The Oceans declare the Glory of God

Psalm 19 is likely one of David's first psalms- conceived while still shepherding sheep under the starry host of a Palestinian night sky. In the psalm, he goes from wonder and awe (vv.1-2), to the realization that God can be known by anyone across time and borders (vv.3-4), to drawing a specific connection between the nature of created thing and the nature of its Creator (vv.4c-6). David's example is looking up to the sun, it always shows up (v.5) and through its heat helps all upon whom it shines (v.6). His love for God is increased by intentionally making the connection between the sun and the God he worships. Indeed, "the heavens declare the glory of God" (Ps 19:1). 

What if we were to look down instead of up? We would discover more reasons to adore and worship the Creator. Here in Cayman we are surrounded by crystal clear seas which "proclaim his handiwork" in abundance and with skillful intricacy. You can look down into the depths also. Just off the southern side of Grand Cayman you can locate the Barlett Deep which plummets 18,000 feet and contains creatures yet undiscovered.

I read an interview last week with Jesus-follower and NASA oceanographer, Jorge Vasquez. Since 1984 he's worked for a group that studies climate change and how it affects local regions like California's coast. The full interview is here. What fascinated me is the following little nugget that connects creation to Creator in a way that further displays the character of our God - in particular, His patience toward sinners.

My colleague Josh [Willis] once said to me, "You know, Jorge, God designed his creation in more ways than one [to account] for our sins." The point that Josh was making was that God designed this planet in light of our sins, including the sin of not taking care of it the way we should. I won't go into all the scientific issues, but the fact that our planet is more ocean than land is a very positive thing in terms of stabilizing the climate. If it were the other way around—more land than ocean—then even right now the planet would be way too hot, and the impacts of global warming would be a lot worse than what we've seen. The fact that this planet is mostly oceans gives us a lot more time to solve this issue of global warming. The oceans are the key. There has to be a Creator behind this because he understood how much we would mess things up in the Fall. The way God designed this planet is a revelation of who he is, his character—it is another example of his grace. 

Every time I look at the complexity and beauty of the universe, I think, You can't create the kind of complexity we have without a creative force behind it. You just see a design behind everything. And everything I'm doing now, in terms of addressing global warming, makes me hopeful, because I think God has designed this planet knowing all our sins from the very beginning, and he's giving us more time to get our act together.

"The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some call slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance" (II Peter 3:9). His creation, the very oceans, mirror His patience toward us. What connection can you make today between something wonderful in creation and the Creator who fashioned it?

Jesus' journals - Finishing the Psalms so we can pray and sing them

"These commands I give to you today are to be upon your hearts" (Deut 6:4). 
"Hear, my son, your father's instructions" (Proverbs 1:8). 
"It seemed good...to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus" (Luke 1:3). 
"To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi" (Philippians 1:1). 

Every book of the Bible is written to an audience like you or me - with the exception of the Psalms. I mentioned Sunday to all the saints in Christ Jesus at the the Harquail Theater, Seven Mile Beach: To have read your sister's diary when you were younger is to better understand the psalms. The psalms weren't addressed primarily to you or me - they were addressed to God. We look over-the-shoulder of an author as he pours out his heart (and ink) to God. It's like peeking into someone's private journals.

What we find when we peek into these journals is nothing short of tumultuous. Every conceivable emotion known to mankind seems find expression through these prayer-songs.  Sometimes these mood swings are from psalm-to-psalm, but often times they occur, inexplicably, mid-psalm. At one moment, the psalmist is basking in God's radiant love, the next: Exasperated from crying out in cold isolation. At one moment celebrating fellowship when brothers dwell in unity, in another asking God to contend with those who contend against me (even visiting violence on their family). 

Yesterday morning, our elders were reading through Psalm 139, where we found expression of God's nearness until, as one elder put it: "the bizarre bit in the middle" (which it seemed we might go ahead & skip over). 

These are cries of those wishing to trust a good God yet do so from a world that is falling apart around them. For psalmists living in B.C., it seems every victory is momentary and every promise of hope a bit hazy.

Momentary & Hazy - that is until one gets to know Jesus. Only in a relationship with Jesus (praying the psalms through Christ as it were) does the unresolved tension between trust in God and a world falling apart find certain victory and a concrete hope. Through Jesus, the psalms are opened wide! Apart from Jesus, the psalms are incomplete, an unfinished journal. When the famous novelist Charles Dickens died in June of 1870, he had been working his final literary work: The Mystery of Erwin Drood. The work was considered to be quite complex - beautiful in prose, a soaring treatment of mankind's complexities, authentic in displaying more of Dickens himself (a man otherwise unknown and rarely autobiographical). He had masterfully created a classic whodunit mystery...without an ending! Since then many have been inspired to take up the pen and finish the tale. It's been adapted into everything from a staple BBC period drama to a Broadway Play. To read the psalms apart from Jesus' finishing work is to agree, as with Dickens' unfinished work, the psalter is beautiful, soaring, authentic and yet cries out to be completed. 

Through his life, death, resurrection & reign, Jesus finalizes every hope in the psalms and finishes every victory. Thus, Jesus finishes these otherwise unfinished journals. Indeed, the psalms can be best understood, prayed and sung as Jesus' journals. Let's take a look as to how Jesus of Nazareth finishes and then restores to us these amazing prayer-songs.

Jesus finishes the psalms through His life.  In the gospel accounts, Jesus quotes from eight different psalms (Psalm 8:2; Ps. 118:22-23; Psalm 110:1; Ps. 118:26; Psalm 22:1; Ps. 82:6; Ps. 41:9; Ps. 35:19) . Based on this alone, one can imagine how often he used the psalms to pray when he was alone with his Father (Mark 1:35; Luke 5:16; Luke 6:12, Matthew 14:23). Why did Jesus so often pray and quote the psalms? Jesus, fully man, experienced and thus needed to express the full range of human emotions yet, fully God, never sinned in doing so. Consider how astounding that is compared to our expression of emotion, which is typically self-centered. When I weep: It is usually for my loss. Jesus wept for Lazarus, over the tragic effects of sin and death in this world, over Jerusalem. His sadness was utterly other-centered. When I get angry: It is usually because I am being deprived. When Jesus got angry (see temple courts), it is because everyday worshippers people were being subtly deceived by religious priests into temple-worship versus God-worship. So Jesus got angry on behalf of people deprived of genuine worship and on behalf of His Father being deprived of genuine worship. So when a Christian now prays-sings a psalm, he or she does so through a human who also experienced the very same emotion yet offers it to the Father free from the stain of self-centeredness because He prayed it purely while on earth. The Father thus hears our prayers through the sanctifying work of Christ and can both justly and generously respond. 


Jesus finishes the psalms through His death. In his suffering and death, Jesus endured every sinful emotion so the righteous anger expressed in the psalms wouldn't be expressed towards us. I admit that when I try to pray: "Oh God, slay the wicked" (Ps. 139:19) or "I loathe those who rise against you" (Ps. 139:21), I sometimes pray it sheepishly - wait a minute: "I art the man." Some Sundays I've preached on selflessness only to be short with my family the rest of that Sunday, telling myself: "You deserve to rest and be pampered." Wicked! "God, I think I'll do this project, meeting, relationship my way." Rising against You and Your ways! On the one hand, it is right to vent about the injustices we witness in this world trusting our Father to justly make right all the wrongs. On the other hand, I am one of the wrongs! So Jesus endured the mocking, the flogging, the anger, the humiliation, the grief in his suffering and death - saying "Father forgive them" - to demonstrate that he likewise endured both our sinful emotions and the righteous anger of the Father toward them. So recognizing am no longer the object of what would be just anger, I am liberated to authentically and without shame express frustration, impatience, even anger in the right way - to the Father, through the psalms, because of Jesus.

Jesus finishes the psalms through His resurrection. Take a moment to briefly read and maybe even say out (or whisper if in a public space) Psalm 43. 

After you pray the end (verse 5) and then rewind, you recognize the psalmist has previously experienced God as his hope and salvation. Now however history seems to be repeating itself. He's the victim of deceit and injustice (v.1). He feels rejected by God (v.2a). Takes about a 90-degree turn: Wait why am I so sad? Because of another human?! (v.2b). Please deliver me again (v.3). I know this will end with me filled with overflowing joy that results in praise to You (v.4). So in summary: Why am I so sad? (v.5a). God will again save (v.5b).

This resembles how many relate to God. Things are bad, woe is me, I better pray so God will make the bad things go away, I'm happy and back in church. Having hoped in God for a little while, rinse & repeat. 

When Jesus rose from the dead - he vindicated us with finality! Nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38-39), whether it be the accusations of others, ourselves, or even the threat of death. He is not a temporary refuge from which we and our souls can escape but through simple faith our lives are "hidden with Christ" on high (Colossians 3:3). No matter what we do or anyone else does, He will surely bring us to His Holy hill and to His dwelling - "that where I am there you may also be" (John 14:3). Jesus pioneered the path to heaven through his resurrection that we might follow in his footsteps. So now when we pray the psalms: All the wondering, questions and shifts in mood caused by a hazy hope and changes in circumstances (does this mean God is no longer for me?) are answered with finality through the resurrection of Jesus. The penalty of sin is paid, the power of sin is daily lessening, the presence of sin will one day be eradicated - because Jesus has risen finalizing all the deliverances & joys of the psalms. The risen Jesus is the AMEN at the end of every psalm!

Jesus finishes the psalms through His reign. Many of the psalms celebrate God as king, yet it seems difficult to recognize his kingdom on earth "as it is in heaven." Psalm 24 captures this tension well: "The earth is the LORD's and the fullness thereof" (v.1). It's his world and yet: "Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place?" (v.2). The kingly line of God's people certainly did not demonstrate "the clean hands" or "pure heart" required but for anyone that did there remained: "blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation" (vv.4-5). This psalm concludes with a question repeated in such a way that the psalmist expects God to one day answer it:

Old Testament scholar Bruce Waltke notes that the songs in the book of Psalms that celebrate the king are like "royal robes." They are like the robes "with which Israel drapes each successive son of David at his coronation." But none of Israel's kings has shoulders broad enough to wear them. "The Psalter's giant robes hang loosely" until in the fullness of time - King Jesus comes. "Here was a son of David with shoulders broad enough to wear the Psalters magnificent robes."


These who first prayed the Psalms looked forward to the day when the King of glory might walk through the doors of this earth to reveal Himself. He has in Christ Jesus. So every time Christians pray about the majesty, royal rule, kingly authority, we can picture what true majesty, rule, authority looks like. And so as every psalm eventually meanders - twisting and turning - to its finish line, the finish line of the psalms is King Jesus. When we pray from the psalms to further witness and experience his majesty, rule, and authority, we can trust that we will - in-breaking spheres of His rule and reign through salvation, healing, and justice today even as one day we see all these things in full.

Oh may your kingdom come and will be done!

8 reasons why enjoying God with others is better than you and Yahweh "doing your own thing"

This past Sunday I had opportunity to teach from Psalm 40 and try to explain why this prayer-song was a kind of pattern for David's spiritual life - and ebb and flow from worship in private prayer closet (in his case - fields and caves) and public worship with God's people (whether it be dancing before an Ark in his underoos or in the sanctuary). My emphasis for Sunday was upon how running back each day to the private prayer closet - alone with God - serves to re-fuel and sustain every effort of corporate worship.

However, I did make a brief comment: Public, corporate worship - hearing from God's Word together and singing it to one another and to God - protects and enlargens the prayer closet. This is the other side of the coin in developing intimacy with God. The impetus behind that brief comment largely stemmed from a sermon I read last week by David Clarkson.

David Clarkson (1622-1686) was a colleague and successor in the pulpit to the famous Puritan John Owen. His sermon is entitled: Public worship to be preferred before private from Psalm 87:2 and it contains an absurd number of Roman numerals that will cause you to either grow dizzy or begin to form a shape (various Star Wars or Lord of the Rings characters are common) if you look at them (or through them) for too long. 

Ultimately I disagree David's his overall assessment in part because of the inherent dangers of vanity that accompany overindulgence in worshipping God in the midst of others, which Jesus warned us about (Matthew 6:5-6), but mostly because it begs the question: Why would you try to pit two friends against each other?!. The private re-fuels and sustains genuine, lasting public worship while the public worship protects private worship from becoming introspective, selfish, heretical while spurring on insights in to God, the Bible, life that you wouldn't have noticed yourself. Each serves the other as a good friend would. But many of his points are insightful, well-girded by Scripture and so worth taking a gander.

Without further ado, here are 8 reasons (Clarkson gives 12 but 4 of them are, in my estimate, not well-supported) to stop telling yourself: "Oh, I'll just stay out later and spend time with God by myself on the beach when I wake up" or "Must...hit...snooze...button.  Sleep...better...than...preacher" or "God understands that I have ____ going on or ____kids or need to put in ____ extra hours at work" and instead enjoy the benefits promised in God's Word of gathering together to grow from and gladly respond to God's Word.

1. The Lord is more glorified by public worship than private. This first point by Clarkson should makes sense. More people means more voices singing, more gifts at the table, more testimonies of thanksgiving - but also more opportunity for the Holy Spirit, through the bond of peace (Eph. 4:1-3), to make unlikely unity out of such diversity of backgrounds, ethnicities, interests and seasons of life. For brining unity where there would otherwise be relational chaos, God receives maximum glory.

2. There is manifest more of the Lord's presence in public worship than in private. Clarkson argues for this beautifully: "The Lord has a dish for every particular soul that truly serve him; but when many particulars meet together, there is a variety, a confluence, a multitude of dishes. The presence of the Lord in public worship makes it a spiritual feast, and so it is expressed in Isaiah 25:6."

4. There is more spiritual advantage in the use of public worship. For instance, certain deeper spiritual truths which one tries to suss out on his/her own, can be apprehended more readily and precisely when he/she listens to good preaching and worships together with others. Clarkson rightly quotes Psalm 73:16-17 here. Asaph has just been querying GOd as to why the wicked and proud prosper - it all starts to make sense once he arrives to the sanctuary to worship God together with others. For one thing, you realize the true prosperity you possess in community and being a part of the church of the living God most acutely when you get there.

5. Public worship is more edifying than private. In private, you seek God merely for your own good, but in public you seek the good of both yourselves and others. Every person who trusts Jesus brings with them a gift "to serve one another" (1 Peter 4:10), "for building up the body of Christ" (Eph. 4:12), and "for the common good" (1 Cor. 12:7).

6. Public worship is a better security against apostasy than private. Heresy is a fun word, but apostasy - yikes. The former has to do with believing and espousing a false teaching or truth but often without contrarian motives. Apostasy, however, is the espousing of false teaching as an act of willful rebellion. Either way, when one locks himself or herself in the private closet without bouncing ideas about the Bible, truth, Jesus off someone else, it's easy to stray the course - often without contrarian or malicious intent. I remember years ago doing this once for the first sermon I ever preached during our preaching lab in seminary. The combination of wanting to preach something more 'original' and not really running my notes by anyone else made for an interesting teaching from II Corinthians re: how people should plant churches. There was some errant content in there. Lesson learned. "Where there is no guidance, a people fails / but in an abundance of counselors there is safety" (Proverbs 11:14).

8. Public worship is the nearest resemblance of heaven. A wedding feast, a banqueting table, a heavenly city are all descriptions that entail more than just you and J.C. over a candlelight dinner. 

10. Public worship is the best means for procuring the greatest mercies, and preventing and removing the greatest judgments. So next time you hear about your church conducting a prayer meeting, a prayer vigil, etc, I would caution against the "I'll just join in from home" approach. The number of verses to support the above statement are astounding. Joel 2:15-16: "Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly, gather the people. Consecrate the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, even the nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room and bride her chamber" (you can read Joel 2:17-18 for God's response). II Chronicles 20:3-4 & Acts 4:31 are other poignant examples of God calling His people to come together or using His people as they come together to seek Him.

12. The promises of God are given more to public worship than to private. There are more promises to public, and even the promises that seem to be made to private worship are applicable and even more powerful in the context of public worship. A great example is Revelation 3:20 - often quoted as a most encouraging verse (ie. God is knocking at the door of your heart). But really this invitation is extended not to an individual but to a church. Jesus will come in and fellowship with the church body that hears His voice and invites Him through the door.

Freedom Run Wild & Abundant Pleasures...mmm...YES, PLEASE!

On Sunday mornings under the Big Top we have been examining the Paradoxes of the Christian Life. God wants to give us all manner of graces but the way we access such grace is the opposite of what we'd expect (or want !!). Last Sunday's Paradox: Freedom through Slavery and this Sunday's will be Abundance through Monogamy. 

I ran across some of G.K. Chesterton's writings on the subject in his classic work Orthodoxy. Chesterton, like C.S. Lewis after him, had a wonderful way of putting things, especially big biblical truths. He beautifully summarizes both how total sold-out-ness (slavery) to the rule and order of a good God leads to freedom and how monogamy leads to the most abundant of pleasures.

The more I considered Christianity, the more I found that while it had established a rule and order, the chief aim of that order was to give room for good things to run wild.

Chesterton goes on to use the example of sex:

I could never mix in the common murmur of that rising generation against monogamy, because no restriction on sex seemed so odd and unexpected as sex itself...Keeping to one woman is a small price to pay so much as seeing one woman. To complain that I could only be married once was like complaining that I had only been born once. It was incommensurable with the terrible excitement of which one was talking. It showed, not an exaggerated sensibility to sex, but a curious insensibility to it. A man is a fool who complains he cannot enter Eden by five gates at once. Polygamy is a lack of the realization of sex; it is like a man plucking five pears in mere absence of mind.

One of the great difficulties of the Christian life is warding off the deception that the only way you are truly going to get personal freedom and get abundance of pleasure is to go out and get it yourself (e.g., making more $ to have more personal choices, climbing the ladder to get more personal time off, etc. and seeking multiple partners, multiple purchases, multiple social circles, multiple "good time activities" as primary means to personal pleasure).

Accordingly, I pray Chesterton helps you today: Submission to God's rule allows freedom to run wild & monogamy in marriage keeps us ever-sensitive and enjoying the truly strange and mysterious (and quite pleasurable!) gift of sex. 

The Word & The Spirit: Why can't we have both?

"Why was the United States invented?" asked our 6-year old son, Gage, at the dinner table last week. "Yeah, dad, you said it was a newer country. What caused people to move there?" chimed in our 8-year-old Mason. Okay, Oelschlager, think. Well there are a myriad of issues but I decided to go for the 1st amendment, which also happens to be in my wheelhouse as a pastor. "Religious freedom." (Come on, Ryan, simplify). "People wanted to worship Jesus in slightly different ways. For instance, some people who loved Jesus wanted to study what God says in the Bible without the government or anyone else telling them how they should understand the Bible (see the Puritans). Their focus was understanding and putting down deep roots in Jesus. But others wanted to celebrate, sing, and worship the Jesus of the Bible without outside interference (see Quakers and guidance by the Spirit or "inner light"). So while the other group focused mostly on the Bible, their focus was on celebration, worship, and the mysterious bigness of God." 

"But Dad," said Gage, "Why can't they do BOTH?"   

"Yesssss! You are exactly right, Gage. They can...and so can we." He smiled really big, just as his dad was.

In some ways, I want to end this blog entry here as it gets to one of our key goals as Christians and in local churches. Preaching, teaching, group and personal study of God's Word that is anointed and empowered by the Spirit and responses of thanksgiving, praise, and obedience (ie. worship) that are prompted and sustained by the Spirit. 

It's not one to the exclusion of the other. Both are needed. Let's look at why.

Reason #1: People find ultimate satisfaction in something containing both truth & power. 

Consider the number of times you've read profound statements in birthday card, on a Facebook Status, or from a good book (maybe even a Christian book). They might ring true but at most you consider how it applies to everyday situations of your life sticking with it a few days and usually you tend to carry on as before. Likewise, you find something that helps you change - for better or worse - but the results (if for the better) are temporary. And even if you get the weight loss you wanted or the discipline with your finances sticks, your inner being still longs to consume something else and your soul remains bankrupt. And usually such changes do not stick. In other words, truth is missing. Truth, in its very essence, is enduring, not transitory.
I was reading about such a man in the Book of Acts recently. It's an account that's easy to pass over (one of those "next-versers" that's easy to gloss over for some bigger and more flashy story). This Roman proconsul, Sergius Paulus, seems to have spent his life trying to find satisfaction in something containing both truth and power. Check this out:

So, being, send out by the Holy Spirit, [Paul/Saul and Barnabas] went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them. When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prohpet named Bar-Jesus. He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him, and said, "You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time." Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord  (Acts 13: 4-12).

Before even meeting Paul and Barny, this proconsul - described intentionally as an intelligent man (by which this most certainly implied, at this time, he one who is well-read) - noticed that truths and platitudes were not enough when empty of power. Thus, he had on his staff not one but two magicians (he had Sigfried and Roy)! Thus, through a combination of truth and power - Word and Spirit - this proconsul trusts his life to Jesus. 

Such persons seeking both truth and power exist today. We live in an era that has seen the poverty of modernism (the idea that science, truth that emerges from scientific method, and technology can save humanity) and the poverty of its response - postmodernism (no one has a stronghold on the truth, but each must interpret and gain his/her own truth primarily through then lens of his/her own experience). People are recognizing the inherent flaws in the breakdown of the postmodern mode of life and thought as well. It just doesn't hold up - society falls apart unless there are some agreed upon truths and standards. Thus, even if they are unfamiliar with the technical jargon, more people are seeing the need for both - truth and experiential power. I would suggest such persons are, like Sergius Paulus, ripe to trust Jesus. 

Reason #2: Worship, like much of life, works best with a leader and responder. 
Two dancers work best when one of them takes the lead and the other responds. Two people can ride a horse together but only one can take the reigns if they hope to go anywhere. Business meetings work best when a leader sets the agenda & leads allowing for others to meaningfully respond. The pattern we see in the Bible is that God's Word leads and the Spirit then moves people to respond accordingly in worship.  

Like Eugene Peterson once said of prayer, worship of God is "Answering Speech." God spoke, the darkness/formless void responded (see Genesis 1). God speaks His Word and we respond through the Holy Spirit with speech of thanksgiving & praise as well as with ongoing obedience & serving others with our gifts - ie. worship. Or as my good friend and SCC worship leader Lisa Welman, likes to put it: "Worship requires Revelation & Response."

Let me offer a quick but necessary disclaimer before I head any further: I fear making too much of this because this because the Spirit and the Word are likewise so enmeshed. For instance, the Spirit wrote the Bible (II Peter 1:20-21; II Timothy 3:16). This should also give us pause to insinuate that people who love the Bible are less sensitive to the Spirit's leading since the Bible itself was inspired by the Spirit (thus, a person sensitive to the Bible is sensitive to the what the Spirit wrote about living). Also, preaching, teaching and communication from God's Word is most effective when empowered by the Holy Spirit. So Paul in 1 Thessalonians 1:5: "Our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction." Likewise, when we respond to God's Word, the Spirit speaks words through us that are consistent with and "flavored" with God's truth - "When he, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13). Nevertheless, having made this disclaimer, the larger pattern of the Bible and the exercise of spiritual gifts both seem to point to God's Word taking primacy. 

We see the Word of God take the lead, for example, in the ministry of Jesus. His closing sermon to the disciples at the last supper takes the lead (John 13-16) and they all respond in praise to God - with a prayer (John 17) and a hymn (Matthew 26:30, Mark 14:26). Four chapters of teaching the Word of God and then an opportunity to respond with Jesus in prayer and and singing a praise song to God. Throughout the Book of Acts, we see the Word of God take the lead as it is taught and preached and people responding, sometimes in unusual and miraculous ways, by the power of the Holy Spirit. In the example above from Acts 13 and our pal Sergius, notice even with the miraculous working of the Spirit through making a man blind, it his astonishment "at the teaching of the Lord" that proves to be the conclusive word on that matter. Likewise as we dip into Acts 14: We see the Lord does signs and wonders by the Spirit in order to "bear witness to the word of his grace" (Acts 14:3).

Also if you read the lists in the New Testament regarding gifts of the Spirit, you will notice that the "Word Gifts" have primary position. In his book The Holy Spirit, theologian Sinclair Ferguson puts it this way:

Central to the exercise of any gift of the Spirit is the ministry of the word given to God's people...In the lists [of spiritual gifts] which do exist (Romans 12: 3-8; 1 Cor. 12:7-11, 28-30; Ephesians 4:11; 1 Peter 4:10-11), it is clear enough that the ministry of God's revelatory word is central to the use of all other gifts; it stabilizes and nourishes them; they give expression to that word in various ways (208).

Likewise, Pastor Peter White, in his book The Effective Pastor notes: "It is significant that in all four New Testament lists of the gifts...the 'Word gifts' come first. We do not have to look fare to see the reason for this. God has given us minds. He addresses and changes us by way of them (see Ephesians 4:17-21)" (52). 

What does this mean for SCC? Due to the primacy of God's Word in leading us and the mission of our church to introduce people to the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, our primary objective in corporate worship needs to be faithfully preaching God's Word in a way that reveals our need for Jesus or how to respond in faith and obedience to Jesus. Then respond in song, thanksgiving, prayer, and praise as the Spirit leads.

As the Spirit has clearly been at work (doing overtime) at Sunrise, I think it's also important that people have opportunity to exercise all the spiritual gifts. We should provide safe places for people to experiment, experience and potentially grow practicing these gifts as well, especially since some of these gifts are more of the mysterious sort (and often misunderstood - see tongues, prophecy and prayer for healing). Two venues seem especially appropriate: Community Groups and Simply Worship. Regarding the latter, when I was a pastor at a Vineyard Church in North Chicago a number of years ago, we were keen to keep the Word of God primary in its leading position during the Sunday AM corporate gatherings. The first Sunday of the month, however, we would hold a Sunday Evening Service to which all were invited. As preaching had already taken place that morning, this service was dedicated to worship and gift ministry. People would pray together, offer prophetic words in a responsible manner, and speak words of encouragement/knowledge/wisdom. And because it was a safe atmosphere, where there was error and misunderstanding (especially when people had little knowledge or experience in using such gifts), the intimate environment allowed for gentle but genuine correction. Perhaps our next "Simply Worship" service might provide such an opportunity - in fact I pray that it will. "Simply Worship" will take place at the Harquail Theatre this Sunday, December 16, 7:00-8:30 pm. 

Reason #3: To defeat a false dichotomy of Word=Head & Spirit=Heart
One of the great frustrations for Christians who tend to side with one camp or the other on this matter is how one is characterized or thought of by the other. I've witnessed those in "The Word" camp view the Spirit camp as less stable, less intelligent, less deep, and often misguided by their emotions. Likewise, I've witnessed those in "The Spirit" camp view the Word camp as dry, lacking in love & emotion, and far less open to work of God's Spirit. 



Let's look at what God says about this false dichotomy: 
Point #1: How can you say you are a person of God's Word and not possess a full heart of emotion & passion?
Most would agree, no New Testament book contains the lucidity of doctrine and theology as that of the Book of Romans. Justification by faith, human bondage to the sin nature, the purpose of the law in pointing us to our need for Jesus - awesome truths without which we'd be all mixed up about living for God and where we stand with Him. But Paul closes this portion of doctrine & theology not with some home-run hitting doctrinal zinger but with praise, glory, zeal - HEART:

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen (Romans 11:33-36).

Point #2: How can you say you are a person full of the Spirit and not consistently read and think hard on God's eternal words? Paul criticizes those who possess a lot of passion when it is not based on knowledge of the truth. "I bear witness that they have a zeal for God, but it is not according to knowledge" (Romans 10:2), or as the New Living Translation puts it: "I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal." What a waste! Zeal thinking it's for God but has no direction - because it is not guided by God's truth. Likewise, those who are especially open to the Spirit, also open themselves up to "other" spirits (of the non-godly origin). Having encouraged prophecies, Paul says to "test everything; hold fast to what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Likewise, the apostle John: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1). How does one test the spirits? According to the Word of God!
Let my final word on this be that spiritual people need the mind of Christ and the truth of God and word-y people need to submit to the Spirit to understand any of it. I take my cue here from from 1 Corinthians 2:13-16:

And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned..."For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

I have no problems boldly declaring: (1) Those who love, sing, praise, & pray to God with great sensitivity to the Spirit are missing out on depth and are far more open to deception without an abiding faithfulness to reading, listening, and then responding to God's truth. 
(2) Those who love, study, read, meditate on and listen to good preaching and teaching from God's Word are missing out on unseen opportunities and far less open to God's doing more than we can ask or imagine without consistently asking for the Spirit's leading in prayer, His help in service, and His anointing in speaking.  

Word-Spirit / Truth-Power / Head-Heart. With respect to each of these, I gotsta agree with my son:  Why can't we have both? 

Why Sermons? Reason #3

This Sunday under the Big Top, we started our new series - Colossians: Learning, Loving, Living Christ. At the very beginning and very end of this letter, Paul gives occasion for us to consider why hearing the Word in the context of community is so important. Thus, in this week's sermon I asked: Why sermons? Because while I really love to teach & preach (even slightly more than my people enjoy listening to it...slightly), after 6, 7, even 8 consecutive weeks of it, even I sometimes ask: Why am I doing this? 


Reason #1: Re-introduce hearing & thinking to a generation of seeing & cataloguing. 
Reason #2: Because it's written to grow a church primarily not an individual exclusively. 


I ran out of time to give the 3rd reason that Paul hints at in Colossians 1:1-8, so I'm giving it via blog. 


Reason #3: Because we need someone to tell us more than once.

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of truth, the gospel  (Colossians 1:3-5).

When Paul says, this is something you've heard before, the "this" is referring back to: (1) faith in Jesus which leads to (2) love for others as you realize He keeps forgiving you and which helps you put your (3) hope, your identity, your sense of satisfactio in being with Jesus forever. In other words, Paul to church: "I know you've heard this before (ie. the gospel - faith, love, hope) and you may not have noticed, but I just told you again." 


A human being is prone to trust his/her own abilities, (and since they are on their own) love his/her own needs, and shift his hope toward something or someone that seems to more immediately fill those needs. We do this even though it never works & our sick hearts testify to the wisdom of Proverbs 13:12:

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

God our pastor: God has always been preaching this sermon both in word and deed. I was reading in the Book of Joshua, ch. 3 this morning. The Israelite people are just about to cross over the Jordan River into the land promised to their parents. But God, knowing how we as people are prone to self-sastisfaction at an accomplishment (even when it's clear that God is the One really accomplishing it), sends them what I think is a reminder as they cross over: 


And when the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan River, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing, and the waters coming down shall stand up in one heap.


So people walking across a body of water, God parts the water, and causes it to stand up as a wall or in "one heap." Sounds familiar...and if it does to us, it certainly was meant to for them also. Just one generation removed from God's radical and gracious deliverance from slavery and promise of a land (which culminated with the parting of the Red Sea), God sends to His people a little mini-reminder of His faithfulness through a mini-parting of great waters. We forget quickly, God is gracious to remind us even though in church, in small groups, amongst friends we are quick to say or think: "I know, I know" or "I've heard this before."


Today's pastors. A good pastor reminds more than innovates. Notice how Peter conceives of his pastoral & apostolic role as he writes to God's people towards the end of his life. He has just communicated to them that it is not their own efforts but God's grace that makes them grow:

Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that they putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things (II Peter 1:12-15).

An old (but effective) story I've heard a couple times goes something like this: A new pastor preaches his first sermon to his new congregation and seems to go well. So he preaches the same sermon the next week. People respond: "That was nice, but interesting that it was the same sermon." The next week, he preaches the same sermon. And after the fourth week of the same sermon, finally a member of his congregation confronts him: "Look, that is a good sermon, but can you move on to another message." To which the pastor responds, "I'll stop preaching it when you start living it."

The Point. When you're in church and are tempted to say/think, "Is he honestly re-using old material?," "Heard him say this a hundred times," "Yes, we know you love the story of the sinful woman of Luke 7," or you are just generally inclined to check out: Recall that God our Pastor thought we needed reminders, Paul thought they were needed in Colossae, and Peter thought likewise. Each seemed to have a pretty good pulse on a common struggle - namely, we are all prone to depend on self and our own resources instead of on the God of this good news - that through Jesus Christ He has given & surely will continue to give us all good things!


That's something I know I need to hear more than once.

Christian Worship: Unique vs. Unusual

Every church has some version of a contact card, slip...some way to indicate that you were in attendance and we can get in touch with you. Often absent from that card is a place for "Feedback," but we usually find a place to offer our feedback anyway. For instance, on ours, it's the "Prayer Request" space -- as in I pray God may cause the sun to stand still in the sky so that your sermons won't go past 11 am. I keed, I keed. This is all well & good -- we welcome feedback as it's helpful for us as a young, growing church. Nothing receives more feedback for most churches, ours included, than worship. Songs, styles, and offers to sing, play the triangle, or bang on the cowbell.

A friend sent me a great blog post by a pastor named Anthony Weber, who serves at Church of the Living God in Traverse, Michigan. It especially resonated with me, I admit, because of a couple recent instances of preaching through Malachi in which God shows Himself appealing to an already established norm in culture and then redeeming it for His purposes.

This past week: It was the Suzerain Treaty and the Royal Grant, which God used to construct covenants with his people (Mosaic Covenant mirrored the Suzerain Treaties of the Ancient Near East while the Abrahamic & Davidic covenants were emblematic of Royal Grants of the ANE). Three weeks ago, in the sermon "Priest: A Speaking Role" (Mal. 2:1-9), I spoke about how the gospel wasn't originally a religious or biblical term, but how it was used by Caesar Augustus and others as "objective, history-changing news that would necessarily alter people's lives."

In other words, God never meant to speak in religilous, Christianese language so as to show Himself totally separate from culture, but rather chose & then redeemed the language and norms of the day to make sense of Himself to us -- because He was and is so separate from us He needed to make sense of an Omnipotent, All-knowing, Perfect God to us.

So add "the gospel" to the Weber's list below and give how you and I worship some thought...

(Sidenote: I didn't "link" his blog because it's a facebook blog and I didn't know if/how to link that successfully)

By Anthony Weber

I’ve been pondering worship.

Worship is the total response of people, heart, soul, mind, and strength, to an object of our attention. It is also the sacrifices, the rituals, by which we express this response.

I think our worship is probably mostly our instinctive, gut-level response to things. That is not to say that we should not plan to worship, or learn how to channel or focus our worship purposefully. I’m just sayin’ that we worship instinctively. It’s not a question of “if,” it’s a questions of how, when, and why.

I am wondering if modern church worship misses the point.

OLD TESTAMENT WORSHIP

In the Old Testament, when we read about how God’s people responded to Him, I think we read through 21st century eyes . We assume that God told the Israelites to start new ceremonies and rituals of a specific sort to worship him. The “holiness” of his people – the “called out” nature – included not only their lifestyles and thoughts, but their worship.

But I’m not so sure.

Look at the suzerain treaty model in the pagan cultures of the time. God uses the same model for His people. (Compare the Mari Tablets and Amarna texts with Exodus 20 and all through Deuteronomy).

Look at the covenant rituals in pagan cultures. God used the same model with His people. (cutting animals in half and walking through them – Genesis 15, among other places).

Look at the law codes of the time in pagan cultures. God used the same model with His people (compare Hittite law with Jewish law in Exodus).

Look at the literature of the pagan cultures (The Epic and Gilgamesh and Genesis share a lot of literary kinship).

God seemed content to take the treaties, covenants, law codes, and literature of the time and show His people how to use and live them redemptively.

This makes me think that perhaps (maybe even probably) the worship the Jewish nation offered God was reflective of the worship their pagan neighbors offered false idols. God just showed His people how to use it redemptively. So, when we read about all the commands for HOW to worship, they are not commands that are counter-cultural or intrinsically more holy; they are commands that implement know forms of worship, but channels them in a counter-cultural way toward the proper source of worship – Jehovah.

Not only did God redeem common modes of worship, he allowed His people to worship in a way that was understood by the other nations. Nobody was going, “What are they doing?” Everyone blew trumpets. Everyone waved banners. Everyone danced. It’s how people worshiped. They all knew what they were doing.

NEW TESTAMENT WORSHIP

In the New Testament, all Jesus tells his disciples about worship is to worship Him in Spirit (God was not limited to geographical locations) and Truth (better make sure it’s really God). We do it with out body (Romans 12), our words (Hebrews 13 among other passages), and through charity and service (Philippians 4 among other passages). Other than that, our New Testament source on church gatherings really don’t discuss worship as much as how the church at that time managed their corporate time together.

MODERN WORSHIP

If my analysis is correct, i think we ought to make a distinction between Christian worship being UNIQUE and Christian worship being UNUSUAL. It has always been unique – it has been directed toward the God of the Bible, ultimately expressed in Jesus Christ. It has not always been unusual.

There are several important questions that must be asked: How does our culture worship? Does it even matter? What kind of worship can God’s people offer that redeem already existing expressions of worship? And are there forms of worship that are intrinsically better that we must use?

My thoughts:

I think most of church worship”today completely misses the point. This brings to mind two things:

#1 – Keller‘s article on ‘Evangelistic Worship‘ which I posted yesterday. Some key thoughts:

- “Our worship must be comprehensible to unbelievers”

- “The only way to have non-Christians in attendance is through personal invitation by Christians.”

- “Worship isn’t just about honoring tradition or keeping up with culture, it’s about attracting nonbelievers through comprehensible worship and leading those people to personal commitment.”

#2 – Mark Driscoll‘s observation on what we do with culture. I think that *whatever* we do as worship (including, but not limited to music) has to be filtered through the 3 R’s that Mark regularly refers to. We have to decide what to receive, what to reject, and what to redeem.

Question: Given all this, what relationship is there between the way we worship and our culture?