Worship of God has several factors. In the communion a personal and corporate admission of forgiveness. In the singing musical exaltation of God in Christ. In the offering our acknowledgement of God's ownership of our finances. In the preaching guidance, correction and stimulation in discipleship. In the fellowship, realization of belonging to a forgiven people, a cause worth living for, a kingdom worth living in.
Consider what impact worship of God SHOULD have on us. Think of it as Mobil Gas Station:
Think of it as a San Diego Gas and Electric:
Think of it as our Hoover Dam:
Think of it as Mt. Palomar Observatory:
Think of it as a Spindletop, the Texas oil gusher:
Think of it as the Marianas Trench:
Think of it as Wall Street:
And all this only begins the benefits accruing to us as we worship God in Christ.
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Sunday morning, 2 September, 1945, Tokyo Bay, aboard the battleship USS Missouri. The historic occasion formally finalized the surrender of the Japanese empire to her Allied opponents, represented by a hundred plus Allied generals and Admirals in attendance.
The ship’s 3,000 man crew positioned themselves atop her 16-inch gun turrets to watch. Eleven Japanese men walked the gangway to the ship’s deck, the civilians formally-dressed, the military shabbily—symbolizing their failure in war. Across the surrender table stood men in their national military uniforms—symbolizing the crushing power of Allied armies. After Japanese civilian and military representatives signed the surrender document, MacArthur signed for the Allies, using three pens. The first he gave to General Wainwright, American commander who surrendered troops in the Philippines March, 1942. The second he gave to British General Percival, who surrendered Singapore in February, 1942. The third he stuck in his pocket as a gift to wife Jean. After he announced, “These proceedings are closed,” MacArthur walked towards Halsey’s cabin. On the way he put his arm on the Admiral’s shoulders and asked, “Bill, where the hell are those airplanes?” WWII History, pp 24, 72, August 2020. And almost immediately knew. For, from far away, and still-out-of-site, all aboard heard rumbling like distant thunder marching directly towards Tokyo Bay. Soon, spread across the sky an armada of 1900 carrier-based bombers and fighters became THUNDER itself, their advance an explosion of concatenated air power, flinging cascades of ear-deafening roars ahead and continuous ear-splitting claps above as they swept overhead into the distance beyond. For the victors, KNOCK-OUT Conquest. For the defeated, KNOCKED-OUT collapse. All this is a poor physical demonstration of the very powerful spiritual dynamic every believer has in worship. And a poorer example still of every new revelation God gives of himself when he gathers his people around THE throne—each in a new body and brain—and delights and surprises and exalts them with one glory after another. Forever and ever continued, one mouth-gasping ecstasy interrupted only to show a greater ecstasy that only our new brain and body can appreciate and understand. Amen. Fini. I preached in yesterday’s message, March 7, 2021, what could possibly have caused Lucifer’s banishment from heaven. Will send a copy to anyone requesting it. After writing it up for the message, it occurred to me that LEARNING something we didn’t know about GOD embodies our constant experience in Heaven. With all physical needs absent, and all fleshly desires non-existent, our sole desire will be to KNOW GOD as he revealed himself in Christ Ephesians 2:6-7. We will then perfectly fulfill the hunger and thirst for God each disciple should now have as the focus of life Matthew 5:6.
When our curriculum is GOD in CHRIST ONLY, ALONE, SOLELY and COMPLETELY, we shall begin an understanding of ourselves denied us now by keeping ourselves first Colossians 3:1-4. Get the priority of self-denial in life now as the pre-requisite to self being a fit vessel to fathoming Christ then. (Which emphasizes that all secrets about God but one will be open to discovery—the secret Lucifer may have coveted, and coveting, lost everything.) Perfected, glorified mortals shall have that experience—not angels, though higher than we now, for they aren’t subject to our coming glory. Which leads to the thought of this blog. Sometimes…if not often…our greatest learning experience in worshipping God comes by being filled with WONDER. No understanding necessary. No explanation possible. No communication in evidence. Simply the human spirit communing with God’s Holy Spirit—akin to what can happen in prayer Romans 8:26-27. Even now, in our limited spiritual capacity, we have those experiences with Christ beyond words or interpretation. And when God clothes our mortality with immortality, words equal to the experiences ARE the rule that has no exceptions I Corinthians 15:35-58. An event on Sunday, September 2, 1945 illustrates. End Part I Oliver Cromwell had one condition when he agreed to have his portrait drawn: the artist had to paint what he saw, not what he wanted the public to see. Not many of us would be so mature. We allow photographers to brush out any unseemly feature. And are we not all shocked to see the cosmetic face of actresses compared to their wake-up face?
What we do to our face before attending services may make us more presentable to others like us, but God sees our hidden parts. Those of us who matured in a culture that expected “Sunday-go-meetin” clothes continue to wear dresses, dress pants, shirts and shoes to worship. We wouldn’t wear flip-flops, shorts and tee-shirts if meeting the President of a Company or Country. Why would we think respect for the Sovereign Ruler of the universe would impose fewer demands? Especially when remembering that the purpose of worship is to acknowledge God in Christ as the source of all GOOD, of all RIGHTEOUSNESS, of all HOLINESS and of LIFE itself. Whatever our state of dress, our minds and hearts must render that obeisance to the Godhead. In the community of believers we thank God for his mercies, not congratulate each other for our giftedness. We excel each other in admitting our failures and sins, not compete with each other in proving our piety. If we come expecting God to appreciate our voices, keep still; or come expecting him to value our eloquence, say nothing; or come thinking, “I’m OK, you’re OK”, leave and find a religious science church; or with flashing strobe lights and electronic amplifiers expecting to entertain God, save it for the nightclub. They want to be entertained. God expects to be adored, with the only something we bring is ourselves to offer adoration. Worshipping the Holy Trinity means we can forget ourselves and our problems for a few moments and remember GOD’s GLORY. We can initiate an awareness of God that, if cultivated daily, can turn an hour or a day into a week of Christ-likeness we haven’t experienced before. That way, our lilliputian works can build brobdingnagian virtues by the Spirit’s presence in us II Peter 1:5-9 Above all, we want to leave a worship service knowing we have been in God’s Presence since the Spirit of God honored our motives in attending. Our faith in Christ has increased. Our knowledge of discipleship is clearer. Our commitment to serving Christ is stronger. Then, we can say with the Psalmist, We have tasted and found that the Lord is good. We have taken refuge in him and are blessed 54:6. Fini Worship can be a noun, verb or adjective: someone awesome (Almighty God only); an act of obeisance to God; an honorific role in a fraternal organization (a worshipful something or other).
In a series of contrasts, this blog considers worship in the limited sense of what people committed to God in Christ expect, accept, tolerate or demand when they gather for weekend services. First of all, there is no “either or contrast” in the meaning of worship. Whether God’s people stand or kneel, raise hands or only voices, are accompanied by solo or diverse instruments, led by one or a group of singers, singing choruses or great hymns, we intend to venerate and glorify God in Christ as the sole purpose of worship. We always wonder why ONE such as HE could love such as we, but he does and we don’t quibble about being unworthy. He knows we ARE but declares us RIGHTEOUS through Christ. Indeed, God seeks our worship for he knows the experience deepens our awareness of his mercy and increases our confidence in him. And while the service increases our sense of importance to God, it leaves us humble at such undeserved honor. Through the entire worship experience, we retain a healthy respect for God akin to fear, not a careless familiarity akin to sacrilege. We seek his will in our lives, not his accommodation of what we feel is appropriate behavior and obedience. We seek inspiration, instruction, correction, conversion, help, hope and allegiance to his will and word, but never “a good time had by all.” We come to bare our souls and seek his mercy, not blast our instruments to prove how loud we can play. We plead for grace we need but not deserve, not admiration of our musical or preaching skills. We want to be disappointed if we HAVEN’T been challenged, or convicted, or disturbed by what we heard from God’s Word, not because we HAVE! I spoke at a student devotional service one night at Ozark Christian College. A young man sang a solo but, as I remember, made a mistake or two in the effort. I clearly remember how crestfallen he had been when finishing. He thought the song’s message had been lost in his mistakes. I told him gently that God uses what we call mistakes to prove that the worth of his message is neither increased by our skill nor limited by our shortcomings. Every preacher understands his frustration. For how many times are we disappointed in our sermonic delivery, despite extensive preparation; expressing regret at not delivering it better and promising to do better next time? All the while understand a spiritual truth: after human effort can’t adequately serve God, the Holy Spirit can and does. Remember: the TREASURE in earthen vessels is what the Holy Spirit emphasizes to the listeners, not the vessels’ appearance, age or competence. “....This all-surpassing power is from God and not from[V1] us” II Corinthians 4:7. Whatever we experience, God never fails to produce the result he seeks from his Word Isaiah 55:11. The jar may be old or cracked or broken, but God’s message still GETS OUT! End Part I our highest pleasure
The Queen of England and Prince Philip visited San Diego in February, 1983. Wanting to worship Sunday, February 27, the Royal Pair chose St. Paul’s Episcopal Church to host them. Which surfaced obvious problems. While 580 seats were available, 800 of its 1000 members wanted to attend, in addition to many of the city’s British organizations. San Diego U-T, 2/16/83 A church committee decided to prioritize: regular worshipers who were also major financial contributors were the first invited. Less regular attenders of smaller financial contributions were next. Those with neither qualification didn’t receive invitations. Those bereft of the chance to worship with Royalty howled in protest. They needed to wait only a week. For the following Sunday all 580 seat remained available in St. Paul’s. Did the leaders have to prioritize regular attenders over others that Sunday? Sunday, February 27, 1983 people thronged St. Paul’s be able to worship God with human royalty. A week later, with only God Almighty present, very few of those flocked to services. What Jesus said in judgment of his critics in John 5:41-44 remains his critique of many religious people today: “How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?” Yours for a faith that would prefer to worship with a few whose sole interest was praising God in Christ than with many there for any other reason. New Apologetics book at: Amazon Check out Virg Hurley books at Amazon Check out Virg Hurley Digital books at: Smashwords |
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