Indwelling Resurrected Christ

Yes, it is a supernatural thing.  The fact of Christ's resurrection assures us of a very simple fact that is so simple we trip over it and even miss it as believers.  That simple fact is found in Colossians 1:27-28:  "God wanted we Gentiles to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for we Gentiles, also.  And that the secret or mystery is: Christ lives in you and gives us the assurance of sharing His glory."  The resurrected - living Lord Jesus indwells us.  In v. 28 it goes on to say that we tell others, teach others, and minister to others depending totally on Christ's mighty power that works within us.  

Apart from the resurrection none of that would be possible.  But because of the resurrection it is a simple, life-changing, supernatural fact.  It is the very heart of the gospel; the heart of ministry and service; and the heart of our worship.  Christ not only died for us, He rose again from the dead to live His Life in us for the carrying out of God's purpose in our lives.  I Peter 1:3 says "we are born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead . . .".   Paul proclaims that "if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and our faith is also empty" (I Corinthians 15:14).  

The life of Christ is imparted to us by the Holy Spirit at our new birth and then reproduced in and through us to "raise up the foundations of many generations" (Isaiah 58:12).  The resurrection was far more than Christ being raised from the dead.  It was the imparting of the resurrected life to all those who would accept and follow Him.  Hallelujah!  He lives His resurrection life indwelling us, and that is truly the only hope of glory in our lives.  mjm

Spectacular vs. Supernatural

I saw those words in an article I was reading this week and it made me start thinking about Easter and worship.  We live in a day and in a culture that is more interested in spectacular than supernatural.  Now, when I speak of supernatural I am talking about the Lord, not our pop culture or society's idea of supernatural. 

I am afraid that we have let that attitude bleed into our approach to both Easter and worship.  Was the resurrection spectacular?  Of course.  But is it not far more important that it was and is supernatural? What do I mean by "is"?  Because our Lord has made it possible for us to live the supernatural resurrected life of Christ because He lives in and through us.  Resurrection victory indwells us in the person of "Christ, the hope of glory". That fact should affect every part of our lives and our worship.  

Many in our churches today come to the church looking more for the spectacular than for the supernatural. For some it is a certain kind of preacher, a certain kind of musical style, choir versus a band, a spectacular soloist, and the list  goes on and on.  But those who are looking for the spectacular rather than the supernatural have let other things take the Lord's place in worship.  We don't need spectacular in our worship.  We need the power of His manifest presence among us - the supernatural.  And guess what?  Sometimes the supernatural is not spectacular.  If we spend our lives searching for the spectacular, we may miss the supernatural.  

We celebrate Easter once a year and yet, in our worship we celebrate the resurrection every week.  He is alive and He lives in and indwells us, giving us the ability to live the resurrected life in Him. That not only changes what we do in worship, but should change how we do it.   Hallelujah!  He's Alive!  mjm

"I am thirsty ...It is finished"

These six words from the cross demonstrate to us the total darkness that surrounded our Lord Christ in these moments on the cross.  In His complete love for God and mankind, He surrendered Himself completely saying, "Abba, Father, Your will be done."  When Jesus cried, "I am thirsty", His body was showing the affects of God's furious rage against sin.  Physicians tell us that the body suffers excruciating pain and a fever during the act of crucifixion; therefore the cry that He was thirsty.  The lesson for our life and worship is that we should grow toward a more meaningful submission to offering ourselves in ministry and His love in the same way He demonstrates for us.

From the very beginning Jesus' words reveal to us His attitude and spirit.  From the very beginning of His ministry He said He was coming to do the Father's will.  When He had accomplished the work the Father had sent Him to do He cried out, "It is finished!".  We are to take upon ourselves the same mind, spirit, and attitude: that in everything we do the will of God, and seek to accomplish His work in our lives in both little and big things.  His finished work assured us of victory over the enemy.  Because of the firm faith in what He achieved on the cross, we are able in His strength, power and victory to accomplish all He calls us to. 

These six words of the cross should change our spirit and attitude toward our life, ministry, and worship.  May we meditate on that this Holy Week as we approach the resurrection.  mjm

Palm and Passion Sunday

Variety is important to our worship, and certainly on this Sunday of the year there is variety.  First of all we celebrate and remember Palm Sunday, the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem  with celebratory passion among the people celebrating His coming.  It is a time of joy and exuberance, with a spirit of enthusiasm.  But in only a few days the cries of "Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord," become "Crucify Him!".  

So in one worship service we as worshippers will remember how Jesus was received gladly and then experienced the same folks turning their backs on Him.  Our desire in worship will be to stand in celebration as He was received and to bow and kneel at the mention of Golgotha and the cross.  As we worship we will experience extremes in our remembrance and rehearsal of those events in our hearts and minds.

We should approach worship asking the Lord to help us avoid the near-sightedness of the people of old, who worshipped Him as a King on Sunday and chanted insults to Him on Good Friday.  May we be strengthened in the remembrance of Palm Sunday and the Passion, giving thanks for His sacrifice that we might be reconciled, and a part of His kingdom.  mjm

Amazing Love

As we continue our journey to focusing on the cross and His love leading up to Easter Celebration, let's look at the text the choir sings this weekend.  The title of the original text by Charles Wesley is known today as "And Can It Be".  However, it was originally titled "Free Grace".  The title for this weekend's choral setting of the same text is "Amazing Love".  Some thoughts about the writing of the hymn: 

This text by Charles Wesley describes the experience of conversion in strong theological terms and the personal experience of the wonder of one who is still amazed . . . "that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me."  Wesley describes that he is clearly amazed at the extravagant grace of God who loved one whose death was caused by his sin and yet His life was offered up for him.  Wesley seems to put himself right in the middle of the crowd that was crying, "Crucify Him".  The thought causes Wesley to cry out "Amazing love! . . . how can it be" influencing the modern day title of the hymn.

In the second stanza, Wesley looks at the depth of the mystery of the death of the Son of God for us.  This seems to be a reflection upon I Peter 1:12 and the mystery of His mercy.

In the third stanza, Wesley explores the "self-emptying" of Christ in the incarnation.  God's love was so amazing that it caused the Son to leave "His Father's throne above".  In the next couple of stanzas Wesley seems to focus on offering his own personal testimony from his experience of conversion.  Wesley draws off the imagery of a prisoner bound by chains in a dungeon as described in Eph. 2:1-3.

Wesley begins the last stanza reflecting on Romans 8:1, "There is therefore no condemnation for them which are in Christ Jesus".  His righteousness becomes our righteousness.  (2 Cor. 5:21)  And he ends with thoughts from Heb. 4:16 "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace , . . ."   

This great hymn of worship has stood the test of time because of its rich doctrinal and theological and yet, devotional quality.  Some of the great hymns of the faith are a real treatise on Biblical theology, therefore we never want to lose their influence on our walk of faith.  mjm

Worshipping in Humility

I was reading in Philippians and began to think about the importance of humility, not only in our daily living but in worshipping and in worship leading.  Our worship should never be for show nor should our worship leading be for the purpose of gaining attention to ourselves.  In the first chapter of Philippians Paul talks about those who preach out of jealousy, rivalry, selfish ambition and challenges them that their motives be genuine or authentic.  He says we should have pure motives in preaching about Christ.  Even we who lead worship using music are preaching Christ and should do it with pure motives.

Then in chapter 2 Paul really gets into some principles that we as worshipers and worship leaders should practice and sometimes we don't.  "Don't be selfish; don't try to impress others.  Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves." Good word to worship leaders, worship choirs and teams, soloists, etc. Then he says, "Don't look out only for your own interests, . . ."  As worshippers do we only want the ways of worship, the music of worship, the order of worship to be "our way"?  Of course, he goes on to say, "You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had."  "He humbled Himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross" . . . for you and for me.  In this season of remembering the cross may we approach worship, whether a worshipper or a worship leader, with an attitude of humility - even as our Lord.  mjm

Ending the Old . . . Beginning the New

That is what we celebrate every time  we gather for worship.  We celebrate that in the cross of Christ we were given the gift of the opportunity to end the old and begin the new.

Our Lord did not go into the slave market of sin just to purchase the captive sinner.  He also brought the sinner out of bondage and set him free in a new kind of liberty.  Jesus is not only our Savior but He is our Lord and our Life.  

In the cross of Christ, God rejected the old order of the fallen that He might raise up a new order of holy, ransomed  beings redeemed from sin and death.  The death of Christ not only redeems us but recreates us, providing complete emancipation from the old life, giving an abundant entrance into the new life.  Where sin abounded grace did much more abound and opened us a way back to God.  

How can this simple yet powerful fact not completely revolutionize and enhance our worship every time we gather as the church?  The cross stands between the old and the new - victorious over death and bondage - giving abundant life to all who but will receive.  If we could get but a tiny glimpse of what He actually accomplished on the cross our worship would never be taken for granted or not taken more seriously.  He is worthy of our worship!  mjm

"Going to Church"

How many times have we heard a child or teenager say, "I don't want to go to church."?  How sad that we have come to the point in our American society, culture and spirituality that we have allowed "keeping the Sabbath Day" to disintegrate into something to be dreaded or oppressive - "going to church".  

"Going to church" is a phrase that becomes a negative. Even the way we talk affects how we live.  For us to even use the words - "I am going to church" signals and even encourages bad theology.  In the early days of Christianity, "the church" was an exciting, alive gathering of the people of God.  They looked forward to gathering together so they could be encouraged, built up and strengthened so that they could then go out into the world and manifest the living Christ and BE the church in their world.  

To use the phrase above indicates a going to a static place for a boring ritual.  We don't "go to church". We, the church, gather in a place as the people of God participating in an order of worship where we as a community are nourished spiritually so that we can effectively go back out into the world and be the church.  And the act of worship is only a part of what we are doing as we observe the Sabbath.  

"Keeping the Sabbath holy" has to do with the natural rhythm of six days of work followed by a day of rest.  This natural rhythm of ceasing for one day every six days is the way we were created.  By observing this principle week after week, we become whole and at peace.  We are living in the pattern that God created us to live in.  The principle is true no matter which day you observe the Sabbath.  When we don't live by this principle we become fragmented in our lives and worship.  

Words matter.  We need to substitute better words for . . . "we are going to church".  We don't "go to church" -  the church gathers for worship.  We need to make sure that our children and grandchildren learn the concept that we are gathering together the church to keep the Sabbath as commanded, so that we can help each other in becoming the church, the body of Christ, in the world.  Let's make sure we have a better and more Biblical understanding of gathering the people of God together.  mjm

New Covenant - New Song - New Glory!

I was reading yesterday in 2 Corinthians 3: 7-11 and began to think and meditate on that passage in relationship to our worship. (I would encourage you to read the passage.)  I began to think on the new covenant, the new song, and the new glory!  We have come to know the new covenant that is wrapped up in our Savior, Jesus Christ.  We are told some nine times in scripture to sing the new song.  Christ is the new song.  And here in this passage, we are told there is a new glory greater than what the people of Israel had seen on Moses' face and were unable to look upon.

Verse 8 states, "Shouldn't we expect far greater glory, under the new way, now that the Holy Spirit is giving life?  If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God?  In fact, that first glory was not glorious at all compared with the overwhelming glory of the new way.  So, if the old way, which has been replaced, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new, which remains forever?"(NLT)

Glory, hallelujah, what truths!  How can we approach worship and not expect and anticipate the manifest presence and glory of God?  The church doesn't need revival.  Revivals come and go.  The church needs the glory of God in a new way because according to scripture there is a new way.  Can you imagine what would happen if the glory of God erupted in the church?  We would not be having to come up with schemes to get people in church.  The Glory of God can come back to the church if we will walk in the new covenant, sing the new song, and expect to see His glory manifest in the church.  God help us!  mjm