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Bible Study—The Essence Of True Worship

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
(II Timothy 2:15)

“But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
(II Timothy 3:14-17)

Thoughts… Congratulations! If you are reading this blog, you have taken the time to absorb God’s Word today. If you have been diligent to study the Bible this past year, whether through this ministry or by some other means, well done!

I know of no greater spiritual discipline than Bible study—reading, meditating, journaling, praying the Scriptures—that will contribute to your health and growth as a believer. It’s as simple as that. If you want to mature in your faith, morph into greater Christlikeness, deepen your knowledge of God, insulate your life from sin, enlarge your Kingdom effectiveness, increase your spiritual power, develop life skills for the daily challenges you face, and in general, live in the blessing zone of God’s favor, you’ve got to be in God’s Holy Word on a regular, if not daily, basis.

I like what Samuel Chadwick, the nineteenth century writer, said, “No man is uneducated who knows the Bible, and no one is wise who is ignorant of its teachings.” Bible reading is that critical to your very life!

I hope and pray that you will now join me in the daily reading of God’s Word from cover to cover in 2009. I have provided two creative reading options for you that you can access on the upper right hand panel of this page by clicking on the 2009 BIBLE READING PLAN button.

Check them out—I think they are pretty cool. Personally, I am choosing Option 2. And just a note about the content of this blog over the next 12 months: The devotional postings will be based on my study of the Psalms and Proverbs. Hopefully, as we access these two books, we will tap into the intimacy of the Psalms and the practical wisdom of Proverbs in way that will contribute to the spiritual transformation of our lives this next year.

Of course, you can choose your own Bible reading plan, but no matter what you do, choose to read God’s Word in 2009. By the way, there is no greater act of faith, obedience and yes, even worship, than to devote yourself to “rightly dividing the Word of truth.” Take a moment to meditate on what Dr. John D. Garr wrote in, “Study: The Highest Form of Worship.”

When Christians think of worship, images of the Sunday morning worship service come to view, with singing, praying, giving, preaching, and sharing the sacrament. Study is perhaps something that is done in preparation for worship, but could Christians ever conceive of study, itself, as an act of worship, even the highest form of worship? When we analyze this concept, however, we begin to understand that intensive study of the Word of God is the most reliable way in which God can speak to us and cause us to understand His will and His ways … Study of the Word of God, then, with a view toward doing the Word, is an act of submission to the divine will, the essence of true worship … The decision to study God’s Word in order to do His Word is a meaningful act of submission and reverence–in short, it is worship … Abraham Joshua Heschel [observed] that the Greeks study in order to understand while the Hebrews study in order to revere … Study of God’s Word in order to mold one’s lifestyle to that Word is … worship in the truest sense of the English word worship, which means to “ascribe worth to.” When we fully submit our lives to God’s Word, when we study what he has said with complete devotion and intensity, we do, indeed, ascribe worth to him: we worship him.

Best to you as you read God’s Word in 2009! May you come to know him more intimately than ever before this year.

Prayer… Heavenly Father, thank you for your Holy Word. Give me deeper passion and daily strength to consume it this coming year. And Father, may your Word consume me!

One More Thing… “The Word of God well understood and religiously obeyed is the shortest route to spiritual perfection. And we must not select a few favorite passages to the exclusion of others. Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian.” —A.W. Tozer

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Merry Christmas!

Read Luke 2

The angel said to the shepherds, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
(Luke 2:10-11)

Thoughts… It was the Sunday before Christmas, and a little brother and sister were in church singing a Christmas hymn with the congregation. And as the song finished, the boy belted out rather loudly, “sleep in heavenly beans.” His sister gave him the most righteously indignant stare she could muster, and in a not-too-soft whisper said, “It’s not ‘heavenly beans’. It’s ‘sleep in heavenly peas.’”

As you know, they both butchered the words of the most well-loved Christmas hymn of all time. What you may not know is that back in 1818 that hymn was born. The birthplace was St. Nicholas Church in a small Austrian alpine village where a 31-year-old church organist by the name of Franz Gruber composed a melody on his guitar because the church organ was broken. The melody was for a poem that had been written earlier by the 26-year-old pastor of that church, Joseph Mohr. The poem was entitled, “Stille Nacht”, and the melody quickly formed in Gruber’s mind.

On that evening, in time for Midnight Mass, the world’s most famous Christmas Carol was heard for the very first time. It’s the same song that by tradition believers still sing every year during the season of Advent. It’s the song, “Silent Night.”

Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin,
Mother and Child
Holy Infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace.

Now I don’t want to spoil your Thomas Kincade image of “Silent Night”, but I’m not too sure how “calm” and “bright” the night of Christ’s birth was. The Bible tells us that Mary’s pregnancy had been suspect in the eyes of her village from the beginning. She had been unmarried when the news arrived that she’d be pregnant with the Messiah by the power of the Holy Spirit. Not too many of the townsfolk had bought that story, and she likely became the object of their cruel and incessant gossip.

Then when the time came for the baby’s birth, Mary and Joseph had been required to travel by foot the arduous journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, not an easy trip for anyone in those days, especially for a woman in the late stages of pregnancy. When they arrived, they were forced to stay in a stable because the inn had no room. And there among the squalor of the smelly, noisy animals, alone, with no family to rejoice with her, no mid-wife to assist her, a teenage virgin girl gave birth to the king of the world. And if Jesus was like most infants, like my two daughters when they were born, there was anything but peace and quiet that night.

Yet in the simple, humble, unlikely birth of Jesus, something Divine, something Eternal was released on Planet Earth. As someone has pointed out, the best Christmas present ever was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in the manger. Franz Gruber truly did capture that indescribable, priceless gift with the words, “heavenly peace.” That night, God invaded earth, and heavenly peace was left in the wake of the Divine invasion. The angels who announced the Christ’s birth to the nearby shepherds couldn’t have put it any better,

Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth, peace on whom his favor rest.

The infant Jesus may not have slept in heavenly peace that night, Mary and Joseph may not have enjoyed a peaceful night’s rest either, but God’s peace invaded earth that night in Bethlehem, and you and I on this Christmas Day are its beneficiaries.

So let me ask you a very important question: Are you benefiting from God’s peace? Is the peace of God, as Paul called it in Philippians 4, “guarding your heart and mind in Christ Jesus”? Is the peace of Christ, as Colossians 3 describes, “ruling in your heart”?

Perhaps the peace that passes all understanding is the last thing characterizing your life today. Maybe worry, anxiety, fear and stress dominate your world at the moment. My friend, God wants you to have his heavenly peace. That is his gift, wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger, and the gift is just for you!

Now God’s peace is neither a blanket guarantee of global harmony nor a promise that your life will be conflict-free. It is just simply saying that if you are in God’s favor, which comes by virtue of accepting his Son as your Lord and Savior, his peace will guard your mind, it will rule your heart, and it will sustain your life.

The “heavenly peace” that Gruber wrote about and the angels announced is God’s gift to you this Christmas, even if your world seems a long way from being peaceful. It is simply the peace that comes from knowing that in the birth of Christ, eternity irrevocably invaded time and God drew near to you and me through Jesus Christ, our Immanuel.

That’s the heavenly peace God wants you to have on this very day, and every day for the rest of your life.

One night the small voice of a little girl was heard from the bedroom across the hall, “Daddy, I’m scared!”

The father’s response came quickly: “Honey, don’t be afraid, daddy’s right across the hall.”

After a brief pause the little voice was heard again, “I’m still scared!”

Again the father responded, “You don’t need to be afraid. God is watching over you.”

There was a longer pause, but the voice returned, “Daddy, I want someone with skin on!”

Jesus is God “with skin on”, and he is right here, right now, forever with you, powerfully present through Christ, who invaded earth for all time at Bethlehem.

And if you have received him by faith, you can sleep in heavenly peace.

Prayer… O God, how much you loved me that you would give me the best and costliest gift ever, wrapped in swaddling cloths and placed in a manger. Thank you. Once again, on this Christmas Day, I receive the Prince of Peace and invite his peace to rule my heart.

One More Thing… “It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself.” —Charles Dickens

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Crushing Christlikeness

Read Philemon

“I appeal to you, Philemon, to show kindness to my child,
Onesimus…He is no longer your slave, he is your brother.”
(Philemon 1:10,16)

Thoughts… Missionary Stan Mooneyham tells of walking along a trail in East Africa when he became aware of a delightful odor that filled the air. He looked up in the trees and around at the bushes trying to find what it was. His African friends told him to look down at the small blue flower growing along the path. Each time they crushed the tiny blossoms under their feet, its sweet perfume was released into the air.

They said, “We call it the forgiveness flower.”

The forgiveness flower doesn’t wait until we ask forgiveness for crushing it. It doesn’t wait for an apology or restitution; it merely lives up to its name and forgives—freely, fully, richly.

That’s what Paul was asking Philemon to do: To freely forgive his runaway slave, Onesimus, and to fully welcome him back into his household not as a slave, but as a brother.

Through Philemon, what Paul is saying to you and me is that if we want to be truly authentic in our faith, if we want to truly be like Jesus, then we must readily extend forgiveness to those who have offended us. Forgiveness is the first step on the pathway to Christ-likeness.

Moreover, forgiveness is an authentication of our Christ-likeness as well. The Puritan preacher Thomas Watson wrote, “We need not climb up into heaven to see whether our sins are forgiven. Let us look into our hearts and see if we can forgive others. If we can, we need not doubt that God has forgiven us.”

If you are serious about becoming more like Christ, Ephesians 4:32 says you must, “forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.” That means you treat the person who has hurt you just like you hope God will treat you: Quickly, freely, completely forgiven.

Forgiveness is an act of sheer obedience. Notice what Paul says at the end of his appeal in verse 21, “Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.”

Forgiveness is arguably the most difficult of all Christian virtues. It means letting go of what is rightfully yours—justice! When you forgive, in reality, it’s you—the one who is owed, who pays the price of forgiveness in full.

But isn’t that what God did for us? In Christ, the debt was paid for us. This is what theologians call the doctrine of imputation… “to put it on someone else’s account.” When Jesus died on the cross, my sins were put on his account. He was treated the way I should have been treated. But even more, not only was he my substitute, his guiltlessness became mine. He took my guilt and exchanged it for his righteousness. He said to the Judge, “He no longer owes the debt—I paid it in full. Receive him as you would receive me. He’s family now!”

That’s what we’re reminded of in this little letter of Philemon, that Christ-likeness requires no less of us than what Jesus has done for us!

Forgiveness is the fragrance of the flower that’s left on the heel of the shoe that crushed it.

I hope you give off that fragrance today!

Prayer… Dear Father, you have freely, unconditionally and completely forgiven me. Now give me the grace to forgive, just as in Christ, you have forgiven me.

One More Thing… “He who cannot forgive others destroys the bridge over which he himself must pass.” —George Herbert

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A note to new readers – WEEKENDS!

Read Psalm 1

“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been
doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.”
(Genesis 2:2)

Thoughts… On the seventh day, God rested—so shall we.

You will notice on our New Testament reading plan that there are no readings for Saturday and Sunday. So each weekend I would encourage you to take advantage of these two days to try a few things:

• Catch up on your reading and journaling if you have gotten behind.
• Go back and read some previous posts from 2007—a couple of them are pretty good!
• Review your own journaling over the past few days, and prayerfully consider how you are doing with practically applying God’s Word to your life.
• Use these two days to read through the Psalms and Proverbs. If you will read three chapters from the Psalms and two from Proverbs on the weekends—slowly savoring the meat of God’s Word—you will read these two wonderful books of wisdom through in 2008 along with the New Testament.
• And don’t forget to share with someone something that has blessed you in your reading this past week.

For now, enjoy Psalm 1—I’ll see you on Monday!

Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.

But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.

Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

Prayer… Father, give me an insatiable desire for your Word. May it become the delight of all delights in my life. Make me like the man of Psalm 1—consumed with a passion for your Word.

One More Thing… “The Bible is meant to be bread for our daily use, not just cake for special occasions.”

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A Note To New Readers—Weekends!

Read Psalm 1

“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been
doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.”
(Genesis 2:2)

Thoughts… On the seventh day, God rested—so shall we.

You will notice on our New Testament reading plan that there are no readings for Saturday and Sunday. So each weekend I would encourage you to take advantage of these two days to try a few things:

• Catch up on your reading and journaling if you have gotten behind.
• Go back and read some previous posts from 2007—a couple of them are pretty good!
• Review your own journaling over the past few days, and prayerfully consider how you are doing with practically applying God’s Word to your life.
• Use these two days to read through the Psalms and Proverbs. If you will read three chapters from the Psalms and two from Proverbs on the weekends—slowly savoring the meat of God’s Word—you will read these two wonderful books of wisdom through in 2008 along with the New Testament.
• And don’t forget to share with someone something that has blessed you in your reading this past week.

For now, enjoy Psalm 1—I’ll see you on Monday!

Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.

But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.

Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

Prayer… Father, give me an insatiable desire for your Word. May it become the delight of all delights in my life. Make me like the man of Psalm 1—consumed with a passion for your Word.

One More Thing… “The Bible is meant to be bread for our daily use, not just cake for special occasions.”

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Who, Me?

Weekend Reading

Then Moses said to the LORD, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent,
neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant;
but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” So the
LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth?
Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing,
or the blind? Have not I, the LORD? Now go,
and I will be with your mouth and teach
therefore, you what you shall say.”
(Exodus 4:10-12)

Thoughts: Like most people, Moses was a pretty insecure guy. He had lost a great job and had wandered in obscurity for 40 years before the Lord appeared to him in a burning bush with a new assignment.

Keep in mind that it was a burning bush from which God spoke! You typically wouldn’t backtalk God if he spoke to you from a burning bush. Yet Moses offered one excuse after another as to why God had come to the wrong guy!

You’d think if the Almighty showed up in such dramatic fashion Moses might have been convinced that he indeed must the right man. A God who is powerful enough to speak through a burning bush that doesn’t consume itself, and in fact, calls out your name from the bush, doesn’t tend to show up at the wrong address.

Moses’ problem was that he was more focused on his own inadequacies than on God’s adequacies. Moses was not the one who would have to do all the heavy lifting—God would. Yet God always works through human beings—men and women, by the way, who end up getting a lot of credit when God works through them. And, you know the rest of the story. Moses got more than his fair share of recognition for the mighty acts that God wrought through him.

The truth is, the weaker the vessel, the greater glory to the One who pours his presence and power into and out through that vessel. The more obvious the inadequacies, the bigger the challenge, the greater the unlikelihood, the larger the set-up for a testimony that will be passed down through generations of the power of God displayed in the life of one human being who was faithful, available and useful to the purposes of the Almighty.

You may not be called to call down plagues or part the Red Sea, but I’ve got a feeling that you are exactly the kind of person God is looking for through whom he will do some incredible stuff!

Prayer: Dear God, I understand Moses’ reluctance. Sometimes I wonder why in the world I am someone you would want to use. Yet you are the One who made me just as I am, placed me where you want me to be, and called me to represent your name. And if you called, you will provide all the resources needed to secure victory, bring greater glory and honor to your name, and leave a legacy of what God can do through simple people submitted to your purposes. Lord, help me to place greater confidence in you than I’ve ever done before. And may through my life may your name be exalted in all the land. May my life be a testimony to future generations of the power of God, that a people not yet born will gain great confidence in you and do mighty things in your name, all to your praise and glory.

One More Thing… “God does not call the qualified; He qualifies the called.”

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The Prospering Presence

Weekend Reading

“The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered…”
(Genesis 39:2)

Thoughts… Proverbs 3:33-35 says, “The Lord’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous. He mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble. The wise inherit honor, but fools he holds up to shame.”

That promise of blessing is confirmed throughout the Bible in the lives of the godly. It is particularly exemplified throughout Genesis—the Lord was with “so and so” and he prospered him. This is just the way God works!

God is looking for those whose hearts are fully devoted to him—totally committed, faithfully obedient and loyal—so that he might show himself strong on their behalf (II Chronicles 16:9).

Joseph was just such a fully devoted man, and his life a paragon of the prospering presence of God. Read more of his story from Genesis 39:

“The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph … But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.” (Genesis 39:2-5, 20-23)

Throughout Joesph’s ordeal in Egypt, he continually kept the glory of God in view. When incessantly tempted to sin sexually (who could blamed him for giving in, given the circumstances?), he refused, not wanting to sin against God. When approached by his fellow prisoners about their dreams, he acknowledged the ability to interpret dreams was from God, not from him. When presented with the opportunity to get out of jail if he could interpret the dream, rather than taking personal credit for dream interpretation in order to impress Pharaoh, he deflected the glory back to God. No wonder God did so much to bless and prosper Joseph.

So what are the take-aways from Joseph’s experience that we should expect for our lives today:

One, as Joseph stayed loyal to God, and as God showed himself strong on Joseph’s behalf, others noticed—Potiphar, the prison warden, the prisoners, Pharaoh. What a witness to a watching world the blessings of God in our lives should be!

Two, God was blessing Joseph even in the midst of dire and disheartening circumstances. Blessings are not to be equated with perfect circumstances; sometimes the blessings arise out of those imperfect circumstances. Perhaps that is where the greatest witness for God can be lived out.

Three, the greatest blessing is a life that reflects the glory of God—circumstances notwithstanding.

Prayer… God, how I praise you for your wisdom and your perfect ways. Even in our failure, our trying circumstances, and our pain, you are at work. You never cease to bring about your plan for our good and your greater glory. All things do work together for the good of those who love you and are called according to your purposes. Father, I want to tap into the blessings and the favor that I read about in the lives of these Old Testament characters. I am not too excited about the trials, but even when they come, I know you will be in them. Lord, I am excited about the glory that will reflect well on your name as my life is Divinely prospered. I desire that the blessings you bestow upon me will be obvious to everyone that they are from you, so that you will receive the praise, and not me. Lord, I want to be like Joseph in that I am always living with you in mind, refusing temptation, giving credit to you, and living for your greater glory. Father, enable me today to live that way for you. Before my family, my fellow believers, and before my community, prosper me in a way that reflects well on you!

One More Thing… “A man can no more diminish God’s glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling ‘darkness’ on the wall of his cell…” —C.S. Lewis