We Are Worshiping Beings

What we worship, we inevitably grow to resemble, and the object of our greatest affection will always exercise a transformative influence over our lives. This is both the curse of humanity and our blessed hope, for we were created as worshiping beings. With his very first breath, Adam inhaled in his identity-- the life giving breath of God-- and exhaled in worship to His Creator. But it was not long before this worship, this intimate affection, was given to another, before we fell from the unadulterated exaltation of the One, in Whose image we were fashioned, to groping in the dark in pursuit of whatever we believed could or would make us whole. In short we became idolaters, crafting and worshiping false gods.      

At the core of every human heart lies the broken image of God. We each seek to restore this shattered image, one way or another. Some try money, others success, and others pleasure- many even try religion. John Calvin, in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, wrote, "Man's nature, so to speak, is a perpetual factory of idols." While all these every day idols, and a myriad more, do serve to fashion an image, they can never satisfy the longing deep inside, they always leave us wanting.

All human life is worship. The question to be answered is; what are we worshiping? The only way to escape the gravitational pull of idolatry, of clinging to false images, is to throw ourselves upon the mercies of the True Image, Jesus Christ, to allow Him, by the power of the Gospel and through the ministry of His Spirit, to renew our minds and hearts- to transform us into His likeness, the very image of the Father in heaven. It is only at the foot of the Cross that we are freed from our idols to worship Him, Whose image we were created to bear. This is why the Apostle Paul wrote so emphatically to the church in Rome, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind..." (Rom 12: 1-2).

He Has Borne Our Griefs

What does it mean for you- for us- that Jesus experienced all the hurts, all the temptations, all the heartaches, that life has to offer? Have you given much thought lately to the work of Christ on the Cross, not just for the forgiveness of sins, but how, in the words of Isaiah 53, "He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows"? 

No matter where the road leads, no matter what storms we may find ourselves in, we, who have been called by Christ, and who have put our trust in Him, are not alone.

The Great Commandment vs. The Great Commission...?

There has been debate, over the years, as to whether the church should focus on the Great Commandment or the Great Commission. I would like to offer my two cents to this long running conversation for consideration.

During His earthly ministry, Jesus said the greatest of His Father's commandments are to love "God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind," and to "love your neighbor like yourself" (Matt 22: 37-40). After His Cross and Resurrection, He commissioned his people- the church- to live out these commandments, by going through out the world making disciples of all nations, baptizing them, and "teaching them to observe all that [He] had commanded them" (Matt 28: 19-20). And after His ascension into heaven, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, on the day of Pentecost, to empower His church to carry out this mission, to bear the good news of Jesus Christ, the message of His death and resurrection, to a world that is lost in the bondage of sin and death (Acts 1: 8; Acts 2).

So I ask, how can there ever be any separation between the Great Commandment and the Great Commission? One naturally leads to the other and vice versa. How would we know about the first without the latter? And how could we truly live out the latter without the first? The Great Commandment, by the power of the Holy Spirit within us fuels the Great Commission; and the Great Commission, by the grace and mercy of God, gives birth to the faith-filled utterance of the Great Commandment in the hearts, minds, and lives of those who- like we once were before we heard- are once far from God.

Living Witnesses of the Truth

After His resurrection and just before He ascended into heaven, Jesus said to his disciples, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (acts 1:8).

Christians are called to live in this world, not as enforcers for truth-- as some would seem to maintain, but as bold "witnesses" of, and to, the Truth. We have been given "power," in and through the "Holy Spirit," and are called to live lives of forgiveness, love, and grace, always pointing to-- proclaiming in word and deed-- the only Truth that can set man free from the bondage of sin and death, the only Truth that can lay low the strongholds of this fallen and broken world. This Truth is Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Son of Man, crucified for the sins of many, raised again to life on the third day as the guarantee of eternal life, Who even now, stands at the righthand hand of God the Father and makes intercession for us!

In the words of the Apostle Paul, "And I... did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God."

Does this mean we are called to passivity and not to action? Certainly not! Throughout the ages, Christian witnesses have seen some of societies most evil institutions undone, before the power of the Cross. It was the Christian witness Telemachus who helped to bring an end to the gladiatorial blood sports of ancient Rome and it was the witness, and activity, of William Wilberforce that helped bring an end to the practice of slavery in the British Empire. Yet even these great triumphs pale in comparison to-- and are contingent upon-- the victory Christ won at Calvary.

So let us endeavor to first surrender every other effort-- no matter how worthy or noble-- to the primacy of His Gospel, allowing our every act, argument, and/or cause, to flow from this fountainhead of grace and mercy. In so doing, we may just find that God Himself, will use our witness to roll away that stone that we in all our might could never budge, just as He did nearly two thousand years ago on that first Easter morning.

In the Beginning, God....

In the beginning, God ever was.... In the now, God ever is... At the end, God ever shall be...!

"For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen." - Romans: 11: 36

Planting for Etrernity

"If you want to grow something to last a season-- plant flowers.
If you want to grow something to last a lifetime-- plant trees.
If you want to grow something to last through eternity-- plant churches." -- Author Unknown

A Worshipful Life

A worshipful life will always be marked by humility. We cannot truly acknowledge God's rightful place, and ascribe to Him the glory and honor due Him, without recognizing and embracing our place.