Posted on

Bible Worship

Love of Scripture without Love of God

Knowing the Bible isn’t enough. Satan knows the Bible as well as anyone. He can quote it at will. Daily reading and Scripture memory aren’t enough. Nicodemus had that down pat, yet he didn’t know what it meant to be born again. Going to a church that teaches the Word verse-by-verse isn’t enough. There are people in those churches who are lost and don’t even know it. Hearing, reading, and believing the Bible aren’t enough. Believing in Jesus is.

The Journey: John 5:39-40

You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life.

I can think of no simpler yet more powerful practice for greater spiritual growth and intimacy with God than daily Bible study. The truth is, if you don’t have a regular quiet time with God—which would include not only reading, but meditation and prayer as well—you will fail to thrive spiritually. It is as simple as that.

Yet Bible reading, journaling and Scripture memory alone aren’t enough. In fact, there is a very real danger lurking in the practice of daily quiet time that will lead to even greater distance from God than not reading at all: Love of Scripture without love of God. That is what we might call bibliolatry.

Bibliolatry occurs when we acquire biblical knowledge without spiritual discernment; when our study of the Word is not commensurate to our obedience of the Word; when our love for Scripture exceeds our love for God, and correspondingly, love for our fellow man; when pride in our practice of Bible reading leads to a false sense of righteousness; and when the spiritual discipline of quiet time becomes a work of law rather than an offering of grace. When that occurs, in effect, we are worshiping the Bible rather than the God of the Bible.

There are far too many “Christians” who read the Bible little, if at all. That is an unfortunate blight on the modern church. Yet there is another segment of believers, much smaller, but in deeper spiritual danger, who have been lulled into a sort of spiritual smugness because they fancy themselves as “people of the Word” or because, as they happily proclaim, the church they attend really “teaches” the Word.

Knowing the Bible isn’t enough. Satan knows the Bible as well as anyone. He can quote it at will. Daily reading and Scripture memory aren’t enough. Nicodemus (see John 3) had that down pat. Going to a church that teaches the Word verse-by-verse isn’t enough. There are people in those churches who are lost and don’t even know it. Hearing, reading, and believing the Bible aren’t enough. Believing in Jesus is. Jesus said, “Whoever believes the Son has eternal life.” (John 3:36) Phillips Brooks said,

Christ is the Word of God. It is not in certain texts written in the New Testament, valuable as they are; it is not in certain words which Jesus spoke, vast as is their preciousness; it is in the Word, which Jesus is, that the great manifestation of God is made.

The goal of Bible study is not to grain greater knowledge of Scripture, or to grow spiritually, or to simply be able to check off that item on your daily list of things to do. It is to know God and his Son, Jesus Christ. By “knowing”, I am not referring to an intellectual event, but the intimate exchange of one’s life with the Almighty whereby love is deepened, obedience is practiced, and faith is expanded.

That is when searching the Scripture leads to eternal life.

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, may my study of your Word always lead me to greater intimacy, obedience and love. May I not simply grow more knowledgeable of the Bible—may I grow more knowledgeable of you.
Posted on

How God’s Power Operates

Divine Transformation Requires Human Cooperation

Whether it’s healing, deliverance or salvation, God’s power, to be experienced, always demands our response. That response is called faith. As William Barclay said, “The power of God never dispenses with the effort of man.” In other words, divine power is released to have its full effect in our lives when our will engages God’s work. Now to be clear, our will doesn’t create God’s power, it just opens the spigot for that power to flow. So risk bending your will to God’s work; perhaps today it will create conditions for Divine power to turn your malady into a miracle.

The Journey: John 5:3-8

A great number of disabled people used to lie at the Pool of Bethesda—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

The pool of Bethesda was where sick people—the infirmed, the blind, the lame, the paralyzed—would wait for the water to stir. There was a belief that when the water was moved, either by a natural phenomenon or by some sort of act of God, the sick and lame could experience curative powers if only they could get into the water.

One paralyzed man had waited thirty-eight years to get into the water at just the right moment, but in all those years, he had never been able to get into the pool at just the right time. Now Jesus knew he had been there a long time holding out for healing, yet in verse 6, he asks, “Do you want to get well?” The guy is paralyzed—for four decades he’s totally dependent on others—and Jesus asks him if he wants to be healed. Really! Doesn’t that seem a bit insensitive of Jesus?

But it’s not at all insensitive. Jesus’ one desire was restoring lost sheep to the Good Shepherd’s care—so insensitivity this can’t be. Obviously, there is more here than meets the eye: this is about how Divine power operates. Whether it’s healing, deliverance or salvation, God’s power, to be experienced, always demands our response. That response is called faith. So any time Jesus acts “harshly”, he’s just doing what’s needed to move a person to respond to God in faith.

In this story, we see that pattern: Jesus sparks the man’s faith by asking if he really wants healing. It could have been that the guy had grown accustomed to his condition, strange as that may sound. Think about it: others took care of him, so a healing would mess with that nice convenience: He would now have to work for a living, he would need to care for himself, and he would now be expected to contribute to society.

But his response was quick and certain. Yeah, he wanted to be healed; he was ready for the change, and all that change would require in his life.

Being ready for change—and willing to cooperate in it—is critical to God’s work in us, since Divine transformation won’t happen without human cooperation. The pre-condition for your miracle is willingness to abandon whatever paralysis has grown up around your need by taking that risky step of faith:

Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. (John 5: 8-9)

William Barclay said, “The power of God never dispenses with the effort of man.” In asking the lame man to “get up”, Jesus was saying, “grab your will, reject your paralysis and exercise your faith to cooperate with God’s work.” Divine power is released to have its full effect in our lives when our will engages God’s work.

Now to be clear, our will doesn’t create God’s power, it just opens the spigot for that power to flow. “Get up” was what catalyzed the human faith needed to activate Divine power in the lame man. And as he bent his will to accommodate Jesus’ command, power happened—and so did one of the outstanding miracles of the Bible.

So what does that mean for you today? How about this: Risk bending your will to God’s work; perhaps today it will create conditions for Divine power to turn your malady into a miracle.

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, I want to be whole. So I bend my will to your work. Now I ask that you would release your power through this prayer of faith to do in me what I cannot do for myself. Heal me! Deliver me! Save me to the uttermost!
Posted on

Designer Deity Syndrome

Beware of Made to Order Worship

As Newsweek Magazine said of many modern American worshipers, “They’ve developed a pick and choose Christianity in which individuals take what they want and pass over what does not fit their spiritual goals…” That is what we might call, “designer god syndrome.” They want to worship a god made in their image, to their specifications. But nothing could be further from the “spirit and truth” worshiper that Jesus said God the Father is seeking. When it comes to God, and the way you worship him, you need to start saying, “God, what do you want?” Me too! As Jack Hayford says, “Worship changes the worshiper into the image of the One worshiped,” not vice versa.

The Journey: 4:21-24

Jesus replied, “Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”

This Samaritan woman that Jesus encountered at the well of Sychar was suffering from what I call “designer deity syndrome”. This was a fairly common syndrome among worshipers not only in Jesus’ day, but in ours as well. It occurs when we attempt to come to God on our terms rather than his; when we make worship more about us, and what we like, than about God, and what he likes; when, in effect, we recreate God in our image rather than approaching him as beings created in his image.

That was the problem with the worship of the Samaritans. They had corrupted worship to fit their own needs to the point Jesus said, “You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship.” (John 4:22, NLT) They had become Burger King worshipers. Do you remember the old Burger King advertisement? “Hold the pickle, hold the lettuce, special orders don’t upset us. Have it your way.”

That little jingle is fitting for what we modern day “Samaritans” are doing with our experience of worship. We love a customized church experience. We expect worship services to be tailor-made just for us. We expect the praise, programs and preaching to satisfy our preferences. We want church designed to meet our needs, music tuned to our exact tastes, preachers crafted to our specifications, messages that mesmerize, and a made to order God—a “Burger King God” who says, “Have it your way”.

Some time ago, Los Angeles Magazine ran an article called “God For Sale”. The author said, “It is no surprise that when today’s affluent young professionals return to church they want to do it only on their own terms. But what is amazing is how far the churches are going to oblige them.” Newsweek Magazine added, “They’ve developed a pick and choose Christianity in which individuals take what they want and pass over what does not fit their spiritual goals…” That’s “designer god syndrome”.

Nothing can be further from the “spirit and truth” worshiper of verse 24 that Jesus said God the Father is seeking. When it comes to God, and the way you worship him, you need to start saying, “Have it your way”. Me too! As Jack Hayford says, “Worship changes the worshiper into the image of the One worshiped.”

If you will learn what it means to do that, you will drink water from an altogether different kind of well—and you will never thirst again, as Jesus told the Samaritans in John 4:14,

Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

Honestly evaluate your worship expectations. Do you approach worship asking God how he prefers your worship? Or do you tell God, albeit in not so many words, “this is how I want it”? If it is the latter, a little repentance is in order.

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, in my life and in my worship, I want what you want. I want you to have it your way. I want to be numbered among those who are the kind of worshipers you are seeking—a true spirit and truth worshiper.
Posted on

You Complete Me

That Can Only Be True of God

It is typical that in our age we go from experience to experience, job to job, purchase to purchase and relationship to relationship, hoping that that next great thing will be what finally brings us fulfillment. But here’s the deal: If you are looking to a thing, or job, or another person to fulfill you, you are putting an expectation on something or someone that they cannot meet. When you live in that kind of pattern, your life will end up as one long, futile attempt to find completion. Only God can satisfy the deepest desires of your being.

The Journey: 4:16-18

“Go and get your husband,” Jesus told her. “I don’t have a husband,” the woman replied. Jesus said, “You’re right! You don’t have a husband—for you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now.”

An entire book could be written about this story of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well of Sychar. For instance, a whole chapter could be written from this story just about the inclusiveness of the Kingdom of God as Jesus invites a despised outsider to be a fully participating kingdom insider. Another chapter could lay out a master blueprint for starting spiritual conversations with anyone from an authentic seeker to a theological weirdo. Jesus was absolutely masterful in connecting with this woman in a current need she had and then taking her to a place spiritually that she wasn’t expecting. And of course, several chapters could present a compelling theology of worship from what Jesus says just in these few verses—a much needed theological reset to what is tantamount to idolatrous worship that has infected too much of the church in western culture today.

But at the end of the day, what you will find is that any encounter with Jesus doesn’t simply warm your heart to the Kingdom of God or perfect your evangelistic technique or inform your theology or just cram more spiritual information into your head, it touches the true condition of your heart. That is what happened to the woman at the well.

This sinful Samaritan sister is like a lot of people in our society today, even in our churches, who are attempting makeovers, not only of the physical kind, but of the whole-life kind. Like this lady, so many people are profoundly unhappy, dissatisfied, empty on the inside and are trying to reset their lives by filling that missing void. But any makeover effort that isn’t God-initiated, God-empowered, and God-focused, is akin to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

In this woman’s case, she’d gone from man to man, hoping the next would be better—but each relationship left her increasingly dissatisfied, damaged and desperate. What Jesus was telling her was that she didn’t need a man to complete her, she didn’t need just a “relationship makeover”, she needed a new “water source” (John 4:13-15, NLT)—she needed a brand new life.

This woman is really a mirror of our age. We go from experience to experience, job to job, purchase to purchase and relationship to relationship, hoping that that next great thing will be what finally brings us fulfillment. But here’s the deal: If you are looking to a thing, or job, or another person to fulfill you, you are putting an expectation on something or someone that they cannot meet. When you live in that kind of pattern, your life will end up as one long, futile attempt to find completion.

Remember the gushy line from the movie that all the romantics swooned over: “You complete me”? That sounds so romantic that it has to be true. It’s not! It is one of the Enemy’s great deceptions. What Jesus was saying to this Samaritan woman—and by extension, to you and me—is that only God can complete you. When you come to God for completion, then those unrealistic expectations that you have placed on position, possessions and people will be removed, and only then can you drink the living water and never thirst again. C.S. Lewis said,

When I have learnt to love God better than my earthly dearest, I shall love my earthly dearest better than I do now…. When first things are put first, second things are not suppressed but increased.

The bottom line to this story—and to your life and mine—is simply this: We find real completion only in God.

Honestly evaluate your expectations of possession, position and people. Are you looking to them as your primary source of happiness and fulfillment? If you are, bring those misplaced expectations to God, and ask him to fulfill the desires of your heart. He has promised to do just that! (Psalm 37:4-5)

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, you and only you complete me. You are what I most want, and you are what I most need. Deliver me from the false hopes I put in people, events and things, and cause a passion to burn in me for you only.
Posted on

God So Loved … You!

For the Bible Tells Me So

If you ever have doubts about God’s unconditional, unstoppable love for you, just remember, there is a cross that stands as a continual reminder of how deeply loved you are. You see, on that cross, when Jesus stretched out his arms wide on the crossbeam, it was as if he were saying, “I love you this much!” Then he bowed his head, and died—for you. And the Bible tells us that there is nothing today or tomorrow or ever that can separate you from that love. Let the power of God’s love absolutely, profoundly change your life today!

The Journey: John 3:16

For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16—it’s the whole Bible in just one verse. The verse is so simple that any child can memorize it, yet it is so infinitely profound and irresistibly powerful that it can totally, radically transform your life. That’s right, this verse is not just an amazing statement about God’s universal love for all mankind, it is about God’s personal love for you!

God so loved the world, but he didn’t just look at it as one big mass of nameless faces. When he looked at the world and loved it, he was looking at you. Max Lucado, who wrote an entire book just on John 3:16, said, “If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning.”

God has a crazy love for you! He really does. St. Augustine, the Bishop of Hippo in North Africa, one of the most influential figures in church history, said: “God loves each and every one of us as if there were only one of us.” Think about that: If you were the only person on this planet, God would have loved you so much that he still would have given Jesus to die for your sins. There would still be John 3:16 if you were the sole human ever created and had fallen from God’s grace.

One of my favorite authors, Brennan Manning, told the story of an Irish priest on a walking tour of his rural parish, and he happened upon an old peasant man kneeling by the roadside, praying. The priest was impressed: “You must be very close to God.”

The peasant looked up from his prayers, thought for a moment, and smiled, “Yes, he’s very fond of me.” This simple man had a profound sense that he was loved by God, and that was all that mattered! From that story, Manning developed a personal declaration: “I am the one Jesus loves.”

That is in no way arrogant; it is actually quite Biblical. The Apostle John identified himself throughout his Gospel as “the one Jesus loved.” That came to be John’s primary identity in life. If you were to ask John, “Tell me about yourself,” he wouldn’t have said, ‘Well, I’m a disciple, an apostle, and the author of this incredible Gospel.” Rather, John would have simply said, “I’m the one Jesus loves.”

Now if John could think of himself that way, so can you. John 3:6 gives you permission. Charles Spurgeon wrote,

We have a share in the special love of Jesus. We see evidences of that love…in the precious blood that He so freely shed for us…Behold how He loves us!

I hope you’ll practice remembering that this today: “Behold how He loves us!”

Yes, you are the one Jesus loves!

If you are still doubting that God could love you, just remember, the cross is a continual reminder that when Jesus stretched out his arms on that wooden crossbeam, it was as if he were saying, “I love you this much!” Then he bowed his head, and died. And there is nothing today that can separate you from that love.

So why not let the power of God’s love absolutely, profoundly change your life today!

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, you love me, this I know. The Bible tells me so. I choose to believe it, I receive it, and I will live in the reality of that love today, tomorrow, and every day for the rest of my life and all eternity. I am the one you love!
Posted on

How To Get Into Heaven

Clue: Not By Being Rich, Respectable or Religious

Nicodemus was a person who did the right spiritual things, knew the right spiritual language, had gained everyone’s spiritual admiration, but was still spiritually empty because he was still spiritually lost! That’s why Jesus said, “Nicodemus, you must be born again.” Jesus was simply saying that human beings must have two birthdays to get to heaven. We must have a physical birthday and we must have a spiritual birthday. Which begs the question, have you been born again? If not, then I would encourage you to personally invite Jesus Christ to be your Savior – the forgiver of your sins, and your Lord – the ruler of your life.

The Journey: John 3:1-3

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

Nicodemus was a very bright man. He had given himself to much study and he’d grown quite famous as a teacher, but he had little wisdom as to how to be in right standing with God. He knew a lot about God, but he didn’t know God.

Nicodemus was rich. Tradition tells us that he was one of the three richest men in Jerusalem. But how much a person has does not change who they are! You can have plenty of money, lots of fame, an enviable place in life, but it doesn’t change the fact that you are still a sinner in need of a Savior!

Nicodemus was not only rich, he was respectable. He was a member of the Sanhedrin, the prestigious ruling spiritual body of Israel. He was a rabbi. Jesus refers to him in verse 10 as “Israel’s teacher”, which suggests that he had attained celebrity as a master communicator. However, what you’ve achieved doesn’t change who you are before God. The truth is, hell will be populated with a lot of respected people, because admiration, though not necessarily a bad thing, does not equal salvation!

Nicodemus was rich, respectable, and he was religious. He was a Pharisee! He kept the Mosaic Law to the smallest detail. He was morally pure to a degree that you and I can’t imagine! But religion doesn’t redeem the heart; religious ritual is not the same as right relationship with God. Titus 3:5 reminds us, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us….”

Nicodemus was a person who did all the right spiritual things, knew all the right spiritual language, had gained everyone’s spiritual admiration, but was still empty on the inside because he was still spiritually lost! That’s why Jesus said, “Nicodemus, you must be born again.” He is simply saying that human beings must have two birthdays to get to heaven. We must have a physical birthday and we must have a spiritual birthday.

Jesus uses the picture of physical birth to point out the need for spiritual birth because of the obvious comparisons. To begin with, physical birth provides life. All babies have life because they are born! Likewise, spiritual life cannot begin until spiritual birth occurs. Not only that, physical birth means a brand new start. No baby is born with a past! They only have a future! So it is with the spiritual birth. When you get saved, you get a brand new start. Your past is wiped away and the future begins! That’s why Paul writes in II Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

Most profoundly, physical birth takes place because of the suffering of another. A mother literally, through the pain of childbirth, comes close to death in order to bring life into this world. Jesus didn’t come close to death—he experienced death so that you and I might be born again. Spiritual birth rests squarely upon the pain and suffering of another!

So what does that mean? It means that salvation requires a new beginning. Not just a reformation of your flesh, but a rebirth from death to life. It means that someone else had to die so that you could be reborn. That’s why you can’t do it on your own. It only comes through depending on the complete and adequate supply of God’s saving love through Christ’s suffering for your salvation. It means because of Christ’s adequacy, you can have a brand new beginning and an unending future with God.

Have you been born again? If you haven’t, I would suggest that you pray the Simple Prayer below. If you will pray it from your heart, you will be born again!

A man can eat his dinner without understanding exactly how food nourishes him. A man can accept what Christ has done without knowing how it works: indeed, he certainly would not know how it works until he has accepted it. ~C.S. Lewis

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, I confess that I am a sinner. Please forgive me. I repent of my sins and turn to you. I believe that you sent your Son to die on the cross for my sins, and he rose again from the tomb to make me right with you and to give me eternal life. So I invite him to come into my heart as Lord and Savior.
Posted on

The Divine Bouncer

In the new economy of the Kingdom of God, the church has replaced the Jewish temple as the dwelling place of God in the earth. Of course, that refers more to a people than a place—yet both people and place are the church. What would Jesus see in your church—in you, in your brothers and sisters in the local community of Christ, and in the activities that take place in your church building? If zeal for God’s house still consumes Jesus, I have a sense that each, both people of worship and places of worship, are due for a little divine house cleaning.

The Journey: John 2:13-17

When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

“Zeal for God’s house will consume me.” I have always enjoyed this story of Jesus cleansing the temple. I love the robust image it paints of him. It stands in stark contrast to most of the historical paintings as well as the more recent images we get from the portrayal of Jesus by filmmakers. For some reason, artists from the Renaissance on up to this very day have given us a softer Jesus—tender, doe-eyed, almost porcelain-like.

That is not the Jesus of John 2:13-16.

It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money. Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables. Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!”

Jesus doesn’t appear all that soft in this encounter, does he? I’d say he opened up a can of comeuppance on these merchants of religion, and no one dared stop him. Go down to your local Saturday Market and do that, and see what happens. People typically don’t take too kindly to having their economic systems so abruptly disrupted.

Jesus was different. He was right—and people knew it. His anger was one of righteous indignation and holy zeal for the House of the Lord. This kind of house cleaning was long overdue, and if they didn’t overtly cheer him on, inside the worshippers were secretly applauding.

Now as much as we enjoy this story, it really is incomplete if we don’t fast-forward to our time and ask how Jesus would respond if he walked into our church today. How much zeal would Jesus express for his body, the temple of the Holy Spirit, the church? How much holy fire and righteous indignation would he display for that which he suffered and died to redeem?

You see, in the new economy of the Kingdom of God, the church has replaced the temple as the dwelling place of God in the earth. Of course, that refers more to a people than a place—yet both people and place are the church. What would Jesus see in your church—in you, in your brothers and sisters in the local community of Christ, and in the activities that take place in your church building? I have a sense that each, both people of worship and places of worship, are due for a little divine house cleaning.

Here’s what I would suggest: How about we get started before the Lord of the church has to show up and do it for us!

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, fill my belly with holy fire for your house. Let it consume me as it does you. Zeal not only for the physical house in which your people gather, but also in this house made up of body, soul and spirit, in which your Spirit dwells.