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This blog is a part of a blog series called “The Heart of a Worshipper” series, or HWS. My prayer is that you will be blessed and transformed as you grow in your own worship of the King of Kings.

“Heart, Soul, Mind & Strength” Worship, Part 2

In Part 1, we began to look at Warren Wiersbe’s definition of Worship:

“Worship is the believer’s response of all that they are – mind, emotions, will, and body – to what God is and says and does. This response has its mystical side in subjective experience and it’s practical side in objective obedience to God’s revealed will. Worship is a loving response that’s balanced by the fear of the Lord, and it is a deepening response as the believer comes to know God better. And what should be the result of all this? Transformation.”
     (page 26, Real Worship)

The blog title came from comparing Wiersbe’s definition with Mark 12:30:

Today we want to look at what it means to worship God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.

With All My Heart and Soul (Emotions and Will)
Good worship defies description because it is a time when we experience the indescribable God. Psalm 34:8 says “Taste and see that the LORD is good.” I don’t know about you, but that has always seemed kind of strange to me. “Taste and see.” It speaks of both the experiential and the objective. Have you ever tried to describe how something very unique tastes? Well, our God is unique in the truest sense of the word – there is none like Him. Or how about describing to someone who’s never been in love what it feels like to fall in love. There are many words that you might use, but none are adequate to convey the experience. Similarly, true worship often defies adequate description. It includes adoration and subjectively experiencing the Presence of God or hearing the Voice of God.

In the first blog in this series, I quoted William Temple, the archbishop of Canterbury in the 1940s. He describes adoration as “the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin.” I can’t be sure, but I’m guessing that you’re a lot like me and you could use some of that remedy for self-centeredness.

How should our emotions be involved in worship? We worship God because He is worthy and because He commands us to, not because it makes us feel good or because it’s fun (even though it is fun and it does make us feel good!). True worship must begin with the character of God. True worship involves a revelation of who God is – the Holy Spirit reveals God’s nature and character to us and we are compelled to worship Him. It’s not an emotional thing, it’s our response to the truth of God’s nature and character.

Our response should involve our emotions, however, because one can’t look upon the nature and character of God without responding emotionally. To hold back those emotions or to deny them is being dishonest with ourselves and God. It also cheapens our worship. Our emotions are part of what it means to be created “in the image of God”. We worship and serve an emotional God – not one who is ruled by His emotions, but certainly one who experiences them. To deny our emotions is to respond dishonestly to what the Spirit is revealing to us. But worship isn’t based on our emotions or how we’re feeling; it’s based on the character and nature of God.

With All My Mind and Strength
Some friends were discussing some doctrinal issues and differences. I made a comment about sometimes becoming frustrated with discussions about seemingly minor points of doctrine that have no practical application. One of them appropriately corrected me, saying “But Sandy, this is loving God with our mind.” He wasn’t saying that arguing about doctrinal differences is OK; rather that honest discussions about what Scripture teaches sharpens our knowledge and understanding of it. 2 Timothy 2:15 says “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. (NASB)

We love God with our minds by studying Scripture (even those parts that seem to us to have no practical application), by memorizing it so that we can carry it with us, by meditating on it so that God can reveal the full meaning of it to us, and by discussing it with others. I think it brings a smile to God’s face and a warmth to His heart when His children excitedly discuss His word. After all, He wrote it. Scripture tells us that ” All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17, NIV)

But it’s not study, study, study all the time…there comes a time to implement what we learn! Wiersbe describes this as the “practical side” of worship – “obedience to God’s revealed will.” Phil and I often jokingly say to one another “If you really loved me you’d ____________.” We fill in the blank with whatever chore it is that we don’t want to do at the time – wash the dishes, visit a client, be the first one to get out of bed and into the shower! We’re joking, because we know that our love isn’t conditional upon doing those things. But there is also truth in the statement. When we love someone, we do things to please and help them. Those actions demonstrate or show our love.

In the Lord, that means that we are obedient to God’s revealed will. What is God’s revealed will? It’s first and foremost the whole of Scripture and secondarily those things that He has revealed to use as His will for our lives (such as being called to teach Children’s Church or participate on a worship team or lead a small group). It sometimes seems like the equivalent of washing the dishes for the one you love, but when it’s done out of love and devotion to God, the “chore” becomes an act of adoration.

Heart, Soul, Mind and Strength Worship…Brings Transformation
True worship also must touch God’s holiness. Returning to Weirsbe’s definition, “Worship is a loving response that’s balanced by the fear of the Lord, and it is a deepening response as the believer comes to know God better.” No matter how near we draw to God, our worship must remain authentic (real) and respectful. God is not fooled by displays of worship that do not come from repentant and loving heart. As we worship God in holiness and truth, He reveals more of Himself to us. He allows us to gaze upon His beauty and to experience His love in a greater way. This evokes in us a deeper response in us.

Scientists have proven that looking at a picture of someone we are passionately in love with releases the same chemical in our brain that causes a person to become addicted to drugs. When we are in love with Jesus, gazing upon His face can have the same affect! I want nothing more than to become addicted to Jesus! I want my worship of the Lord to be “all gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable.” True worship brings us to the point of surrendering all that we are and all that we have to God’s purpose. That’s the transformation that Warren Wiersbe talks about.

It’s the transformation that Paul talks about in Romans 12:1-2. Notice that this is a passage about worship:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will. (italics mine)

Lord, Help Us to Worship You
Worship has both an experiential and an objective element. So we pray, Lord, free our minds and our emotions to respond as You would have us respond. Give us a willingness to be touched by You in worship, both experientially and objectively.

Worship is based on God’s revealed nature and character; it touches God’s beauty, His holiness and His heart. So we ask: Holy Spirit, reveal more of God’s nature and character to us. Lord, we ask that you reveal Your beauty and holiness to us. We ask that You show us Your heart. Give us Your heart, Lord.

True Worship requires that our total devotion and attention focused on God. So Lord, we ask for your help. We confess that we are easily distracted, and we don’t want to be. We want to focus on You and You alone.

This blog is a part of a blog series called “The Heart of a Worshipper” series, or HWS. My prayer is that you will be blessed and transformed as you grow in your own worship of the King of Kings.

“Heart, Soul, Mind & Strength” Worship, Part 1

What is worship? That’s a question that I continually return to in my own study of the subject. If we were to survey the congregation asking for a definition of worship, I’m confident we’d get many different answers. A previous blog in this series focused on Eugene Peterson’s definition, in which he encourages us to “interrupt our preoccupation with ourselves and attend to the presence of God.” Peterson spurs me on to deny myself in pursuit of God (and that’s a good thing!).

Another favorite definition of mine comes from the excellent book Real Worship by Warren Wiersbe. Wiersbe’s definition begins much as God’s first commandment does and continues through to the end result of worship:

“Worship is the believer’s response of all that they are – mind, emotions, will, and body – to what God is and says and does. This response has its mystical side in subjective experience and it’s practical side in objective obedience to God’s revealed will. Worship is a loving response that’s balanced by the fear of the Lord, and it is a deepening response as the believer comes to know God better. And what should be the result of all this? Transformation.”
     (page 26, Real Worship)

In eighty words, Wiersbe:

1. Defines worship (first sentence);
2. Explains what it looks like (second sentence);
3. Addresses a major area of confusion in worship – loving the Lord vs. fearing Him (third sentence);
4. And defines what the result is (fourth and fifth sentences).

He has my vote for being able to pack a lot of meaning into eighty words! Let’s look at each of these points.

What is Worship?
Wiersbe’s definition of worship mirrors Jesus’ exhortation to us to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30) Look at the similarities:

Jesus introduced us to wholehearted devotion to the Lord. He said “Give it all you’ve got; don’t hold anything back.”

Jesus wants our heart – our emotions. But not just our emotions because He knows that we can be quite fickle. He also wants our will – our commitment to follow Him even when we don’t feel like it. He doesn’t expect us to follow Him blindly, He’s give us minds with which to evaluate His claims and the claims of others. He wants us to study Him and His Words, to engage our minds. Yet He doesn’t want only our love and our commitment to follow Him and our engaged mind seeking Him, He also wants our bodies – He wants us engaged in acts of service.

Wiersbe goes on to explain how these four elements (heart, soul, mind and strength or emotions, will, mind and body) interact. He points out that true worship is both experiential (mystical) and objective (practical).

A question I frequently ask myself is this: “Does my worship reflect Mark 12:30? Am I worshipping God with my whole heart (or my emotions), with my whole soul, with all my mind, and with all my strength?” Sometimes I answer that question too easily – a quick “yes” or “of course” – because I don’t really evaluate the question, I just answer it. To avoid this automatic response I sometimes ask the question a bit differently: “What am I doing that reveals that I am worshipping God with my whole heart? What evidence is there that I am worshipping God with all my emotions? How am I worshipping God with my mind? In what ways am I worshipping God with all my strength?”

Think about it for awhile…tomorrow I’ll blog “Part 2″  of “Heart, Soul, Mind & Strength” Worship. See you then!

This blog is the second in a new series of blogs called “The Heart of a Worshipper” series, or HWS. You’ll find the first article here. My prayer is that you will be blessed and transformed as you grow in your own worship of the King of Kings.

Deliberate Attentiveness to God
You won’t find a definition of worship in Scripture, but you will find a first commandment:

Thou shalt have no other God’s before me.
          Deuteronomy 5:7

You’ll also find the exhortation by Jesus (quoting the Old Testament) to:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
           (see Deuteronomy 6:4-5, Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30, Luke 10:27).

These Scriptures are at the heart of worship and must be in the forefront of a worshipper’s mind.

I find it pretty easy to put my own needs, wants and desires before God; I find it pretty easy to love God with only a portion of my heart, soul, mind and strength, reserving the rest for my own pursuits. True worship, however, begins and ends with the Lord. He and he alone is our audience. When our focus is on ourselves or others (or what others think of us), our worship turns into performance and then quickly becomes religion. Our worship ought to always be for an audience of only One, the Lord.

It doesn’t seem to matter whether I’m singing, praying, meditating on Scripture or listening for God’s voice during worship, though, I find that focusing completely on the Lord (and not on my wants, needs and desires) can be a challenge. It requires discipline. I include sign language in my worship to the Lord because it helps me to stay focused on Him and on the words of the song I’m singing to Him. Christ alone deserves my attention in worship.

Eugene Peterson, author of The Message paraphrase of the Bible, includes a definition of worship in his book Leap Over a Wall that addresses my proclivity to be more concerned about my agenda than about God. His definition begins like this:

“Worship is the strategy by which we interrupt our preoccupation with ourselves and attend to the presence of God….” 
          Eugene Peterson

I like this definition so much because it goes right to the heart of the matter – that I need to interrupt my preoccupation with myself. This tells me that the very act of worship works in me the process of dying to self. It helps me to make John the Baptist’s statement “He must increase and I must decrease” a reality in my life. Worship strikes at the root of my self-centeredness. As I learn to “attend to the presence of God”, the fleshly “me-first” response that is in me is cut away. Worship transforms me by creating in me a heart and mind that thinks of God first instead of me first.

This is what Eugene Peterson is saying. Let’s look at his entire definition:

“Worship is the strategy by which we interrupt our preoccupation with ourselves and attend to the presence of God. Worship is the time and place that we assign for deliberate attentiveness to God – not because He’s confined to time and place but because our self-importance is so insidiously relentless that if we don’t deliberately interrupt ourselves regularly, we have no chance of attending to Him at all at other times and in other places.”

The words and phrases Peterson uses in this definition are so strong: I must “interrupt” my “preoccupation” with myself and set aside time for “deliberate attentiveness” to God because my preoccupation with myself is “insidiously relentless.” I’m afraid that this is a true statement. My preoccupation with myself is insidiously relentless. If I’m not proactive to set aside a time and place for worship it doesn’t happen. Furthermore, if I’m not deliberate in my attentiveness to God during those times, I might as well spend the time watching television!

Being deliberately attentive means that we must be participants in worship, not spectators. It’s not enough to come to a place where others are bringing their offering. We must bring our own offering and personally give that offering to our Lord. To do less is to miss the mark.

Perhaps you’ll join me in this prayer as you set aside time for personal worship this week or join others in worship next Sunday:

Lord, I want to love you with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. Please break into my preoccupation with myself and help me attend to Your presence. Begin (or continue) the process of transformation today, Lord. Cut away my self-centeredness. Circumcise my heart, Lord.

Scriptures teaches that Jesus suffered greatly on the night he was crucified. Read about some of his suffering:

Then they spit in Jesus’ face and hit him with their fists. And some slapped him, 
          Matthew 26:67

They made a crown of long, sharp thorns and put it on his head, and they placed a stick in his right hand as a scepter. Then they knelt before him in mockery, yelling, “Hail! King of the Jews!” And they spit on him and grabbed the stick and beat him on the head with it.
          Matthew 27:29-30

Then some of them began to spit at him, and they blindfolded him and hit his face with their fists. “Who hit you that time, you prophet?” they jeered. And even the guards were hitting him as they led him away.
          Mark 14:65

As they led Jesus away, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country just then, was forced to follow Jesus and carry his cross.
          Luke 23:26

Even the guards were hitting him…he wasn’t being punched in the face by people like me who throw wimpy punches. He was being punched in the face by Roman guards. Can you even begin to imagine how disfigured He must have been?

In an Easter devotional from a number of years ago, Chuck Missler makes the conjecture that the reason He wasn’t recognized after His resurrection was in part because he was so disfigured.  His beard half torn out and a scarred face. Maybe He even walked with a limp.

I have a large scar on my arm. I haven’t done anything to reduce it’s ugly appearance, because to me, it is a constant memory of God’s goodness to me at a time when I could have lost much of the use of my arm. I would rather carry the scar than have a “perfect” arm. The scar is more beautiful to me.

I have long been convinced that what we consider to be beautiful is vastly different from what God considers to be beautiful. Not in all ways, certainly. I’m sure he considers the same beautiful sunset you and I admire to be beautiful. But I also think He considers the scars of His saints beautiful. I think that we, His bride, are often most beautiful to Him when we are battle-scarred but have persevered; when we show the signs of one who has relentlessly taken the blows of the enemy and stood firm in Christ.

Missler says in his article “that the only man-made things in heaven are His [Jesus'] scars.” And yet, “the marks of His humiliation are also the marks of His glory.” Without the scars and the crucifixion, there would be no resurrection. Jesus’ glory is His willingness to die on the cross to save us. God’s glory is Jesus’ resurrection after His death on the cross.

Beloved, today is Easter – Resurrection Sunday. Christ has risen! He has risen, indeed! He has risen, carrying the scars for your sin and mine, so that we might also rise. His love for us goes beyond anything we have ever experienced or can imagine. Trust Him today with your life.

¹Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. ²Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. ³Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”⁴Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.⁵He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. ⁶Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
         Mark 3:1-6 (NIV)

It occurs to me that if we’re looking for a reason to accuse someone, even the best of actions will give us a reason. Jesus was being compassionate. The Pharisees were “looking for a reason to accuse” Him. He healed the man’s shriveled hand and they “began to plot…how they might kill” Him.

How very sad. But I recognize that within me, when I have anything against someone (which I ought not to have, but that’s another story), in my heart there is a stubbornness that causes me to look for reasons to accuse them. And then actions born out of their very best intentions become reasons to accuse. Even actions with the most positive outcomes become reasons to accuse.

Lord, open my eyes to the darkness of my heart. I want to be a person who chooses to love, not look for reasons to accuse. Help me to always protect, always trust and always hope (1 Corinthians 13:7). Help me to grow in love.

³If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. ¹¹When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. ¹²Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
               1 Corinthians 13:3-13 (NIV)

The Israelites are Moving On & So Are We

Well, as we just read in Genesis, Joseph’s family joined him in Egypt. Seventy of them, it reiterates in Exodus 1:5. But after a time, the current Pharaoh that Joseph had served died. And the Israelites multipled rapidly. And the new Pharaoh believed the Israelites were a threat to them. So he enslaved them.

You’ll read about all that in Exodus 1. Then you’ll read about how God hears the cry of his people and raises up someone to lead them out of slavery. That someone is Moses. The first half of Exodus is dedicated to the Israelites gaining their freedom from the Egyptians. The second half is dedicated to God teaching the Israelites how to be a people led by God. There is much we can learn about being a people led by God as we read the book of Exodus.

 We’ll also read the gospel of Mark. Most scholars believe that Mark was the first gospel to be written. Luke (and the book of Acts) were written shortly after Mark’s gospel was written. Then came the gospel of Matthew.

In January, we read Matthew’s gospel. It was written primarily to Jewish Christians — people who would already have a strong understanding of the Old Testament about A.D. 70. Mark’s gospel, on the other hand, was written primarily to Roman Christians — people who would not have such a strong understanding of our God and how He interacts with people. It was written about A.D. 64. The gosepl of Mark begins to “connect the dots” for the Roman Christians, who would have heard many stories about Jesus, but didn’t understand them in a greater context. You’ll find that it is fast-paced, moving quickly from scene to scene.

We’ll fill out the month by continuing to read in Psalms. The book of Psalms is actually broken into three sections, called books. We will complete the first book by reading through Psalm 41.

 Finally, we’ll finish the month by beginning to read the book of Esther.

Sounds like a lot of reading! We stay true to our schedule of 4-5 chapters five days a week, so it’s not nearly so overwhelming as it might sound. The daily reading plan for February is shown below.

Recommended Reading Plan for February

If you prefer to download a PDF of the plan, click here. 

To download a PDF of January’s reading schedule, click here. 

Mark 9:49 “[Jesus said] For everyone will be purified with fire.” (spoken by Jesus)

“EVERYONE will be purified with fire.” That means me. That means you. No one will escape.

“Everyone will be PURIFIED with fire.” Purify means (according to the Merriam-Webster Online dictionary) “to clear from material defilement or imperfection,” “to free from guilt or moral or ceremonial blemish,” and “to free from undesirable elements.”

“Everyone will be purified with FIRE.” Burning and painful, consuming, destroying. Even a small burn from touching a hot pan is painful. Even a light burn from spending too much time in the sun is painful. And then the burned area dies away. The word “fire” is often used to mean trials or ordeals.

What is Jesus teaching? That none of us will escape the process of being freed from material defilement, guilt and other undesirable elements. Wow! That sounds like a great promise, doesn’t it? I want to be freed from the gunk in my life! I want to be free from my attachment to material things. Yes, Lord!

“OK,” Jesus says. “The process for this is by burning it away with fire.” I shrink back and say, “But Lord, isn’t there another (easier) way?”

I want to escape the fire. I want to escape the trial. I want to avoid the unpleasantness and just live on Pleasant Lane in Friendly Town in the state of Prosperity. It’s the “life I want.” I bet you do too.

But God says that those undesirable elements in my life are not removed by life on Pleasant Lane. They are removed by fire. I can choose to live on Pleasant Lane, but I won’t be purified. And somehow I think that true joy doesn’t live on Pleasant Lane. It might visit occasionally to give me a taste of what I could have if I allowed Jesus to purify me.

You see, “burning” can also mean something else – it can mean passionate, as in “burning desire.” When we choose to follow Jesus and making Him our one true, burning desire, He will purify us. He will set us free from the bondage we cling to (life, the way we want it). He knows that the bondage we cling to is the very thing that keeps us from experiencing true joy. Life, the way I want it, is too self-centered and self-focused. Life the way Christ wants me to have it is freedom and courage to lay down my life and serve others. Jesus is speaking again in Mark 17:33 and says, “Whoever clings to this life will lose it, and whoever loses this life will save it.”

So what trial are you in the middle of? Rejoice, because you know it is the process Christ is using to bring freedom!