Thoughts on Worship

I don’t know if it is still there or not but I saw a billboard advertising a local church, I don’t know which one, when driving home on I-40 the other day.  It was a picture of a concert stage with the surrounding areas darkened to draw the eye on the people on stage and the slogan “church like never before”.  Now, as I said, I don’t know which church this is and the thoughts that follow really don’t have anything to do with whatever church the ad was for. 

As someone that has attended traditionally conservative churches (Southern Baptist, Pentecostal, and Lutheran) my first thought was what’s wrong with church before?  Hymns, Liturgies, alter calls, sermons that mention sin and Jesus.  In case you aren’t aware the church in America has congregations that mention neither sin nor Jesus if they can help it.  Anyway, I got to thinking that there really isn’t anything wrong with traditional services, yes I’m biased.  Some people prefer worshiping the Lord in a more reverent, subdued manner.  Absolutely nothing wrong with it.  But by the same token there are people that prefer more exuberant, active worship.  Absolutely nothing wrong with it.

Psalm 100:1-2

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.  Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

2 Samuel 6:14

David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might.

Hebrews 12:28

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe.

Zephaniah 1:7

Be silent before the Lord God! For the day of the Lord is near; the Lord has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated his guests.

I remember having a conversation with a young man that had been told, on more than one occasion as it sounded, that he couldn’t worship in the way he did and be a Christian.  As we talked it didn’t seem that there was anything really wrong with his worship practices other than that they weren’t traditional enough for some.  Further, I remember a former pastor of mine stating, from the pulpit, that worship that wasn’t free in movement and overly emotional wasn’t sincere in his opinion.  It’s my personal opinion that to say there is exclusively one right way to worship the Lord is asinine.  Moreover, such comments really only serve to injure someone’s walk with God.  Literally, people that say these things are saying that your gift of worship to the Lord isn’t good enough or acceptable enough.

I think we can all agree that there are indeed ways to not worship the Lord.  I don’t believe it too much of a stretch to say committing an act that is clearly a sin can be considered worshipful unto the Lord.  Killing the infidel, getting stoned, drunk, sexual acts outside of marriage really cannot be considered worshiping the Lord no matter how you characterize it.  They are all contrary to Scripture in some way and you can’t worship a holy God by sinning against His holiness.

That said the Bible doesn’t say anywhere that I’ve been able to locate that THOU SHALT WORSHIP IN THIS WAY.  There is exceptional freedom in the Bible in how God’s people can worship Him.  Dost thou have a talent?  A singer, martial artist, mathematician, a writer, exceptional dental hygienist, or alligator wrangler?  Using your talent for the glory of the Father is an act of worship unto Him.  Feel compelled to dance when the praise band starts playing?  Go for it, particularly if all the brothers and sisters around you are of like mind.  In a mixed setting but still compelled to dance?  Go for it, but be respectful of practices of your brothers and sisters that believe in being still in worship.  (e.g.  Don’t force the still to be mobile if they don’t want.  If they are like me they are introverts and you are invading their personal bubble.  Respect the bubble.)  For those of you that believe in being still, go for it, be respectful of those who want to dance in those mixed settings.  (e.g.   Let them do their thing it’s just as pleasing to God as your stoic reverence.  Forcing them to be still will probably result in physical harm to their bodies.  Or a result in an Incredible Hulk like transformation in to a giant green rage machine on their part.)

Quite literally the manner in which we worship the Lord is not something non-believers need to see us bickering amongst ourselves about.  The manner in which we worship is secondary to the fact that we worship.

My parents told me about a church they were invited to attend services at one time.  During the service when it came time for the praise team to begin playing the Worship Leader grabbed her microphone and shouted into it “Are you ready to get your worship on?”  (As a side note, worship leaders don’t shout into your mics, it irritates your sound guys.  I speak from experience.)  From there the praise team proceeded to deafen the congregation through the unabashed abuse of the max volume setting.  Now I don’t know the sincerity of the members of that church and am not commenting on that in any way.  Honestly, my parents don’t remember much of anything about the church after that, probably because they couldn’t hear any of the sermon or they were still shell shocked from the sonic assault they had just survived.  The point is though there are people that sincerely enjoy that style of worship service and as far as I can tell there is nothing wrong, Scripturally, with it.  If that decibel level is how they are most able to give their most fervent praise to the Lord, well, then, okay. 

Since joining a Lutheran church I have discovered there is a term for things like this, adiaphora.  Adiaphora is something spiritually neutral or something that is not essential to the faith.  Are any of the following essential to faith in Jesus Christ: contemporary songs performed with an electric guitar, a chancel choir, or hymns sung a Capella by a congregation?  The answer is no.  Each of these are methods of expressing the greater faith that is essential to Christ.  A sincere believer worshiping and praising God with a sincere heart has an awful lot of methods for expressing that worship and praise.

We can debate whether or not churches select certain types of worship services because that is the truest and most sincere expression of their faith or because they are trying to market themselves to a certain audience to increase attendance and/or the size of the church’s wallet.  That however is a discussion for another day.  Moreover, don’t take this to mean I think our dear little IV chapter has a problem with this.  We, quite clearly I believe, don’t not have an issue in this area.  This is just something that “grinds my gears” about the “church” in America today and is, in part, why the “church” has the stigma it does with non-believers, in my opinion.

Basically I say all this to encourage us to be mindful of how our faith appears to others.  We as Christians are lights in the darkness with eyes on us at all times, even, probably most often, when we are unaware.  If we are picking at each other about thing like this, it will be a turn off to those who don’t believe.  I'm not saying to tone down you expressions of you faith because it might offend someone in our culture that worships the idol of political correctness.  Merely be discerning in what you are willing to fight about.  There most certainly are things we should take a stand on.  However, there are lots of little squabbles in the "church" in America today that amount to children in the back seat of a minivan fighting over whose picture of the TARDIS is better because they each used a different shade of blue.

Jonathan Gross on Faith

This last Saturday several of us gathered together for the apologetics Bible study that Lisa has been facilitating this semester. For this meeting we spent some time studying how the word "faith" is used in the Bible. Unsurprisingly, "faith" is found in a large number of verses, so we restricted ourselves to passages from Genesis up through Judges 5:15. Even with a relatively small cross-section of scripture, we found many underlying concepts regarding faith becoming clear from context. To give you a flavor of our time, let me briefly describe some of the concepts that stood out to me.

Faith is frequently talked about as an important component in a marital relationship. Breaking faith in this kind of a relationship is a serious thing (Exodus 21:8, Numbers 5:12, 27). This picture of faith in a marriage is extended to Israel's relationship to God in Joshua 24:14, where faithfully serving God requires putting away other gods just like marriage requires putting away other men/women.

There is also a legal sense of faith described several times in Leviticus (5:15, 6:2). Although we don't often use faith in a secular sense, there is still a legal concept of acting in good (or bad) faith that can help give us a more complete understanding of the word. Throughout the Law, breaking faith with God seems tied to breaking the covenant He established with His people.

The marital and legal aspects of faith have reciprocity in common. Both husband and wife are expected to remain faithful to one-another, and the covenant God established with His people lays down expectations for the behavior of both God and the people. While His people constantly break faith with Him, we have a perfect example of faithfulness in God Himself (Genesis 24:27, Deuteronomy 7:9).

There are certainly many more qualities of faith to be explored, so we plan to continue our study at the final meeting of this semester. I encourage you to come and learn about faith with us so we can all more faithfully answer others regarding the hope we possess (1 Peter 3:15)!

Theology 101: Thanksgiving

Hi Ya'll.  This is your IV Blog.  Yes, I have been MIA for quite a while.  Since the past is in the past, I thought it good to start writing again.  This month is November.  We often think about the major holiday at the end of the month, Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving, as you may know, started when the first pilgrims from across the ocean came to live in America and stopped to give thanks to God for helping them get through their first year in a new land.  Imagine coming to a new land across the ocean.  The ocean possibly does not have a name.  The land has no comforts.  There are no societies, clubs, universities, malls, and plowed lands.  There is no promise of food.  There are no freinds to welcome them to this new land.  As far as they know, they might be the only ones there.  The winter is cold, the summer is hot.  There is no air conditioning or heater.  They won't be able to run to the store or back to England if they forgot something.  In many ways, you as college students have left every comfort of family, home cooked food, and all things familiar to come get an education.  Some of us have not.  It is because of hard work by our families that we are able to enjoy comforts where ever we are.  Some of us, do not have any support, we are pulling ourselves along by our own efforts.  Whatever circumstance we find ourselves in, the Lord God says to give thanks.  

I Thessalonians 5:18 says "give thanks in all circumstances."

This is among a list of other commands.  Thanks means "an expression of gratitude" from Google's definition.  From the Webster 1828 dictionary, gratitude means

An emotion of the heart, excited by a favor or benefit received; a sentiment of kindness or good will towards a benefactor; thankfulness. Gratitude is an agreeable emotion, consisting in or accompanied with good will to a benefactor,and a disposition to make a suitable return of benefits or services, or when no return can be made, with a desire to see the benefactor prosperous and happy. Gratitude is a virtue of the highest excellence, as it implies a feeling and generous heart, and a proper sense of duty.

God wants us to realize what He has done for us.  We really do have reason to be thankful to Him for providing for us.  We have many comforts in life.  There is always food nearby.  We have His help in every trouble.  We can ask Him for anything.  Jesus gave thanks when He broke bread and established the practice of communion with His disciples.  He gave thanks before multiplying the 5 loaves and two fish.  In the Old Testament, God commanded a sacrifice of thanksgiving with real animals.  God deserves our praise, but we must accept this and understand it for ourselves.  We must understand what God has done for us as individuals, and also as families, peoples, countries etc.  It is good to give thanks for it moves our eyes off ourselves and onto God who is to be Lord of our lives.  Thanks.  Thanksgiving.  Gratitude.  What has God done in your life?  Have you thanked him for it?  It is right to give thanks and praise.  

Theology 101: Salvation

Hello IV'ers!  Welcome back to another semester of IV epicness.  Last year, this blog focused on themes and reflections from the talks given during large group.  While I hope to do some reflecting on the large group talks, the main focus of the blog this semester is going to be basic theology and the teachings most basic and foundation to our faith in Christ.  I may also break down big words like propitiation from time to time.

So, the topic for today's blog post is salvation.  From Webster's 1828 dictionary, salvation means

1. The act of saving; preservation from destruction, danger or great calamity.
2. Appropriately in theology, the redemption of man from the bondage of sin and liability to eternal death, and the conferring on him everlasting happiness. This is the great salvation.

A quick word search on Biblegateway.com returns 129 verses in which salvation appears.  A great number of these references are in the psalms where the psalm writers talk about God being our salvation.  What are we saved from?  What is it about us that needs to be saves?  When we trust in God for salvation, for him to save us, we trust and believe Him for several things.  We believe what God says about us - that we sinned against Him by disobeying his commands, that we are desperately in need of this salvation because we cannot save ourselves, that we need to be saved from the spirit of the world.  We trust in God to save us from ourselves, from continually sinning, and from the devil and his forces.  We trust that God accomplished this salvation through Jesus' death on the cross.  Romans 1:16 says "For I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith."

Salvation is God's saving work in our hearts.  When we are saves, instead of being thieves, liars, cowards, adulterers and following through with other wrong behaviors, God saves us from these acts.  He saves us from the hurt and pain these actions cause.  He causes us to focus on him.  Salvation, being saved, is where we start our walk of faith with him.

Next time, I hope to cover more of the verses on salvation.  Until next time, check out the links to the verses on salvation from Bible Gateway above.

Thoughts on IV talks and the Resurrection

Hi Fellow IV'ers!  Yes, that's a new term for us all.  As we come upon Easter Sunday and remember our risen Savior, I wanted to recap the a few things from the IV talks we have had.  I wasn't there this past Thursday so I apologize for not including anything from it here. We did, though, have the illustrious Steven Seibert and Mark Charles come and talk to us.  From crazy freshman stories to feasting unto the Lord, there is no one way to honor God this Easter.  But these two reminded us of some core values.  Steven reminded us through his lessons learned in IV to go back to the basics - read your bible and love your neighbor.  There is no greater way to hear God's voice than to read what He is thinking in the Bible.  The Bible is a supernatural book.  For when we read it, God comes and meets with us.  In it He tells us how to love our neighbor.  Mark Charles opened up an Old Testament scripture in Deuteronomy 14 where God gives a very different perspective to tithing than the one given from church leadership using Malachi 3:10.  The thing about scripture is that it cannot be separated from itself.  When studying a topic, every scripture must be taken into account - its context, cultural influences, etc.  Many times we get the "Our church isn't doing well so give us money" talk.  Jesus died on the cross to take away our sins.  He died to give us new life.  I don't always consider the money talk to give life, in fact I think it drains the life out of the church.  Money should be given from a glad and willing heart.  The scriptures tell us to give cheerfully and to the work of God's kingdom.  It is great when there are programs at church that can be done with tithed money, but there is also work going on in the mission field and elsewhere.  My point is this, as Mark Charles tithed to God and made a feast in honor and faith to God, so to, that is what we are to do with our actions.  We read the bible in honor and faith to God.  We give money to the work of God's kingdom, whether to the church or missions, in honor and faith to God.  All of this is done by saying "yes" to God (another thing Steven learned while at IV).  Where does God want your time, talent, and money to go?  Maybe He wants you to tithe to organizations that feed the poor.  Maybe He wants your money to help orphans and widows.  Maybe beyond your money, He want you to use your time and talents in these places.  Maybe He wants you to shine His light in the work place, and show that life is not all about the next promotion but about living a full life unto Him.  There is more purpose than getting bogged down in the things the church and others can demand of us.  It requires listening to His voice.  He may send us into the church, but at the core, everything needs to start with Christ.  The basis for what we do needs to start in our hearts, dying to ourselves, and rising with Christ to walk in the life He has for us.  Maybe you are not there yet.  Start by saying yes to God at the basic level.  "Yes, God, I will give my life, time, money and talents to You."  Maybe you are there, you know that God has spoken to you and you are in His will in a big way.  Continue to say "yes" to God.  Whether at one end or somewhere in between, say yes to God.  Read or reread the resurrection story of how He died and rose again for you.  Learn to love your neighbor as Christ did.  Say,yes to Him and honor him with feasting and gladness this resurrection Sunday.

Ravi Zacharias (apologetist) on Life's Inescapable questions Part 1 of 2

Today I heard a great message on tough questions from Ravi Zacharias which I believe will be very helpful to you.  Take 30 minutes out of your day to listen and be edified in the truth.

http://www.rzim.org/let-my-people-think-broadcasts/lifes-inescapable-questions-part-1-of-2/

Global Project: China

Hi Friends. How are you? This is Lisa here. I apologize for the lack of posts as of late. No excuses are available, but reasons abound...sickness, class for work that occurred on Thursday are the two I can give you.  Well, this post was supposed to come out a few days before the deadline for the Global Project (GP) to China.  Since the deadline has past for this years GP, I would like you to read it as if you were considering going to China...or somewhere else.  It is Steven Russel's testimony on going to China last year.

Hello friends! I hope you’re having a great start of the semester. I am writing this little note to you because I feel God has put it on my heart to share with you that Saturday is going to be an epic day. Saturday is the deadline for applications to go on a GP with IV. Well at least the deadline to apply to go to China. I was blessed with the opportunity to go last year and I hope you go. I really want to encourage you though that God is with you no matter what decision you make. But oh how going on a GP will rock your world in all the right ways. If you are unsure if whether or not God wants you to go keep in mind that He gives us freedom to live this life as we decide. Plus I will throw in there that Jesus did kind of send us all out into the world as His people to make disciples of all nations. So read this over and pray about it. I really hope God sends you out to His people somewhere. Take a leap of faith with the knowledge that Jesus is on your side no matter what and make a decision that could change your life as well as the lives of the countless other people God will send your way. A really cool analogy is that life is a journey. I think that it shows how each of us starts somewhere and we end up somewhere else or perhaps in the same place but changed. One thing that really sticks out to me in this life is how none of us have the same experience in life. Everyone has their own individual journey that they have to navigate. But gradually however through lots of discovery we get our feet under us and become able to survive and manage everyday life. Not only that but it is what we overcome and have victory over and sometimes defeat that shape who we are. There is a really effective tool however that the enemy uses and that is fear. It shows its face in different places but its effects are always the same: inaction, hesitation, isolation, and a loss of confidence. Jesus took away our fears. Death has certainly lost its sting. Something however about the nature of a journey is that it is filled with choices. I think that fear is a choice even though it may not seem like it to you right now. It seems to me that people living in today are living in a bubble of comfort created by fear. Everything is as it has been and that is how it should always be because it is safe. For me this is very interesting because it describes my life as well as Mr. Bilbo Baggins (clever Mr. Tolkien). Adventure is something that terrifies and exhilarates. Change is a close relative of adventure. Change is just a fact of life. Did you ever think that we can not help but experience change at every moment in life? We each can get in routines but nothing ever happens quite the same twice. Something is different. A little change is enjoyable to tolerable for most of us. A lot of change can be stressful and difficult as well. We can get set in our ways. But have you ever thought that it was interesting how God created such a large and diverse world? I mean it really speaks to me about who God is. Didn’t He know that we would feel uncomfortable experiencing new things? I wonder. Change can scare some of us or it can unleash some of us. I think that we were meant to be blank slates at the start and through our experiences here on Earth become transformed into something completely new and awesome. We all start as something and end up as something else. You are uniquely intentionally made by God crafted through the sometimes bitter forges of life. There is so much to experience and do its crazy! You can do anything that you want. I know that it can be scary and uncomfortable but that’s okay! The first step is always the hardest in my opinion. I like to think of myself as the main character in my story with God with me the whole time. I hope for you that you don’t let that fear keep you from seeing all there is in life to experience. If I told you that peaches were evil and that you should never eat one how totally wrong and sad it would be if you never bit into a big fat peach and felt the juices running down your face and tasted the good natural sweet flavor that it has to offer. Praise God for peaches! Praise God for life and the experiences waiting for us to be had. I think that it is totally true that there is no place like home but what if your home keeps changing? Where does God call home and what does that look like? What if you don’t have a home? Where would you go? We are at a stage in our life where we may be getting our first taste of being away from home. It is fun and different and at the same time scary. Pretty soon though you’re living life swimming with the current. I think that there is nothing wrong with going with the flow but I don’t think that we were supposed to stay there. I think that adventure is one way that God can teach us and show us who He is as well as who we are and how He has a heart for those who feel out of place and lost even. By going and putting yourself in a position to feel just that, you will better understand how people feel when they come to this country for the first time or how that child feels when they meet their new foster family. So I guess if you boil it down there is a lot to gain such a friend or an experience, or a revelation about God or yourself and what that means for you. What is there to lose? In my opinion nothing that matters, but we often hold onto so tightly those things which really have little actual value. But you have to weigh those things and see if it is worth going, I did in my own way. As you may or may not know I went to China last summer on IV’s Global Project. It was an amazing experience that I would love to tell you all about sometime but what I want to share with you is my experience around making the decision to go. So the story begins at the annual IV Christmas party. I was blessed with an amazing assortment of gifts in the white elephant gift exchange. One of those gifts was a pin that said Taiwan. I took this as a sign to go to China because I prayed that God would give me a sign so that I would know He wanted me to go in response to Rachel asking me if I wanted to go minutes earlier. So at this point the details kind of get a little foggy because in my mind I had already decided to go but I think I told her I would think about it and get back to her. So I came back to school in the spring after break and Urbana and I let Rachel know that I wanted to join her and the other people going on this awesome adventure. That’s pretty much it for me. For the duration of the trip however I was paralyzed by the fear that I was not actually supposed to be going. I landed in China and one of the thoughts in my head was that I was not meant to be here. But you know what was going through my head that was even more apparent? It was something like this, “Holy crap!!! I’m in China!!!! This is Chinese candy!!! These are probably Chinese people!!!! Aaaah!!!!”. The excitement of seeing all these different people and different things and different smells was like someone screaming at me, “Does is matter??? You are here!!! Live it up!!!”. I don’t know how people picture Jesus in their minds but I like to think of Him as the coolest hippy in the world. He is that guy that is just content and happy with where He is and is going to live it up. I thank you for reading this. I really hope that you choose to go serve the Lord. China was a stepping-stone for me but the awesome thing about that is there were people who were impacted in a really awesome way because I chose to make them a part of my journey. I love you and want to let you know Jesus loves you either way. But there are wonders out there that would change your life. Grace and Peace! Sincerely, Steven