True and Proper Worship

‘Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.’ Rom 12:1 NIV

‘I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.’ Rom 12:1 NKJV

 While meditating on this verse I began to break it down and look at what it is that Paul is exhorting and why. I remember reading this verse as a young Christian and honestly feeling that it was a pretty stiff command.

To offer my body as a living sacrifice meant that I was now yielding control of my life. I remember being baffled at how this was a ‘reasonable’ request. (I know, I know. Tut-tut!)

Thankfully God is patient and kind to us when we don’t understand and is always ready to reveal Himself and His word through the power of the Holy Spirit.

As I sat in the prayer meeting recently God brought this verse to my heart again and I wrote down those thoughts as they came. I have tried in some way to tie them together into a cohesive piece of writing; however they refuse to be catalogued according to my need for neatness. Therefore I will write them as they came in that meeting place where God spoke them to me. You will excuse the untidiness I know and not hold it against me.

 - Worship is not the singing of songs and clapping of hands, it is the attitude of a heart that has known and understood the mercy of God. It will not be known only in the singing of God’s people but in the active laying down of their lives.

 - One cannot worship properly unless one has a true understanding of the mercy of God. One will always treat as common the sacrifice of Christ unless there is revelation of the need of mercy that sent him to the cross. The gospel is an awfully personal thing and demands a very personal response. True worship that pleases God begins in knowing and understanding His mercy towards us.

- Worship is so much more than singing for 20mins at church on a Sunday. That is such a limited understanding of worship. Giving glory to God every day and in every way in our lives is worship. Why would we worship God with our whole lives? Because of His mercy. Worship is the response to mercy.

- Worship is only a 'reasonable' response to a God that has given His life, His glory, His power and position for a rotten, selfish, separated and sin-soaked people. When we consider God's mercy, our lives are only a reasonable response. It is not a harsh expectation that we would willingly yield our lives to Him whose mercy is so great.

- We respond in worship when we surrender our plans for His, our thoughts for His, our words for His and our deeds for His! That is only reasonable when we consider His mercy toward us.

 - To ask him to worship God who has no understanding of His mercy, is to ask him to pretend, for he cannot know how without knowing why. It will be at best incomplete and at worst an act.
- Worship is THE response to mercy. It deals with the 'how' we respond to God while Mercy deals with the question ‘why’.

- Think of His love, sacrifice, death, forgiveness and tell me your heart doesn't know that its reasonable response is worship.
But ask me to hand over my whole life without telling me why and my heart resists all the more.  Understanding His mercy toward me is the beginning of my life of worship.

- In the Old Testament the people went to the Tabernacle and then to the Temple to show their worship to God. They went to where He was. They knew that the presence of God was in that place and they worshipped Him there. Why?

Because His Presence was and still is the greatest mercy. That a holy and righteous God would be found amongst such a rebellious people is mercy itself.

- And more than that, Mercy is not a thing but a Person- Jesus Christ Himself is Mercy. That is why we cannot come to the Father but by Him. He is the Mercy that allows us to draw near. It is not only that God has forgiven us but that he chooses to abide with us. That exites my heart and makes me want to sing!!

- We no longer have to travel to a tabernacle to worship God, John’s gospel tells us ‘And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us’. Jesus has literally ‘tabernacled’ among us. Worship is our whole life, our whole self all of the time because we have His presence in us all the time. We are surrounded and covered by His mercy all of the time. Praise the Lord!

That is why worship is not for Sunday mornings/prayer meetings alone, nor even limited to songs but instead for every day, in every way because of His abiding presence. He will never leave us!

 - My favourite Psalm is number 27. David knew the mercy of God and worship flowed from his heart. He wrote these words that always touch my heart;

‘One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple.’

- I believe David knew that to be allowed to ‘dwell in the house of the Lord’ was possible only as he was granted entry according to God’s mercy for he also penned these words in Psalm 51: ‘Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation; Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips That my mouth may declare Your praise.’
Tell me these are not the words of a man who understood God’s mercy. David’s response to God’s mercy was praise and worship. How much more will we worship, on this side of Calvary, if we understand that God has redeemed, cleansed, filled and sealed us all according to His mercy?
‘Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.’ 1Peter 2:10

- How I love to join with the countless angels and living creatures around the throne saying “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!”… “Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!”

And He Was Lame in Both Feet??

Hi Everyone
It's been a while and I have been busy...

I have been reading a lot about Mephibosheth lately. I really identify with this man in so many ways.
The part that I have been focusing on is 2Samuel 9:3-13.

I have noticed that the whole narrative of Mepihbosheth happens within the framework of one sentence repeated; He was ‘lame in both feet’.

Many times I have sat down and asked the Lord why the passage ends with the same sentence as it begins. Up to now I have had a few different understandings of it but there is one personal application I find genuinely significant for myself.

 In the beginning of this passage Mephibosheth is sought out by the king because of a covenant the king made with Jonathan, Mephibosheth’s father.

The whole thing is initiated by the king, not Mephibosheth. (There’s a sermon in there.)

He is referred to only as the ‘son of Jonathan who is crippled in both feet’. His suffering is on public display and is known far and wide. He was the crippled one, the one who would never amount to much because of some tragic events in his past.

Can you see where I’m going with this?

Mephibosheth wasn’t responsible for the things that happened a long time before but he had to live with the consequences of it nonetheless.

So when he is called before the king to receive the blessings of a covenant made before he was born, his shame is ever before him. His description of himself reveals his innermost thoughts of himself; 2 Sam9:8 “What is your servant, that you should regard a dead dog like me?” Oh how often I feel the same words rise in my heart. I sometimes feel so aware of my lameness that I am overawed that the King might notice me in my distress.

But whether I understand it or not, God is King and He willingly seeks me out to bless me under a covenant made long before my birth. Hallelujah!

God provides a place for Mephibosheth at His table; a place where they can be together and have fellowship together continually. All Mephibosheth had to do in this situation was to receive what the king had provided. He moved from Lo Debar (the barren land), to the house of the king in Jerusalem, the city of God.

So all the while I have been reading this I have seen how God has taken me from a barren land to live in His house and to fellowship continually with Him. I relate so much with Mephibosheth, as do most Christians (I hope) when they read this story. However, I have always been troubled by the last line which reads ‘So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he ate at the king’s table regularly. Now he was lame in both feet.’

Why does it not read ‘so Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem…and the Lord healed his lameness and all was well with him’? Why is Mephibosheth still lame at the end of the passage?

Well here’s where I’m going to a bit technical wordwise. Stay with me please.

I went to my Strong’s concordance to find the original meaning of the word ‘lame’ and to my surprise the writer uses two different words to describe ‘lame’. At the beginning ‘lame’ is defined ‘maimed but also figuratively, dejected’ At the beginning we are introduced to a man that has a physical disfigurement but also a mental or emotional crippling. But at the end of the passage we see the word ‘lame’ defined as lame-physically but with no figurative meaning suggesting dejected.

Somewhere in the midst of being sought by the king, the revelation of the covenant promises and Mephibosheth’s receiving the blessings provided for him, he loses his dejected state. He is now seated at the table of the Lord and the blessings are showering down upon his head.

I have been talking with the Lord about the mental/emotional crippling that we sometimes carry because of past events and I believe strongly that one application of this passage is this: though I have been sought by the King (Jesus), and blessed beyond comprehension at being able to sit at His table, in His presence, continually welcomed, there are scars leftover from the lameness I received at the hands of others. Scars are just marks of where healing has occurred in the body. After a time, they no longer hurt or caused us to feel lame.

Whilst sitting at the table, my crippled legs are beneath the tablecloth, so to speak. They remain but they are hidden in the blessings being poured out upon me. They will never go away. Now understand me correctly, that’s not faithless, it’s what God has spoken to me. The events that have lamed me are not going to disappear. They are part of my story and my life. They are a testimony to the grace, mercy, tenderness, love, kindness, faithfulness, of my King. When I look to Jesus my focus is off myself. I lose myself in His awesomeness and holiness and I no longer have eyes to see my lameness. My heart is full of gratitude and there is no room for bitterness or pain. He has changed me and is changing me from glory to glory. I have a choice about what to gaze upon; under the table at my lameness, or looking up into the face of my King and Saviour.

God is a God of power. He has the power to make all things new, to heal and to save. God has done a miracle in my heart and I know it well.  But I wanted to wake up one day and see that God had taken my past from me. But that’s not what God does. He doesn’t give us amnesia, He deals with the hurt and dejection, sits us at His table for a continual feast of His presence and enables us to keep our eyes on Him. How great is our God??

Interestingly the passage tells us before closing that Mephibosheth had a son named Mica. Mephibosheth means ‘dispelling the shame’ and Mica means ‘who is like the Lord’.
Mephibosheth has come from the barren place and become fruitful in the house of the king.
The fruit of Mephibosheth’s dispelling the shame and accepting the king’s invitation was someone who is like the Lord. I can only pray that one of the fruits of my accepting God’s invitation to salvation and dispelling the shame is children that are like the Lord!!

 

Grace and Peace

Most Christians that I know agree that Paul has written 13 epistles in the New Testament.
In my recent studies, I have been looking at grace and what I've noticed is that Paul mentions the phrase 'Grace and peace' or versions thereof, in all 13 epistles. This is his normal opening salute to the recipients of his epistles.

As I was reading I noticed this pattern and also the order of the greeting. Paul always writes grace before peace and this got me thinking.
Why grace before peace?
I believe this is no accidental turn of phrase but a deliberate order. I believe that the Holy Spirit inspired this order for this reason.

Without an understanding of the grace of God as revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ, we cannot possibly know peace.
John writes these words of Jesus in his gospel; 'Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.'
The peace we receive from God is not a worldly peace, characterised by positive thought and denial, nor even an understandable peace; We receive a 'peace...which surpasses all comprehension' from God.
However, grace comes first for a reason.

Grace is defined as 'the freely given, unmerited favour and love of God'. God has poured out this wonderful grace upon all who believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Paul writes in Romans '..While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us'. This is the ultimate act of love and grace from our God. Jesus satisfied every condition of the Father in His death on the cross and there is no longer any barrier between God and those who would call on his name for salvation. No works, no flesh and no man-made thing will ever share in the glory of Christ's atoning sacrifice. This is true grace. We did not deserve His love or favour and yet He chose to make a way for us.

Only when we understand this grace completely will we have true and unshakeable peace.
Those who don't understand grace find themselves working, striving and trying, in their own strength, to please God. There can be no peace in that. There is only fear, doubt, failure and despair because 'all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment'. Our own strength will never be enough, hence our need for a Saviour.
Yet if our own strength can never be enough but we keep trying in our own strength, can there be peace? No.

Peace is a direct result of believing and trusting in the grace of God. It is not a 'hope' that all will be well when we meet God face to face; grace brings a guarantee of peace both now and in the eternity to come.

C.S. Lewis said this: 'God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.' I agree.
Outside of an understanding of God's beautiful, abundant and all-sufficient grace, we will never have peace. We will always struggle and strive and attempt to do something by ourselves.
The work is done. The price is paid. Our great God is satisfied.

The grace of God continues every second of every day. We truly live in the Age of Grace. This is where we should live as the people of God. It is our right as the body of Christ.
 Understanding grace is the key to all that God has for us in this New Covenant. Grace is the foundation upon which the temple of the Holy Spirit is laid. Without the correct foundation, all that is built upon it will be unsteady and shakeable.
However the writer to the Hebrews writes; 'since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe'.

Thank God for His grace. Thank God for His Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Thank God that the work of salvation is finished and His justice is completely satisfied with the cross of Christ.

'Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.'
Brónagh Hayes

Mephibosheth

Been meditating on this story for a while now...so much in it. I may blog about it later. Until then here is my attempt at poeticising the story. Enjoy!

Mephibosheth

Far away in desolation

Lives a man in desperation
Far from where he should have made a home
In him was a king’s descendant
Should have lived in rich resplendence
With royal robes and kingly crown and throne

Instead he hides in distant pastures
Crippled from his past disasters
Carrying the weight of fear and shame
Dependant on another’s favour
With a burden none would savour
Hoping no-one ever learns his name

Then one day a king comes seeking
Summons him to royal meeting
Beckons him and calls him by his name
Falling on his knees before him
Trembling mind and heart implore him
‘Who am I that you would give me aid?’

Answering his apprehension
With such loyal, kind affection-
‘I promised to protect you all my days’
From that day came restoration
Far beyond his expectation
The king fulfilled the covenant he’d made

Humbled in his exaltation
And lavish in his veneration
Welcomed in the presence of the Lord
Now he dwells in royal grandeur
Sits amid such wondrous splendour
Forevermore to worship and adore

Who cannot apply this story to their own life? We are all Mephibosheth - either before he met the king or after. Thankfully I heard the King call my name and I am seated at His table forever. What about you?

Bird-feeders, Word-feeders.

Job 12:7 ‘But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you;’

We have a bird feeder in the back garden and I love to sit in the mornings with a cup of tea and watch the birds come and feed there. Some days there might be 30+ birds gathered to feed.

One of the mornings lately I was watching these birds and the Holy Spirit began to teach me something through them.

I saw such a picture of the Christian and their longing to be fed from the word of God.

There are three types of birds that come into our garden to feed, corresponding to three types of Christian and their approach to the word of God.

1. There are those birds that come right into the feeder and feed long and hard until they are satisfied. These birds are willing to push through the crowds, ignore all the distractions and come with boldness to be fed. They are not put off by the many other birds around and do not give way until they have had their fill. Their tenacity is amazing. Also I noticed the same birds returning again and again and being nourished there, they are the healthiest and most robust birds in the garden. These birds are also willing to persist even in the face of danger. We have a stray cat that has taken up residence in our garden, as if it is his territory. He knows that the birds will return there to be fed and he is always lurking nearby, slyly trying to pick off one or two of them. These birds know that he is there, they are aware of his tricks and yet they do not stay away because they know the source of life is in that place. They have also been blessed with a means of escape far better than the enemy’s.

 I began to think of those Christians who approach the word of God with boldness and a healthy desire to get stuck into the word and be fed. They know, like the birds, that there is nourishment there and by it they will grow and become spiritually healthy. These Christians are continually found in the word and their growth and spiritual health is visible to all around them. They have understanding of deeper things and receive enough even to feed others.  They too, like the birds, are aware of the enemy and his scheming to pick them off, however they press on knowing that they have a means to escape which he is powerless against.

2. The second type of bird is those that come and dance around the garden a little distance away from the feeder itself. They only come so far and then they wait for the little morsels that drop down while the other birds are feeding. They are not persistent enough to push through the others and willingly give up their place as soon as any distraction comes along. When the ever-present enemy shows his feline face, they distance themselves even further and barely receive even a scrap of food at that distance. They are the funniest creatures to watch as they make a great show of wanting to be fed but never actually feed from the source. They just wait for the cast-offs from the other birds. As a result I noticed that they are not as healthy as the birds who feed from the feeder.

Of course this called to mind those Christians who only come a certain distance towards exploring the word of God. When they find that there is effort involved to feed from the source, they retreat a little way and are content to feed on the morsels that others share. I’m particularly reminded of those who will come to church or a conference to hear what the preacher has to share form his/her study of the word but never go to the source themselves to be fed. These Christians are always waiting for someone else to speak words of nourishment to them and as a consequence are neither fully nourished nor fully healthy. The slightest glimpse of the enemy causes them to draw back even further and feed even less. Theirs is a limited understanding and produces limited growth. They are also never fully satisfied.

3. The third type of bird, then, is those who perch on the fence or at the other end of the garden mournfully looking on while the others feed and dance around. These birds baffle me altogether. The food is there, there is even some strewn all over the ground and yet they refuse to approach. They look all round them, nervously awaiting some calamity, and often dart away at the slightest sound or shadow. Their fear of the cat knows no bounds and they flit away at the threat of him raising his furry head. They never seem to pluck up enough desire to even try to feed and are pitifully thin and undernourished. I often wonder how they survive and how they bring anything of worth back to their chicks.

It is an extremely sad fact that there are Christians who also live like this. They have no understanding of the word and receive so little from the source that their growth and nourishment is prematurely halted. Some Christians live like this for years, though I don’t know how they survive. The food is there, the strength is available to them but they never lay hold of it, or never even try. They look dolefully on at those who feed from the source as if those birds know something secret that is unreachable for them. They are blown about by every threat of calamity or every hint of the enemy’s presence and flit to and fro for years at a time, never really settling in anywhere and feeding themselves on the word. It is a pitiful thing to see these Christians but more often than not they don’t stay around long enough for anyone to help them.

We read in Deut 8:3 that ‘man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.’

The word of the Lord is our food. By it we are nourished and strengthened, our faith is increased and our hearts encouraged.

Matthew 6:26 also tells us: ‘Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?’

If we, as the children of God, are more valuable than the birds, how much more will our heavenly Father feed us? He wants to feed and sustain His children; He has given us His Spirit and His Word. Will we approach with boldness and be fed to all the fullness of God? Will we feed off the leftovers of others who have been nourished to satisfaction, and always have a lack because we did not receive it ourselves from the source? Or will we never come, never grow and never know fulfillment, being tossed about like the waves?

I know what I choose - Jer 15:16 ‘Your words were found, and I ate them,
And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart’

A Child of God

‘Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!’ 1John 3:1

I love this verse! Really, it’s one of my favourites.

Lately I feel that God is giving me more and more understanding of the practicalities of this verse.

We so often hear that we are God’s children, we belong to God and He is our Father. We even pray using the words ‘Our Father, who art in heaven…’ But there are times when the fact that we are God’s children becomes more than an academic thought or ideology-it penetrates into our hearts.

What does it look like when we really believe that we are a child of God? What should the difference be in our lives, based upon our understanding that we have a heavenly Father who cares for us?

Recently I had a conversation with someone who told me that their child was worried about the family’s finances. The child was lying awake at night worrying about money and trying to come up with ways to fix the problem.

Listening to their reply to that child helped me again to see the love of my Father for His children.

That person told their child that there was no need for him to worry about money, jobs etc… that is not the kind of thing that a child should worry about. They assured the child that it was the parent’s job to make sure all those things were sorted, and not to be concerned. They told him he was loved, provided for and everything would be okay. Of course the child went away eased in his heart, knowing that his father would take care of him. I’m sure we would all agree with the answer these parents gave...

Yet how much more should we be assured that our heavenly Father is working all things out for His beloved children. If we are His children, and we are, then there are things that are not for us to worry about. He is taking care of them because He is the Father!

So often we get overwhelmed with cares and worries, burdened in our hearts over things we cannot work out. We lie awake trying to come up with solutions and cannot find the answers. We can no more fix things for ourselves out of our meagre resources than that child could have fixed his parents' finances with his pocket money! And it’s not just financial worries; there are myriad things to worry about on this earth and try as we might, we cannot control most of them.

But that is the blessing in being God’s child-we don’t have to! God is our Father. He is in control. He is all-knowing, all-powerful, ever-present and never slumbers nor sleeps! He has glorious riches, wisdom beyond measure and promises to never leave nor forsake his children!

We can have our hearts eased as we turn to our Father and tell Him of our worries and cares.

Jesus said ‘Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’

If we will but answer His call, we will find rest. We will find rest in our place as children and His place as the Father. We will find rest in handing over our troubles and allowing Him to reassure our souls of His presence and His love.

I was thinking of the words of an old hymn as I was writing this; sing with me:

‘O what peace we often forfeit,

O what needless pain we bear,

All because we do not carry

Everything to God in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care?

Precious Saviour, still our refuge; take it to the Lord in prayer.

Do thy friends despise, forsake thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer!

In his arms he'll take and shield thee; thou wilt find a solace there.’

Take your cares and burdens to Jesus, and He will give you rest for your soul.

God Bless