of "the sacred places" of worship we see in the O.T.?  We come before Him to a place where we acknowledge and affirm His "Otherness" and our complete, total and desperate need of His mercy and grace.  We reaffirm His glory and our need in our worship experiences.  All through the O. T. we see the emphasis on places where God does a work in festivals, ceremonies, landmarks, and even stone pillars.  But the place of worship changes as we move into the New Testament.  The church gathered becomes a sacred place because, "The word became flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth (John1:14).  And now, He chooses to dwell in us by the Spirit thus reflecting the presence of God on earth.  Therefore, wherever the in-dwelt church gathers, it becomes a sacred place.  If we see these principles of holiness and holy ground, would we approach our worship differently each week as the gathered church?  mjm

Fathers of . . .

As we approach the celebration of our independence as a nation, I thought it might be nice to listen to some of our forefathers.  One that is not talked about a lot but was vital to the founding of our nation is Samuel Adams,  the "father of the American Revolution".  For some 20 years he labored as a patriot and leader of the revolution.   He wrote the following words in  The Rights of the Colonists which was circulated in 1772:

The right to freedom being the gift of the Almighty . . . The rights of the colonists as Christians  . . . may be understood by reading and carefully understanding the institution of The Great Law Giver and Head of the Christian Church, which are to be found clearly written and promulgated in the New Testament.  At the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, Samuel Adams declared:  We have this day restored the Sovereign to Whom all men ought to be obedient.  He reigns in heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let His kingdom come.  

And then, words from the "father of our country", George Washington, a private prayer recorded near his headquarters on the Hudson River in June of 1779: And now, Almighty Father, if it is Thy holy will that we shall obtain a place and name among the nations of the earth, grant that we may be enabled to show our gratitude for Thy goodness by our endeavors to fear and obey Thee.  Bless us with Thy wisdom in our counsels, success in battle, and let all our victories be tempered with humanity.  Endow, also, our enemies with enlightened minds, that they become sensible of their injustice, and willing to restore our liberty and peace.  Grant the petition of  Thy servant, for the sake of Him whom Thou hast called Thy beloved Son; nevertheless, not my will, but Thine be done.  

These are only a couple of examples of how our forefathers showed complete dependence on our Lord.  Oh God, take us back to that same acknowledgement and dependence on You.  

Let's celebrate our heritage and ask God's mercy upon our nation today.  mjm