No Easy Button
“I will not take for the Lord what is yours, nor offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” 1Chron21:24
He was finally King. It took countless sleepless nights, countless turns and returns. Someone had been after him from the time his eligibility for King was announced (actually prophesied). He been betrayed, chased and finally vindicated.
As one of his first acts as King, David brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. He wanted to put God first in the nation. He wanted the ark (a symbol of God’s power and salvation) at the center. He arranged to have the ark brought to Jerusalem as part of a joyous, worshipful event but something went wrong. God had specified that the ark must be carried with poles. When it was brought in on a cart, the oxen pulling it stumbled and the driver Uzzah, steadied it with his hand. That was death for Uzzah and it put an end to the procession.
Fast forward nearly 30 years toward the end of David’s life. Again he is seeking to worship God. This time at the direction of a prophet, David must build an alter. This would stop the pestilence ravaging the land because of his disobedience. Araunah, the owner of the threshing floor where the alter must be built tells David to just have his property and his oxen for the offering – no small gift I’m sure. It would have been EASY for David to just accept it and make the offerings. After all, he was the king right? Plus this would save him, and the kingdom some money right?
David however, was not willing. He’d learned something earlier about worship and God’s heart: “But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.”
There are lots of lessons from this story. You may have already picked some up yourself.
One is that WORSHIP IS NEVER FREE. It costs something to worship God. Let that sink in. As a Christian the amazing truth is that our ability to come before God and be accepted by Him, is not based on any offerings we can make. No matter how much we seek to “pay” for this acceptance it’s impossible – it costs too much. Jesus however, paid the price for us with his own life. This is the central message of our faith.
What we must continue to remember is that it costs to be able to worship God. It cost Jesus his life. I’m afraid that in our modern worship culture, sometimes we approach worship as if we are going to a movie, or a game, or something else for our own fulfillment, fun or satisfaction. We want our worship to be easy and we can ignore the price it cost for us to even think about entering God’s presence.
This is one reason we must always keep Jesus’ life and the cross at the center of our understanding when it comes to worship. I get nervous when I’m at a worship event, and amidst all the celebration, there’s no attention or meditation given to the cross.
Another lesson here is that while we don’t worship for acceptance before God, WORSHIP STILL INVOLVES SACRIFICE. Note that David’s sacrifices were also peace offerings – offerings that celebrated peace (acceptance) with God, as opposed to the burnt offerings for sin. Worship by its nature is about putting God first, not ourselves. It’s about honoring God through the “process” as well as the “product” of our worship.
The sacrifices we now offer are for God’s pleasure, to lift Him up above ourselves. Hebrews puts it like this: “ Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.” Heb13:15
How does our approach to worship, stack up here? Does our approach to worship embrace this principle of sacrifice? I think this primarily this means I must die to myself when I worship. I must take up my place in Christ – demonstrating His humility, His love, His obedience (i.e. my new nature.) I must die to myself – even in the small decisions. David learned this – to carry the ark with poles, – to not take the easy way but pay for his offerings, – to not build the temple when God had told him his son should build it etc.
And for me? And for you? What have we learned? Dying to self will look differently in different worship cultures. (It’s even different on different days for me!) The list of ways we should die to ourselves could go on and on couldn’t it? I must die to myself in order to worship authentically.
NO Easy Buttons allowed.
David's One Thing (pt 2)
"One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.
"For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock."
"And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord." (Ps 27:1-6)
One thing. Having declared that the LORD (Yahweh) is his light and salvation, David responds with the one thing he knows he wants - to dwell in the house of the LORD, that he might gaze upon His beauty and to meditate in His temple.
As we saw earlier (part 1,) the passion to be in intimate relationship with God gave David the conviction that he, in God, could face any obstacle and not fear! He goes on with more reasons why he feels this way:
"For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock..”
David knew God would hide him, conceal him and lift him high upon a rock! (Ps 40) And this, along with his knowledge of God, gave him confidence over fear. He had experienced God’s protection and care so much in the past that he could declare he would not live in fear! He took God at his word - and so can we.
Our fears are always pointing to a hopeless or disappointing future, but with God we can replace our fears with the reality of His presence, the promises of God’s protection, stability, peace and love - things He gives us when we dwell in His presence.
In this New Testament era we’d call it “walking in the Spirit” or “walking in the light.” One cornerstone verse from the New Testament on fear comes from Phil 4:6,7 This well known passage comes with the promise of God’s peace when we “let our requests be known to God.” But don’t forget what precedes verse 6: “The LORD is at hand (or near)” Paul is reminding us to begin our prayer in His presence. Dwelling in God’s presence is foundational to not “being anxious.” When we live in His presence, believing God’s love and trusting our requests into His hand, His peace can rule and guard our hearts rather than our fear. Col3:15 I like what one author said, “Fear may be in the car but it’s not driving.” Of course we may recognize fear, just as we recognize the ongoing presence of our fleshly nature, but we don’t have to give our fears or our flesh control of our lives.
For David the 'one thing” of being in God’s presence was key and foundational to experiencing all the other blessings and promises of God. He then declares:
"And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord.”
This is amazing. Not only is he saying he will fear nothing but that his head will be lifted above his enemies and he will offer worship to the Lord, making sacrifices of praise, joy and worship. He is saying nothing will stop his worship of the Lord - not his enemies, his circumstances, or anything else. Nothing!
Is this our experience today? Do we let nothing stop our worship of the Lord, whether in our intimate “spirit and truth” times or worship (John 4:23) or our acts of “spiritual service?” (Rom 12:1)
We should strive to set the bar this high for our good and God’s glory!
Oh, but we let so many things interfere don’t we?
We get distracted or tempted and stop living a life of worship. I need not go into detail here. But let’s always remember the action we must take when we realize we’ve sinned. We must to go back into God’s presence in repentance and confession, asking Him to restore our fellowship with Him and to be filled again with His Spirit. (Ps 51, Eph5:18)
It gets back to the ONE THING. Living fearless lives is only possible as we make living in His presence our one thing, letting nothing else interfere. I think David learned this the hard way too - just like me and you. When we don’t make living in God’s presence - in His Spirit, our primary focus, we miss a multitude of blessings He has for us and those around us miss that chance to see Christ in us.
How different the world would be if we walked as men and women of God’s peace (Phil 4:7) rather than of anxiety, fear and worry.
Holy Spirit, revive your people to pursue this ONE THING.
Let us declare against our fears, "The Lord is my light and my salvation." Amen
David's One Thing (pt 1)
Fear, anxiety, worry. No one is exempt from these feelings. We have all learned to deal with our fears in various ways; some healthy, some not so healthy. And the Biblical characters are no different. One reason I love reading the Bible is that it doesn’t sugar coat life. It shows people’s failures and successes. It shows us how to deal with reality and learn to overcome. When it comes to fear, Davids’ psalms give us great insight into what he learned about fear and overcoming obstacles.
David dealt with fear and anxiety-inducing circumstances from early life. Whether it was wrestling a sheep-hungry bear or lion as a teenager, and later fighting Israel’s Goliaths (enemies) on the battle field, or facing enemies within his own family, somehow he learned to not to let fear stop his obedience to God. How did he do it? What did he learn?
How different would our lives be if we could overcome the paralyzing effect of fear and anxiety?
First off, I think its important to realize it’s the decisions in small circumstances that enable us to face the big ones. It’s the day to day habits that give us strength to overcome big “once in a lifetime” obstacles. David could face Goliath because he faced the Bear. He could face Saul in a God-honoring way and not let fear or anger drive his actions. He could fearlessly face armies of thousands because he learned earlier how to face smaller fears. His response to obstacles was “Teach me your way, O Lord and lead me on a level path, because of my enemies.” Ps27:11 He had the heart of a learner.
Psalm 27 gives us some incredible lessons David learned about fear. I encourage you to meditate on this passage. Here are some brief insights I've gleaned. These truths are transforming my life!
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
Observation: Overcoming fear begins with a relationship with Jesus! He is greater and willing to confront our fears with us.
When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh,my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall.
Observation: David remembers previous victories he’s had over adversaries in the Lord’s name.
Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.
Observation: Dave declares by faith the future victory but he knows it gets down to one thing.
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.
Observation: There it is. Its the one thing - the one focus he’s made his life’s passion - to dwell in God’s presence, to behold His person, His beauty, and to inquire or meditate on Him. Amidst all of the possible requests and priorities of life he singles out this one pursuit. Notice too that this is a daily pursuit. He knows that he needs this daily posture if he’s to live a life overcoming fear and anxiety and any other obstacles he faces.
Do you see some keys here for your life? I sure do!
Some application and questions for us:
To “dwell” literally means to “sit” It’s not enough to just “pass through” God’s presence. We seek a quick fix in most other areas of life, but knowing God doesn't work this way, especially in regard to fear and anxiety (see) Ps46)
- Do I value living in God’s presence? Do I sit still before Him daily? Even when my life is very busy, how can I make space for this?
- Do I know the Lord personally in such a way that I see His beauty. Are you growing in that knowledge?
- Do I let other things dominate my attention when I’m praying? One teacher said we should always “gaze” at the Lord and just “glance” at our requests or problems before Him. He wants us to bring our requests but to let our hearts be fixed on Him. (Heb 12)
- Is the primary purpose of my life to know Him?
- How does this show up in my life?
- How can I change my priorities and schedule to make time for Him?
Oh, may we know Him more, walk in His image more, and do His good will more every day for His glory alone.
Crisis Praise
The conference wasn’t supposed to start with such alarm and concern. As more than 3000 people assembled, news had spread of a summer thunderstorm that became a flood passing through Big Thompson Canyon just south of the conference sight. The day before, 35 women in the leadership of Cru had gone into the canyon for a pre-conference gathering and were caught in the flash flood. As the conference started the following evening, no one knew much more than that the women were caught in the flood. Later it became clear that 7 staff women lost their lives.
As the Bill Bright stood up to begin the conference he knew there was only one thing to do: Praise the Lord.
He began reading psalms of praise. He led the staff in praise to God for His greatness and awesome presence even in the uncertainty and grief.
Bill knew that in the midst of crises, there’s only one appropriate response for Christians and that is to worship the LORD - to praise Him and adore Him for who He is and ask for His glory to reign.
David had a similar response in the midst of terrifying circumstances. He wrote, ""My soul is in the midst of lions; I lie down amid fiery beasts—the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.”
And he followed it with:
I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations. For your steadfast love is great to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth! (Ps57:9-11)
This lesson is simple but hardly natural and on one level doesn't make sense, right? We so instinctively go to fear, anxiety, anger or retribution when negative things happen to us. Yet, when we praise God we direct our heart to His beauty, His love and His power. There are numerous examples of God’s power moving in response to this type of praise. Just a few psalms later David repeats his steadfast response amidst trial:
"But I will sing of your strength;
I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.
For you have been to me a fortress
and a refuge in the day of my distress.
O my Strength, I will sing praises to you,
for you, O God, are my fortress,
the God who shows me steadfast love." Ps 59:16,17
It is instructive that David carried this attitude of praise in bad and good times. He practiced praising God all the time - at least that was his desire. And this is why we must cultivate an attitude of praise throughout the “normal” days of life. When we are grounded in authentic knowledge and praise of God in normal times it is much easier to worship Him in the bad.
David wrote in Ps 34, "I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.”
When our praise is focused on the character of God, which doesn’t change, we can still worship Him even in the midst of circumstances that do change.
If you are a worship leader don’t miss this lesson! It is our role to call his people to worship at all times… and certainly in times of crisis or change! I wonder if the church has lacked power to respond to crisis appropriately precisely because we’ve failed keep a "first response" heart of praise and worship. As worship leaders, we must call people to continually cultivate a heart of praise personally and corporately.
How do you respond to tragedy or negative circumstances? May we keep cultivating a heart of worship in ourselves and others.
"Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!
Let your glory be over all the earth!”
And as we remember Who it was that invaded our world and our lives this Christmas, let's let our praise abound!
“Glory to God in the highest!"
Crisis Prayer
For most Christians, the Lord’s Prayer is the example of prayer we were taught to model in our own prayer life. It’s the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples to pray found in Matt 6:9-13 and Luke 11:1-4 It would be more accurately called the “Disciple’s Prayer” and it's a great model for our prayers, for sure!
There is also another model taken from Jesus own life. It’s His "crises prayer" in the garden of Gethsemane, just before he gave himself up to the Jewish authorities. It led to the horrific pain and eventual sacrifice of His life on our behalf for our salvation. And it is only because Jesus redeemed us from our crises of separation from God, that we can come before Him in worship and prayer.
In that desperate moment He prayed:
"Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36, Matt 26:39, Luke 22:42)
Four Essentials:
Jesus modeled four essentials to effective prayer for us: Fellowship, Faith, Request, and Surrender. These have been very helpful in my own prayer life and I hope help you too!1. Fellowship with God: “Abba, Father”
Jesus was intimately connected with the Father all the time. He lived in union with God and constant worship before Him. Worship expressed in obedience and adoration.
* “Abba" (Daddy) suggests love and intimacy with the Father.
* “Father” suggests that Jesus knew who God was and who He was - the Son of God and Son of Man.
For us, this fellowship with God is possible because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. By our believing and receiving Him by faith we become sons and daughters of God! Jn1:12
To live in fellowship with God means we are living in repentance before Him regarding all sin in our lives and pursuing our relationship with God. So, while Jesus didn’t have sin, we do and must confess and forsake any sin God reveals to us!
As you approach a time of prayer ask:
Question #1: Am I living in fellowship with God? Is there any unconfessed sin in my life? Have I turned from it and surrendered to Christ’s Lordship? Jesus had made up his mind to live in fellowship and under the Father’s Lordship regardless of the outcome.
2. Faith: “All things are possible for You.”
We are commanded to believe God when we pray and this is Jesus example. Mk11:24 Praying in faith means we fully believe God is able to do anything He desires. Does it mean we believe He will give us what we ask? I think not - Not unless what we are asking is something God has promised us in His word, such as the promise to give us peace. Phil 4:7 But this asking in faith must go deep into our being. it’s not wishing that God could do something. It is fully affirming that God is who He says He is and putting our weight into it. Heb11:6
As you approach a time of prayer ask:
Question #2: Do I fully believe God is able to do anything - that all things are possible? Inherent in this prayer is the trust that God would do what is best in His plan. We too can lean on God’s great promise that He does all things for His glory and our good. Rom8:28 We mustn’t let our circumstances or other’s words diminish our view and the truth of who God is.
3. Request: “Remove this cup.”
Jesus did not hide his desire before the Father. He was aware of what he was feeling (Matt26:38) and what was causing His feelings (impending crucifixion and more.) He brought this before the Father and His request for this chapter in His life to be removed. Did God give Him this request? No, but He did give Jesus the strength to follow the Father’s plan. This strength allowed Jesus to bring his emotions of sorrow under control and to obey God.
As you approach a time of prayer ask:
Question #3: Am I bringing my deepest requests before the Lord? Am I being honest and vulnerable before Him - hiding nothing?
4. Surrender: “Yet, not what I will, but what You will.”
Perhaps this reveals more about Jesus’ heart than anything. His knowledge and love of God was so complete that He passionately wanted the Father's will over His own. He knew and trusted that the Father’s will was best - whatever that meant for His current circumstances. He knew that in the end, joy was before Him. Heb12:3
Our knowledge of God and delight in His will is a work in progress. Still, by His grace, we can also live in surrender. We have an amazing hope we are to abide in, faith we are to live by, and love we are to walk in by His Spirit’s power. We can affirm that His will is better than ours. We can even be optimistic about the future. 2Cor2:14
As you approach a time of prayer ask:
Question #4: Is the posture of my heart one of surrender? Do I fully believe God’s will is best? Do I have a surrendered attitude toward God in the little things as well as the big?
May God deepen our experience of Him and may we imitate Jesus in all areas of our lives, including our prayers.
Rest in Worship
The journey of knowing and worshiping God continues to amaze me. God is so great and gracious to invite us into His presence and to deepen our heart knowledge of Him
As I’ve said elsewhere, based John 4:23 and Romans 12:1,2, worship can be thought of in two different categories. One is the “spirit and truth” worship Jesus talked about. Here we draw near to Him and intimately express our deepest adoration (kiss). This definition comes from the Greek word "proskuneo." It assumes we take the time to bask in His presence in repentance and rest -rest in who He is and in what He’s done for us. We are to take time for this every day and with other believers. It’s an attitude of the heart we should carry throughout the day.
The Romans 12 word for worship, "latreian", is worship expressed in service for Him. It’s a response of transformed activity for Him. It’s the offering of our lives on the altar not in order to be accepted by Him, but rather because we are accepted by Him. We’ve been set free to worship Him through what we do, for His glory.
Both responses call us to a rhythm of intimate “being with Jesus" and “doing with Jesus.” And as we move out in service we should carry with us the intimacy of fellowship with Him - the posture of “spirit and truth" worship.
How does this effect our service?
For one thing, it should make us stand out from those who are not in the posture of authentic worship. This is what makes Christians distinct from non-believers - our worship of God in spirit and truth. It’s the same type of distinctiveness to which Israel was called. (Ex33:16) God’s presence should accompany all we do.
We move into the world:
• resting and delighting in the knowledge of who God is in all circumstances, trusting Him completely. You may not, or perhaps should not be praising Him all the time verbally, but certainly internally, in the attitude of your heart, you should carry an attitude of rejoicing in God.• resting in the knowledge of who we are in Him. The gospel has made us new creations and we can rest in Him, making steps to become who He’s already declared us to be through Christ.
• standing firm in the freedom (and selflessness) God has given us to serve others on His behalf
We don’t:
• take on other’s views of God or allow our circumstances to define who God is. Only let the Scriptures define who he is.• look to our service (work) to define us, fill us, or complete us - we rest in what He’s done for us through Christ.
• compare ourselves or our accomplishments with others in order to define our success or feel good about ourselves. We pursue what God has called us to and seek faithfulness to Him.
• strive to “be someone” in the world - we serve as bondservants of Christ for His kingdom purposes, leaving the results to Him!
When we let attitudes like these invade our lives we cease worshiping God in spirit and truth. We cease the intimacy and rest God wants for us. God wants us to walk in the freedom of a new heart and restored soul. Not the tyranny of the world’s opinions which say we must perform in order to be someone. As I’ve said before, the world says, “do” and then you’ll be someone. God says, “done” - you are someone, my child - now “do" something. Do you see the freedom in this?
Oh, how we need to rest in Him and what He’s done. How our minds need to be re-programmed to let God define and lead our lives. The practice of comparing, competing and letting others (the media, our educators, our family, maybe even other believers) define our success for us is deadly to our freedom and worship. It’s a battle against the flesh, the world, and the devil.
So, let me encourage you to guard your time of intimacy with God. Let your mind be renewed in the truth of who God is and what He says about you.
Let’s put practices into our lives that enable us to maintain authentic worship in all we do. And let all we do be for His glory alone - to quote Johann Bach, “Soli Deo Gloria”
Lord, let me rest in who You are and in who I am in You, as I serve You daily!
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