By: Ricardo Barber
Worship is the expression of love toward God, bowing down inwardly in one’s heart. John expressed that love toward Jesus by revealing the majesty, wonder, work and uniqueness of Christ as the Son of God. Do we today express that same love? Do we really worship the Savior as he was revealed in the Old Testament and self-disclosed in the New Testament? He is the creator and sustainer of the universe. John said in his Gospel that it was Christ that Isaiah saw on the throne high and lifted up,
“But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: “Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?” Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, Lest they should see with their eyes, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them. “These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him (John 12:37-41).”
How are we not impressed with him? John had a close intimate commune with the Son that drove him to his face. He had an inner reverence that was rooted in his right thoughts about God and his visible actions reflecting God. True worshippers worship with their lives. This is the fundamental problem in the church.
The glory of God is not honored.
The holiness of God is not reverenced.
The greatness of God is not admired.
The power of God is not praised.
The truth of God is not sought.
The wisdom of God is not esteemed.
The beauty of God is not treasured.
The goodness of God is not savored.
The faithfulness of God is not trusted.
The commandments of God are not obeyed.
The justice of God is not respected.
The wrath of God is not feared.
The grace of God is not cherished.
The presence of God is not prized.
The person of God is not loved.1
Piper goes on to say that this disrespect is opposite of worship. “Worship is not a gathering. It is not essentially a song service or sitting under preaching. Worship is not essentially any form of outward act.”2 These are merely things we use to express worship. Jesus says, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24).” Jesus is saying that worship is a lifestyle. The external part of the worship would be of no value if it is not agreeing with the internal state of the worshippers. Worship must be done from the heart, from the inside out.
The purpose of our worship is to glorify, honor, praise, exalt, and please God. Our worship must show our adoration and loyalty to God for his grace in providing us with the way to escape the bondage of sin, so we can have the salvation he so much wants to give us. The nature of the worship God demands is the prostration of our souls before him in humble and contrite submission.
Worship in Hebrew means to “bow down” with respect. It occurs 171 in the Old Testament. In the Greek New Testament this same word is used for worship. It occurs 26 times in the Gospels mainly when people would bow down before Jesus. The Book of Revelation uses it frequently (21 times) because the angels and elders in heaven often bow down before God. The interesting thing is that it only occurs once in the epistles, Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. It doesn’t occur at all in the letters of Peter, James, or John.3 How is the church suppose to know how to worship if none of the epistles write about this subject. It started with Jesus teachings on worship in John 4:20-24. I first like to add that I am fascinated at the number of times in the New Testament that the statement “in him” or “through him” occurs in reference to Christ. Everything was and is fulfilled and found in him. The Jews main place of worship was the temple. The temple in the Old Testament pointed to him. He is now the place of worship. Jesus identified himself as the true temple. “There is One greater than the temple (Matt. 12:6).” In him is were we meet God, not in formal ceremonies, outward rituals, or localized activities but in a personal, spiritual experience with him at the center.4 In John 4:20-24 Jesus uses the Old Testament word for worship to move it from the outward form to an inward reality. He said the hour has arrived when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth in verse 23. How so? It has arrived in him. True worshippers would not be those who go from place to place and shows or uses all the outward forms. They only would be counted true worshippers who worshipped in spirit and in truth. Worship “in spirit” means heart worship in contradiction to all formal, material, carnal worship. Worship that is led by the Holy Spirit and is mainly an inner experience opposed to an outward experience. Worship “in truth” means that it must be done according as God has specified in the Bible. One writer says, “In spirit regard the inward power, in truth the outward form. The first makes strikes at hypocrisy, the second at idolatry." John avoided using the Hebrew word because he and the other writers wanted the essence of worship as Jesus taught to be clearly understood. We worship by our very lives. Our love for Christ should be reflected in our conduct. “If you love Me, keep My commandments (John 14:15).”
John Piper, Let the Nations be Glad: The Supremacy of God in Missions (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2003), 206.
Ibid.
Ibid, 216.
Ibid.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Are We All God's Children??
Are we all God’s Children?
By
Shawn Thrasher
Are we all God’s children? This is a statement that is made by many people who want to comfort themselves or make the lost feel comforted or they just have a misconception of the relationship between God and Man. This doctrine is known as Universal Fatherhood. The doctrine states that God is the Father to all and all humanity are related as brothers. Let me be quick and plain to say this is not a true statement!! God is the Creator of all but not the Father of all and we are not all brothers. Our best evidence for this argument is scripture itself. God is the creator of all humanity as stated in Genesis 1:27 “God created man in His own Image, in the Image of God He created him; male and female He created them”. From this statement from God we see that He created all humanity.
The Bible makes clear the distinction as to which family you belong to; after the Pharisees made the claim that they were children of God because of their ancestry Jesus refuted their claim in John 8:44, He told those who were against Him in verse 42 “If God were your Father you would Love Me”. He then went on to let them know as to what father they had come from; they were from their father the Devil “v 44 You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father”. Jesus made it clear that those who did not recognize “Truth” because He is Truth, did not know God “v 47 He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God”
Adams’ sin broke the relationship we had with God. Sin made us contrary to Him in every regard possible. The Holy Spirit for those who are believers has delivered us from our past slavery to the flesh and has given us the spirit of Adoption as stated in Romans 8:14-17 “14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.” We the believers have entered into an intimate relationship whereby we can renounce all previous formalities, we as believers approach God as Abba or “Daddy, Daddy” just like a young child.
How can we logically conclude that everyone is God’s child when so many deny Him as God before we can even get to them accepting Him as Father? There are those as Christians who like the Pharisees claimed that they know God as Father but disregard what the Father has to say to His Children. People deny Christ but still want God. You can’t have one without the other (John 10:30) only those who receive Christ will become children of God. John 1:12 makes this plain “12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. The Lord also makes it plain that the world does not even recognize us(Christians), we are the real extra terrestrial or aliens because we have been born again and we now have a heavenly origin (Eph 1:3-6). God has shown us the greatest love by calling us and bestowing upon us the greatest honor next to the forgiveness of sin and that is the honor of calling us children of God “1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God” (1 John 3:1) Please place your attention on the word “now” at the end of 1 John 3:1; the word now points to the fact that at some point you were not a child of God!!! But now after the Gift of Christ and to those who received the gift we are the Children of God.
In closing I leave you with these words from God as written down by the Apostle John;
“By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God” 1 John 3:10
By
Shawn Thrasher
Are we all God’s children? This is a statement that is made by many people who want to comfort themselves or make the lost feel comforted or they just have a misconception of the relationship between God and Man. This doctrine is known as Universal Fatherhood. The doctrine states that God is the Father to all and all humanity are related as brothers. Let me be quick and plain to say this is not a true statement!! God is the Creator of all but not the Father of all and we are not all brothers. Our best evidence for this argument is scripture itself. God is the creator of all humanity as stated in Genesis 1:27 “God created man in His own Image, in the Image of God He created him; male and female He created them”. From this statement from God we see that He created all humanity.
The Bible makes clear the distinction as to which family you belong to; after the Pharisees made the claim that they were children of God because of their ancestry Jesus refuted their claim in John 8:44, He told those who were against Him in verse 42 “If God were your Father you would Love Me”. He then went on to let them know as to what father they had come from; they were from their father the Devil “v 44 You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father”. Jesus made it clear that those who did not recognize “Truth” because He is Truth, did not know God “v 47 He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God”
Adams’ sin broke the relationship we had with God. Sin made us contrary to Him in every regard possible. The Holy Spirit for those who are believers has delivered us from our past slavery to the flesh and has given us the spirit of Adoption as stated in Romans 8:14-17 “14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.” We the believers have entered into an intimate relationship whereby we can renounce all previous formalities, we as believers approach God as Abba or “Daddy, Daddy” just like a young child.
How can we logically conclude that everyone is God’s child when so many deny Him as God before we can even get to them accepting Him as Father? There are those as Christians who like the Pharisees claimed that they know God as Father but disregard what the Father has to say to His Children. People deny Christ but still want God. You can’t have one without the other (John 10:30) only those who receive Christ will become children of God. John 1:12 makes this plain “12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. The Lord also makes it plain that the world does not even recognize us(Christians), we are the real extra terrestrial or aliens because we have been born again and we now have a heavenly origin (Eph 1:3-6). God has shown us the greatest love by calling us and bestowing upon us the greatest honor next to the forgiveness of sin and that is the honor of calling us children of God “1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God” (1 John 3:1) Please place your attention on the word “now” at the end of 1 John 3:1; the word now points to the fact that at some point you were not a child of God!!! But now after the Gift of Christ and to those who received the gift we are the Children of God.
In closing I leave you with these words from God as written down by the Apostle John;
“By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God” 1 John 3:10
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Steps Downward
By J Vernon McGee
I want you to notice a philosophy of history that we find in God’s Word. The three steps that precede the downfall of any nation are first of all, religious apostasy; second, there is moral awfulness; and third, political anarchy. These are the three steps downward that all the great nations of the past, lying this moment in rubble and ashes, have taken. Rome, for instance, is the classic example. The historian Gibbon gives five reasons for the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. The first step down is the undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home, which is the basis of human society. Second, higher and higher taxes, the spending of public money for free bread and circuses for the populace. Third, the mad craze for pleasure, sports becoming every year more exciting, more brutal, and more immoral. Fourth, the building of great armaments when the great enemy is within — the decay of individual responsibility. And fifth, the decay of religion, fading into mere form, losing touch with life, losing power to guide the people. These were the downward steps that Rome took, Greece took, and which all the great nations of the past have taken. If God should call America into court today and specify His charges against us, where would He begin?
Political Anarchy
Would He begin with political anarchy? Certainly He could, for the press tells of the open scandal that exists today in high places. In spite of all the smoke, it is obvious to the average citizen that there is some fire. Today in America we have, as I’m sure you recognize, political anarchy. We are in grave danger as a nation. They are trying to doctor that up,trying to patch up the dike by putting in a little plastic here and a little there,and it’s all political expediency. We think if we get a certain party in and a certain party out,or if we get a certain candidate in, we’ve solved the problems of the nation. I do not discuss politics and I’m not doing it now. But, my friend, just changing parties is not what America needs — any more than you can cure cancer by putting on another suit of clothes. God could put His finger down on political anarchy, which is at work in our beloved nation today, but I do not believe that is where He would begin.
Moral Awfulness
Would He begin with moral awfulness? It is obvious that there is a moral breakdown in America that is unprecedented in our history,or the history of any other nation. In one year, Americans have spent 65 billion dollars on alcoholic beverages. Sixty percent of the young people under age 25 have tried some form of illegal drug. Eight billion dollars a year are spent on pornography. Homosexuals have banded together to form one of the most powerful, intimidating forces in politics. One and a half million babies are aborted every year in this country. Surely God could bring a charge of moral awfulness against our nation, but I do not believe that He would begin there. Now when the Lord Jesus came to Jerusalem, He could have spoken to them about the political situation. John the Baptist as a prophet rebuked Herod,the king, but did you notice that the Lord Jesus did not attempt to straighten out Herod? Other than referring to him as “that fox,”He had no word for Herod whatsoever. Have you ever noticed that He did not attempt to correct the moral condition of the city of Jerusalem? It was corrupt. Why,they even brought to Him a woman taken in adultery and He forgave her.
Religious Apostasy
But I’ll tell you where our Lord did put His finger down. It was on religious apostasy. He nearly took the hide off the Pharisees, and they were the fundamentalists of their day. They represented the best in religion. But because their hearts were far from God, they delivered Him to be crucified. Also, in Isaiah’s day, God put His finger down on religious apostasy. In a scathing way He denounced His people:
"To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD; I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts, and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats." (Isaiah 1:11)
These people had a God-given religion. They had a God-appointed ritual in a God-constructed temple, but they were wrong in that which represented the very best in their religion. They were bringing sacrifices and going through the ritual according to the letter of the Law, but their hearts were in rebellion against God, and their lives were lived in sin. God says, “I don’t want your sacrifices anymore, I don’t want you to bring these vain oblations to Me. I don’t want these things, for the very simple reason that your heart is far from Me.” Oh, my friend, it’s easy to go to church, even be active in the services there, and still have your heart far from God. Where is your heart? Does God have it? Let me paraphrase what God says,“There’s no use coming to church, there’s no use going through the ritual. It’s all a sham and a show — unless your heart is right with Me.” What about your heart?
I want you to notice a philosophy of history that we find in God’s Word. The three steps that precede the downfall of any nation are first of all, religious apostasy; second, there is moral awfulness; and third, political anarchy. These are the three steps downward that all the great nations of the past, lying this moment in rubble and ashes, have taken. Rome, for instance, is the classic example. The historian Gibbon gives five reasons for the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. The first step down is the undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home, which is the basis of human society. Second, higher and higher taxes, the spending of public money for free bread and circuses for the populace. Third, the mad craze for pleasure, sports becoming every year more exciting, more brutal, and more immoral. Fourth, the building of great armaments when the great enemy is within — the decay of individual responsibility. And fifth, the decay of religion, fading into mere form, losing touch with life, losing power to guide the people. These were the downward steps that Rome took, Greece took, and which all the great nations of the past have taken. If God should call America into court today and specify His charges against us, where would He begin?
Political Anarchy
Would He begin with political anarchy? Certainly He could, for the press tells of the open scandal that exists today in high places. In spite of all the smoke, it is obvious to the average citizen that there is some fire. Today in America we have, as I’m sure you recognize, political anarchy. We are in grave danger as a nation. They are trying to doctor that up,trying to patch up the dike by putting in a little plastic here and a little there,and it’s all political expediency. We think if we get a certain party in and a certain party out,or if we get a certain candidate in, we’ve solved the problems of the nation. I do not discuss politics and I’m not doing it now. But, my friend, just changing parties is not what America needs — any more than you can cure cancer by putting on another suit of clothes. God could put His finger down on political anarchy, which is at work in our beloved nation today, but I do not believe that is where He would begin.
Moral Awfulness
Would He begin with moral awfulness? It is obvious that there is a moral breakdown in America that is unprecedented in our history,or the history of any other nation. In one year, Americans have spent 65 billion dollars on alcoholic beverages. Sixty percent of the young people under age 25 have tried some form of illegal drug. Eight billion dollars a year are spent on pornography. Homosexuals have banded together to form one of the most powerful, intimidating forces in politics. One and a half million babies are aborted every year in this country. Surely God could bring a charge of moral awfulness against our nation, but I do not believe that He would begin there. Now when the Lord Jesus came to Jerusalem, He could have spoken to them about the political situation. John the Baptist as a prophet rebuked Herod,the king, but did you notice that the Lord Jesus did not attempt to straighten out Herod? Other than referring to him as “that fox,”He had no word for Herod whatsoever. Have you ever noticed that He did not attempt to correct the moral condition of the city of Jerusalem? It was corrupt. Why,they even brought to Him a woman taken in adultery and He forgave her.
Religious Apostasy
But I’ll tell you where our Lord did put His finger down. It was on religious apostasy. He nearly took the hide off the Pharisees, and they were the fundamentalists of their day. They represented the best in religion. But because their hearts were far from God, they delivered Him to be crucified. Also, in Isaiah’s day, God put His finger down on religious apostasy. In a scathing way He denounced His people:
"To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD; I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts, and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats." (Isaiah 1:11)
These people had a God-given religion. They had a God-appointed ritual in a God-constructed temple, but they were wrong in that which represented the very best in their religion. They were bringing sacrifices and going through the ritual according to the letter of the Law, but their hearts were in rebellion against God, and their lives were lived in sin. God says, “I don’t want your sacrifices anymore, I don’t want you to bring these vain oblations to Me. I don’t want these things, for the very simple reason that your heart is far from Me.” Oh, my friend, it’s easy to go to church, even be active in the services there, and still have your heart far from God. Where is your heart? Does God have it? Let me paraphrase what God says,“There’s no use coming to church, there’s no use going through the ritual. It’s all a sham and a show — unless your heart is right with Me.” What about your heart?
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