Posts Tagged ‘Worship’

We began taking The Value Test yesterday during our corporate worship together.  Our text was Matthew 8:1-22.  Jesus gave the test to 2 different people on one occasion.  Incidentally, the two people were both “religious” and “moral,” yet they didn’t pass the value test, indicting them as people who were out of relationship with God.

First up was The Scribe.  We’ll call him “Sonny” the Scribe.  Religious.  Moral. Spirituality galore. Respected in the community as a church member.  Knew the right answers.  But Sonny the Scribe couldn’t be a Christ-follower because he valued something over and above Jesus.  He valued comfort. Jesus asked him if he would be willing to give up his comfort in order to follow.  Jesus told him that foxes and birds had more comfort than He did, and that those who followed after Him would also have to forsake comfort and convenience.  What Jesus was really telling him was if you want to follow Me, your comfort and conveniences have to be found in Christ.  Jesus was pointing out Sonny’s god – and Sonny’s god wasn’t Jesus, it was comfort.  He worshipped comfort.  Comfort and conveniences are of less value than Jesus himself.  For Christ-followers, they value Christ more than creature comforts.  Christ followers are so captivated and captured by the gospel of Jesus Christ that any other comfort pales in comparison.

Next up is the disciple. We’ll call him “Devon” the disciple.  Righteous.  Moral. Good guy. But Devon the disciple couldn’t follow Jesus because he valued possessions more than Jesus.  His god was possessions.  He wanted to wait until his father passed away so that he could have his inheritance.  He was unwilling to follow Jesus before his father died.  He would follow Jesus after he was “set.”  He would follow Jesus when he could afford to follow Jesus.  He worshipped money and possessions, and that was his god.  And that’s why he failed the value test.  He valued stuff over the sent Savior.  Christ-followers find completion and satisfaction in the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news, that stuff can’t touch.

• How are you and I doing with the value test?
•  Is there anything we value over and above Jesus himself?
• Does something other than the gospel grab our hearts?
• Who or what are we worshiping?

Dig Deeper into the depths and riches of the gospel!

PC

We have been studying through the Sermon on the Mount and last week, RiverStone was confronted with something big that we need to camp out on that Jesus spoke to his followers.  He makes this statement:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²²  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ ²³  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you;depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

We need to camp out on this statement because it reveals a dangerous possibility.  There is a dangerous possibility of having a false faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior.  Jesus tells this straight up.  Not everyone who calls him “Lord” and not all who “do” spiritual things are believers and redeemed and rescued children of God.

Today is Test 2; test 2 of how we can know for sure that we’re children of God…how we can know for sure who our Savior really is.

Jesus gives us Test 2 in Matthew 7:25-27.  What are you building your life on?  What you build your life on reveals who you worship and who your Savior really is.  We either build our lives on Jesus Christ (the rock and solid foundation) or we build our lives on something else (the sandy foundation).  Jesus is clear in his teaching.  If we build our lives on Christ, then we’ll not be counted among the “many” who have a false faith in Christ.  If we build our lives on something else, what we are essentially believing and saying is that something other than Jesus can save us.  This is idolatry.  This is idol worship.  This is spiritual adultery according to Scripture.  And this is what our enemy wants us to do – to trust in something other than the cross of Christ and the resurrection of Christ – the gospel to save us from our sins.

Notice the results of our worship, too.  Notice that the rains came, the winds blew and the floods rose on both groups of people.  Trusting in and worshiping Christ as our Savior doesn’t exclude us from the storms of life.  But the storms reveal to us our functional savior(s).  Either Jesus or something other than Jesus.  Our lives are strong if we build them in Christ, and our lives are weak if we build them on something other than Jesus.

So…test 2:  What are you building your life on?  Who is your Savior?

Dig Deeper,

PC

We’ve looked as a church at Matthew 5:27-30 over the past week.  I’m firmly convinced that Lust at its core is a Worship Problem.  We focus and hone in and meditate and marinate on things that we perceive to bring us satisfaction and joy.  So it is with the sin of Lust.  We view something or someone that grabs our attention and pleases the eye.  (I say “we” because I’m right here too!) We experience a view of something, and it’s at that point that we have the opportunity to think on Christ and the supreme treasure that He is, over and above the temporary created thing that our enemy lures us falsely into.  How do we get worship right and not lust?

We can’t control what we observe all the time, and what enters into the cones and our retinas all the time.  We should do our best to only allow that which pleases and makes much of Christ into our eyes.  Jesus says “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light…” (Matthew 6:22).  Our desire should be 1 Corinthians 10:31 (NIV) ” So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

John Piper provides a helpful acronym A.N.T.H.E.M. in our fight to keep our minds squarely on the prize and treasure of Jesus.  Check out this link, and dig deeper into the supreme treasure of Jesus Christ!

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/taste-see-articles/anthem-strategies-for-fighting-lust

Hey RiverStone and friends,

I’m still thinking about Jericho and the crazy battle strategy that God led Joshua to carry out.  Walk around the walls with Worship Instruments leading the way?  Expose yourself to the enemy 7 days in a row with no element of surprise? Don’t make a sound until the 7th day? Shout and the walls will come down?  With our voices instead of our weapons?  Did I hear you right, God, I’d be asking?  Are you certain about this God?

So here’s my question.  How did Joshua go forward with this seemingly crazy battle plan from God?

He was submitted.  He couldn’t launch forward to Jericho with God’s plan without first being “heart-tested.”  Are you being “heart-tested” right now?  What’s a “heart-test?”  It’s a test from God that allow us to feel the condition of our submission.  Is God leading you to something that may be hard, uncomfortable, risky, daring, unknown?  If so, how do you carry forward in obedience?  Be submitted.

Joshua was.  He fell on the ground, face first, when confronted with the army of the Lord’s commander.  He worshipped.  He took off his sandals.  He humbled himself to the Lord’s instruction.  He asked what the Lord’s message was first – he craved hearing from God more than God hearing from him.

Wow!

Let’s do that today – as believers, as churches, as families, as individuals, as organizations in business.  Let’s worship and be all about what God wants to say to us first, and what we want to say to God second.

Are you learning and growing from Luke 14:15-33?  I have to tell you I haven’t been able to leave this text for quite some time, as I’m praying for my family and our church family, that God would make us a “God is supremely better” people.  What has entered your life this week that is rivaling God being better?  Is sickness trying to steal this from you?  Is work related  issues, family experiences, unmet expectations competing to steer you away from God being so much better than all else in life?

Just this week I have had a phone call from a friend who is dealing with a possible miscarraige…Just this week I am praying for family members who desperately need the Lord to come through in a job situation…Just this week I’m lifting up people walking through some dark times already in 2011, and they are faced with a question – Is God really worth dropping all else in life to follow Him?  Is he worth it?  Can I value him enough to put #1 priority in his life?

Also, there are some of us out there who have it all together and who are experiencing fruitfulness in life like never before, and things couldn’t be better.  I firmly believe it’s in these “good times” that it’s hardest to consider God as better than all else - because all else is treating us so nicely.

Anyway, let’s look at Invitee #2 to God’s Party in Luke 14:15-33…Who is this guy?  He is a guy who turns God down becasue he has just bought 5 yoke of oxen.  He has 5 pair of oxen that he is needing to visit and make sure they are doing their job in order to provide for him.  In other words, this invitee #2 is valuing work and the bottom line financially over God and God’s Party.  He is more concerned with working and how work is going than dropping work for an evening and celebrating who God is.

I have to admit – this punches me in the soul!  I’m a bit of a workaholic to be honest.  Are you?  Are you like me and tend to place a more significant value on work rather than on God?  Are you defined by what you DO, rather than what Christ DID on the cross?  I struggle here.

If you do struggle here, remember our friend Martha in Luke 10:38-41 – respond to these questions:

• How would you describe Martha?  Use some adjectives to define what she was like.
• How would you describe Mary?  Use some adjectives to define what she was like.
• What was Martha frustrated with?  What was Mary doing?
• What did Jesus consider to be the most important act in this story?
• How can you apply this to your life?

Man, i’m praying God makes some significant transformations in all of our hearts – namely, that he would make us a people who are “God is supremely better” than WORK people!

Dig Deeper,

PC