Pursuing the Kingdom of God

"Jesus," I said, "Why don't I love you like other people? Why is there no emotion? I want to love you." Jesus replied, "You are incapable of loving me. You simply don't have it in you, your heart is cold and dead. Don't worry though, I'm good at this. I will put into you a new heart, but I will have to cut out the old heart first. It may hurt for a while, but it will heal soon enough."

"Jesus?" I said. "What is it?" He replied. "How am I doing? I don't lie anymore, and I don't steal either." Jesus answered, "Do you do this to love me, or to escape punishment?"

"How about now?" I asked. "I don't argue with people anymore, and I don't get mad like I used to." Jesus replied, "But do you love those people? Do you love me?"

"I go to church every week. And I read my Bible every day." I said. Jesus answered, "But you text your girlfriend just about all day long. Why don't you talk to me throughout the day too? It makes me think you don't love me as much as you love her."

I said, "Jesus, I don't get drunk, and I take care of my body. I'm in good shape and healthy." Jesus answered, "But whenever we hang out, you usually bring your own snacks. I always have food for you, but you don't eat it much because of your snacks..."

I said, "Jesus, I don't listen to those false prophets, and I try to make sure others don't listen either... And I always make sure that other people aren't led astray by the errors they think." Jesus answered, "But do you truly love those people? Would you die for any of them? I did..."

I said, "Did you see that Jesus? I prayed for that guy, and he got healed!" Jesus answered, "Yes, that is wonderful... but back on the subject of your family, why were you arguing with your mom this morning?"

I said, "Wow, Jesus, I can't believe today is the last day of seminary. My bachelors degree, my Ph.D. and now my divinity degree all completed. Now that I have all this knowledge, I will be able to better serve you!" Jesus replied, "That's great, good job... But why were you so unkind to your professor?" I said, "Well, he was a total jerk! He needs to be put in his place." Jesus answered, "But that's my job, not yours... and since when is that an excuse? Remember way back when you were rude to me, and never payed any attention to me? I forgave you and reached out to you anyways. Why couldn't you do that for your professor?"

At the end of my life, I look back on things. I think of all that God has made me, all he has brought me through, all He has done for me. I say, "Jesus, this life has been great. It has been up and down, easy at times and difficult at others... You have worked so many things in my life. I have spoken in the languages of men and of angels. You have used me to prophecy over people and in people's lives. I understand so much now, and you have revealed the answer to so many mysteries. I have seen faith move mountains. I have spent my life in service to you, I've been a missionary, been a witness, and even been beaten and persecuted for it. I have raised a godly family. Stayed away from alcohol, drugs, and pornography. I'm ready to come home to you now..." Jesus paused, then looked at me very sorrowfully and said, "But you did not love me." "But Jesus," I said, "Of course I love you. I did all this stuff for you. I healed the sick and cast out demons in your name!" "No," Jesus responded, "Not really. You had emotion for me, sure. But you did not love me. You sacrificed your life for your idea of the Church, but you didn't obey me. You did what you thought was right. You went your own way. The people I put in your life, your family, your friends... You did not lay down your life for them. You always did what YOU thought was right. You held grudges. You sought your own rights, rather than laying them down for others... You tried to fix people, rather than minister to them. You tried to kill in others what you didn't like, instead of building life into them and letting me change their hearts. Remember when I gave you a new heart and cut out the old one? Well, I was capable of doing that for others too, but you tried to do it yourself. Remember all those people you thought were so annoying? You shunned them and rejected them, the same people I died for along with you. You used my name in order to hate and despise people you called false prophets and heretics, the same people I died for. You broke yourself away from other members of my body for your own selfish reasons...

"You see, I wanted you to live a good life. There are things that were dangerous for you, and harmful, that I wanted you to put away. Of course I wanted you to choose trust over fear. Of course I wanted you to put away sin. Of course I wanted you to feed the poor and heal the sick and spread the Gospel. But, I am love. Without love, without agape, all of that other stuff is empty and vain. Remember when I was on earth in body, I lived a good life too. I didn't sin. I did everything right, far more than you or anybody else ever has... but if I hadn't died to my own desires, if I hadn't given up my own rights to be God, to not die, to not be punished, all of it... then I wouldn't be much different than any other man, and we wouldn't be having this conversation. I showed you agape love, and that's what was the most important thing. I would have been right to sit in heaven and hate you all and wipe the whole earth out of existence. But instead, I gave up my own rights, and I did what was better for you, what was more loving for you, and I came and gave you life. I wanted you to obey my commandments, yes. But my first and greatest commandment was to love me and to love those around you. I said love your neighbor and your enemy, so who do those two categories leave out? If you had loved me and loved others, all the rest would have flowed from that naturally. You said you wanted to love me back in the day... this is what that means."

In mainstream American Christianity, we have embraced the idea that God gets glory from His people dying, or suffering, or being poor... Christians are promised suffering, therefore God is glorified by it. This is absolutely false.

Death is the enemy of God. When Jesus died, He took the keys of authority from death and hell and the grave. Death is the last enemy that will be conquered and submitted to the authority of Jesus and placed under His feet. Death does not serve God, it opposes God.

Look to Jesus. Why did He come? "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." What part of "have life" and "abundantly" sounds like God gets glory from suffering? Jesus came to give LIFE! Jesus was crucified... he died... but that wasn't the end! Jesus came to life once again. Every prophet, every priest, every religious leader in history has died... but the power of God was manifested in Jesus by his RISING AGAIN!

One of the more profound, and widely known, stories of Christians who were killed for the name of Jesus in recent history was that of Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Peter Fleming, and Roger Youderian, who were killed by the men they were trying to love and help and witness to in South America. We look at that story, and think "They were good Christians. They really followed through." We memorialize their lives, and glorify their deaths. But read on... Their deaths weren't the point, and it didn't stop there. Rather, through their deaths, God brought life to those very same people that killed them. Just as through the death of Jesus, He brought life to those very same people who killed him. And it is this bringing of life, NOT the death, that brings glory to God.

I read a tweet recently that had a quote from C.S. Lewis about suffering. He quoted from Matthew, "Blessed are they that mourn." See? We stop at the death! We stop at mourning! We stop at suffering! Why? Read on... Why are they that mourn blessed?? "For they shall be comforted." The mourning is not the end, it is not the point... Rather it is only a means to an end... Those that mourn are blessed, not because they mourn, but because God will come to them because of their mourning and comfort them! The comforting is the end of that story, not the mourning.

In that same sermon in Matthew, Jesus also addresses persecution. "Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness' sake." So many people stop there... but read on! "For theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven!" People stop too soon and focus on the suffering, on the pain and death... But the reason why the persecuted are blessed is not because they are persecuted, but rather because they will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.

In so many cultures around the world, you can look at their movies, their books and stories and see the same thing... For most of the world, the story ends with death. Indeed, for most, it is not considered a good story unless the hero dies! This theology of death, this "gospel" of suffering the American church (I keep singling out the American church, because it is not so for the Church spread throughout the world) has adopted is no better than any other story in the world. And it most certainly is not Scriptural. We end our stories with death. We end our stories with suffering and pain and poverty... God ends the story, every time, with life and blessing and joy. Even those same men I mentioned above and many like them, those people who are actually willing to die, they know that death is not the end of the story, neither is it the point! But rather they knew the blessing, the reward, the life that was to come out of that death.

I think we have a misunderstanding of what value is and where it comes from. We throw the term around so much it has become a cliche almost... a buzz-word... "This has value" "That has value" "this person has value" etc. It is one of those ideas that we interpret in reality, not based on truth, but on what makes us feel good about ourselves. For the large part, we have lost the idea of what it is that gives something value.

I have a mug. It is a nice mug. It is a hand-made clay mug. Nice colors. It cost $15 dollars I believe. This means that the person who made it and sold it assigned to it a price of $15 dollars, of which, anybody who wished to obtain said mug, would have to pay. However, if nobody came to buy it, except for one person who offered to pay $10, the "assigned value" of this mug would change from $15 to $10. And so you see, the value of this mug is not specifically based on the nature of the mug itself, but rather on what somebody is willing to pay in order to obtain it. Now, I am the owner of this mug. The payment of $15 was given in order to obtain it... However, I didn't pay for it. The mug was given to me by a friend of mine. This mug has a huge value to me, and I wouldn't sell it to anybody for $15. But why? It only cost $15 for the first purchase, but once again, not because of the specific nature of the mug itself, but because of who gave me the mug, the value that I have placed on the mug has risen dramatically. And so, the value of this mug is based on something external from the mug and quite outside of the mug's control. It is based on what someone else is willing to pay for it, or give it up for...

These days there's a lot of talk about the worth of one individual or another. Is it possible though, that these ideas also are not based on truth, but on what makes us feel better about it?

What gives a person value? Does any individual have "intrinsic value?" Or is the worth of a person ascribed to that person by something outside of the person? It is plain to see, from observing the world, that value is placed on a person by something outside of the person. A person is worth whatever someone else is willing to do or give up in order to know, be friends with, marry, save the life of, etc... A man who wants to work for a company must make himself valuable to the company if he wants to be hired. Otherwise we go down the road we travel on today in America, where people are ascribing to themselves their own value, and it is called "entitlement." People say "I deserve to be payed this much to work." "I deserve to be treated this way." Scripture would describe this mentality with words like: pride, selfishness, selfish ambition, vanity, etc... People thinking that someone should give them (fill in the blank) because of who they naturally are regardless of what work they are willing to do or what they will give back. This mentality in the business world is leading to it's downfall.

"But wait a minute!" you say... "We can't just base our worth off of what other people think!" Well, yes we can, and should... I say that we must base our worth on something outside of ourselves, because of someone else other than ourselves, for the very reasons I described, and more... The problem comes with the "Who" of being ascribed value to... If we let other men and woman dictate our value then we will only end up being hurt. We all know this, that's why there's the big cultural push behind the idea that "Everybody has value." terminology... Those ideas are mainly a reaction, and a defense against being hurt by people. "Well, I don't care what she says, because I know I have value." The idea of "self-worth" and "self-esteem." All wonderful sounding ideas, but they are based on what makes us feel good about ourselves and not on the truth.

So, where does a person's value come from? Like I said, on what someone is willing to give/pay in order to obtain them. What would any other person give to obtain you? 

I know what my value is... and I did not ascribe to myself value... but there is one person who was willing to give all he had and was in order to obtain me. And he did. I have been bought with a price. And so, my value, my worth as a person, comes from what Jesus was willing to do and did do to obtain me. I have value, I have worth, not because of who I am, but because of what someone else, Jesus, did, and how much he paid for me. This has such a big effect on who I am and how I see myself. Just like my mug, I couldn't really care what anybody else thinks about my mug or how much they think it's worth... so too, I don't really care what anybody else thinks my worth or value is, because anybody else's price is far far lower than what Jesus payed. If someone offered me a million dollars for my mug, why would I care about the person offering fifty cents?

This also effects how we view others. What value do we place on other people? Then, we must think, how much does Jesus place the value of others? If we realize that Jesus sets the value of somebody else, then this will effect what we must do for other people...

There is a war going on today. A war, not of bullets and blood, but a war of ideas and the battle ground being attacked is our language... our words.

Very subtly, a war is being waged against our words. Piece by piece, our words are being redefined. Words that for years have meant one thing are now being re-purposed to mean something different. And we are losing this battle.

The main example I have issue with today, is the word "Man." For years culture has been indoctrinating young minds with a new definition of what a "Man" is. People say that a "Man" is a pig, a man is stupid, a man is lazy, a man is an animal, a man only cares about woman for sex, a man cannot control his sexual desires, a man is macho, a man doesn't wear pink, a man doesn't cry, a man never asks for directions... etc. Culture and society wish to destroy the image of what a man is, and they are being very successful.

I say, THIS IS NOT TRUE!!! I say that a "Man", is honest, a man is kind, a man is generous, a man thinks, a man is chivalrous and respectful towards women, a man is strong because he has chosen to be strong, and various other characteristics. These things are what truly define the title "Man" and I say that anything else outside of those definitions are not "Man."

Think about it. Think of a toaster. What does a toaster do? What is the definition of a toaster? A toaster is "an electrical device for making toast." A device, specifically designed for making toast! So, what happens if this toaster ceases to function the way it was designed to? We give it a different name, right? Instead of toaster, we give it a name like, "Junk." This is not a toaster now, it is "Trash." If this toaster, never was able to toast anything, but as it turns out, had a blade and a big glass cup and was really good and mixing drinks and crushing ice, we wouldn't call it a toast would we? No, we'd call it a blender.

This is what the culture is doing to the word "Man." They are taking the job and characteristics of a blender and calling it a toaster. They are taking the attributes of a human being who is not a man, but may in many cases be more akin to a child, and calling it a man.

I believe that everything makes sense. Somehow, some way, everything makes sense and there's a reason for everything... a cause and effect, an origin and an ending. If to no one else, God knows.

As a result of this first presupposition, I believe that it is possible for me to know anything, even maybe, everything...

Impossible! You say? That is something I have heard since I can remember. Have you heard that one statement? "I'm only human, so I'll never know ___ (fill in the blank)." It is a commonly held belief, and, for an understandable reason... However, I believe this has become an excuse we have adopted. An excuse for not knowing things. An excuse to not pursue truth, to not question and find answers to those questions. And in addition, I do not believe this statement to be true...

Let's take a look at it. "I'm only human, so I'll never know ___ (fill in the blank)." This is an absolute statement. We use absolutes so frivolously. "I'll never", "It is impossible." The question is posed in Genesis, "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" The answer is, no! So, if nothing is too hard for God, and applying also the fact that the God sees and knows everything, is it then possible that He then could reveal to me anything that He wished to reveal? Is it possible that He could expand my capacity to know as far as He wished? If these things are possible, then saying "I'll never know" is not speaking so much about me as it is about God. For me, this statement implies that God is incapable of doing this.

We say, "I can never fully know God, because I am finite man and He is infinite God!" And so we use this as an excuse to give up pursuing and asking questions about Him... But this statement begs the question, "well, which part of God were we able to begin knowing on our own in the first place?" None! It is God who draws to Himself, God who speaks of Himself, and God who reveals Himself to whomever He chooses... and so, if knowledge OF Himself begins with Himself, then the scope of this knowledge that is revealed to any individual also dependent upon God. So to say, "I of myself and in my own power can never know God", is a true statement. But to say, "It is impossible for finite man to know infinite God" is to say that this thing is too hard for God. Can the clay say to the potter "you cannot mold me this way"? No!

I believe that it is possible for me to know everything because I believe that God is all powerful, and he is all knowing, and that He is capable of doing whatever He chooses to do with His creation. And so the scope of my knowledge, my ability to comprehend, it depends on Christ Jesus and not on my own power or ability... because on my own, I am nothing. But He IS my strength. For everything there is a reason, so ask the One who knows all, and is the Teacher.

Many people talk about what it means to be a "Child of God." We are adopted. We are cared for. We are loved. We are provided for.

As I have gotten older (though not that old in the grand scheme of things), I have faced some of the new responsibilities of being an adult. However, several times now I have caught myself thinking how much I wished I was just a kid again, who didn't have to worry about all this job and finance stuff... As I was complaining about all my cares and woes to my friend, it suddenly dawned on me... What if I am supposed to be like that kid I used to be? What if God, who is my Father, wants me to be that child in a very real and literal sense? I mean, we all get these ideas in the figurative or theoretical sense, sure, but I mean come on, we're not supposed to actually take it seriously right?

What if I am supposed to be like a child, living in my Father's house, who's greatest care during each day is doing his schoolwork and chores?

God, Himself, is the one who describes His relationship to us as that of a Father to a son or daughter. He says cast ALL of our cares upon Him, for He cares for us. He says we are joint heirs with Christ Jesus. He says that He is our teacher. He says we are not supposed to worry about what we will eat or drink or put on, because that is what the unbelievers worry about. He says we are supposed to seek first His Kingdom, His Lordship over our lives and in this world, first and foremost above all else, and all these things - food, drink, clothing, the things we need (separate from our wants) - will be added, supplied, given, to us. He says He is a good Father who gives His children good things. He says that His children keep His commandments. All these things and more...

So, what if? Is it possible, that this great God, this loving Father, who has adopted me, wants me to live in complete trust and obedience to Him, so much so that all I concern myself with during each and every day is doing my schoolwork (learning and applying what He, the Teacher, is speaking and saying, and growing and maturing in Christ Jesus), and doing my chores (doing that work on a day to day basis that He, the Father, assigns and gives me to do for that day), and that I need not concern myself with the running of the household (where food will come from, paying the bills, etc...) because that is the job of the Father, to provide for His children.

How do you change the direction of a country? How do you change the direction of a church?

These are two questions that Christians in America today are faced with. Some may not see the connection, but the two are very much linked.

Today, mainstream American Christians, in the majority, are not happy with the country. Not happy with it's leadership, not happy with the direction, etc... And so there are rising numbers of outcries, though they are still small, calling for change. But how? How do you change where this country is headed?

Well, seeing this is an issue of politics, many outspoken, politically minded people, think that it will be solved with politics. "Our voice will be heard at the ballot box." is one phrase that I have heard, and there are many variations... In essence, we change the direction of the country by changing the leadership. And this is, for the most part, a true statement. However, there is a problem with this... Ask the questions; Where will these new leaders come from? Who will elect them? These are two important questions and they both have the same answer: The people. The citizens of the United States are the pool from which officials are elected, and it is these same citizens who do the electing. And so, when you look deeper at the roots of this problem, in reality, the problem is not the leadership so much as it is the actual citizen population. We will not change the direction of this country until the individual citizen, the culture, is changed. The direction of the country is not the problem, it is the symptom. The leadership of this country is also part of the symptom of what the culture is. When the hearts and minds of the country are transformed, the country will follow suit.

It is the same with the Church. The leadership in a church comes out of the larger group of the Body of believers. When Paul lines out the qualifications for leadership in the Church to Timothy, where were these men supposed to come from? The Body of believers where Timothy was. Not from divinity school, or seminary, but from the Body. And where the hearts and minds of this Body are determines the direction the group will take.

"I'm just a sinner saved by grace." Have you ever heard those lyrics? I don't even remember the first time I heard that song. Growing up in the churches I went to, I got indoctrinated with this idea. The idea being, Jesus came and died to take away my sin, but I am still human and therefore a sinner by my very nature and there's nothing that can be done about it... but as I move forward in life and press on towards Christ, I do not believe this to be true anymore.

Think about what Paul wrote in Romans. We are to reckon ourselves to be dead to sin, and the power thereof, and alive to God in Christ Jesus. And again in his letter to the Colossians, he says he has been crucified with Christ, and that it is not he who lives but rather Christ Jesus living in and through Paul. He also tells the Church in Corinth that if any man is in Christ Jesus, he is a new creation, old things have passed away and he has become new. The writer to the Hebrews said that if the sacrifices prescribed in the law had had the power to cleanse from sin the people offering them would cease to offer them because these people would no longer have any consciousness of their sin, and that Christ Jesus offered Himself as the sacrifice for sin once and for all... Over and over this theme of being dead to sin, being free from the power of sin, being cleansed from sin in the past tense, being made new, Christ Jesus living inside us clothing us with His own righteousness...

Imagine sitting in your house one day and getting a letter in the mail. In this letter is written words of love and encouragement, and an expression of the desire of the writer to take you to Disney Land in order to get to know you and spend time with and so that you can get to know him also. Included in the letter was an all expense paid ticket to Disney Land, including hotel room, food and drink, and transportation. After receiving this however, you spend all your days reading and studying this letter, and writing replies to the man who sent it thanking Him for what He did. You accept the letter and the contents and what he did, even adding him as a friend on Facebook, but you never get up and go to Disney Land because of your current schedule. -- Is this what you would do if this was done for you?

Imagine you have received the invitation to Disney Land, and you do in fact go. However, you take your own transportation, and you buy your own food, and choose to stay at your own hotel. -- If you had an all expense paid trip, would you choose instead to pay your own way?

Imagine you make it to Disney Land. You park, and walk up to the gate. Standing just inside the gate is the man who sent the letter. You recognize him because he sent a picture with the letter so that you could keep it with you to help you know who to meet. You walk up to the gate, and promptly tell everybody around you what this man did for you. You yell it with all your might. You try to convince people to accept the same gift that he gave you because you know he is a generous man and willing to do the same for others. However, you stay at the gate. You walk in, handing the cashier your ticket and then you spend hours thanking the man and calling to others to join you, again, telling of how cool this guy is and what he did for you. You keep doing this, all the while the man is trying to get you to come with him and to go on one of the rides, but you can't hear him because you keep talking and your attention is on all the other people who haven't received the same gift that you have. Your focus is on others, and so you cannot hear the man who invited you. -- Does this make any sense?

Imagine you venture in past the gate, and decide to go in and ride the rides. The man calls you to follow him and spend the day with him, however, you aren't paying attention to where he is calling you to go and so you wander off without him on your own. You text the man throughout the day telling him what you are doing, but you've missed the point of him inviting you to Disney Land with him. You get to the end of the day having ridden on all the rides, but never having spent any time personally with the man, and you never listened to where he wanted you to go and stay with him. You think you had a great day, but when you leave the park the man will say to you, "I still don't know you." -- Would this not grieve the heart of the man?

What's one of the big theological debates these days? Well, the question "Can you lose your salvation?" is a big one... People argue and debate. I have been part of such debate too... While, talking and discussing truth is good and beneficial, it should only be done for the building up of those hearing. We too often use it to tear down and cause division. We have denominational splits that are partly defined on this question of salvation. Really? I say it is foolishness! It is superfluous!

Superfluous is a good word. I like that word. This word is defined as being "unnecessary through being more than enough." A synonym would be, "redundant."

Think of a marriage... what if a man were to get married, and then his wife goes and leaves him and lives a totally separate life from him? He'd probably divorce her these days... But that would be a totally ridiculous situation. What's the point? You'd question if the couple were truly married. And you wouldn't go into the marriage asking that question anyways would you? "Hmm, I'm getting married to her now, but what if we drift away and I decide to leave her and live my own life and maybe start a relationship with some other woman? Would I still be married to this first woman? I mean marriage is for always right?" You wouldn't be thinking that would you? And if you are, you shouldn't be getting married! What is the most important day of a marriage? The wedding? No! The most important day is the last day. How did the marriage end? In unhappiness? Divorce? Or in peace and love, having grown to know one another better and dying naturally more in love than ever?

For those of us who are in Christ, and who have Christ in us, God is our Father. We have been reborn and made into a new creation. We are his Children. Jesus even calls us His brothers.

Over and over, the terminology is used of the process of birth and childhood and growing into maturity. But I think we tend to gloss over the words and simply take them at face value and we miss so much of the depth of meaning. King Solomon said to seek after wisdom as a hidden treasure.

Now, we don't tend to look ourselves as children when it comes to our true life in Christ Jesus. You know, "What are you talking about? I'm not a child, I'm (insert age) years old." And yes, by human standards you may or may not be a child. But there is a definite order of process that accompanies our spiritual life. A growth, from infancy and onward, hopefully, to maturity. Some of us however, tend to stay in the infancy stage. The writer of Hebrews spoke to those he was writing to because they had the same issue. Unable to eat the meat of the Word (or the true depth of revelation, the bigger picture, the big boy toys as it were...) they were stuck only wanting the milk of the Word (the simple truths, unable to handle the bigger picture, stuck with their plastic kids tools).

Let's take a look at how a child learns to walk: He observes people walking first of all. He starts to imitate his parents. He tries to stand, and he falls. He does it over and over, falling each time. Sometimes his parents help him up, or hold him there standing but eventually they let him go so he can stand on his own. Slowly, bit by bit, he gets stronger and stronger, standing a little longer each time before he falls again. At one point though, he does it! He stands! All on his own... this of course is only the beginning. He's still weak in this area, and probably will fall some more later on. But there's more to learn after that too. Running, jumping, all that good stuff.

What about us? We are just the same. We must learn, grow, get stronger bit by bit. We cannot let failures keep us from getting back up on our feet. But so many times, we are so concerned when we fall. We beat ourselves up about it. Or worse, we beat up others when they fall. We put up walls and fences and build crutches to make sure we don't fall in the future. And you know what? To an extent, we have succeeded with what we wanted. A man in a wheel will not fall... but He will never stand, he will never run, he will never jump. A man in a wheel chair is handicapped, he cannot fight and he is quickly overtaken by any person who intends him harm.

"Every thing that has been made in creation, everything that has been established as far as an institution, has been made in order to reveal something about God and our relationship to Him..." -- Paul Washer

This is especially true of marriage. In fact, the parables and examples and representations surrounding the return of Jesus Christ and our relationship to Him are predominantly pictured using marriage. However, although I believe the broad imagery is understood, I think we miss some of the detail...

When you think of "worship" what is it you picture? Somebody on the stage of a church leading a hymn? The latest praise CD by your favorite Christian artist? Most of the time we think of songs or singing right? So how about we picture this in the context of a marriage...

A man and a woman start to get to know each other. The man says all kinds of nice things to the woman, in fact the man is constantly singing the praises (so to speak) of this woman who he loves. Filling her ears with compliments and admonishments and things she likes to hear him say about her. The man very genuinely loves this woman. However, he only now and then buys her dinner. He never opens the door for her. He only meets up with her one day a week for a couple hours, and never tries to meet up with her any other day of the week even though she lives next door. He sends her lots of texts, and come to her with his problems, yet he very rarely responds to her texts and phone calls and never listens to her cares and concerns. He never makes any adjustments to his schedule to make a meeting with her more convenient for her schedule. He has his own dreams and goals and her desires don't carry much weight with him...

How long would a relationship like this really last? Probably not very long. But why is that? Because love and devotion are not simply emotions... they are not expressed only in words. Without the actions that back up the words, or give evidence of them as it were, the words are essentially meaningless. The person speaking the words may think he is genuine, and he may in fact be genuine, but as with any deep belief or conviction, it should lead to action. There must be a proving.

So why do we expect anything different with Jesus? Sure, we talk about God, talk to God, tell Him how much we Love Him, sing of how great He is... we love to sing in church, listen to good Christian "praise" songs in the car. We really think that is all worship is? People need to practically be guilt tripped into going to church and "giving back to God." We love to talk to God, but how much do we love to listen to God? We love to tell God our problems and concerns, but how much do we listen to the concerns of God? We whine and get all bewildered and befuddled when God doesn't do things on our scheduling or when we think He should, but we ourselves are so rigid and inflexible and selfish about giving up our own time to God. We half ignore what He tells us to do and yet we expect Him to do so much for us!

So why do we think this works?

Speaking good things, singing good things to God, about God are great. Praising God with songs and hymns is wonderful. Praying to God, confiding in Him, speaking to Him, that is all excellent, and should be done... But, what is the proof of your worship? Over and over in scripture, worship is coupled with sacrifice. Romans 12:1 says we are to "present our bodies (our whole being) to God, which is your spiritual act of worship." The word translated as "worship" literally means to fall prostrate before someone, in reverence and respect and honor and in giving one's self over to that person to serve him. Again, scripture says that faith without works is dead. Jesus said that if you love Him you would keep His commandments. And again scripture also tells us, "let us not love only in word and in tongue, but in deed and in truth."