October 3, 2004

Reading through the Bible in one Year: Psalm 117-118

Weekly Memory Verse: Mark 12:30

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

Sunday was busy for me, I was not able to email out the study.  I did read through the chapter in the book and would encourage all of you to stay on top of it, this program is only as good as the effort that you put into it.  I am going to hit a couple of high points today, but don’t intend to go too deep so that we won’t become bogged down with the study. 

Our purpose on earth is not for our pleasure, it is for God’s pleasure.  In today’s chapter Rick goes into a long discussion about what worship really means, but first he introduces God as one who has emotion.  Quoting from page 64, “We often forget that God has emotions, too.  He feels things very deeply.  The Bible tells us that God grieves, gets jealous and angry, and feels compassion, pity, sorrow, and sympathy as well as happiness, gladness, and satisfaction. God loves, delights, gets pleasure, rejoices, enjoys and even laughs!” I found this quote interesting, and looked to the index for the scripture references:

Ephesians 1:5 (NASB95)
⁵ He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,

Genesis 6:6 (NASB95)
⁶ The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

Exodus 20:5 (NASB95)
⁵ “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,

Deuteronomy 32:36 (NASB95)
³⁶ “For the Lord will vindicate His people, And will have compassion on His servants, When He sees that their strength is gone, And there is none remaining, bond or free.

Judges 2:20 (NASB95)
²⁰ So the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He said, “Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers and has not listened to My voice,

1 Kings 10:9 (NASB95)
⁹ “Blessed be the Lord your God who delighted in you to set you on the throne of Israel; because the Lord loved Israel forever, therefore He made you king, to do justice and righteousness.”

1 Chronicles 16:27 (NASB95)
²⁷ Splendor and majesty are before Him, Strength and joy are in His place.

Psalm 2:4 (NASB95)
⁴ He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them.

Psalm 5:5 (NASB95)
⁵ The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity.

Psalm 18:19 (NASB95)
¹⁹ He brought me forth also into a broad place; He rescued me, because He delighted in me.

Psalm 35:27 (NASB95)
²⁷ Let them shout for joy and rejoice, who favor my vindication; And let them say continually, “The Lord be magnified, Who delights in the prosperity of His servant.”

Psalm 37:23 (NASB95)
²³ The steps of a man are established by the Lord, And He delights in his way.

Psalm 103:13 (NASB95)
¹³ Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.

Psalm 104:31 (NASB95)
³¹ Let the glory of the Lord endure forever; Let the Lord be glad in His works;

Ezekiel 5:13 (NASB95)
¹³ ‘Thus My anger will be spent and I will satisfy My wrath on them, and I will be appeased; then they will know that I, the Lord, have spoken in My zeal when I have spent My wrath upon them.

1 John 4:16 (NASB95)
¹⁶ We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. ^[1]

God is certainly an emotional God, He created man with the same attributes that He has.  God knows what it means to feel, to enjoy, and to love.  Therefore when we come before Him to worship Him, He understands what it takes to pour our emotional, intellectual, spiritual as well as physical beings into the task.

Rick addressed a few myths concerning worship in the text today, I would encourage you to read through the text for more information.  I enjoyed his discussion on worship, it is not music, or a church service, but rather it  is a way of life.  The misconception regarding music comes from the recently coined phrase “worship music”, the one regarding church services may be considered as “come worship with us.” 

I like what Rick said concerning music, “There is no such thing as “Christian” music; there are only Christian lyrics.” (pg. 66).  We as Christians get a big head regarding our music.  It doesn’t matter if the music is rock, country, blues, contemporary, classical, or any other form of music.  What matters is the words, my kids will tell you that there are certain forms of music that is not acceptable in our house.  This is personal preference, simply because it drives me nuts to listen to the music.  They are allowed to have the music on their CD players though.  It is a happy medium that we have reached to where I don’t go nuts and they are still able to enjoy the way that God ministers to them through music. 

Many years ago I went to Appalachian Bible College in Beckley, West Virginia, I will never forget one lesson that a professor of music ministry taught there.  Christian hymns of old are often considered to be holy music, divinely inspired by God.  I enjoy the old hymns, and really enjoy getting with a group of believers and singing our hearts out  enjoying the tremendous lyrics and the beautiful way that the music is composed.  But when you look at the origin of the hymns, they are not pretty.  In the days of the great evangelists that wrote the hymns, they didn’t have a Christian data base to draw from.  They were leading great revivals through Europe and America, with a handicap of no music available for their services.  To compensate for this, music was borrowed from the pubs, or bar room tunes, the words were changed and thus a hymn was born.  There are probably many exceptions to this statement, but it is fairly accurate.  The early church fathers and evangelists were not hung up on where the music came from, their mission was to teach the Word of God.  I wonder where we deviated from the standard of the Word of God in music.  If God’s word is taught or proclaimed in music, what difference does it make regarding the media that we use to communicate it?  Music is like money, it is not good or bad, rather the usage of it determines whether it is good or bad.

Worship at church, is also a misnomer simply because it misconstrues the meaning of coming before the Lord.  In the New Testament, believers came together to study and learn about the Word of God.  They didn’t have the fancy multi-media presentations that we have today.  They didn’t have all of the fancy tools to entertain the masses and create an illusion of grand reverence in their services.  Rather, they often met in someone’s home, squeezing into small rooms, just to hear a preacher teach the word of God.  It wasn’t always pretty, remember air conditioning is relatively new, and Christians did not always meet under the best of conditions.  Many lost their jobs and suffered severe persecution just to proclaim the name of Jesus.  Do you know what is really interesting; we are disillusioned in America because the rest of the world has the same problem today.  Imagine trying to have open worship in Muslim countries where Allah is considered to be God.  Imagine the trouble that a person has in the Hindu countries, or even in the backwoods of Africa or South America or Asia where many, many religions exist.  We live in a bubble, and are disillusioned.

True worship consists of living out the word of God in our lives in every single area that we are involved in.  It includes putting God’s word into practice in our homes, our work places and in our jobs.  It includes prayer time before the Lord, our own personal Bible Study, and our own personal meditations before the Lord.  Worship is not a act that we perform, rather it is a lifestyle that we make every effort to live.  It is a daily walk with Jesus, which simply states that we do believe in Him and are willing to walk according to His teaching.  A few verses Rick quoted and cross-referenced and then I will close:

Psalm 147:11 (NASB95)
¹¹ The Lord favors those who fear Him, Those who wait for His lovingkindness.

Psalm 105:4 (NASB95)
⁴ Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face continually.

Psalm 113:3 (NASB95)
³ From the rising of the sun to its setting The name of the Lord is to be praised.

Psalm 119:147 (NASB95)
¹⁴⁷ I rise before dawn and cry for help; I wait for Your words.

Psalm 5:3 (NASB95)
³ In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice; In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch.

Psalm 63:6 (NASB95)
⁶ When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches,

Psalm 119:62 (NASB95)
⁶² At midnight I shall rise to give thanks to You Because of Your righteous ordinances.

Psalm 34:1 (NASB95)
¹ I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

John 4:23 (NASB95)
²³ “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.

Isaiah 29:13 (NASB95)
¹³ Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,

1 Corinthians 10:31 (NASB95)
³¹ Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Colossians 3:23 (NASB95)
²³ Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,

Romans 12:1 (NASB95)
¹ 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. ^[2]

Father, as we consider what Your word says regarding worship, change our way of thinking and our focus.  Speak to each of our hearts and convict us of the necessity of living out Your word in every single are of our lives.

In Him,

Joe Turner.