Why Serve? pt. 1

Posted on by Tanner Royalty

Last week we began our series on service within the local congregation. We established a few over-arching reasons why we should be serving… the most important being that Jesus served while He was here on earth.

serve

Our world defines success or “greatness” in terms of tangible things like possessions, position, and power. In other words… if you have power over others, you’ve arrived. The art of service has been lost and has been mistakenly attributed to weakness, insecurity, inability, or poverty. In our me-first culture, acting like a servant is not a popular concept.

Jesus, however, measured a man’s greatness in terms of service, not status. In Mark 10:43 He says,

Whoever wants to be great must become a servant.

Unlike the world we live in, God determines our greatness by how many people we serve, not how many people serve us. Oswald Chambers, one of my favorite theologians, once said this,

Have you ever realized that you can give things to God that are of value to Him? Or are you just sitting around daydreaming about the greatness of His redemption, while neglecting all the things you could be doing for Him? I’m not referring to works which could be regarded as divine and miraculous, but ordinary, simple human things – things which would be evidence to God that you are totally surrendered to Him.

The following list will provide some practical reasons for serving. In no particular exhaustive order, here are some reasons why we should be involving ourselves in ministry:

  • Glorifying God by serving in my local church ministry is the purpose of my salvation.

Ephesians 2:10 says,

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

We are quick to emphasize that salvation is not by works…. as we should be! In fact we can clarify that by backing up a couple verses to Ephesians 2:8-9 where it says,

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

But sometimes in our emphasis of that fact we fail to communicate and fully grasp that we have been saved so that we may do good works! We haven’t been saved by our works… we have been saved so that we can work! We haven’t been saved so that we may sit on our hands and be served.

We as believers are quick to be “watchdogs” and hesitant to be servants. 

Since I have been young I have liked pirates and nautical things. Back in the day of pirates, and on most ships today, there is a dedicated officer position to be on “watch” or look out over the sea to discover and report potential problems to the Captain. But… the sole role of this person isn’t just to “watch” the sea. In fact, if they just watch the sea they are only doing half of their job and it can be perilous for everyone on board. The other part of this officer’s duty is to act upon what they have observed!

In the same way, we as Christians must act.

James 2:14- 26 is sobering when it says,

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

We have faith so that we may serve.

God has placed us in our individual local churches in order that we might be edified, and so that we might be able to work for and serve Him. To remain sedentary is to neglect God’s very purpose for our salvation. By serving, we behave like Jesus and glorify Him.

  • I have been gifted and called to serve.

Several Bible passages help us to understand the concept of spiritual gifts. Romans 12:4-5 is one of those passages. It says,

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

Throughout the Bible we learn about how God has given us each the privilege of a gift.  These gifts aren’t meant for collecting dust! A Christmas present might look all pretty and nice when dressed up with wrapping paper… but the true life of that gift begins after it has been unwrapped.

Our gifts are meant to serve God. Peter addresses this in 1 Peter 4:10-11 where it says,

Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Peter makes it clear that we have received our gifts from God for two purposes— to serve others and to bring praise to God. Serving isn’t about us receiving attention or glory; it is for directing all glory to Him.

Don’t allow your life as a Believer to remain in the “wrapped” stage. Like a child opens presents on Christmas, we too are to utilize, or unwrap, our gifts because of the coming of Christ Jesus.

  • Ministry service will demonstrate the reality of my faith.

Above, we saw in James that our faith isn’t just demonstrated by what we know or say… but rather it is demonstrated by what we do and how we act.

Romans 12:1-2 says,

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.

Our faith should transform us and make us stick out! But… we know that a faith without works is dead (as we found in James), so I would say that our works should also make us stick out as a believer. People should know what we believe by what we do.

We have all seen someone who can talk the talk, but fails to walk the walk. The other day I was at an outdoor basketball court and a guy showed up wearing all the gear. You can probably imagine what he looked like before I even have to describe him to you. His socks matched his short and jersey combo. He had on the sweatbands and the newest NBA All-Star high-tops, but the one thing he didn’t have was the game to back up the look. I actually got embarrassed for him at one point. But… how similar is our faith to that guy’s game? Do we say all the right things? Look the right way? Go to the right places? The point I am trying to make is that we might fool some people from a distance, but once we are forced to step out on the court our actions, or lack thereof, will reveal us for what we really are.

Fake Christianity or dead faith may temporarily move people, but upon close inspection will do nothing to impact their behavior or their life.

The transforming power of Jesus Christ is on display in the lives of those who have traded selfishness for selflessness. Who have sought the towel instead of the position. Our actions and service will validate our faith in front of others.

To avoid writing a novel this week we will leave the conversation there and pick it up in next week’s blog. Let me encourage you to evaluate the level at which you are involved in serving the Lord at your local church.

Rick Warren says,

Faithful servants never retire. You can retire from your career, but you will never retire from serving God.

Gospel Centered Worship

Posted on by Tanner Royalty

When many people think of worship their mind immediately goes to the singing or music portion of a church service before the preaching, some may think of hymnals while others think of electric guitars and lights. While these things can take part in our “worship” they are not in and of themselves all of our worship or all that we do or intend to do.

Bob Kauflin has said that,

Singing and preaching aren’t incompatible or opposed to each other in any way.  Both are meant to exalt the glory of Christ in our hearts, minds, and wills. Then the whole meeting is worship; the whole meeting should be filled with God’s Word. And the whole meeting should be characterized by the Spirit’s presence.

Therefore, worship shapes thinking. We need to allow the Word of God to call, inform, and shape how our churches worship and how we lead. The songs we sing stay with us and the structures convey messages about what we believe and how we worship and encounter God. The songs and ideas displayed in our services get stuck in our heads. They resonate in our hearts. They implant their messages deep within us and instruct us just as much as the sermons we hear.

In his book Christ-Centered Worship Bryan Chapell says that,

Structures tell stories.

We have seen this displayed throughout history through many types of structures Chapell explains,

Luther preached ‘the priesthood of believers,’ and his structures conveyed the same message. The placement of the pulpit silently explained that the preacher was not more holy than the people. He ministered among them because all were fulfilling holy callings as they served God in the occupations for which He had gifted them.

Chapell writes,

In every age, including our own, those who build churches have been forced to consider how their understanding of the gospel gets communicated by the structures in which it is presented.

So… we don’t create worship; we don’t manufacture services. Rather, we respond to a person. Effective worship is never a result of our efforts.

Below we will explore some avenues to Gospel Centered Worship. Let’s think together.

  • Liturgy

“Liturgy” refers to the structures of a church’s worship service. Many people might think of liturgy only in terms of the traditional structures found in Catholic or Anglican churches, but all churches that gather together to worship have a liturgy– even if it’s a very simple liturgy. In his book Chapell explains that,

The biblical word for all that’s included in our worship is ‘liturgy’ and it simply describes the public way a church honors God in its times of gathered praise, prayer, instruction, and commitment.

Therefore, whether we realize it or not, our worship patterns always communicate something. This gives us reason to examine what exactly is being communicated and we as worship leaders must be very intentional and very careful to communicate the Gospel correctly and clearly through our liturgies. We must remember when creating liturgies that,

Christian worship is always a response to truth, the truth as revealed in Jesus Christ.

Let me suggest that we seek to structure worship services in such a way that the Gospel is communicated through the very structure of our service and order. This isn’t a revolutionary idea, In fact, I would say that this has been the case throughout the history of the church. Chapell says,

Because they understood the importance of our worship, early church fathers designed an architecture for worship that is still reflected in churches today. As early as the second century, records indicate that the church divided its worship into major segments: the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Upper Room… By moving from Proclamation to Communion in the order of worship, churches through the ages retell the story that those who truly hear God’s Word will share his love.

Chapell claims that our goal should not be to replicate historical liturgies but to,

Learn how the church has used worship to fulfill gospel purposes through the ages so that we can intelligently design worship services that will fulfill gospel purposes today.

Worship is a holistic practice. The promise of the new covenant is that Jesus is the true and better temple, the true and better mount to stand upon. The regulations of time and place have been fulfilled in Christ. The law has been fulfilled through the work of Christ. This means we are a continually worshipping people, in heart, soul, and mind. The way the church has adopted the use of the word worship is a difficult reality we are faced with. When our people say they enjoyed the worship, I understand they mean the singing, and Scripture reading, and time of confession. At the same time, when we walk with a robust view of what congregational worship is, everything falls rightly into its place. The singing of songs is not elevated to a level it is not meant for, and the Scripture readings are not demeaned as a necessary obligation. When we look at a liturgy from beginning to end as the people of God gathered to engage with Him and rehearse the Gospel, an unbroken chain is formed.

  • Balance

Every element of a worship gathering is an important tool in the hand of God. At the center of the church gathered is the one element absolutely necessary: the Word of God laid open in the midst of His people. The Gospel should not just “inform” our worship design, implementation, and leadership… it should consume it, and all that we do in worship, whether corporately or individually, should be focused and centered on the Word of God and the Gospel story.

Chapell conceives of the corporate worship service as,

Nothing more, nothing less, than a re-presentation of the gospel in the presence of God and His people for His glory and their good.

This definition has a strong vertical dimension of God’s story being re-presented in God’s presence for His own glory, but Chapell also believes the inward and outward elements should have bearing on the Sunday service. He argues that concern for God’s people to understand His glory and grace should lead us to design worship that ministers to the “necessities and capacities” of God’s people.

While church leaders have a responsibility to preserve the necessary elements of the Gospel story, these Gospel truths will not lead to worship or transformation into the image of Christ if people cannot understand them. Discerning the balance between the necessities and capacities of worshippers (the balance between sensitivity and compromise) is sometimes a difficult task, but one with which we must wrestle.

I personally advocate for a strong partnership between the vertical dimension of our worship (us and God) and a horizontal dimension (us together) in the worship service that reflects the Gospel story of God’s love to one another through sharing our praise, praying for one another, corporately confessing sin, encouraging one another in song, tithing, receiving instruction together, demonstrating concern for the lost, and communing together.

Our worship should not ignore the needs of the members of the body… yet at the same time worship choices cannot ignore the needs of those God has yet to gather into the body of Christ. A few weeks back we discussed whether our worship can be evangelistic. If you disagree with my stance on that topic then the rest of this paragraph isn’t for you… Christ-Centered Worship advocates a liturgical model that builds upon Scripture as well as church history, taking into account the upward, inward, and outward priorities of church. Done properly our worship can create and encounter, a union, and a message to be shared.

Our worship and theology should come together to engage in God’s mission. The relationship should be one of harmony and consistency. If God’s mission for us is to proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light as it says in 1 Peter 2:9, and to make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe everything he commanded us as it says in Matthew 28:19-20, we must be those worship leaders who worship the Lord personally and corporately, who study the Word of God and hide it in our hearts and who are constantly reminded of his mission, making every effort to proclaim His gospel. The Gospel should infect every aspect of our lives and then we might stand a chance of leading with Gospel centrality. Right theology leads us to rightful doxology, and both propel the mission of God within our churches and out into the world. As John Piper rightly says,

Worship is the fuel and goal of missions.

Our worship must be rightfully centered on the glory of God, because only then are the desires and needs of man informed and met. As we exalt Christ and glorify God, we are professing things that are true to those in our gatherings who are separated from God by sin. The aim of the mission of God is that all the peoples of the earth would glorify God. God’s mission in the world is accomplished when He is the praise of every tribe, and tongue, and nation.

  • The Journey

In practice Gospel centered worship can be difficult to do properly. In this journey what I have come to realize is that the Gospel shouldn’t just be a few key words in a song, but it should inhabit and inform my entire structure, design, and leading of corporate worship. I believe Kauflin says it best in his book “Worship Matters” when he says that,

Singing God’s Word can include more than reciting specific verses in song. If the Word of Christ is going to ‘dwell in [us] richly’ (Colossians 3:16), we need songs that explain, clarify, and expound on what God’s word says. We need songs that have substantive, theologically rich, biblically faithful lyrics. A consistent diet of shallow, subjective worship songs tends to produce shallow, subjective Christians.

The songs we sing matter.  When we stand before our church to lead in worship the songs we choose must be Biblically faithful. We must strive to make our songs and structure theologically forming and informing. They must be Gospel-centered. In the end it isn’t solely the melodies of the songs or the musicality within the transitions that are of utmost importance, but it is the lyrics we choose to worship with and the message we convey through our overall structure. The content by which we choose to both inform and shape our worship. In Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth, we see the Gospel as the issue of “first importance”. 1 Corinthians 15:3,4 says,

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.

As we lead worship, there is a great responsibility for us to place the Gospel at its rightful place in our church service – at the blazing center of everything.

Wherever in the church Biblical authority has been lost, Christ has been displaced, the gospel has been distorted, or faith has been perverted, it has always been for one reason: our interests have displaced God’s and we are doing His work in our way. The loss of God’s centrality in the life of today’s church is far too common. It is this loss that allows us to transform worship into entertainment, gospel preaching into marketing, believing into technique, being good into feeling good about ourselves, and faithfulness into being successful. As a result, God, Christ and the Bible have come to mean too little to us and rest too inconsequentially upon us.

Worship matters and it must be anchored entirely on God’s truth. Worship should be anchored on the entire truth about God, which He has revealed about himself within His Word. Our worship is a matter of infinite importance. If the truth of God and the Gospel is not at the center of our worship services then we are not truly worshiping the God of the bible but a “god” of our own imagination or creation. An incomplete foundation to our worship leads to an incomplete understanding of all that God is.

It is a matter of eternal consequence when people get worship wrong, as a result they do not worship God acceptably however well meaning they may be.

God does not exist to satisfy human ambitions, or our own private spiritual interests. We must focus on God in our worship, rather than the satisfaction of our personal needs. God is sovereign in worship; we are not. Our concern must be for God’s kingdom, not our own empires, popularity or success.

We should work to know the Gospel… to memorize its foundations and contours. We should allow our thoughts, our prayers, our affections, and our songs to be informed by the glories of the gospel. Constance Cherry has said that,

Our understanding of Christian worship starts with our understanding of God.

The second greatest source of theological teaching in the local church comes from the songs that it sings. While theology is taught, more often it is often caught… through song. In the end, we do not want to create worship services that simply make Christians want to return to our worship services again; instead you want to create worship services that make Christians long to be with Christ and live out the Gospel.

John MacArthur says,

Worship is not an addendum to life, it is at life’s core. You see, the people who worship God acceptably enter into eternal life, but the people who do not worship God acceptably enter into eternal death. Worship, then, becomes the core. Time and eternity are determined by the nature of a person’s worship.

As we pursue this journey into Christ-Centered or Gospel-Shaped worship together I will leave us with this thought,

Worship is an invitation and not our invention.

God and Evil

Posted on by Tanner Royalty

Todays blog may be a little different from many that I have posted…

This week as I was studying I began to ponder a question that many of us “church-goers” may get a lot from our friends or acquaintances that maybe do not yet believe.

“If God is so good then why does He allow so much evil?”

We have all heard it! It may not be worded exactly like that… but the sentiment is still the same. Let’s face it… the question is difficult. We may back away from it immediately… or we might stumble through an answer that has large gaping holes in it. But… how many of us have actually taken the time to think about it in depth? Probably not many of us.

Let’s face it, theology is a very practical and necessary discipline. Theology is absolutely necessary if we want to begin to know what we believe and why. There are many questions that we will wonder, or that will be raised, that are impossible to answer or understand without proper theology. Unfortunately, in the end we may not understand or know everything, but God’s sovereignty makes up for our lacking. One of these very difficult questions is: If God is all-good and omnipotent, then why is there evil in the world? As humans we perceive hurt, fallenness, and evil all around us and the first thing that comes to our mind is the normal questioning of why. We as believers have been taught about a perfect, “good” God and from that frame of reference we have faith even in the presence of “evil” and hurt, for non-believers it isn’t that easy. Let’s seek to find and understand the Biblical and theological viewpoints and implications to this question and work through, or think about some answers ourselves.

In his article “Why is There Evil and Suffering?” Michael Horner says,

It is always feasible that God could have a good reason for permitting evil; a reason of  which we are not aware. And as long as this is logically possible, there is no contradiction between the existence of an all good, all powerful God and the existence of evil. Just because we may not be able to figure out what that reason is does not mean it does not exist.

  • God is Perfect.

To approach our answer we first must understand that God is perfect. Deuteronomy 32:3-4 says,

For I will proclaim the name of the Lord; ascribe greatness to our God! The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is He.

If we hold Scripture to be true then we can affirm that God and His ways are perfect and above ours as Isaiah 55:8-9 says,

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

The lack of affirmation or belief in the truth and inherency of Scripture is part of the reason for misunderstanding and confusion on the ways of God and the existence of evil in this fallen world. No matter the circumstances God is still perfect and His ways are good, true, and above ours. Scripture says it!

God sets the standard for good.

Some Christian views would state that you cannot understand evil without first understanding good. You cannot have a gauge for evil unless you first have a standard for good. Therefore you need to understand that there is need for a standard for good, which is God. Former atheist C.S. Lewis wrote in his book “Mere Christianity” that,

My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of ‘just’ and ‘unjust’?…What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?…Of course I could have given up my idea of justice by saying it was nothing but a private idea of my own. But if I did that, then my argument against God collapsed too–for the argument depended on saying that the world was really unjust, not simply that it did not happen to please my private fancies… consequently atheism turns out to be too simple.

So, we need to understand that angels and man were first created perfect, in the image of God- without evil. Genesis 1:27 provides evidence for this statement when it says,

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

The Bible records for us that pride became the reason for Lucifer’s downfall. His only reason for rebelling was that he wanted to be like God. Isaiah 14:12-14 shows us this when it says,

How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’

The Bible also says that he dragged a large portion of the angelic army with him, and is responsible for corrupting Man. Sin entered man in the Garden when Adam and Eve disobeyed the Lord at the enticing of Satan disguised as a serpent. We know this as the fall and it is described in Genesis 3.

Verses 22-24 of Genesis 3 describe the reaction of the Lord to man’s disobedience and sin. Those verses say,

Then the Lord God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever’— therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

Any disobedience to God is sin, therefore on that day Adam ate of the fruit, God put him out of the Garden, because he cannot dwell in sin. Or rather sin cannot dwell with God, because not only is God perfect… but He sets the standard for perfection!

So… where does evil originate? Where does it come from?

Scripture clearly portrays for is that evil exists because man is fallen. We are naturally and unavoidably born into sin with evil desires in our hearts from the disobedience of Adam and the deceit and treachery of Satan. I personally find C. H. Spurgeon’s Sermon #1387 entitled “God’s Thoughts and Ways Far Above Ours” very helpful when detailing man’s fallenness in light of God’s perfectness and grace, hear the words of the great pastor and theologian:

God’s ways are ways of love and tenderness. He is very loving and full of compassion. But our ways are not so—we are often very harsh to one another and we do not return a filial love to God. I mean not unless His Grace meets with us. And even then we fall far short of walking in the love of God as He walks in love toward us. God’s ways are ways of truth—He never lies, He has never been unfaithful to us or untrue to His promises. But we, on the other hand, have proved false to Him many times. “You have dealt very treacherously,” said the Prophet of old, and the charge lies against us to this day. We have been traitors to God, but He has been fidelity, itself, to us!

Our good resolves have dissolved in air. Our promises have been broken. Our vows have all been forgotten. God is all truth and faithfulness to us and we are all mistrust and doubt and treachery towards Him! Were it not for His Divine Grace we would have even fallen into apostasy—and been like the son of perdition who betrayed his Lord! God’s ways are ways of forgiveness and peace. He does not desire the death of the sinner. He is very patient, He suffers long, He bears continually with our provocations. He is desirous that men should acquaint themselves with Him and be at peace. His ways are ways of reconciliation, ways of forgiveness, ways of love and kindness! But you can see, can’t you, that the ways of the natural man are perverse? By nature we do not desire to be at amity with God.

  • What are the purposes of Evil?

From the onset that subtitle may make many of you uncomfortable. You may be saying, “You mean to tell me that evil serves a purpose!” To that I would say… yes.

For me I believe, and think Scriptures provide evidence, that God uses evil, suffering, and pain for several purposes. God is all powerful and easily could have made a world with no evil in it. However, that would have made God out to be a puppet-master controlling a world full of puppets. If we believe that God is sovereign and that everything works to His will including salvation then evil and sin may exist in order to glorify Christ and to lead us into consciously accepting His will, purpose, and salvation. When the world fell in Genesis at the hands of Satan, Adam, and Eve we know that everything changed, for all creation yearns and groans for it’s Creator.

Without the existence of evil in this fallen world it would be impossible for people to love God or anyone else. Everything points to Christ and works to honor, glorify, and magnify His name and work. Norman Geisler says in his article “If God Exists, Why Is There Evil?” that,

Love is possible only for free moral creatures; forced love is a contradiction. So, in order for the world to be morally good, it must be morally free. And free creatures are capable of free choices that bring disease, disaster and death. This is the world in which we live.

Man was created “free.” We are all free moral agents governed by our wills. God can however us our wills for His purposes, but God did not create any evil. We must each bear responsibility for what we ourselves do. God is not responsible for our “evils,” however God has already paid the price by sending His son Jesus to die on the cross as payment in full. The final sacrifice. The Holy Lamb slain on our behalf. Ultimately God can use our evil for His glory, and isn’t that what this life is all about?

It may seem radical to say that evil can bring God glory, but that is exactly it… we don’t have to understand the ways or purposes of Christ. An even more Biblical but radical truth is that God is more interested in our holiness than in our happiness, and He is more interested in our character than in our earthly comfort. His ways are above ours and mysterious to man, but perfect nonetheless. In “The Problem of Pain,” C.S. Lewis writes,

God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.

We know that God is not the author of evil. Genesis speaks to this in 1:31 when it says that on the final day of creation, God declared, “It is very good” and it was very good. It was at the work of Satan, and the rebellion of Adam and Eve against God in disobedience that introduced evil and sin. At that moment Adam and Eve died spiritually and God had to act accordingly; Ephesians 2:1-10 says:

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

From reading Scripture I would say that sin, pain, evil, suffering, and death exist because of man for God’s glory in the work of salvation for us. Romans 5:12 says,

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.

Solomon knew of the fallen condition of man when he said in Ecclesiastes 7:29,

See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.

When we comprehend God’s sacrifice and love for us, it puts the problem of evil in an entirely different perspective. We see clearly that the true problem of evil is the problem of our evil… our nature… our problem. Evil is not a problem with God… but rather it is a problem with man.

Filled with sin and guilt before God, the question we face is not how God can justify himself to us for the existence of evil, but how we can be justified before him in spite of our evil. And it is through Christ’s payment for our evil by his death on the cross that we can be justified before God. Through him we have forgiveness. It is quite possible that God uses the suffering to do good.

God is in control in spite of evil. He promises that he causes all things to work together for good to those who love God in Romans 8:28. We shouldn’t fret over evil or the things we don’t know or comprehend. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 proclaims,

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Controversial religious writer James Hervey wrote,

God is good when He gives supremely good, nor less when He denies. Even crosses from His gracious hands are blessings in disguise.

The Bible says in Romans 5:3-4 that,

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.

We see laced throughout nature, history, and Scripture that both God and evil exist. God is everything we have described Him to be. Evil exists now… but not forever. Suffering is the result of human sin. The current world is not in the state that God created it; and because of that, all are vulnerable to the effects of sin in the world. Why does one person suffer and another does not? Why do catastrophes happen to some and not to others? It is because sin is in the world. But there will come a day when the Lord will return and cleanse this world of all sin and all suffering.

Ultimately, God promises victory over sin, suffering, death, and evil. Those who genuinely choose to accept and receive his forgiveness will rise from the dead with a transformed, immortal, imperishable body to be with him forever. Revelation 21:4 says,

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.

Evil exists because of man for God’s glory. Evil is momentary and restricted to this life and this world. God is all powerful and good and desires to rid his followers from evil and will when it is time according to His plan.

So… God is not anything less than what Scripture makes Him out to be because of the problem of evil, rather God himself is the solution to that evil. All things are meant to bring Him the ultimate glory!

Can Our Music be Evangelistic?

Posted on by Tanner Royalty

I was reading an article recently that was attacking the idea that our music in church can be evangelistic in nature pretty harshly. On that article I found a comment that I enjoyed from an ECLA pastor. It read,

Jesus made it very clear in the great commission what the church is to be about. Go everywhere and make disciples, baptize and teach. Throughout his ministry Jesus was constantly battling with any religious custom or “tradition” that kept people away from God. He physically touched the ritually impure, broke the sacred Sabbath laws, threw over the Temple sanctioned system of money changing, ate with sinners and tax collectors, just to name a few. The church always exists first for those who haven’t found it yet. When the church loses this mission focus it risks becoming what our bishop has called “a country club with a religious flavor”.

The bishop also recently shared some troubling statistics about youth and young adults in the Lutheran Church (which is presumably similar to other mainline denominations). “If we are satisfied with losing 92% of our youth, then let’s not change anything,” the bishop told the synod council. Citing research that found that 84% of Lutherans between confirmation and age 24 do not attend church, and that half of the rest attend non-Lutheran churches, the bishop told the council, “the absence of young people between the ages of 18 and 35 is the single largest challenge facing the Lutheran church in this region.”

Hundreds and hundreds of mainline churches close in the U.S. every year. Many of them are right in the heart of growing communities. Most of the long established congregations in our fast growing county are in decline. Who will be the church leaders twenty and thirty years from now? What are we willing to compromise in order to attract unchurched people so they can experience the church’s relevance in their lives?

What a great response! The line that rattled me to my core was: The church always exists first for those who haven’t found it yet. Have we lost sight of that? I know there are times that I have. Sometimes we approach church with our expectations, our preference, our baggage, our wants, our needs, and our desires… and we forget our purpose.

We know that we live in a culture of change and with shifting ideas and relevance. We also know that music has always been at the center of such shifts, and often brought controversy within the church. It seems as if there is nothing that rallies a congregation to grab their pitchforks and torches like a change in the music they are accustomed to. This goes for both young and old generations! In fact, every generation tends to dislike the music of the next generation and the generation before them.

We have all heard it said, “The music we play in church ultimately isn’t for us.” In fact, our worship isn’t limited to a genre or style at all!

So, if we acknowledge that to be true then why are we holding so dearly onto our preferences at the expense of missing an opportunity for evangelism, kingdom-building, and multi-generational “churching?”

Ed Stetzer has said,

In our generation, formality and traditionalism is shifting out of general church practice. According to research from a few years ago, churches were moving to contemporary (verses traditional) at an 11-1 ratio.

I personally don’t find this shocking at all. With the rise of multi-site churches and mega-churches it seems as if many other churches have followed the trend of cultural relevance that seems to be getting unchurched people through the doors of churches that never would have entered previous to the musical and stylistic changes. I would bet that we will continue to see that trend grow and that eventually most churches are going to make the transition to feel more contemporary rather than traditional.

Along those lines our Pastor has used the example of a minister standing before his congregation and asking the simple question, “How many of you would do anything to get your child in church and keep them there as they age?” Every hand in the church shot up without hesitation. Then the minister turns the question around and asks, “then why do we hold our musical preferences so dear at the expense of them walking out the door?”

I believe that the contemporary church has done a great job of recognizing shifts and patterns in culture. They have stylistically engaged culture in relatable forms. They have reconnected with those disconnected from the “traditional” church culture. With this change unbelievers aren’t required to navigate or appreciate an unfamiliar musical style before they grasp the words that they are singing. Think about it! We have all experienced a moment where we are so taken back by trying to understand the melodies and presentation of a song that we have missed the content entirely. That is exactly what we don’t want to happen for a first time church visitor! We want them to catch the words and be comfortable with the presentation in hopes of moving any distractions away from them hearing the Gospel proclaimed.

Many would argue for a lack of theological depth in contemporary music in comparison to other styles or presentations. I for one don’t believe modern worship (necessarily) “dumbs down” the music, but makes it makes it more accessible to those unfamiliar with church, church music, and maybe with God. Many people that are new to church are only used to what they have heard in the secular world. Beginning to walk in faith is hard enough without having to learn a new style of music in order to worship God. As long as the theology is rich and the words are pointed directly at Christ then I don’t see an issue with us teaching them in a way they can understand.

Now, having said all of that many would believe that I am just trying to usher in a contemporary style and point fingers at those who have yet to move in that direction. That isn’t it at all! All of this being said is “context” and “culture” sensitive. My hope is that we aren’t changing just for the sake of change… but instead we are changing because of the needs of our people and the particular context we are currently in. A 5-piece rock band may not fit a rural congregation but a banjo or organ may! Hymns may work for a primarily older (in age) church, whereas they may not engage a college town congregation. Ultimately, styles matter less than worship and depth.

The writer of the original post stated,

Getting butts in the seats is not evangelism. It’s not discipleship.

I actually agree with that statement… but it is certainly a start! A song or style alone can’t be it. So, can our church music be evangelistic?

You’ll have to answer that for yourself. I am going to approach it from my context and say yes. The greatest tool for evangelism is not a song. It is a broken person in need of a Savior recognizing their need for Christ through an avenue that we as a church provide to them through the guidance of the Spirit. But… an avenue for that recognition can certainly be in lyrical content. Content that an individual doesn’t need a deep and extensive theological background to decipher.

So… what is your context? In that realization you may find your answer.

What is the Purpose of Singing in Christian Worship

Posted on by Tanner Royalty

Where’s the Map?

Posted on by Tanner Royalty

What is the plan for our ministry? Where are we going… and how are we getting there

Have you asked yourself these questions? I hope so!

Mark Dever once wrote,

It would be patently stupid to start construction on a building without first knowing what kind of building we plan to construct. An apartment complex is different from an office complex, which is different still from a restaurant. They all have different blueprints, different kinds of rooms, different materials, uses, and shapes… The same goes for building a church… It only makes sense, then, for us to revisit God’s Word to figure out what exactly He wants us to be building. Only then will we understand how to go about building it.

Today we are talking about three things that are absolutely necessary in any ministry, a theology, philosophy, and methodology of ministry. Obviously my direct application is in congregational worship… but it applies directly across the board for whatever ministry you are involved in. Having a theology, philosophy, and methodology for a ministry has been compared by some to having blueprints for the construction of a building, just as it would be a disaster to work on a building without a carefully thought out plan, it would be disastrous to a ministry to not have a philosophy of ministry.

A church’s theology explains what the church believes, a church’s philosophy explains the practical ramifications and outworking of those beliefs, and their methodology provides the roadmap for how the church is going to get there. Invariably, these things will inform and affect each other in this sense, a church’s philosophy of ministry is also her theology of ministry. What the church believes will ultimately determine how its ministry is carried out.

Now… we have to be careful and thoughtful when putting these things down on paper! Unfortunately the tendency is for us to make up our own philosophy of ministry, based on our own concept of what the church is supposed to do and what the church is supposed to be. The truth is, however, that God has clearly laid out for us in Scripture what the ministry of the church is!

The weight has been lifted off our shoulders!

We don’t have to decide why the church exists or what it’s purpose is… in the same way, we don’t have to determine what it is supposed to do. The mission is clear and laid out for us already! God has already established these things because the church is His institution on earth and not ours! We are just the custodians or caretakers. It is our responsibility, however, to determine how to most effectively and appropriately achieve our biblical mandate in our local context.

So… you may be saying, “Everything here is going fine. Why do I need to do these extra steps?” To that I want to offer you these practical benefits that flow from defining a biblical theology, philosophy, and methodology of ministry.

  • First, it forces you to be B Sometimes we treat our preferences in ministry as if they are Biblical and they just aren’t. Having a guide on paper helps us to cut through the fallen human aspect of ministry and keep our eyes on “the prize.”
  • Second, it just makes practical sense. You wouldn’t construct a building without a plan the same way that an army wouldn’t head off into battle without a strategy! Having a theology, philosophy, and methodology laid out helps us set actual goals that are consistent with our biblical
  • Third, it heightens our effectiveness, and improves our efficiency by preventing us from spending time on activities or beginning ministry efforts that are not part of the biblical mandate for the church. If we don’t have a road map we won’t know where we are going, and, consequently, we probably won’t get there.
  • Fourth, it helps us to be faithful to our call to ministry. Remember that call? Having a theology, philosophy, and methodology before us helps us to cut through the fog that comes with everyday ministry and pursue that particular call that the Lord put on our hearts at the beginning.
  • Fifth, and definitely not last, it motivates the church or ministry because they collectively know and are able to clearly see the direction in which they are heading. Nothing can be more frustrating for members than following a leader or leadership blindly.

So… we have talked about the benefits. Now, let’s lay out the plan. Below I have supplied an example by providing my theology, philosophy, and methodology for worship at the church in which I serve, New Hope Community Church. Take a look, copy and paste, and modify to fit your needs in ministry.

  • Theology

Theology of worship is simplistic in one nature but very involved and complex in another. The center of all Christian worship is Jesus Christ. It is Jesus Christ who fulfilled the Law and the Prophets, establishing a New Covenant with the Father through His death, burial, resurrection and ascension. It is because of the redeeming work of Jesus that we worship. Therefore our worship is to be formed by our relationship with God the Father through God the Son, as led by God the Holy Spirit. We are merely responding to His revealing. Our worship is an outpouring of our gratefulness to God our creator for the grace he has lavished upon us.

  • Philosophy/ Vision

My philosophy of worship is one that places values on things that exemplify Christ and His nature. If we are attempting to honor and glorify Christ in all that we do, including our public and congregational worship, then our worship needs to place the focus on none other than the Biblical attributes, characteristics, and principles of Christ. God-centeredness is of upmost importance and is the primary reasoning for all items listed and discussed below. Our services must be both vertical and horizontally oriented, and our worship should be both glorifying and edifying. We must draw near to Christ in our worship and in return He will draw near to us (James 4:8).

My philosophy of worship contains many values, the first being that our worship communicates the supremacy of God. Which in turn causes all worship to be shaped by and focused on God and encourages an expectancy and eagerness to encounter and engage with God in worship.

We should strive to provide and partake in worship that values and encompasses the Word of God, causing our worship to be reflective of the Word and reinforce Biblical teachings. Worship that places value in Biblical teaching through both proclamation and song will encourage believers to interact with Scripture and to make connections while applying it to their own lives and personal worship. I believe that often we overlook the foundational impact that our music plays in the lives of our congregations. We are forming their beliefs about God and the Gospel on a weekly basis through what we sing. The things we proclaim through song are taken out of the church within the hearts and minds of the people every week.

Worship should value both traditional and modern worship styles. If we approach our worship in this manner it will in turn cause us to continually “seek out” a “new song” to sing unto the Lord (Psalm 96:1). The equal value placed in both traditional and modern worship keeps us from becoming complacent in our worship and/or all consumed with being the most cutting-edge in our worship.

My philosophy of worship also values heart, mind, and spirit. Worship should not be purely emotional in the same way that it should not be over thought or criticized. We should place importance in both heart and head in our worship. The head should inform the heart and inspire the mouth. Our worship should cause us to think, evaluate, contemplate the things and ways of God, but we cannot disconnect that aspect from our emotions and heart. We should also put emphasis on expressing ourselves and our emotions for Christ. A husband who speaks love to his wife and doesn’t show it would cause her to wonder, the same goes for us in our worship to Christ. This mindset causes us to approach worship in an open non-judgmental state and with an openness to worship however we feel led, although this isn’t meant to provide an open excuse for chaos or distraction. We are given Biblical instruction and example of worship, we are to seek to build up and unify the body of Christ not distract or tear down.

Our worship should value authenticity and inclusion. If we value both authenticity and inclusion then it should cause us to lay our own desires and preferences down at the foot of the cross and to lift up Christ alone. This also should encourage congregational singing in a “unifying” and “body-building” way. We aren’t worshipping merely for ourselves… we are worshipping for the edification of our Brothers and Sisters in Christ also.

Our worship isn’t limited to proclamation or song. Our worship should also value other artistic elements within it, whether it is sound, staging, lights, projection, drawn or written art, etc. We will strive to use our strengths to glorify while keeping the distraction of our weaknesses minimal. We will pursue un-distracting excellence in our worship and never go beyond our means or range of gifts or blessings. This should cause us to be diligent in honing our individual crafts, and well-rehearsed but open to the Spirit.

Lastly, our worship should value the work of the Spirit. We will plan and rehearse our services and programs prayerfully and with diligence but maintain openness for the Spirit to move, change, and lead. We must worship in a way that values Christ and the work of the Spirit more than our schedule.

  • Methodology

My methodology is one that was formed because of my theology and philosophy of worship. I believe that our reasoning for worshipping Christ is constant but many times the method can change freely. I believe that my method primarily includes, but is not limited to, the following discussed ideas:

I believe that we should be prayerfully planning and rehearsing our services. The Spirit isn’t limited to moving and leading only within a service, the Spirit can just as easily lead in the planning of a service or program. We must be prepared and rehearsed to the point where we can lead with excellence and without distraction. It also helps the musicians/ band/ choir to worship more freely in the service if they prepare adequately beforehand. Preparation isn’t limited to planning and practicing, but we should be prepared to worship spiritually ourselves. Every service should be approached with expectancy to see Christ move amongst our congregations. We should prepare spiritually before all.

I believe that an important aspect of our method of worship has to be creativity. As born-again-believers we should be even more creative than the secular world because we serve and know the ultimate mighty Creator. Replication of things that work or that are popular isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but we shouldn’t always resort to that. We should use our creativity to honor and glorify Christ the Creator.

Our worship should also provide opportunity to engage the congregation. We should provide the opportunities in our worship for people to dwell in the Spirit of the Lord and in order to do that effectively we must provide sing-able songs (in keys that are applicable to a wide variety of people) and we should attempt to remove and discourage distractions amongst our churches. We should teach biblical ways to worship and provide the opportunity to utilize those in our services.

We should be appreciative and balanced in our worship. Just because something is “old” doesn’t mean it is “out-dated” and just because something is “new” doesn’t mean that it is “groundbreaking” or superior. We should strive for quality of content overall and as far as sound or preference goes it’ll come along for itself. We must be plugged into the heart of our church and provide worship that is beneficial to the congregations needs instead of always going with our own preference.

In all things that we do we should approach with excellence. We serve a great God and He deserves great worship. In some cases that doesn’t mean sounding like a professional band, in some cases it does. We are to serve and worship with what God provides for us. We should be authentic, transparent, and excellent worshippers. Our striving from excellence shouldn’t distract from the purpose of excellence, but hopefully a balance can be found there as well.

In the end I believe that worship theology, philosophy, and methodologies should work together with the primary goal of providing excellent worship to God. Scripture provides examples, reasons, and instruction for worship but in the end it has to be personal and consistent. We serve a God who is faithful to us even when we aren’t always faithful to Him, that alone is worthy of more than we can give.

With Identity comes Blessing: The Story of Jacob

Posted on by Tanner Royalty

 

The story of Jacob is one that we should all be familiar with from Scripture. A younger brother who rises up to rule over his older brother. Inspiring right! Well… not exactly.

What do we know about Jacob?

Deep-seated family hostilities characterized Jacob’s life. He was a determined man; some would consider him to be ruthless. He was definitely a con artist, a liar, and a manipulator. I find it interesting that we see stories that paint this picture of the man we know as Jacob, but his name also tells a lot about him. In ancient times a name often carried a meaning or purpose for your life. If Jacob’s name was his purpose then he surely accomplished it… the name Jacob not only means “deceiver,” but more literally it means “heel grabber.”

From birth Jacob exhibiting greed and a desire to take what wasn’t rightfully his.

Genesis 25:19-28 paints this picture,

These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham fathered Isaac, and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife. And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.” When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb. The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau. Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Now is we follow along in Genesis we see how Jacob is cunning and manipulative beginning early in his life. You’d have to be to trick your older brother out of his birthright in trade for a bowl of soup! But… in my opinion there comes a point in Genesis 27 where Jacob is at the crossroads. He can dive all in and live up to his name or he can attempt to straighten his life out. Let’s read what happens. Genesis 27:1-35 says,

When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.” “Here I am,” he answered. Isaac said, “I am now an old man and don’t know the day of my death. Now then, get your equipment—your quiver and bow—and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die.” Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, ‘Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the Lord before I die.’ Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies.” Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man while I have smooth skin. What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing.” His mother said to him, “My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me.” So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it. Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made. He went to his father and said, “My father.” “Yes, my son,” he answered. “Who is it?” Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.” Isaac asked his son, “How did you find it so quickly, my son?” “The Lord your God gave me success,” he replied. Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not.” Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he proceeded to bless him. “Are you really my son Esau?” he asked. “I am,” he replied. Then he said, “My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing.” Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank. Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come here, my son, and kiss me.” So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said, “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed. May God give you heaven’s dew and earth’s richness— an abundance of grain and new wine. May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed.” After Isaac finished blessing him, and Jacob had scarcely left his father’s presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, “My father, please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.” His father Isaac asked him, “Who are you?” “I am your son,” he answered, “your firstborn, Esau.” Isaac trembled violently and said, “Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him—and indeed he will be blessed!” When Esau heard his father’s words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me—me too, my father!” But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.”

Jacob went all in. A life of deceit…. of misinformed identity is what he chose. Now obviously Esau didn’t take the news of the theft well. Genesis 27:41 says,

Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

As we continue through this story of Jacob, a story of lost identity and reconciliation, let’s find some application together.

  • Your sin will always catch up with you.

Following this threat on his life Jacob had to flee his own family because of his sinfulness. He had to begin a life on the run in order to try to “outrun” his sin. But… we know that you can’t outrun sin and your decisions will always catch up to you in one way or another.

In Genesis 27:43 Rebekah sends Jacob away to save his life. That passage says,

Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother Laban in Harran.

Jacob’s life was built on a foundation of deceit. He made a “dog eat dog” world for himself. Jacob most definitely lived by the motto: “every man for themselves.” That motto comes back to bite him when he himself is deceived or “conned.” Genesis 29:18-30 says,

Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, “I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel.” Laban said, “It’s better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me.” So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her. Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to make love to her.” So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast. But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob made love to her. And Laban gave his servant Zilpah to his daughter as her attendant. When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn’t I? Why have you deceived me?” Laban replied, “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one. Finish this daughter’s bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work.” And Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. Laban gave his servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her attendant. Jacob made love to Rachel also, and his love for Rachel was greater than his love for Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years.

So Jacob had the tables turned and it cost him 14 years of his life! But… if he hadn’t learned his lesson enough he decided to attempt his con artist scheme yet again in order to gain wealth.

Genesis 30:41-43 says,

Whenever the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches, but if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. So the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob. In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

So because of his own scheming, Jacob successfully turned a few weeks into twenty years, and when Laban his uncle found out he had been cheated he decided himself to kill Jacob. So… Jacob found himself fleeing for his life from his father-in-law and God had to intervene to prevent Laban from killing him.

How many times has God had to intervene on our behalf? How has God been working “behind the scenes” of your life… your plans?

  • You never win a fight with God

On his way back home, Jacob realized that he had to travel through Esau’s land. God spoke to Jacob again and promised to be with him (31:3). He followed this promise up by sending some angels to reassure Jacob of his protection (32:1-2).

But Jacob was still scheming rather than trusting. He sent some of his servants to bribe Esau with schmoozing and the hope of gifts (32:3-5). But they returned with news that sent chills down Jacob’s spine–Esau was coming to see him with 400 men! The gig was up. He had hit rock bottom and the time of reckoning was upon him. Have you ever been there?

For the first recorded time, Jacob prayed to God for protection (32:9-12).

But… then he hatched an elaborate and self-protective plan to buy Esau off. Genesis 32:13-20 says,

He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a gift for his brother Esau: two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. He put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the herds.” He instructed the one in the lead: “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘Who do you belong to, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?’ then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.’” He also instructed the second, the third and all the others who followed the herds: “You are to say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. And be sure to say, ‘Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.’” For he thought, “I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me.”

How many times have we hit rock bottom and cried out to God only to have the enemy whisper in our ears afterwards and convince us that “we can handle it on our own” or, “God can’t help you… that prayer wasn’t real?” It happens often! Alone that night before he had to face Esau, Jacob had an encounter with God that was the defining moment of his life . . .

Genesis 32:22-31 says,

The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.

God initiated a wrestling match, and how did Jacob respond?

Jacob responded by fighting back all night long (32:24). Why would Jacob fight with God? God was fighting with Jacob for his own future… to save his life! I believe that this is a picture of Jacob’s relationship with God the whole time. It wasn’t primarily Esau or Laban that Jacob was resisting and trying to get around… it was God himself. God had a will for Jacob’s life and made promises to him pertaining to that will, but Jacob had been stubbornly resisting God’s leadership at every step.

How do we resist God? How do we respond when God wrestles with us?

My favorite part of this scripture is where after wrestling all night, God dislocated Jacob’s hip with a single touch We see that in Genesis 32:25,

When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 

When reading this I ask myself… Why the hip? I have come to this conclusion,

God doesn’t want to kill or destroy you… he only wants to change the way you walk forever.

You see, with a bummed hip Jacob can only hang on to God. Man, this is a picture of our proper relationship with God! If you have ever had a limp you understand how hard it is to blend into a crowd. You will always stand out! God wants to change the way we walk forever so everyone can see who has touched us!

A single touch from God can leave a lasting mark!

Now that Jacob is in a dependent posture, God blesses him and renames him to cleanse him from his old ways (“deceiver”) and give him a new identity to live up to (“one who strives effectively with God”).

  • God is always willing to bless His children.

Often when reading this story we get so caught up in the wrestling match that Jacob brought upon himself and miss the fact that God had always been willing to bless Jacob. He had only been waiting for Jacob to ask with a trusting, dependent heart. Jacob thought he could do it without God… he sought out his own blessing and that only led to pain and suffering.

You see, God will not bless a deceitful heart indefinitely. Genesis 32:26-30 says,

Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him.

In this passage God changes Jacob’s identity and renames him. Jacob had spent his entire life creating his own identity but the true blessing didn’t come until Jacob accepted his identity before God. On God’s terms.

Like many of us Jacob spent his life trying to evade God, and make it on his own terms… his own way, with his own plan. Jacob wrestled with God all night. It was an exhausting struggle that left him crippled. It was only after he came to grips with God and ceased his struggling, realizing that he could not go on without Him, that he received God’s blessing.

So… what happens next? Jacob learned the lesson, and God blessed/ delivered him. The next morning, he dropped his elaborate and self-protective plan with Esau and instead passed ahead of everyone to meet him directly trusting God’s promise to protect him. Genesis 33:3-4 says,

He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother. But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept.

Jacob discovered that Esau had forgiven him, and he went on to supply godly leadership for his family.

  • God loves you enough to “step out on the mat.”

God works through suffering and adversity to teach us our need to depend on him. Our primary problem is one of deeply-rooted self-sufficiency, and often God works to “break” this through adversity.

Often (like Jacob), he just lets us reap the consequences of our poor choices:

  • Alienation due to deception
  • Broken relationships due to sin
  • Lost jobs due to irresponsibility or lack of respect for authority

Sometimes, he intervenes with specific discipline:

  • Wrestling matches/ physical adversity
  • Sickness
  • Career disappointments
  • Discipline through others

In the end, He loves you enough to “take you to the mat” and fight for your life, your purpose, and your identity.

  • God isn’t just the God of your successes… but He is also the God of your failures.

To know Jacob’s life is to know a life of struggles. Most of which he brought upon himself. It’s in Jacob’s story we can easily recognize our own elements of struggle: fears/ worries, darkness, loneliness, vulnerabilities, empty feelings of powerlessness, exhaustion and relentless pain.

But guess what… we aren’t alone! Even the apostle Paul experienced similar discouragements and fears! 2 Corinthians 7:5 says,

For when we came into Macedonia, we had no rest, but we were harassed at every turn—conflicts on the outside, fears within.

But, in truth, God does not want to leave us with our trials, our fears, our battles in life. It is through Him that we can receive the power of conversion and transformation, the gift of not only surrender, but freedom, and the gifts of endurance, faith and courage. In the end, Jacob does what we all must do. He confronts his failures, his weaknesses, his sins, all the things that are hurting him… and faces God.

What we learn from this remarkable incident in the life of Jacob is that our lives are never meant to be easy. This is especially true when we take it upon ourselves to wrestle with God and His will for our lives. We also learn that as Christians, despite our trials and tribulations, our strivings in this life are never devoid of God’s presence, and His blessing inevitably follows the struggle, which can sometimes be messy and chaotic. Real growth experiences always involve struggle and pain.

As this blog comes to an end, I want to make this last point very clear: God isn’t ashamed of our past, our fears, or our failures.

Exodus 3:1-6 says,

Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

We saw in Genesis that God had renamed Jacob and given him a new identity. So… why does He here in Exodus refer to him by his “old” sinful name?

Because God isn’t just the God of the “good” us… instead He is the God of both or victories and defeats… our successes and failures.

So, how are we resisting?

It is important to remember that conversion is not only saying “I’ll take the free gift you offer me through Christ”-but also saying “I am willing to bow to you and submit to your leadership.”

 

 

Worship that is Tasteful.

Posted on by Tanner Royalty

The idea that “less is more” has spread like wildfire in the recent years. I like the saying itself, but I don’t necessarily enjoy the mediocrity that it sometimes ushers in to the art of music. Sometimes the idea of “less is more” can be used as a crutch to continue standing on mediocrity or to justify a lack of improvement due to whatever reasons one may have. I have even seen this excuse being used to make one feel better about their own laziness: either in the world of musical practice/ knowledge, or even in the recruitment of musicians.

I am going to go out on a limb and say that no person has ever walked out of a church service and said, “If they had one more guitar or drum solo I probably would have encountered the presence of God.” But I can guarantee you that someone has walked out of a church and said, “The music was very good and the musicians were very skilled… but instead of worshipping I got caught watching a performance.”

The reason I can say that is… I have been that person. I have said those exact words.

I think that sometimes we fall victim to a shortfall in our thinking concerning our music making in the church worship context. We can think that, “I am part of a worship band, I need to be playing all the time… that is what I am here for!” However, I think the opposite is true. We as artists or musicians want to contribute and play/ use our craft all of the time… for good reasons too! We have been given a particular set of skills and we want to use them to bring glory and honor to Christ. But somewhere along the way we have misinterpreted the idea of worship and music-making… many of us have come to believe that we are to be “busy” as musicians all of the time. That is where our “less is more” phrase comes into play.

Now hear me out… the phrase “less is more” doesn’t mean that we should be satisfied with mediocrity, or my most despised phrase, “It is good enough for church.” Instead it means that we should be content in serving and providing what is needed. In some instances that may mean rocking out with all that you have got to add texture and energy to song arrangement… in other instances that may mean sitting on your hands for ten minutes and focusing on the words of the song being sung.

In fact, instead of saying “less is more” I like the phrase, “tastefully add what is needed, and leave out the rest.”

I like the idea of being tasteful. You may ask… how does being tasteful apply to music?

The great jazz trumpeter Miles Davis has an interesting nickname for someone of his musical “caliber. “ Davis has been deemed the master of understatement. Miles Davis has been quoted stating that,

The more important notes are the ones you don’t play.

I live by the idea that I lead more through my worshipping and presence than I do from my instrument. That being said, I may actually lead better by not playing and just worshipping God than by playing the most complex part that can fit into the song.

How do we provide tastefully what is needed? Let’s think together.

  • Acknowledge your role.

What is your role in the band? Are you the bass player? Drummer? Keyboard player? Vocalist? Is your role to provide content and lyrics or to support the text of the song?

Music played in church worship serves a higher purpose than any other form of secular music… it teaches and shapes the thinking of Believers. That means that every part of every song should be intentional and beneficial to the song as a whole. No single part should distract or pull away from the whole “being” of the song. Everything happening should point to the purpose… Christ. That doesn’t mean we can’t be artistic and do “cool” artistic things. That doesn’t mean we can’t solo or have “catchy” tags/ parts. But… like I said before… every part should contribute or add to the “whole.” Because what we do informs peoples thinking of our Savior it should go without saying that…

The content of the song is important!

We have discussed in previous blogs, that can be found on this site, about how important the songs we choose and play are to the life of a church and the life of an individual believer. The same can be said about how we present the songs that we do choose to play.

Each of us needs to discover and embrace our role in the “band” and do it well in order to point to our God.

  • Take only what is yours.

As musicians we should always be asking ourselves, “Where, when, and what should I be playing?” And… “Is my playing or singing robbing someone else of the opportunity, or misdirecting the glory or praise?”

Just because we can play or sing something doesn’t mean that we should be. The question I always ask myself before getting on stage or while rehearsing is, “How is this going to be perceived by the average church attendee.” What I mean by that is where is the attention and glory going? Where is the spotlight being pointed?

If I play a tremendous solo or sing a great run and the attention and praise goes to me then ultimately I have failed at what I set out to do.

DISCLAIMER: We do have to be careful in this thinking though because we shouldn’t allow our own expressions of worship to be suffocated or restricted by the misunderstandings of others. We may be approaching the throne room with our musical abilities with the right heart and in the right spirit and some may question our motives or technique, but that shouldn’t stop our endeavors… but we should at some point be mindful at how our methods come across.

  • Benefit comes with discipline.

The word “discipline” usually comes with negative connotations or a “bad rap” when in fact it can be a very good thing.

Tasteful worship can also be described as “skilled” worship.

Psalm 33:3 says,

Sing a new song of praise to him; play skillfully on the harp, and sing with joy.

God desires our “skillful” worship. Skills without the authenticity and genuineness of God-centered worship is nothing but ear-pleasing… but when combined skills and purpose can shake up the system.

We should be consistently practicing and honing our skills… not so we can show them off at every opportunity. But instead so we can seize the opportunity when it arises and give all the glory to God who has provided the set.

1 Chronicles 15:19-22 tells of a “praise team” who plays under the provision and instruction of a man chosen for his skill at the craft. It says,

The musicians, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan were chosen to sound the bronze cymbals. Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah and Benaiah were chosen to play the harps.  Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah were chosen to play the lyres. Kenaniah, the head Levite, was chosen as the choir leader because of his skill.

Clearly, God wants our best, and we should bring Him our best, purest sacrifice of praise as we worship Him. We should discipline ourselves to practice and play with self-discipline. Just remember that just because we can play something doesn’t mean that we always should. Not playing can also be a sacrifice of praise.

John 3:30 contains a great principle for life and artistry. It says,

He must increase, but I must decrease.

This applies in a worship band context to say that I must be willing to decrease to help people focus on the purpose… God.

Let’s remember… a great song will be great no matter if it’s played with a single instrument, or hundreds of instruments, and authentic worship will take place despite how it is presented or performed. I think we need to re-evaluate and concentrate on what’s important… let’s not fall into the temptation of adding things just because we can. Let’s be musical for our God.

Let’s Check Out Our Motives

Posted on by Tanner Royalty

Why are we serving in the manner in which we are? Is it for recognition? Because we are skilled in that area, or we have a passion for that method of ministry? Do we expect the praise of others? Do we feel expected to do so, or have we already set the precedent by doing it and doing it well? Do we know that if we don’t do it no one else will?

There are many different reasons for performing a single task… some we are aware of and some we aren’t. Some of our reasoning for doing particular things is subconscious and natural. Motive is the key in everything we do as disciples of Christ. What we do is important, but why we do what we do is even more important. In Matthew 6:1, Jesus gave the principle that should guide all of our service. That passage says,

Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.

How do we check our motives and ensure that we are doing and serving the way God wills for us to with the correct outlook, motives, mindset, and heart?

Let’s think together.

  • Look at God’s Expectations

Romans 12:1 says,

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

That passage lays out what God expects from us when it comes to service, life, and Christian living. We are to present our bodies and our service to God… not in an unworthy way, but rather, as a holy sacrifice.

Instead we are often guilty of falling into a legalistic trap or mindset when it comes to Christian service. There are two kinds of legalism that are destroying the church… the idea that service or “works” can earn your salvation, and the belief that in order to be accepted as a “good Christian” one must be active in service.

We know that Christianity is the only way to Heaven and the only hope of the world… but even knowing that we fall into legalistic traps or views that can be applied across the board to many religions. In fact, there are many people who serve different “gods” or entities in order to earn salvation or a way into the afterlife.

As believers we are told something entirely different concerning our salvation. Paul says in Ephesians 2:8-10 this,

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

We know that the grace of God is the only thing that assures salvation, and the grace of God happens apart from human effort or merit. Christians are not only saved by grace, but kept by grace. In Romans 8:28-39 we see that nothing can separate us from the power and love of God… no army, no mistake, not even our own laziness. Romans 8:28-39 says,

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 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. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Ultimately the belief that in order to be accepted as a “good Christian” one must be active in service presents a belief in a theology that believes that God accepts Christians not for who they are, but for what they do. But we actually know, according to Scripture, that God accepts all Christians because of their identity in Christ as God’s sons… as heirs.

Romans 8:17 says exactly that,

And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Now, I do believe that it must be said that godly living would normally involve service of some kind. However, particular circumstances may not permit a Christian to minister in a particular way for a particular season, which, with incorrect theology, may result in feelings of inadequacy or insecurity about God’s acceptance of them at that time.

Our works do matter to God. But we must never think of them as a means to earn what God freely gives: grace, mercy, love, salvation, new life. Good works come as a response to the activity of grace in our lives. Yet, we must always remember that our salvation does not come by our works. This means, among other things, that you don’t have to get it all right to be in a relationship with God. You don’t have to be perfect, or even close. You don’t have to have perfect, unfaltering faith. Rather, you need only to receive God’s grace in faith and allow it to transform your life.

Both avenues of legalism that we have discussed, and more, are unbiblical motivations for serving God. The Christian can do nothing to earn or keep God’s salvation or favor, because one is accepted in Christ if he or she has simply believed in and accepted Him.

  • Selfless instead of Selfish

Sinful selfish motives are another motivation that we have to check when we enter into or are continually serving in Christ’s name. In fact, there are many selfish reasons one might serve: financial gain, power over others, pride/ to impress others, to prove to others that one is spiritual, etc…

There are many biblical examples of those with self-seeking motives.

Matthew 6:1-6 says,

Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Mark 12:38-40 says,

And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

Several times we also see Jesus rebuke James and John when they argued about their future position in the kingdom. This should serve as both a warning to us… and an encouragement that we aren’t the only ones who suffer from impure motives when serving God. Even those who walked beside Jesus had their motives tainted to some degree by selfishness at one point or another. We see one of those encounters in Mark 9:33-35 where it says,

And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”

We see another in Luke 22:24-30,

A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves. You are those who have stayed with me in my trials, and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

Even our impurities aren’t that creative! Selfish and unworthy motives have been around since Jesus walked the earth or before!

One of our “Father” figures in ministry, Paul, was sensitive to ministry out of selfish motives. In 1 Timothy Paul warns Timothy and says that servants should see to it that their master receive ALL the honor. 1 Timothy 6:1 says,

Let all who are under a yoke as bondservants regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled.

The ministry of the gospel was not given to advance any selfish agenda. Those who use it as such are ministering from unworthy and ungodly motives.

  • It’s not a Competition

1 Peter 4:10 says,

As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

We each have received a special gift according to the Word of God. No two of us are alike.  Everybody is unique. And every person has a unique gift to be used to advance the Kingdom of God. Everyone is unique.  Every gift is unique.

Sometimes in church service we buy into a “competition” mindset that places us against everyone else we view as being competitors in our particular
“realm” of giftedness… this can be contained within our Body of Believers or can be church wide amongst several bodies who all compete.

1 Corinthians 12:4 serves as a reminder that we all may have separate gifts… but they all come from the same “gift-giver.” That passage says,

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.

The idea behind God giving us gifts to serve Him is that we would work together in unity to advance the Kingdom. A war can’t be singlehandedly fought on the frontlines. Someone has to keep those troops equipped, another has to keep them healthy and fed, someone else has to form a strategy. You get the idea. We all play a part in this… but our role may look different than the person next to us.

If we take a step back and look at all of 1 Corinthians 12:1-27 it paints another picture of unified service in different forms. It says,

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

A body struggles when missing a part. We must be contempt with our function and gifting and do it well. If you don’t use your gift that is ultimately a loss to the body of Christ. Let’s be satisfied in our gifting and use it for His glory. It isn’t a competition.

  • Turn off the “Applause- Meter”

Lastly, are we serving for the praise or recognition of doing so?

Let me tell you… as a musician, or someone who stands and serves in front of others, this is so hard to keep in check. The motivation when starting may be pure… but it is a gradual slope that leads to a free-fall. We begin to judge our “serving” based off the reactions and praises of others and allow that praise to drive our decisions and our service.

Praises are like a drug. Little by little we become tolerant and immune and it takes more and more to satisfy our need. Suddenly, when we aren’t getting enough the enemy can slip in and tell us that we aren’t appreciated, or that our service is overlooked or not good enough.

Be honest… has this ever happened to you? It has me.

Too often we allow the lies of the enemy to make the church look like an elementary school playground… we get upset, frustrated, disappointed, etc… and instead of handling the root issue we pack up our toys and march off.

Much of the time the “greener pastures” that we pursue are laced with deception and pride. We turn the plains in which we reside into the valleys of self-pity and loathing.

A seminary professor in a class I was taking put it this way,

Below many “green pastures” lies a septic tank.

Don’t base your serving off of what others say about you… instead look to what the Father says and your reasoning for serving. Let’s do ourselves a favor and turn off or unhook the applause meter!

So… what are your motivations for serving? Is it time to get them back in check?

What does God say about You?

Posted on by Tanner Royalty

What do people say about you? The way you dress? The way you act? The people you associate with? What you enjoy doing?

These are all questions that many ask themselves each and every day. What type of impression do we make? Do people like or approve of us? It is completely natural to ask ourselves these things.

In fact you don’t even have to tell or train kids to care what their peers think. At some point in late elementary school the innocence of care-free living and relationships disappears and groups begin to form based off interests, attire, gender, race, etc… Where groups happen you will always find people conforming to “”fit in” to those groups. We are internally wired to care about what other people think or say about us. There are exceptions to this… but even those people who claim otherwise typically care to some extent.

In 2013 many of us got to experience a pretty incredible moment as Nik Wallenda, “The King of the High Wire,” walked a tightrope across the Little Colorado River Gorge (a section of the Grand Canyon) live on national television without a safety net. Nik is a seventh generation daredevil belonging to the legendary Great Wallendas (a tight roping family) and began walking the tightrope at age 4. Nik had spent his life training and preparing for this one moment.

What many viewers that night were unaware of was the fact that Nik’s great-grandfather died before viewers’ eyes on live television trying to walk a tightrope strung between two hotel towers in San Juan, Puerto Rico, harness-free, in 1978.

Anyone who watched felt the suspense the whole time as Nik battled high winds (18-30mph) while balancing a 45 pound bar on a mere 2-inch wire. The quarter-mile walk at 1,500 feet in the air took more than 20 minutes, and Wallenda actually had to kneel twice to wait out the stronger winds. But… he made it! Nik Wallenda was the first human to ever cross the Little Colorado River Gorge on a wire.

A tightrope walk across the Grand Canyon without any safety net or harness is pretty crazy right? Success means living another day as a daredevil, and failure means certain death… live on television for your friends and family to see.

But… in a less literal sense I would compare walking a tightrope to living according to what other people think. Trying to please people is like stepping out on a tightrope. Once we decide to bend to people’s desires or perceptions we are stepping out, and getting on, to a hairy situation that most of us will never be able to maintain. Think about it… everyone wants something different… no one thing can please every crowd. So with each step we are swaying left and right in order to meet the needs and gain the “applause” of the right group of people. But… we must be extraordinarily careful not to sway too far in either direction because that mistake can leave us hanging on for our lives. It is sad to say that much of the world’s happiness is dependent on impressions… what people say or think about us.

Many of us need to unhook the “applause-meter” and focus on who God has created us to be.

Our happiness in life should depend on how God sees us. Sadly, many of us have a wrong idea of God’s opinion of us. We base it on what we’ve been taught, our bad experiences in life, what the world tells us, and many other assorted assumptions. Some of us may have bought into the lies of the enemy and think that God is disappointed in us, or that we’ll never measure up to who He has called us to be. Some of us may even believe in an angry God who exists in a constant state of anger because we as humans, try as we might, can’t stop sinning.

But if we want to know the truth, we need to go to the source: God himself. Let’s dive in to the Word and figure out who we are according to what God has called us. Let’s think together.

  • We are His beloved children.

Luckily enough, upon our salvation, we are no longer strangers to God. The decision to accept Christ is a decision to join a family. We are adopted and no longer exist as orphans or children of the world, even though we may sometimes feel alone. We know for a fact that the heavenly Father loves us and sees us as one of His children.

2 Corinthians 6:17-18 says,

Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.

Not everyone has the experience of having a good earthly Father, but we all have the same opportunity to be adopted by a great Heavenly Father who will never leave us or forsake us, but will instead love us unceasingly without restraint.

1 John 3:1- 3 says,

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

Our identity is even found in the way we are taught to pray! In Matthew 6 we find the “model prayer” or Lord’s prayer and even in the way we address God it not only reinforces His identity… but it confirms ours!

Matthew 6:9 says,

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

If He is indeed our Father then that has to mean that we are His children! We serve a good Father who blesses His own. Matthew 7:11 says,

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

God doesn’t just give us good gifts to buy our affection… instead He shares our inheritance with us. Upon conversion we become heirs with Christ Jesus Himself… to share in His inheritance.

Romans 8:16-17 says,

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

  • We are forgiven.

On October 30, 2011 Marion Hedges was at her local Target buying Halloween candy for underprivileged kids when she was hit in the head by a shopping cart pushed over a fourth floor railing by two 12-year-old boys. Marion was technically dead at the scene and had to be revived by a doctor who happened to be nearby. The then 47-year-old had to be in a medically induced coma for a period of time, suffered serious brain trauma and injury, and lost the use of one eye after the cart fell on her. She needed months of rehabilitation.

In her time of recovery when Marion heard of the two young boys who committed the violent prank she responded by choosing grace and forgiveness. She was quoted saying, “I feel very sorry for them. My son is 13 also, and he is a very good boy.” Hedges chose the road of forgiveness instead of harboring bitterness, anger, and un-forgiveness in her heart. Since her accident, Hedges has expressed her concerns for both of the boys responsible.

Many Christians are being crushed under a heavy load of guilt, afraid they have disappointed God, and are past the point of grace and forgiveness. But… there is good news! If we know Jesus as our Savior, God sees us as forgiven.

God does not hold our past sins against us.

Acts 10:43 says,

All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.

John 8:36 says,

The Son has set me free. I am free indeed!

The Bible is clear on this point. God sees us as righteous because of the death of His Son on our behalf. As Forgiven Sons and Daughters of a good God we don’t have to worry about being holy enough, because Jesus was perfectly holy and died on the cross on our behalf. God sees us as forgiven. We just have to walk in that forgiveness.

Galatians 2:20 says,

I am crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

  • We are a people of hope.

 Ephesians 3:20 says,

He is able to do immeasurably more than all I ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within me.

Hebrews 10:23 says,

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

He who promised is faithful… what a powerful statement that so many of us fail to recognize and hold onto daily. Tragedy hits for everyone at some point… and it is easy to lose sight of our identity before our Maker when we feel as if life has handed us more than we can handle.

But… God sees us and has made us to be people of hope. No matter how bleak the situation, Jesus is with us through it all.

Romans 8:31 says,

God is for me! Who can be against me?

Jeremiah 29:11 says,

For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future

We’ve all had these situations… in fact the song below is one that I wrote while in one of those “hopeless” seasons that now ministers to the Body in which I serve.

Ultimately our hope is not based on what we can muster up. It’s based on the One we have hope in. When our hope is failing we must remember that our Father is strong. When we keep our attention focused on him, hope will come.

Lamentations 3:25 says,

The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him.

When we begin to see ourselves as God sees us, it will change our perspective. What other truths can you find in the Word that speaks to your image before God?