Life on the edge

Peninsula Community Church

Worship from a Heart of Thankfulness

November 24, 2013

Colossians 3:12-17 – Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father.

As we navigate through life so often we can become distracted by the cares of life and we can become so self focused on our problems and our issues that we can literally forget that we have so much to be thankful for. 

I am always amazed at the settlers who traversed great difficulty to settle in the west. The story is told of one of these wagon train parties. They were on the Oregon Trail and water and food had been scarce for several days. Some of the wagons were broken down, with consequent delays amid the stifling heat. A general feeling of fretfulness had succeeded the early optimism and cheer. So it was decided that, at the next night’s stop, a meeting would be held to air their troubles. When the settlers had gathered around the campfire, one of them arose and said, “Before we do anything else, I think we should first thank God that we have come this far with no loss of life, with no serious trouble with the Indians, and that we have enough strength left to finish our journey.” This was done, and then there was silence. No one had any complaints to make.

I want to take a moment to look at the reasons we can and for that matter should have a thankful heart. I want to do so in the context of living a transformed life where our heart has been impacted by the work of the cross. 

The first reason we should be thankful is that we have been chosen by God. Notice in Paul’s opening statement who he is talking to. He is talking to those who have been chosen by God to be his people. This is not to solidify a doctrine of preselection or determination but that the fact that we have all been chosen by God to be His children. The sad fact is that while all mankind has the right and open door to come to Christ, not all do. Many are called but but few are chosen (Matthew 22:14). 

Now if we to stop at this point, we would have more than enough to be thankful for. We are chosen by God. You see one of the greatest needs of man today, according to psychologists, is the need to belong. By being chosen, He is saying to us that we belong. We have a place at His table and in His family. I don’t know how many of you have been in a family or a situation where you have felt rejected or have been denied access to the family. I have and I know that pain that comes from that but I also know the joy of being accepted by God the father when no one else would accept me.

The second reason we can be thankful is that in Christ we are considered to be holy. This is not something we have to strive for and that we have to make happen. It is a work of the Holy Spirit. When we accept Christ, we are already holy. Our holiness has been deposited in us at the point of salvation, but we must develop it and build on it. We are holy. This is an act of the heart. Holiness is an outflow of the work of righteousness in our hearts. It is the transformational work that God has done in and through us. We must understand that we are made holy by the work of the cross. This means all past sins and actions have been removed and cannot be held against us any longer. 

Ephesians 1:3-4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

We are holy because He is holy, just as we are righteous as he is righteous. When we do not realize that we are already holy, the tendency is that we begin to strive for what we already possess and that can cause us to to be ungrateful. So much of our lives is based in trying to be good enough. We are trying to act right. We are trying to say the right thing. Now let me say that this is an important aspect of our lives and we need to guard our hearts but too often we are striving to accomplish what has already been done for us and through us.

The third reason we can be thankful is that we are loved. God loved us before we considered loving Him.  Romans 5:8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. How often do we fail to understand how the volume of love that God has for us? Too often we fail to love ourselves and to love others because we have a misunderstanding of God’s love of us.

We are loved by God. Wow! is that something to be grateful for. Can you imagine someone loving you unconditionally? A few weeks ago a couple of us went to the Chris Tomlin concert in Salisbury. During the concert we were privileged to hear Lou Giglio speak about the prodigal son  (Luke 15). He reminded us that the father was ready to lavish great gifts and blessings on the son even though he had squandered his inheritance. This speaks to us that no matter what we do and no matter what act we commit, when we turn our hearts back to the father, he is there because His love extends beyond our sin and our failures. But when we compare the prodigal son with the oldest son who stayed home we are confronted with one who acted more out of jealousy than a recognition of what he already possessed. He already had everything he needed but he missed it. Who had the greatest heart of thanksgiving.

As we continue to read this portion of scripture, we find the evidence of a thankful heart. First, a thankful heart is one where Biblical peace is at work. We must understand that peace is not the absence of problems or difficulty. Peace is having the confidence that God will work every situation out for our good. Peace is knowing that you have made the right choices based on a correct understanding of God and His Word. When we have a right understanding of peace we are positioned to have a heart of thanksgiving. 

Secondly, a thankful heart is one where Christ’s word is overflowing in our hearts. David stated that he hid the Word in his heart so that he would not sin against God. I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you (Psalms 119:11). The Word of God keeps us from sin. The Word of God keeps us at peace because we know the end of the story. We also have the promises of God which we can hold onto. Having the Word of God in us positions us to be thankful. 

And finally, a thankful heart is evidenced in Christ’s name being lifted up. When we lift up the name of Christ, it is hard to be ungrateful because we are overwhelmed with the great gifts that have been bestowed on us. This is not a casual confession. It is one based on the understanding of who God is and what he had done.

Peninsula Community Church

Worship in Action

November 10, 2013

Matthew 22:37-40 – You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.

If we were to read the scriptures that precede this quote by Jesus, we see a tactic used by the religious leaders of Jesus time. It was a common tactic then and it is still a tactic that is used today. Rather than deal with truth, the religious leaders of Jesus day would use questions that were designed to trip Jesus up or cause confusion in His followers and those around them. They also wanted to get Him to say something they could use to discredit Him. What they were attempting to do was to exert their spiritual intelligence into spiritual issues when in fact the opposite was true, as evidenced by their lack of wisdom and Jesus’s answer to their questions. Why was this so? It was because Jesus was wise and was not about “gotcha moments” which the Pharisees relished.

Here in our story, “a lawyer,” asked Jesus the million dollar question of their day. What is the greatest command in the law? This was an ongoing debate among the religious scholars of the day. In fact, they would spend countless hours debating this question. For this reason, the lawyer considered it necessary to ask Jesus the question. As he asked the question, can you imagine the crowd pushing in to hear Jesus’s response? It was an EF Hutton moment. As the lawyer posed his question, it became apparent that the reason for this question was not a desire for truth but a hope that Christ would choose one law over another and one law as being more significant than the others. The goal was to use the answer Jesus gave against Him and to say that He did not hold to all of the law. 

I do not believe the Pharisees nor the crowd anticipated or expected the simpleness of His response. Jesus replied You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets. 

His answer was filled with wisdom and an exactness that only Jesus could give. By answering the way He did, Jesus ended the debate. He deflated the motivation behind the question. Notice that Jesus does not destroy the person asking the question, he simply and wisely answers the question being asked. Once again this was not a “gotcha moment” for Christ. The easiest answer of the day could be summed up in the idea that the greatest commandment is to love God and right behind it is the command to love others.

As we look at the issue of worship, we are reminded that all we are is worship. The passage before us once again speaks to a worship where we offer all we are to God. As we understand worship, we understand that worship is as much about who we are as it is what we do. For that reason, I would like for us to look at a couple of things this morning about doing worship. You see who we are should result in action. It is out of who we are that we react and act. Who we are will determine the validity of our worship.

First, worship is to be whole-hearted. As we are being transformed, we begin to give over to God everything that we have and all that we are. In our scripture text today, we find that Jesus makes the statement that sums up our life’s mission as passionate followers of Christ. He states “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first commandment.” Jesus understood that living our lives as passionate followers is not an act that is to be taken lightly. It involves our total being. This applies to our worship as well. 

It is for this reason that Joshua in one of his last messages to the Children of Israel, commanded the people to choose whom they would serve. If they were to serve God, then serve God. If they were to serve other gods, then serve serve those gods. He is not condemning them, He was simply challenging them to make a decision. Listen to what Joshua instructed Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:14-15).

What Joshua was saying in essence was get in all the way. Don’t sit on the fence. In our culture, today, we have people who tend to be fence sitters. They are afraid to make a commitment as they are afraid of what the outcome might be. God however is calling us to make a choice and to get off the fence. He is calling us to stop wavering or waffling between two gods. 

Jesus also emphasized this in the New Testament when he said that we cannot serve two masters. Notice what He said here. No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money (Matthew 6:24). 

Whole hearted worship means we give God everything. We also surrender all we have to God in worship. We don’t do it halfway. I remember as a child that my dad would ask me to do a project around the yard. If I were not too excited about it, I would quickly find a way to speed up the job or cut corners so I could get done early. The problem however is that I would not finish the job correctly and would most likely have to go back and do the job over again which took even more time and energy.

Second, worship is the yielding our hearts and minds. Notice in the passage before us that Jesus includes every aspect of who we are. While we worship from the heart, we do so with an intellectual understanding of who we worship. As we know the one who we worship better, which is an act of the intellect, we will worship Him more from the heart. The reason is that He will be trusted, and He will be understood. We will not fear Him in the sense that we avoid Him or run from Him.

If we do not know what or who we worship, we will worship anything or anyone. We will become wishy washy or as James said, we will be double-minded in all that we do. We will be tempted to worship the next best thing that comes along rather than trusting in God for His will to be accomplished. 

While our hearts must be engaged, we must engage our intellect so that we understand the purpose and reason why we do what we do. In so doing, we must yield our hearts and minds to worship.

Worship is a physical act. While worship is an act of the heart, worship is expressed through the physical being. We raise our voices, we lift our hands, we engage those around us. Worship is something we do. It is an outward expression of who we are and what we have become. I challenge you to read the scripture to see all the outward expressions of worship that are listed.

Worship flows out of our transformed life. True worship flows out of the work that has been accomplished in us. How can we not worship him when we recognize all that he has accomplished on our behalf? When we are transformed our worship is changed. We begin to focus our whole being in worship. We can then worship freely without fear and without reservation.

So are you giving Him everything today or you holding back? It is your choice.  

Peninsula Community Church

October 20, 2013

Worship – From Formation to Transformation, Part 2

Romans 12:1-2 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Let’s review what we have learned so far. We have learned that what we value we will worship and what we worship will control us. We have learned that God desires that we live as living sacrifices which means that that all of life is worship and all worship is about life (Hayford). We have learned that we cannot and must not be duplicitous in regards to the sacred secular divide. We cannot put on and take off our spiritual worship as we would an old garment. Our worship and our Christianity must impact every aspect of lives. We have also talked about presenting ourselves as living sacrifices which is an ongoing process. It is an ongoing act of surrender. We learned that to be living sacrifices, we must be transformed by the renewing of our minds. This act must be a proactive one, as the renovation of the heart does not happen by osmosis. We learned that we must be in the word on daily basis. We must have more than a superficial study of God’s word. We must study to show ourselves approved (2 Timothy 2:15).

Today, let us look at the need we have to move from formation to transformation. I love what the late Dallas Willard stated in his book “The Renovation of the Heart.” He stated that the process of transformation carries the idea that we have been formed but change is needed. We need to be transformed because the current formation process is not working for us. 

The fact is we are not a blank canvas. We all have things written on our hearts which have formed and shaped who we are. We have all been formed and shaped by our experiences, by our culture, by our education, and by the influences in our lives wether they be friend or foe. This formation of self effects our ideas, beliefs, feelings, habits, choices, bodily tendencies, and social relations. Some would call this our worldview as it is out of one’s worldview that one lives and acts. 

Let me illustrate this in this way. Just this week I heard a message by Pastor Jimmy Evans (Gateway Conference) who stated that when we have hurt or pain in our lives there is a tendency to live out of that pain rather the healing that is available to us through Christ. He suggested and I concur that when we have been hurt or we have experienced failure, there is a code embedded into our psyche. The code works something like this, I failed at “x” so I must be flawed because I am flawed I cannot succeed or accomplish anything. Every time we face an obstacle or a problem our response is to not even try because we believe we will fail before we ever begin. 

This encoding happens quite often when we have faced a divorce, have faced rejection, have suffered a major loss in your life, have suffered an illness, or continue to deal with issues of sin. These issues serve to embed in us that we are failures and that we are no good. If this continues, we can have embedded in us a code that we are unlovable and that there is little or no hope for us. The problem is that too often we strive for acceptance and to have people love us. We will do what it takes to make this happen including a compromise of who we are, as a person. We will sell ourselves to the devil if that would make us be loved by others. The sad truth is that we are already loved and when we allow the embedded codes of our lives to rule us, we miss out on the greatest of opportunities to experience love and life to its fullest.

This act of encoding our psyche and our emotions is like having a virus on our computers. Quite often we have viruses embedded in our files that we are not even aware of. Sometimes these viruses are revealed when we least expect it. Often they are attached to files that are seldom used but when these files are opened the virus acts up. For some it is a simple virus where the files we are opening are extremely slow or there can be a full failure of the system. When our psyches have been encoded with these false images of who we are, our responses, our imaginations and our reactions will be effected. For some there is only minor harm done as we have learned to contend with difficulties and deal with these codes. For others, it is a system failure when these codes are acted upon. Our world falls apart and we are devastated to no end.

It is for this reason that we must realize that we have all been formed and shaped by things and people even when we don’t see the formation taking place. One way to illustrate this is to ask a question. When you get angry what is the first reaction you have. Is it to curse? Is it to throw things? Is it to scream? Is it to clam up? How you respond is a result of how you have been formed and shaped. It is a response to the encoding that has taken place in your life. It is a conditioning of your heart, your emotions, and your will. If you have presented yourselves as living sacrifices and your heart has been transformed, then your actions and reactions will be different than a person who has not been transformed. As we are transformed, how we respond will be an act of worship and an act of living as living sacrifices.

God wants us to be transformed but, how do we know we are being transformed? To understand this lets turn to two passages: Colossians 3:9-10 and Ephesians 4:19-24.  

Paul says Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Again in Ephesians 4:19-24 Paul once again gives us insight into how we are being renewed. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ! — assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

In these two passages, we have three areas of our life that reveal how we are being renewed or transformed. First, are you being renewed in the knowledge of God? Through the transformation process our knowledge of God, our understanding of life, and our worldview is being changed. We are in fact being transformed into the original intent of God’s creation for us. From the fall of man in the Garden until our present day, the knowledge of God has been tested. Throughout the centuries we have experienced a distorted view of who God is, His purpose for our life, and His expectations for us. When we have our knowledge of God transformed we will begin to see God for who He is. Moses asked this question. Can I see you God? What God revealed to Moses was His character. He is a loving, forgiving, justice God. 

Second, we know we are being renewed and transformed in the spirit of our mind when we begin to understand true righteousness. Righteousness is how we relate to others. How do we treat one another? Do we genuine love one another or are we filled with anger and hatred? Notice that it was only one generation after Adam and Eve that we have our first murder recorded in the Bible. You would think that being so close to the experience of the Garden that mankind would have been a bit wiser but as we see here he failed. He had a code embedded in his heart. It was one of anger and malice which lead to death. Of course as you may guess we are talking about Cain and Abel. Throughout Biblical history we have seen what happens when anger and malice has been embedded in man’s heart. Look at the story of Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brothers, David and his sons, and Christ and Judas. But as we read so many of these stories we see the redemptive story of God revealed. As we are being transformed by the renewing of our minds the way we deal with people is also being transformed. As we are being transformed, we begin to realize that we are made righteous by the gift of God. We don’t have to make ourselves righteousness we are righteous because of his acts on Calvary, and the empty tomb.

Third, we are being renewed and transformed in the spirit of our minds when we begin to understand true holiness. We understand this holiness is not a legalistic list of rules, but it is a life of freedom. We understand that we are not holy by our actions but by the actions of God on our behalf. In this our understanding that we are being transformed and renewed to God’s original will and intent. The result is how we think and what we think is being changed. We live holy because we have been made holy. 

In all three of these illustrations we are being transformed into His image. We are being transformed more into His likeness. So how are you doing? Are you being transformed? How is your life different today than it was last year, or last week? How about yesterday? Today is the day for change. Today is the moment we can be restored to God’s purposes and His will.

Peninsula Community Church

October 6, 2013

Worship – the Transformed Life

Romans 12:1-2 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Let’s review what we have learned so far. We have learned that what we value we will worship and what we worship will control us. We have learned that God desires that we live as living sacrifices. We have learned that all of life is worship and all worship is about life. Therefore, we cannot and must not be duplicitous in regards to the sacred secular divide. We cannot put on and take off our spiritual worship as we would an old garment.

Last week, we talked about presenting ourselves as living sacrifices. In this regard, one of the things we must also recognize about the term “present” is that it carries with it the idea that we present ourselves but we must also continue to present ourselves as living sacrifices. In other words, we present ourselves to God as a one time event, but we must continue to present ourselves as living sacrifices on an ongoing basis. It is an ongoing act of surrender.

Because the act of presenting ourselves as living sacrifices is an ongoing act, to be effective we must be transformed by the renewing of our minds. The point to be made here is that presenting ourselves as living sacrifices is not a passive act. It does not happen by osmosis. It must be an active act of pursuing God’s will and His ways. Presenting ourselves is also a proactive act. The term proactive means to prepare for and to anticipate the issues and circumstances that will arise in our life’s. The fact is, we don’t sit and wait passively until an issue arises; but we are always in the process of renewal and transformation. We don’t wait until we are in a situation that we need God to be prepare ourselves. We prepare ourselves daily.

Let me illustrate this in this way. When our troops go overseas to fight on the front line they do not wait to get on the frontline to train and practice their warfare movements. They prepare and train on an ongoing basis. They would be foolish to wait until they are in a battle to learn how to fight and protect their buddies. As believers, too often we are ill equipped to fight the battles we face because we have not been proactive in our preparation for battle and for growth.

I know some of you are tired of my comments about football but an analogy fits here. So please bear with me. Before a game, the coach and his staff send the players through the drills that will prepare them to successfully compete against the other team. Once they are in the game, their opponent may throw plays at them that they have not seen before but if they are trained and developed they will be able to adjust to the situation on the fly. One of the things that I love about Coach Saban from the University of Alabama is the fact is that his team has been trained to adjust and meet every adversity they face. One of the things he does is to train his players to play to the end of the game. When you watch an University of Alabama game, you will find that Saban coaches to the end of the game and he expects his players to play to the end. God also expects us to be in the game and to play until the end. Too often we give up and give in because we are ill equipped to endure until the end.

Whether you are a soldier, a football player, or passionate follower of Christ we must be in the game. We must prepare ourselves for every battle. We must prepare ourselves to live life as living sacrifices. We must have our head and our heart in the game. As we preview this verse we find that Paul is making the conclusion that true worship requires a commitment of the head and the heart. It is the introduction of truth into the mind which finds its way into the heart that brings about a transformation of worldview and concepts about living life as a passionate follower of Christ. Everyone one of us have a worldview. A worldview is simply this. It is the beliefs, experiences, and ideals that shape the decisions we make and the focus of our life.

How does this work? Basically, what we allow into our minds affects our transformation. Let me ask you? “Do you spend more time in the word than in the newspaper?” “Do you spend more time speaking with others than with God?” “What are the thoughts that you entertain?” When you recognize evil thoughts what do you do with them?” “When you hear gossip and evil surmising, what is your response?” The answer to these questions will determine how you are being transformed.

How does this take place? It happens through the renewing of the mind which leads to a transformation of the heart. This word transformation is an interesting word. It is the Greek word “metamorphoo.” It means to change. It is from the same word we get the English word “metamorphous.” Metamorphous means a change of form. Like the caterpillar that is changed into a butterfly or the tadpole that is changed into a frog, we are to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. It is also noteworthy that the word “metamorphoo” is in fact made up of two words. The first is “mete” which means “being with.” The second word is “morphoo” and means “change in form.” When these two words are combined we understand the truth of the word. When are “with Christ,” we are “changed in form.” The change comes from the inside out and impacts who we are in reality. It is a decision to act differently. It is a decision to live in obedience to God’s will, His ways, and His Word.

Paul also speaks to a contrast between being conformed to the world’s image versus being transformed by the renewing of one’s mind. How are we transformed? It is by way of the truth that comes from God’s word. We need the truth that sets us free. It is also truth that leads us to faith. Truth alone in the sense of intellectual prowess falls short of God’s purpose and His plan for our lives. The key for truth to be effective is that it must find root in our hearts so that the truth received is applied in order to bring transformation to who we are and how we act.

The late Dallas Willard has stated that we all have been formed by the teaching, experiences, relationships, and emotions of our lives. But, God’s desire is to transform us into His image. We are to become more like Him in terms of the way we act, the we way we speak, and the we respond to life’s issues.

Colossians 3:9-10 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Romans 8:29-30 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Let me illustrate this in this way. When you get angry what is the first reaction you have. Is it to curse? Is it to throw things? Is it to scream? Is it to clam up? In this case, how you respond is a result of the conditioning of your heart, your emotions, and your will. If you have presented yourselves as living sacrifices and your heart has been transformed, then your actions and reactions will be different than a person who has not been transformed. As we are transformed, how we respond will be an act of worship and an act of living as living sacrifices.

How are we transformed? We are transformed by the renewing of our minds but how do we do this? First, we study the word of God to understand God’s commands, His principles, and His ways that bring us success in the purest sense. Second, we need to recognize what God has done for us and is doing in us. Too often we fail to remember and respond to the mercies of God. Third, we must practice the presence of God. We must realize that God is with and that He wants to reveal Himself to us, in us, and through us. Fourth, we must live out the life of God in everything we do. It is for this reason that we cannot use the excuse, “that is just the way I am.” Why? Because we are we being changed and transformed.

So how are you doing? Are you being transformed? How is your life different today than it was last year, or last week? How about yesterday? Today is the day for change. Today is the moment we can be restored to God’s purposes and His will.

Peninsula Community Church

September 15, 2013

Worship Series – What is It?

John 4:20-26 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

Over the next several weeks we will work through a series on worship. The goal in this series is to understand what worship is, and why worship is important to us as passionate followers of Christ. We will also look at the attitude of worship, and even the mechanics of corporate worship to help us to appreciate the concepts and ideas of worship more fully.

As we begin this study, the first thing we must do is to define worship. For the purpose of this study, we will define worship as giving value or honor to something. This is critical because what we value we will worship and what we worship will begin to control us. The Greek word for worship literally means “to come forward to kiss.” It carries the idea of one coming before royalty and bowing to kiss their ring. It is this word picture that gives us the idea of giving honor and value. The English word for “worship” also carries with it the idea of having worth or placing worth on something or someone.

Ralph Waldo Emerson summarized this idea of what we worship controls us when he said, “The gods we worship write their names on our faces, be sure of that. And a man will worship something —have no doubt about that, either. He may think that his tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of his heart—but it will out. That which dominates will determine his life and character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping we are becoming.” These are powerful words from one who would not be considered a strong believer but he hit the nail on the head.

Gordon Dahl put it more succinctly when he said, “Most [people] tend to worship their work, work at their play, and play at their worship.” But what they do not understand is that worship is more than a Sunday activity.

Greg Beale titled his landmark book We Become What We Worship. His thesis is simple: “What people revere, they resemble, either for ruin or for restoration.” He traces the theme throughout Scripture to show that we are worshippers, and that our worship exposes us and changes us. We either revere the world and are conformed to the sinful patterns of the world, or we revere God and are progressively conformed into his likeness. It is your choice.

While the story has many themes we will concentrate on that the one theme of worship. In this story we experience Christ’s teaching on the idea that what we worship is an issue of value. Let me relate this story in this way. We find here that Jesus has an intentional encounter with a Samaritan woman at the local well. This was an ordained encounter and not one of chance. This action on the part of Jesus was remarkable and was counter to the culture of his day. For one, the Jews and the Samaritans did not like each other. They in fact were at odds with one another. You see during the Assyrian captivity the Jews were taken away and were placed into captivity. There was a group of Jews who were left behind who compromised their religious beliefs by taking on the religious culture of the Assyrians and by building their own temple to worship God. When the Jews returned to Jerusalem they reacted negatively to this new found group of people, the Samaritans and their way of worship. 

The Samaritans were a pagan secular religion which was an integration of Jewish and pagan worship. The whole religion was begun as an act of rebellion and was fortified by the Assyrian captivity where the Assyrians purposely intermingled pagans with the Jews who remained in Samaria. Jereboam’s actions caused the kingdom to be split into. He set up two places of worship beside Jerusalem. This was the beginning of their downfall.

Notice as well that they move from a discussion of her spiritual condition to a discussion about worship. You see this was important to both sects: the Jew and the Samaritan alike. In the discussion, Jesus makes some claims about worship that we need to consider.

First, worship is an issue of the heart. It is not a place. The Samaritans perceived they were worshippers because of the location of their temple. The Jews assumed they were worshippers as they worshipped in Jerusalem. But Jesus countered the location mentality by stating that worship was not about a place but it is all about the heart.

Second, true worship is of the heart as we must worship in truth. You see it is out of the heart that the mouth speaks and it is out of he heart that our worship is manifested. The condition of our heart will determine the quality and the focus of our worship. As we will see in future studies, worship is not as much about outward expression as it is inward direction.

Third, our worship is in the spirit. It is alive and has life or at least it should. The spirit guides, informs, and transforms our worship. You see if our focus is only on a building or a place we can believe that we cannot truly worship unless we are in the building or a specific place. But if the spirit of God is in us, which He is, and we are people of God, then our worship is distinct in that it is not place but it is an attitude. All we do is in fact worship. How we live! How we represent Christ to others! What I do when no one is looking is a qualifier of my worship!

It is interesting to note that one of the passages of Scripture that comes to mind here is that we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). One of the definitions of glory is “manifestation” or “revelation” of God. Listen to this. If that is true then if I am a passionate follower of Christ, then all I do must reflect His glory and illustrate to the world who He is and what He is.  When I fail to do this then I am in essence committing a sin and a falling short of manifesting God in my life and to others.

Let’s look at this way. What I value I will worship and what I worship I will value. If I worship money then my life will be focused on making money and obtaining things. If I worship fame, then I will focus on being famous. If I worship intellect, then I will focus on education and the gaining of knowledge. But if I worship God, then I will focus on obedience to His word, His ways, and His purposes for my life which will bring about God’s blessings.

The fourth and final thought in his passage is that Jesus was dealing with traditions. Too often our worship is stagnated because we are in a box. We believe that the parameters of worship are so narrow that anything outside our structure is not viable. Tradition binds us and puts the emphasis on the the things of worship rather than the person of worship. Notice the debate Jesus was having. You worship on this mountain but the Jew worships in Jerusalem. But Jesus states that the time is coming that you will not worship in a place but a person. From the Old Testament, the Jews had received specific instruction on how worship should be carried out. It was a system that  was about to be outdated as Christ would fulfill the requirements of the law. 

Peninsula Community Church

James – Rescuing the Wanderer

James 5:19-20

James 5:19-20 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

We have finally come to the end of our study of the Book of James. As we close this study, I trust that you will continue to read through the Book of James, study the principles of Christian living proposed here, and make application of these principles into your life. It is my belief and I believe that it is God’s purpose, as well, that we apply the truths of this book so that our lives are transformed and forever changed.   

As we look at this passage before us, we are once again presented with a vital and pointed message. In classic James form, he does not give much fanfare or introduction for the point he is making in the passage. He just puts it out there. Notice what James says. If anyone wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, that person will be saved and a multitude of sins will be covered. It is noteworthy that James does not issue this as a command to be obeyed as much as it is a reward achieved for the kingdom of God, the health of the Body of Christ, and the individual. 

In many ways it is an appropriate end to this text, as James has presented an effective argument on how we are to live this Christian life and how we are to live this life with one another. He recognizes that wandering from God’s truth and His ways is a threat to every believer. We get our eyes off of the prize and the goal of what we have been called to be and to do. We look to other things to satisfy our soul and we desire things that have no eternal value. The writer of Ecclesiastes had it right when he stated “Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is vanity and a striving after the wind.” Rather than an appetite for God we develop an appetite for junk food and the things that do not satisfy. Junk food is just that junk. It provides little nutrition but usually has a high fat, sugar, and salt content. Spiritually, we too can have a junk food diet with little benefit for the body.

Because we are all subject to having wandering hearts and wandering spirits, let me give you a couple of reasons that cause people to err from the ways of God and thus find themselves in need of being rescued. First, we need a genuine Christian conversion experience. This may come in many shapes and in various ways but we will all have one. It could be a response to an evangelistic message. It could be a crossroads in your life where you had to choose Christ or another way. The only way to experience Christ in His fullness is to have had a conversion experience. Without this experience we will always be tempted to go off course and to follow other gods and other ways of living life. Let me be clear that I am not advocating for many ways to get heaven, I am simply saying that God uses different means and paths to get us to accept Him. The first key to effective Christian living is to have a personal relationship with Christ.

Second, we need to avoid habitual sin patterns and lifestyles that leave us open to distraction and deception. We know we are in this place when we attempt to justify our wrong by accusing others or pointing out another’s faults when we are guilty of the same sin or even greater sin. We also can find ourselves in this place when we try to minimize our sin. We say things like “don’t worry everybody is doing it.” “I am not effecting anyone else.” When we fall into habitual sin we are easily drawn away from the source of strength and nourishment that we need. The reason for this is that we begin to trust ourselves, our ways, and we try to effect outcomes that are contrary to God’s will, His ways, and His will.

Third, we need to guard our friendships not just in the world but in the church as well. While we certainly need to guard our hearts with friends who do not follow after Christ, we must also guard our hearts against those in the church who can be negative, critical, constant complainers, and those who like to stir up strife and trouble. There is a tendency for them to cause others to veer from the path that God has intended. The reason for this is that they effect those who are not as mature and begin to feel conflicted about their walk with Christ and their faith as a whole.

Fourth, this is not a new topic but the fact is we must be grounded in the word. We must read the word, make application of the word into our hearts, and then allow the word to bring transformational change to our lives. The application of the word provides the channel through which the Holy Spirit can work.

Fifth, we must guard our hearts against offense and bitterness. When we are hurt we can begin to find offense with others. When we are hurt we can become discouraged and disheartened. Much sin and falling away occurs when we become offended and bitter. I am impacted by what people say but I can never let that become an offense or lead to bitterness of heart or soul. I am destined to wander from God when that happens because I can easily impose my view of others upon God.

While we have talked about being a wanderer let’s talk about the other side of the coin and that is that the one who brings the wanderer back from being led astray is a champion for Christ. They help to save that one from destruction and from potential future issues. One thing that is clear here is that two things occur. First the one being brought back is saved from spiritual, emotional, physical, and mental destruction. They are re-redeemed in essence. James praises this action as it is healthy for the wanderer, the one doing the rescuing, and for the body of Christ at large.

Secondly, by being brought back a multitude of sin has been covered. By this we mean that rather than the person being free to continue to sin, they are free to live in righteousness again. The verb to “cover’ is a Greek word that refers to the charity of covering the sins of others before men. Not only are the sins covered before men but they are covered before God as well because of God’s forgiveness and love. In Proverbs 10:12 notice that Hatred stirs up strife but love covers all offenses. Another passage that speaks to this is Psalm 85:1. Lord, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of your people; you covered all their sin. Selah You withdrew all your wrath; you turned from your hot anger. Psalm 32:1 states Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven; whose sin is covered. It is a blessing to see another’s sin covered and others rescued. One final thought in this regard. No one else my know what you have done but God will and He will bless and honor you.

As we close this message let me make a couple of final comments. First, in this passage notice that the pastor is not commanded to do this but it is the Christian community as a whole. Too often we relegate such matters to the pastor or to the elders but in reality this is a communal task. Second, this is not an easy task as people who have strayed away are often conflicted and emotionally charged. They can feel hurt and disconnected. Third, we must be sure that we understand that just because a person decided to attend another church does not make them a sinner or in danger of sin. God sometimes moves people to new situations to change and heal them.

Do you know someone that has strayed from the truth. What can you do? You can pray for them as the Holy Spirit can do more in moments than we ever could by ourselves. You can be there for them to encourage them to return to the faith. Too often we treat people who have strayed as if they were lepers. You can welcome them when they return. You can celebrate their successes. If you don’t know someone, would you pray and consider asking God to place someone in your heart?