The Heart of a True Worshiper - Part 2

“This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in Him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.” “If anyone claims, ‘I am living in the light,’ but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is still living in darkness. Anyone who loves another brother or sister is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble. But anyone who hates another brother or sister is still living and walking in darkness. Such a person does not know the way to go, having been blinded by the darkness.” (1 John 1:5-7, 9-11) “How can a supposedly loving, just, sovereign God allow the pain, darkness, and suffering that take place in this world?” This question is one which has been grappled with by people for millennia. Pagans usually ask the question with derision; Christians many times pose the question during times of hurt and confusion. The answer is simple: because He loves us. If He didn’t, He would have ended our existence long ago. Instead, He has chosen to walk the road of sorrow with us, tolerating our rebellion and selfishness, hurting right along with us. His great love allows for no other course of action.

Let’s recap for just a minute. Our human nature is born under Adam’s curse. We are the ones who first think about ourselves and our own needs before considering the needs of others. Our sense of entitlement causes us to justify so many evil plans and actions. We scheme, manipulate and coerce. And most of us begin to do these things at an early age! We are desperately sick. We need healing. “Hold on there, Pastor Mark,” you might say, “this doesn’t sound like ‘good news’ to me…in fact, it sounds a little harsh and judgmental!” On the contrary! The good news is in spite of the wretched condition of our hearts, God’s love offers a solution. Not an easy one, mind you, but one that is sure. This week we explore several aspects of relationship with God; how we know when we’re in fellowship with God and when we’re not.

God’s love is reflected in His justice; His mercy in His Truth. He is holy, pure, and good. There is no other standard except the one by which He measures all of creation. We are the ones who choose to step away from our Creator so we can say “I did it my way.” However, our rebellious hearts indict us to a harsh sentence: death, misery, and destruction. Yet because of His desire for us, God’s love is unconditional. Romans 5:6-11 states, “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.” Did you get that? Friends of God! There’s a HUGE implication in this statement: we are a friend of God because we know Him (after all, can you call someone a ‘friend’ who you don’t really know?). That’s why the earlier passage of Scripture from I John 1 is so important. We cannot claim to truly have friendship (fellowship) with God and continue to walk in spiritual darkness.

What are the implications we face by being God’s friend? The same for any relationship. You see, true friendship – true love – doesn’t come with conditions attached. That’s just the way it works! But it gets even better. When we become true friends with the Father, He imparts His nature to us. But then we have a choice. Do we live according to His nature, or our own? Read what the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Galatia: “For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another. So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the Law of Moses. When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.” (Galatians 5:13-25) I told you earlier that God’s solution to our ‘sickness’ wasn’t an easy one. But He doesn’t leave us to figure it out on our own, thank goodness!

Jesus told His disciples that He would not leave them comfortless – as orphans. After all, they were His friends! He said He would come to them, and He did! And He is still with us today, just as He was with them 2000 years ago! Let’s connect the dots with some Scripture: 1. (John 13:34-35) “So now I am giving you a new command-ment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” 2. (Matt. 28:16-20) “Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him—but some of them doubted! Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” 3. (Acts 1:4-8) “Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, ‘Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, ‘Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?’ He replied, ‘The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere – in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’” 4. (John 15:15-17) “I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.” 5. (1 John 4:7-14) “Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love – not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.” So we see that (1) Jesus gave His disciples a new command to love each other. He later tells them to (2) ‘teach and make disciples of all the nations’, but He cautioned them to (3) wait until they had received the Holy Spirit and power from on high! Power for what? Well, remember that earlier He had (4) called them ‘friends’, and reinforced the command to love each other. The ‘power’ Jesus spoke of enables us to – among other things – live our lives in relationship with Him and each other, as (5) the Apostle John admonishes!

There comes a point in a person’s life when they are confronted with their Creator. Even those who do not directly hear about the Gospel of Jesus Christ are without excuse, according to the Apostle Paul in Romans 1. When we hear we are faced with a choice: do we surrender to God or not? There’s no middle ground. Even by refusing to make the choice, a choice is made. This is the nature of God – remember, all creation is measured by His standard and no other. For those who surrender and choose Him, something awesome happens. Maybe not at first, but, sooner or later, for the person who truly seeks relationship with the Father, they find Him. The experience changes one forever. Here’s an account of how it happened to the prophet Isaiah: “In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.’ And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, ‘Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.’ Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.’” (Isaiah 6:1-6) From personal experience I can tell you one thing with absolute certainty: when you see the Lord and are confronted with His Majesty, everything comes into crystal clear focus, especially the depths of man’s depravity and the heights of God’s love. Your world is undone. It doesn’t mean we’re perfect, but it’s here the journey begins.

Jesus never intended for us to view the ‘born-again’ (John 3) experience as ‘fire-insurance’ used solely to escape Hell. We don’t make some commitment to a church, try to do the right things, and hope that it somehow all works out in the end, while all the time we go through life pursuing our own agendas – or worse, coasting aimlessly. On the contrary, the Bible is clear that when we are born with new life, our very nature changes at its core. Do we cultivate this nature and draw close to the Father (something which requires continual surrender of our ‘rights’), or do we just go on living for ourselves? My dear friend, there is a much larger picture! The Apostle Paul writes, “I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written, ‘THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.’ For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.”

There is so much the Father desires to show us, to give us. Not earthly, material things that do not satisfy, but things that draw us into deeper and deeper relationship with Him. I’m talking about living the type of life we were created to live, the type of life which will carry us into eternity, forever face to Face with the One who loves us most and knows us best! For those courageous enough to engage in the journey, the words in Romans 8 sound loud and clear: “Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.” No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow – not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below – indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The Heart of a True Worshiper - Part 1

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24) Jesus had been talking with a Samaritan woman when He spoke these words. In the culture of His day speaking with a Samaritan – especially a woman – was something that a respectable, well-mannered Jewish man would never do. Not only was she a Samaritan woman, but her lifestyle was questionable at best. She had been married several times and was living with a man who was not her husband. Yet Jesus spoke with her! In today’s world this would be akin to going into an adult bookstore and asking the owner for a drink of water, then hanging around and talking with the patrons…not a situation many of us are likely to find ourselves in! But then, Jesus chose the Father’s will over all things, even if it meant being controversial, or running the risk of being misunderstood.

So what did Jesus mean by the statement, “…true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks?” To answer this question we have to look at several principles in Scripture, all of which deal with the heart – not the physical organ, but that part of us which is the center of our being, the essence of who we are. As we look together this week at what God’s word has to say about the heart, I encourage you to be open and honest with yourself and the Father about the condition of your heart. This is what the Bible calls being ‘contrite’ or ‘repentant.’

“But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.’” (I Samuel 16:7) When we consider our relationship with the Father the one thing we must keep at the forefront of our minds is the fact that He looks at our hearts. He knows our hidden thoughts. We cannot hide our true motives from Him, our ambitions, our desires, our pain, or our fears. He knows that our hearts are riddled with destructive forces (the biblical term is ‘sin’) that will ultimately keep us separated from Him for all eternity if He does not step in and help us. But here is where things get a bit complicated. Above all things, the Father wants us to desire Him! He wants a relationship with us. He wants us to get to know Him, to have fellowship with Him. He’s not nearly as interested in what we can do for Him as He is interested in us knowing Him…His love, His goodness, His provision, His perfection, His beauty. (Anyway, what can we do for Him? He is the Creator, the Almighty, the Majesty. He is perfectly sufficient unto Himself!) He desires to walk with us, talk with us. He wants to affirm the fact we are His! We are precious in His sight; He delights in us and dances over us with joy.

But our hearts are sick. The disease of Pride and Selfishness causes a blindness that distorts our senses and warps what we see, hear and say, breaking relationship with the Father. Our hearts need healing. There is only one way we can be healed, and that is to come to the place where we are willing and ready to recognize the fact that our hearts are sick and we need the touch of the Healer. More on this tomorrow!

A few days before His encounter with the Samaritan woman, Jesus was in Jerusalem celebrating Passover. One night a man named Nicodemus, a Pharisee, sought Jesus out. During the course of the conversation we learn several things from the Lord: we must be ‘born again’ if we are to see the Kingdom of God; God loves us enough to have provided a way back ‘home’ to Him (yesterday I mentioned that the Father has stepped in to help us); we find our way back to the Father by trusting and believing in His Son; Jesus did not come into the world to judge the world., but to save the world; those who believe in Jesus are not judged; those who do not believe in Him are judged, not because of their deeds, but because they have not believed in the name of Jesus, the only Son of God.

The statements Jesus makes to Nicodemus in this conversation are a death sentence to religion. Merriam-Webster defines religion as “a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices.” Practical religion tends to remove the most important element necessary to our relationship with God: faith. Simply put, we must believe. The Apostle Paul states it well in Hebrews 11, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” A few sentences earlier, Paul wrote, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.” This, dear friend, is what sets religion apart from relationship.

The sickness that is in our hearts robs us of the ability to see reality as it truly is. This ‘spiritual blindness’ is something we are all born with, because a long time ago the very first man and woman chose to break trust and relationship with the Father by doing the one thing He had commanded them not to do. This single act of disobedience has been humanity’s demise. When we choose to trust in Jesus, believing in His words and learning Who He is, our spiritual blindness begins to lift. The more we get to know Him through His words, the clearer our sight becomes.

Have you ever experienced the wonder of flying a kite or sailing a boat? Wind is an amazing thing! There’s nothing more soothing than a cool breeze that comes just before a thunderstorm on a hot summer day. At the same time, we stand in awe of the destructive forces of a hurricane or tornado. Another thing that Jesus mentions in His conversation with Nicodemus is wind. I find this to be one of the most interesting passages of Scripture in the Bible. To quote Him directly, Jesus told Nicodemus, “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8) This is the most important clue that Jesus gives us regarding what our relationship with the Father is supposed to look like. You cannot see wind. You do not know when it is going to arrive. You cannot control it. You cannot make it stronger or weaker through any act of your own. It is what it is.

Practical religion is man’s attempt to bend the Wind to our own will. We set up systems of dos and don’ts, make policies and guidelines based on what we think the Wind should look like and how it should behave. Then we become frustrated and confused when we still find ourselves empty and no better off than we were before we started down the ‘religious’ road. We convince ourselves this is just the way things are, this is as good as it gets, and settle for lives of selfish misery. How unfortunate! This is not the way the Father wants it to be!

Why all this talk of religion? Because religion – man’s systems of worship – is one of the greatest deterrents to trueYet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” This phrase doesn’t make sense unless you think about it in terms of relationship. We worship in spirit (from the heart) and truth (openly, honestly, admitting our faults and weaknesses to Him and to one another). This is the only way in which we can approach the Father. worship. Remember what Jesus told the Samaritan woman? “

There are as many different types of hearts and personalities as there are people. God delights in this…He made us each unique. He loves the variety! Unfortunately one of the biggest symptoms of the sickness in our hearts is the tendency to believe – deep down – that everyone else should look like, think like, and act like we do! This perspective gets us into a world of trouble. It makes us jealous, selfish, untrusting, and ultimately unloving. This by-product of Adam’s disobedience has been exploited by the evil one to create hatred among races and family members alike, not to mention the Church. Ultimately, Satan’s ultimate goal is to destroy all relationship, because he has relationship with no one!

How do we resist the evil one, or for that matter our own heart-sickness? We surrender to the Wind. We don’t try to control Him or manipulate Him or make Him serve our needs. We give up our rights and devote ourselves to serving each other. According to Jesus, the greatest command in the whole Bible is, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind.” (Luke 10:27) The second greatest command was just as important: we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. Look at it this way. In America we pride ourselves on doing just about anything that we have to do in order to get our needs met. But are we willing to do just about anything we have to do (permissible within Scripture, of course) in order to help get our neighbor’s needs met? Putting the needs of others before our own is not something we find easy to do! But it’s one of the ways we prove ourselves to be God-lovers and God-pleasers, and one of the characteristics of a true worshipper.

Another aspect of true worship is obedience. When you love someone with all your heart you find yourself wanting to do things that please them. Meeting the needs of others at our own expense without expecting anything in return is one of the greatest demonstrations of love. Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love me you will do as I command.” Don’t misunderstand His statement. Jesus is not trying to manipulate the disciples by saying “if you really love me, then you’ll (jump through a bunch of hoops).” He is explaining that a natural by-product of their love for Him is obedience to His Word! Jesus has every right to expect this because He is God – the Creator, the great ‘I Am!’ He deserves our obedience because of Who He is. But beyond that fact, the only way we will know true contentment and peace is through obedience! Dear friend, all that is good, all that is beautiful, all that brings joy, all knowledge, all that is noble and pure has its source in Him. Our obedience to Him, our unswerving allegiance as His servants, enables us to enjoy His nature. Obedience is for our own benefit!

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.” (John 15:16-17) When we become the type of worshiper Jesus described to the Samaritan woman, we become the presence of Christ and representatives of the Father’s kingdom. We no longer live for ourselves. Instead, we cast our lives to the Wind, allowing it to take us where He will. This is the life of faith. We learn to not manipulate circumstances to our own benefit, but trust the Father in all things. We run free of the expectations that are placed upon us by others, or we sometimes place upon ourselves, trading these in for the privilege of carrying out the Father’s will. Our greatest delight lies in spending time with the Lord Jesus, learning to hear the Father’s voice.

This type of life is not comfortable to the flesh; in fact, it cuts against the grain of our fallen human nature. Jesus understands this, which is why He told His disciples in Luke 9:23, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” To choose Christ means to reject this present life and world-system. It is for this reason Jesus commands us to love each other. His followers, those who have trusted in Him and believed on His name, are citizens of a heavenly kingdom, strangers and aliens on this planet. Quite simply, we need each other! When our hearts connect in relationship and in worship, the world sits up and pays attention! Relationship, not programs, is the best form of evangelistic outreach!

Not once in these pages has worship been associated with the ‘externals’ we experience in our corporate weekly services. Worship is not about the bulletin, how we dress, the type of music we sing, or the pastor’s preaching style. Worship is about our willingness to engage with God at a heart level, surrendered to the truth of His Word. Out of this worship flows true relationship with one another. We support each other, believe in each other, bear with each other, suffer with each other, and endure each other’s weaknesses with joy and forbearance. These are the types of worshipers the Father seeks.

Jesus did not come to this earth to start a new religion. He came to draw us into relationship with the Father. When we choose to follow Him, obey His teachings, and trust in His name, believing He is the Son of God, we are changed from the inside out. Have you ever noticed how when you get really close to someone you begin to adopt their mannerisms, even their ‘catch-phrases?’ This is one of the reasons why married couples sometimes are said to look alike – they have rubbed off on each other for so long it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. This is how the Father yearns for it to be with us! He wants to ‘rub-off’ on us so we can, in turn, ‘rub-off’ on each other! It is a divine love-relationship of the highest order…unconditional love!