True Worshippers ... Aren't Late

I'm sure I'm going to get a backlash for writing this.  Let me just acknowledge that up front.  I'm going to call out something so central to Christianity in our culture that someone will have to berate me for it.  "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."  Or, "Who are you to judge?"  "Judge not, lest you be judged."  Yes, I will get those emails for today's blog.  I fully expect to get some that will remind me that it's better to get there late than not at all.  But I am not persuaded.  After all, it is my blog.

Jesus said, "You Samaritans worship what you do not know ... Yet a time is coming ... when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.'  (John 4:22-23)

Maybe I'm taking it a bit out of context here, but what kind of worshipers do you suppose Jesus had in mind here?  What does it mean to worship "in spirit and in truth?"  Does our heavenly Father really seek worshipers at all?  And if He does, what is it about worship that particularly pleases Him? 

Psalm 99 (1-9) sets the tone for me.  "The Lord reigns, let the nations tremble ... let the earth shake.  Great is the Lord ... He is holy.  The King is mighty ... Exalt the Lord our God and worship at His footstool; He is holy.  Exalt the Lord our God and worship at His holy mountain, for the Lord our God is holy."  And that tone is set in the beginning of the Bible and it continues to the end of the Bible.  Just about every single book of the Bible seems to give me clear direction on how I'm supposed to regard the Lord, my God. 

But it's not a tone that we seem to embrace in our regular weekly worship of the Lord.  It happens in my church.  It happens in many churches.  The music starts, the worship begins --- and people stroll in.  They saunter in, quite casually.  In many American churches they have their coffee in hand, or maybe a cold drink. 

Others around them are worshiping the Lord, but they interrupt their worship to greet their friends and give them a hug.  Or they interrupt the worship to get the seat that they want.  I'm truly not judging them.  But for me, there is something going on. 

I HAVE AN APPOINTMENT WITH THE KING!  How could I consider being late?  It's an ordained time, when people whom God has called to lead me are prepared and ready to take me to a fresh encounter with my Savior.  Honestly, it feels disrespectful not to be early. 

If I have concert tickets or tickets to a sports game or a play, I always get there early.  If we're going to a movie, we always make sure we're there in plenty of time to get our popcorn and get seated during the previews.  Is not the Lord as important as the latest movie or sports game? 

I said that the tone is set in the Bible.  Listen to how it ends.  Look at those worshipers Jesus said the Father is looking for.  "Day and night they never stop saying, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty.'  Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne ... the twenty-four elders fall down before Him ... They lay their crowns before the throne and say, 'You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor ...'"  (Revelation 4:8-11)

Are these the kind of worshipers that you sit beside in your church?  My wife and I, we make it a habit to get to the church on time.  We're usually seated before the music starts playing.  Our church even starts with a song before the worship - and displays a stop watch, counting down the time until the worship will begin.  Usually this is to empty seats.  We often remark how empty the church is.  But then it fills up.  Somehow, between the time that the worship begins and the time that the sermon begins, the 'big house' fills up. 

But was God really honored?  Did He feel the love, while the worship leaders sang to empty seats and the worshipers getting their coffee, dropping their kids a their Sunday school classes, and greeting their friends? 

I want to stop people and ask them, "Do you know who God is?"  I'm teaching a class at my church right now and we recently talked about people whose God is too small.  I suspect that may be the God that most of us are worshiping.  For if we realized His true magnitude, could we dare not be in our seats and ready to give Him praise at the appointed hour?

I love my church and I love its people.  I love my fellow Christians in other churches.  But seriously folks, we are getting this wrong.  Is it possible that we are not the worshipers that our Father wants, but rather that He's being relegated to the worship we want? 

If you're a pastor or worship leader, please consider this an exhortation to confront the bad behavior that you see in your people.  (And I know that you see it!)  Don't be afraid to offend them.  They will be truly offended if God discards them because they never really knew Him.  Don't be afraid to offend them, when they are offensive to Him. 

I'm not saying you have to stop the service and rebuke the late comers.  But maybe you could preach on the subject, and then announce that "from now on," the doors will be closed when worship begins and people can only be seated late during the transitions (from worship to teaching, etc.). 

I remember attending Kensington Community Church in Troy, Michigan many years ago.  That's exactly what they did.  There were television monitors in the lobby and late comers could watch the worship on the monitors, waiting for a chance to join them.  You were only late once, and you realized you were missing out on something important.

I also remember worshipping at Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago.  I was amazed to see people lining up at the locked doors to the worship center.  When the doors opened, it was like a contact sport to see who could claim the seats down front.  (It was very exciting to imagine people that interested in declaring God's greatness!)

But alas, I don't attend those churches.  I attend my church and your church, and the one around the corner.  I attend that church that wants to make everyone feel welcome and comfortable, like they matter.  But I worry that in the process, we make God feel the opposite.

Can we as true worshipers, knowing the one true God, ever afford to be late?

Answered Results

Are you the sort of person who prayers, literally expecting God to do something about your prayer requests? I am. Now sometimes that's turned out to be food for some laughter.

I remember, for example, having a pair of high-heeled platform shoes when I was in high school. They were all the rage for teen boys back then. Anyway, mine got a tear in them right before a big dance. They were pretty new, but I was sure my parents wouldn't take me to the store to return them. They had told me what a foolish thing they were to buy in the first place!

So I prayed over these shoes before I went to school that morning and sat them on the bookshelf (where God could fix them). When I returned from school that afternoon, I was shocked to find that the shoes were not fixed. God had actually not done what I'd asked Him to! The very notion that this could happen was well beyond anything I had ever considered!

Looking back, I see that having literal expectations of God can lead us into some disappointing situations. This is especially true when we aren't praying according to our Father's heart. When we ask in His name, we must also ask in His heart. God will never give us the desires of our hearts ... unless they've been transformed and conform to His heart. (Wish I'd known that a few decades ago!)

I don't know about you, but I tend to do some journaling. The most transformational period in my life was probably also a period of intense pain. As I faced that pain, I journaled. Recently I ran across one of my journals. I had written down the prayers requests I had of God. The date was 30 July 2003. Let's see what I was praying for, and I'll give you an update on each prayer request.

1. I asked God to get my eating under control. I was obese, and knew my own gluttony was the problem. (I gained even more weight and finally, in a 12 step recovery program, decided to have surgery to fight the obesity. Today I'm not morbidly obese. My eating is no longer compulsively out of control.)

2. I asked God to make my company into a viable business with operating profits. (It went bankrupt the following year.)

3. I asked God to sufficiently capitalize another company that I served on the board of, and enable it to implement a credible business plan. (It's Christian owner became one of the most un-Christian men I know, and the business folded earlier this year.)

4. I asked God to make my marriage rich and sweet like a flower, and for my wife to truly become my best friend. (We just celebrated our 26th year of marriage and it's better than it has ever been.)

5. I asked God for my children to function in their roles, growing as God wills it. (We've adopted 8 more children, and most of our 11 kids are functioning within a reasonable tolerance of what's expected of them.)

6. I asked God for a foundation I'd started to find community support and funding to take on worthwhile endeavors to glorify Christ. (Just last week I mailed the papers to the Secretary of State to dissolve the foundation entirely.)

7. I asked God to encourage our friends and loved ones through us. (Today, we have a few more loved ones and a whole lot more friends. Most would say they experience God's love through us.)

8. I asked God for my church and its leaders to have supernatural strength and vigor to pursue and prevail in God's calling. (Most of us have left that church on bad terms now - but are planted in several new churches that are prevailing.)

9. I asked God for our government and its leaders to have patience, spiritual purity and divine wisdom in the matters of their calling. (Today our government is in a shambles and it's leaders are making decisions that nobody supports.)

10. I asked God to grow my love for Him, as He would reveal to me the areas where I must focus and lead me through the changes He wants to make in me. (Today I'm more confident in my love relationship with God than ever before. In fact, I can't believe where He's brought me. I'm an entirely different man!)

Now if you're reading my comments in italics after each prayer request, you might wonder what my conclusion is about the results of those prayers. Quite candidly, I looked over this list and immediately nodded my head, thanking God for His faithfulness in answering all of my prayers.

But as I read the specific requests and see what's happened in the last seven years, it occurs to me that the answers rarely looked like I thought they would. In fact, not a single one of the ten prayer requests has been answered in a way that I expected. In fact, if you'd told me when I prayed these things how God would answer my requests, I would have been dissatisfied. Isn't it ironic that I'm not?

God has been faithful. He has been gracious beyond measure. He has been my provider in all things. And there is a peace that envelops me as I read these seven-year old prayer requests. I see that God not only gave me His answers, but He re-aligned my questions too. He is that good.

I wonder how many of us are aware of the fact that our prayers are only human. But the ears that hear them are divine. How many of us realize that God works to change our wants and needs and then supplies them abundantly. You know, I'm grateful that I wrote these prayers down and stumbled upon them seven years later. It helps me see that my contentedness is perhaps the greatest measure of my faith. He makes me content. He satisfies my every need and my every desire.

It happens that I don't always get what I want the way I want it or when I want it. And yet I am content. Why is that? Because through all the prayer, I finally learn that Jesus is enough.

Old Relevance

What do you think about the Old Testament in light of the New Testament? I suspect that we often read the New Testament and view that as if it is what really applies most to modern-day Christians. We tend to view the Old Testament as more of a history lesson … powerful, but not so much for modern day living. If that is the case, it’s a sad one.

The Old Testament is just so much more than a collection of historical accounts of what happened in “Bible times” (whatever those times are). For starters, it reveals much about the character and nature of God. The priorities and views of God are laid out for us in explicit detail. If you want to know God, I don’t think there’s a better place to start than at the beginning of His Word.

Perhaps one of the most overlooked facets of the Old Testament is that there are numerous enduring truths in it. In fact, it is chock full of them! They are timeless truths that endure through the ages and through the generations.

What was said centuries ago is just as relevant today as it was then. The 33^rd chapter of Ezekiel, for example, has some profound statements for modern-day application. Let me show you what I mean.

Ezekiel 33:7-9
“I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you will surely die,' and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man to turn from his ways and he does not do so, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself.”

Think about what God is saying here. He’s speaking to the appointed shepherd (the equivalent of today’s pastor). And God tells this pastor to listen and warn the sheep. It’s not a suggestion either. He says if the shepherd doesn’t warn the sheep – the pastor doesn’t warn the congregation, the blood of their death from sin will be on his (the pastor’s) hands! Pastors should be forewarned. In fact, I think this should be printed on the back of every ordination certificate that gets issued.

Ezekiel 33:11

“'As surely as I live’, declares the Sovereign LORD, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways!’”

We’ve always been told that God is not willing that even one should be lost. That has always been true. God will destroy the wicked that do not repent of their sinful ways and turn to Him. But He doesn’t like to have to do it. So it’s an urgent warning, from God, “Don’t make me destroy you!”

Ezekiel 33:12-16

“'The righteousness of the righteous man will not save him when he disobeys, and the wickedness of the wicked man will not cause him to fall when he turns from it.”

Essentially God is confirming a point that most contemporary Christians seem to miss. The point is that no matter how good of a person you are, you won’t be saved because you were “basically a good person.” Similarly, no matter how bad you’ve been, once you turn to God your past cannot condemn you. Again, it’s a message that many of us even today struggle to embrace.

“The righteous man, if he sins, will not be allowed to live because of his former righteousness.' If I tell the righteous man that he will surely live, but then he trusts in his righteousness and does evil, none of the righteous things he has done will be remembered; he will die for the evil he has done. And if I say to the wicked man, 'You will surely die,' but he then turns away from his sin and does what is just and right - if he gives back what he took in pledge for a loan, returns what he has stolen, follows the decrees that give life, and does no evil, he will surely live; he will not die. None of the sins he has committed will be remembered against him. He has done what is just and right; he will surely live.”

Here God continues to drive that same point home. No matter how bad you are, there’s always hope --- if you’ll turn from your sinful ways. Similarly, no matter how good you are, you should never trust in your own righteousness. Your own goodness will never be enough to save you. (Any questions?)

Ezekiel 33:18-20

“If a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, he will die for it. And if a wicked man turns away from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he will live by doing so. … I will judge each of you according to his own ways.”

And the point continues. Did you know God could be so verbose to drive home a critical point? By now you might be tempted to think, “Lord, give it a rest! I get your point already!” But do we? Do we get the point? Just how cognizant are we of the fact that we will all face a judgment day with the Lord?

Ezekiel 33:30-33

"As for you, son of man, your countrymen are talking together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, saying to each other, 'Come and hear the message that has come from the LORD.' My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to listen to your words, but they do not put them into practice. With their mouths they express devotion, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain.”

Oh this one is my favorite part. It’s where God acknowledges that people are drawn to good speakers. They’ll fill the church pews and maybe even the financial coffers of the church. But that doesn’t mean that they’ll put into practice whatever the preacher has preached. Seriously, this was true thousands of years ago. And it is true today. Go figure.

“Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice.”

So God continues that point and basically says to the preacher, “Don’t kid yourself. People are drawn to you (and/or your church) because you’re an attraction.” Unfortunately, God was supposed to be the attraction.

We have way too many preachers today who are the drawing card for the church. We have too many programs, good coffee, comfortable seats, etc. that are the drawing cards. Sadly, people aren’t drawn because they seek God and want to know His ways. They hear. They just don’t do.

"When all this comes true—and it surely will—then they will know that a prophet has been among them."

Finally God acknowledges that when the people are lost – when the judgment day arrives – the truth will be revealed. They will know that a prophet (today’s pastor) was among them. And they will realize that they should have listened to him.

We’ve got thousands of modern day prophets preaching and teaching in the name of Jesus Christ all over the world. Who is listening to them? It is the obligation of the prophet to call the people to repentance. And God intends to hold each prophet accountable for executing his (or her) own calling.

But God also tells us that we aren’t responsible for the sometimes dismal outcome. Rather the prophet is responsible for his obedience. And it may only be at the end of time that his or her true calling as a prophet is recognized by the people he or she was called to lead.

The Old Testament reveals so much about today. And its revelations are such that none of us can afford to miss them.

So, what Old Testament truth is enduring in your life today?

Oprah on God

Recently one of my daughters talked about what her pastor was saying about Oprah. She said he was warning the congregation to be wary of Oprah and not be deceived by the evil that she is championing. (I knew that Oprah was a champion of Barack Obama, but didn't think he would be the evil my daugter's pastor had in mind.) So I decided to check it out.

We don't watch Oprah's show, read her magazines or take much stock in her book recommendations. I know she's influential in our culture and many people look at her. Perhaps I became a bit jaded when I was doing counseling and having to explain to people that whatever they saw on Oprah wasn't necessarily how life works! At any rate, I tuned into one episode of the Oprah show - and immediately got what I was looking for.

It seems that among the books Oprah has recommended are some that Christians would consider quite sinister. But she's gone farther. Now Oprah is hosting web-based classes for millions. The classes are on spirituality and religion. They purport to help people understand who God really is and how we should relate to them.

I don't think I've seen such blatant heresy in a very long time. It is chilling. What Oprah is evangelizing is clearly not Biblical. Here is a link to a YouTube video I found that explains the problem with what Oprah is doing. (When you're there, notice the other related videos on this subject.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkQROc5prZE

Finally, here is the link to the web site to which Oprah has hitched her wagon. It is the site of the global "church" she seems to be building.

http://www.neverthirsty.org/pp/monthlynews/200804/n.html

If you are grounded in Christ, you will be chilled by the implications. If you are not, you may very well be deceived.

I am reminded of the proverb, "Let us not be ignorant about the war we are fighting."

God help us all to stand against the influence of an ignorant Oprah who choses to believe what she wants instead of what is actually true. Perhaps more importantly, God help all of those who follow an ignorant leader like Oprah.