I am getting ready to enter into the time freeze of the Christmas season. Our Christmas eve services are upon us and I really look forward to a night of sharing the season with everyone. I think we are in a good place as a church. There is kind of a new buzz in the air right now- a sense of joy and real purpose. That's a God thing.
My prayer is that your next year really is new. I pray that you will start thinking new thoughts, dreaming new dreams and like Joseph and Mary you will dare to believe God for the most outlandish miracles and that they will take you in the most unexpected directions.
I pray that our church this next year will become more missional, more "LP2C" oriented. I pray that something completely unexpected and new will happen, and that we will all look back and say "wow- God does immeasurably more than we could ask or even imagine!"
I pray that God does a new thing in our IMB and in our convention. I have a growing confidence that a grass roots movement is starting to form and that people from around the country are beginning to stand up and say "it is time for some new thinking!" I am praying for new wineskins
Too many people get stuck in the same thought patterns, thinking the same thoughts over and over again. They continually loop around to a fixation on old ideas. Let this never happen to us. The word "disciple" means "learner". When we stop learning, we are no longer disciples.
So I pray that we will learn some new and incredible things next year! Let's dare to be different and to think new thoughts and dream new dreams. Let's join God in His creativity and make the next year a NEW one!
P.S.- my son wants all of you to come out and support the CRBC 14 year old basketball team that plays on Saturday nights at the Lighthouse. Last year they were the "CRBC squirrels" and never won a game. This year, they have changed their name to "THE RAGE" and last Saturday won their first game! Rock on raging squirrels!
Friday, December 23, 2005
Thursday, December 15, 2005
imb and baptism
As many of you know, I am a trustee with the International Mission Board- the largest missions sending organization in the world. From time to time I will speak of IMB issues on this blog.
I will tell you straight up that what the board is doing around the world is breathtaking. The IMB is perhaps the most effective missionary organization with on of the most effective strategies in the history of Christianity. I am extremely proud of what we are doing and believe wholeheartedly in our staff and board. I believe Jerry Rankin is doing a terrific job in leading this agency and have found him to be a man of great integrity, faith, prayer and vision.
Our last meeting was a hard one for me personally.
At that meeting our board passsed a couple of policies that I and others found extremely objectionable. In short, the policies will require missionary candidates to pass through a narrow gate that in my opinion is much narrower than scripture, traditional baptist doctrine or the Baptist Faith and Message (the standard measure for missionaries on the field).
The policy states in short that a missionary must have a "proper" administrator of his baptism. That unless the administrator (the one doing the baptism) is doctrinally correct (credobaptistic, belief in perseverance of the saints, non salvific) the baptism is deemed invalid even if the candidate does not hold objectionable views but sees his or her baptism as a symbol of faith, not regenerative and in every way otherwise is in full agreement with Baptist doctrine. In my opinion, the policy is saying that the hand of the administrator of the baptism is more important than the heart of the believer. The policy further states that the believer must be baptized into a church. This is not scirptural, but landmarkist.
In addition, the policies specify that the candidate cannot have a "private prayer language."
My objection to these policy decisions has three grounds:
1. Theological- I believe it is bad theology. I have spoken with many pastors I respect and trust and have not found one yet who has disagreed with me on this.
2. Practical- We are narrowing the scope of our missionary support base both by the number of candidates who will qualify and by marginalizing good mission supporting Southern Baptist churches.
3. Spiritual- I suspect the policies were born out of carnal intent.
Although this meeting and decision was a blow and dissappointing, I have been willing to lick my wounds and let it go. A firestorm among bloggers has erupted over the issue however and I feel like I should speak out. The trustees are held accountable to the trust of the convention and when a large number of Southern Baptists are asking questions and want explanations, I believe it our job to come forward with answers and to speak plainly about the issues. The winning side has put the policy in place with their explanation. I and other dissenters should put our objections out there as well.
Issues such as these have a tendency to bring clarity. It does bring to mind the need to understand the role of the church in baptism. We commonly refer to the ordinances (baptism and the Lord's Supper) as the "ordinances of the church". But it is more correct to call them the ordinances of Jesus Christ. He is the one who ordained them. We are baptized into Christ, not into "the local church". (ie: catholicism, landmarkism).
"Unless I am convinced by Scripture and by plain reason, and not by popes and councils who have so often contradicted themselves, my conscience is captive to the Word of God. To go against conscience is neither right nor safe. I cannot, and I will not, recant. Here I stand. I can do no other." - Martin Luther, Diet of Worms, 1521
I will tell you straight up that what the board is doing around the world is breathtaking. The IMB is perhaps the most effective missionary organization with on of the most effective strategies in the history of Christianity. I am extremely proud of what we are doing and believe wholeheartedly in our staff and board. I believe Jerry Rankin is doing a terrific job in leading this agency and have found him to be a man of great integrity, faith, prayer and vision.
Our last meeting was a hard one for me personally.
At that meeting our board passsed a couple of policies that I and others found extremely objectionable. In short, the policies will require missionary candidates to pass through a narrow gate that in my opinion is much narrower than scripture, traditional baptist doctrine or the Baptist Faith and Message (the standard measure for missionaries on the field).
The policy states in short that a missionary must have a "proper" administrator of his baptism. That unless the administrator (the one doing the baptism) is doctrinally correct (credobaptistic, belief in perseverance of the saints, non salvific) the baptism is deemed invalid even if the candidate does not hold objectionable views but sees his or her baptism as a symbol of faith, not regenerative and in every way otherwise is in full agreement with Baptist doctrine. In my opinion, the policy is saying that the hand of the administrator of the baptism is more important than the heart of the believer. The policy further states that the believer must be baptized into a church. This is not scirptural, but landmarkist.
In addition, the policies specify that the candidate cannot have a "private prayer language."
My objection to these policy decisions has three grounds:
1. Theological- I believe it is bad theology. I have spoken with many pastors I respect and trust and have not found one yet who has disagreed with me on this.
2. Practical- We are narrowing the scope of our missionary support base both by the number of candidates who will qualify and by marginalizing good mission supporting Southern Baptist churches.
3. Spiritual- I suspect the policies were born out of carnal intent.
Although this meeting and decision was a blow and dissappointing, I have been willing to lick my wounds and let it go. A firestorm among bloggers has erupted over the issue however and I feel like I should speak out. The trustees are held accountable to the trust of the convention and when a large number of Southern Baptists are asking questions and want explanations, I believe it our job to come forward with answers and to speak plainly about the issues. The winning side has put the policy in place with their explanation. I and other dissenters should put our objections out there as well.
Issues such as these have a tendency to bring clarity. It does bring to mind the need to understand the role of the church in baptism. We commonly refer to the ordinances (baptism and the Lord's Supper) as the "ordinances of the church". But it is more correct to call them the ordinances of Jesus Christ. He is the one who ordained them. We are baptized into Christ, not into "the local church". (ie: catholicism, landmarkism).
"Unless I am convinced by Scripture and by plain reason, and not by popes and councils who have so often contradicted themselves, my conscience is captive to the Word of God. To go against conscience is neither right nor safe. I cannot, and I will not, recant. Here I stand. I can do no other." - Martin Luther, Diet of Worms, 1521
connecting the dots
I have written about the need for celebration and community, I suppose I should explain why we use the word connection in describing our church strategy as well. Besides the obvious point that it fits the alliteration and Baptist preachers love that, it does carry some specific and powerful logic from scripture that helps us define our strategy. We are using the word connection to create specific imagery that helps us understand the importance of knowing, learning and applying God's Word with others.
Simply put, when we talk about connection we are talking about getting connected to God's Word and staying connected with the people of the Word. We are talking about loving the scriptures to the degree that we hear from God with the people of God who learn it with us and hold us accountable to it. We are connecting the dots of Gods Word to our daily life with people who are agreeing with us in the Spirit.
Therefore, a connection class is an environment where people can make connections with others and can connect to the timeless truths of God's Word. We connect with God's Word as we are connecting with others. It is different from personal Bible study in that we are learning it with others. People resonate and find joy in the Lord as they connect to other believers and as they hear from God through His Word. That pretty much sums up the connection class. Connecting to Gods Word, connecting to others.It may sound a little trite and simplistic, but this actually a very powerful process within the New Testament church. Read this scripture about the early church as an example:
They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (Acts 2:42)
Do you see it? They were connecting to the Word of God (apostles teaching) AND to the people of God (fellowship).So the New Testament church was characterized as a church where people were continually devoted (connected) to God's Word and they were staying connected to one another.
Scripture is very clear on the importance of these values. We are commanded to stay connected to Gods Word because:
I submit that unless we have multiple environments for this kind of connection, it will be difficult for people to be helped in the journey. If we are going to be true to our mission of loving people to Christ, we must move them from the big room to the small room to the living room- from celebration to connection to community to cause.
People need to connect and to stay connected to His Word, as they are connected with others who have the same goal.Think of it this way, we all need a place where we can connect with others. God has built in each of us a need for relationships and our spiritual and emotional health is dependent upon our success in finding them! We naturally seek out those places where we can find meaningful friendships.So we strive to accomplish this through our Sunday morning Connection Classes. These are well defined friendship networks where people can find great Bible Study, fellowship and good friends.
I believe people gravitate toward groups, seeking some kind of connection. We all need to see ourselves within a context. We look in the mirror and we ask, "who am I?". If we are not able to see ourselves as belonging, the effect is profound. We all seek identity with a group of people who will help us to define our place in the world. The term "get connected" is meaninful in that it states plainly a deeper need. "No man is an island", John Donne wrote with conviction. We must all be able to see ourselves as belonging to others.
There is necessary accountability and direction that comes from connection.As important as big group celebration is to our spiritual formation, it is the ability to form lasting friendships that keeps us engaged. So we call it connection because in these groups we find friendship, but we also find a connection to God's Word that guides our life. We connect the truth of God's Word to our everyday experience .
Connection is about connecting to one another and to God's Word so that we can help others on the journey and give glory to God.
Simply put, when we talk about connection we are talking about getting connected to God's Word and staying connected with the people of the Word. We are talking about loving the scriptures to the degree that we hear from God with the people of God who learn it with us and hold us accountable to it. We are connecting the dots of Gods Word to our daily life with people who are agreeing with us in the Spirit.
Therefore, a connection class is an environment where people can make connections with others and can connect to the timeless truths of God's Word. We connect with God's Word as we are connecting with others. It is different from personal Bible study in that we are learning it with others. People resonate and find joy in the Lord as they connect to other believers and as they hear from God through His Word. That pretty much sums up the connection class. Connecting to Gods Word, connecting to others.It may sound a little trite and simplistic, but this actually a very powerful process within the New Testament church. Read this scripture about the early church as an example:
They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (Acts 2:42)
Do you see it? They were connecting to the Word of God (apostles teaching) AND to the people of God (fellowship).So the New Testament church was characterized as a church where people were continually devoted (connected) to God's Word and they were staying connected to one another.
Scripture is very clear on the importance of these values. We are commanded to stay connected to Gods Word because:
- It is our very life (Deut 32:47)
- By His Word we are created and sustained (Ps 33:6, Heb 11:3)
- His Word is what saves us (1 Peter 1:23)
- We cannot live by bread alone, but by His Word (Matt 4:4; Deut 8:3)
- Our faith depends on it (John 20:31)
I submit that unless we have multiple environments for this kind of connection, it will be difficult for people to be helped in the journey. If we are going to be true to our mission of loving people to Christ, we must move them from the big room to the small room to the living room- from celebration to connection to community to cause.
People need to connect and to stay connected to His Word, as they are connected with others who have the same goal.Think of it this way, we all need a place where we can connect with others. God has built in each of us a need for relationships and our spiritual and emotional health is dependent upon our success in finding them! We naturally seek out those places where we can find meaningful friendships.So we strive to accomplish this through our Sunday morning Connection Classes. These are well defined friendship networks where people can find great Bible Study, fellowship and good friends.
I believe people gravitate toward groups, seeking some kind of connection. We all need to see ourselves within a context. We look in the mirror and we ask, "who am I?". If we are not able to see ourselves as belonging, the effect is profound. We all seek identity with a group of people who will help us to define our place in the world. The term "get connected" is meaninful in that it states plainly a deeper need. "No man is an island", John Donne wrote with conviction. We must all be able to see ourselves as belonging to others.
There is necessary accountability and direction that comes from connection.As important as big group celebration is to our spiritual formation, it is the ability to form lasting friendships that keeps us engaged. So we call it connection because in these groups we find friendship, but we also find a connection to God's Word that guides our life. We connect the truth of God's Word to our everyday experience .
Connection is about connecting to one another and to God's Word so that we can help others on the journey and give glory to God.
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
the cause of His choosing
Today I want to discuss our mission as a church. We say it many times thoughout the course of a year:
"Council Road Baptist Church exists to love all people to Christ and to help them on their journey with God and others."
This is what defines our cause as a body of Christ.
In order to understand this purpose statement, we have to begin with some theology. Many will protest that ours is an inadequate statement of purpose because after all our ONLY purpose in life really is to glorify God. "Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the Mighty, Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength, Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; Worship the Lord in holy array." Psalm 29:1-2 is just one among a multitude of versus that tell us to seek first the glory of God.
But while this is literally true, our purpose statement does not seek to be all encompasining in it's scope. To give God the glory and honor and to ascribe Him the glory due His name is an obvious point for us. It is of course our highest aim and greatest passion. Our "chief end" is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. This is a given for every believer- it should be a no-brainer.
Our statement of purpose is not an all encompassing doctrinal statement, it is instead a statement of how by His grace we intend to most effectively bring Him glory and honor on this corner of 30th and Council. It is a statement of what we believe God has called us to do as we together pursue our joy in Him. It is our personality, our temperment- it is what gives us energy.
We are saying that as each of us are called to bring Him glory and honor, that our calling becomes somewhat multi-dimensional.
An illustration from the world of science is helfpul. Physicists are now talking about a fourth dimension that is not yet realized or understood in our environment. It is a dimension that is out there in space, away from earth's gravitational pull. It is related to the forces of magnetism and the magnetic component of electromagnetic energy. In a similar way, we too experience a fourth dimension in our body life together.
“I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints”
In the Ephesians passage above, the apostle talks about the “power together with all the saints.” There is power in “together.” There is power in direction. The cause we are called to is the magnetic force and energy that moves us forward. It is our distinct calling and temperment as we work together to accomplish our purpose by His grace and for His glory. We exist as a church for this purpose: to love all people to Christ and to help them in their journey with God and each other.
We have given our lives to this mission and believe this is best accomplished as people experience the dimensions of celebration, connection, community and then ultimately are fully devoted to the cause that Christ has called us to. To understand this biblical concept on an abstract level, observe the cross and notice its spatial qualities. When one observes the cross, he is drawn to the height, the width and the depth of the love of Christ. It is difficult to comprehend the kind of compassion that would go to such a radical extreme. This is the kind of love that is energized by a divine cause- one that captures the heart of the true follower and results in a kind of consuming passion.The height, depth and width of his mission is an ever expanding dimension we have been called to.
The cross teaches us that our love and joy in His not one dimensional- it is horizontal and vertical. It also has depth and length. He challenges us to reach every corner of the world with His message- to fill up every space. The church, fulfilling all of these dimensions of love and purpose, becomes an unstoppable force moving out through time until His return. The cause we are called to is a mission of incomparable proportions!
And God placed all things under His feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way. ( Eph. 1:22-23)
"Council Road Baptist Church exists to love all people to Christ and to help them on their journey with God and others."
This is what defines our cause as a body of Christ.
In order to understand this purpose statement, we have to begin with some theology. Many will protest that ours is an inadequate statement of purpose because after all our ONLY purpose in life really is to glorify God. "Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the Mighty, Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength, Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; Worship the Lord in holy array." Psalm 29:1-2 is just one among a multitude of versus that tell us to seek first the glory of God.
But while this is literally true, our purpose statement does not seek to be all encompasining in it's scope. To give God the glory and honor and to ascribe Him the glory due His name is an obvious point for us. It is of course our highest aim and greatest passion. Our "chief end" is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. This is a given for every believer- it should be a no-brainer.
Our statement of purpose is not an all encompassing doctrinal statement, it is instead a statement of how by His grace we intend to most effectively bring Him glory and honor on this corner of 30th and Council. It is a statement of what we believe God has called us to do as we together pursue our joy in Him. It is our personality, our temperment- it is what gives us energy.
We are saying that as each of us are called to bring Him glory and honor, that our calling becomes somewhat multi-dimensional.
An illustration from the world of science is helfpul. Physicists are now talking about a fourth dimension that is not yet realized or understood in our environment. It is a dimension that is out there in space, away from earth's gravitational pull. It is related to the forces of magnetism and the magnetic component of electromagnetic energy. In a similar way, we too experience a fourth dimension in our body life together.
“I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints”
In the Ephesians passage above, the apostle talks about the “power together with all the saints.” There is power in “together.” There is power in direction. The cause we are called to is the magnetic force and energy that moves us forward. It is our distinct calling and temperment as we work together to accomplish our purpose by His grace and for His glory. We exist as a church for this purpose: to love all people to Christ and to help them in their journey with God and each other.
We have given our lives to this mission and believe this is best accomplished as people experience the dimensions of celebration, connection, community and then ultimately are fully devoted to the cause that Christ has called us to. To understand this biblical concept on an abstract level, observe the cross and notice its spatial qualities. When one observes the cross, he is drawn to the height, the width and the depth of the love of Christ. It is difficult to comprehend the kind of compassion that would go to such a radical extreme. This is the kind of love that is energized by a divine cause- one that captures the heart of the true follower and results in a kind of consuming passion.The height, depth and width of his mission is an ever expanding dimension we have been called to.
The cross teaches us that our love and joy in His not one dimensional- it is horizontal and vertical. It also has depth and length. He challenges us to reach every corner of the world with His message- to fill up every space. The church, fulfilling all of these dimensions of love and purpose, becomes an unstoppable force moving out through time until His return. The cause we are called to is a mission of incomparable proportions!
And God placed all things under His feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way. ( Eph. 1:22-23)
Monday, December 12, 2005
community: finding joy in the joy in others
It is one of our most important stated values that “relationships are key to spiritual formation.”
We say it like this:
This is where life change happens most effectively- in a small group environment where people are encouraging one another, challenging one another and “doing life” together. When Jesus began His earthly ministry, the first item of business was to gather a group of men and women around him and form community with them. He challenged them to the essential qualities of community life and told them, “people will know that you are followers of me by how you love one another.”
But is it correct to say that life change happens most effectively there? After all, isn't it the Holy Spirit who does the changing?
Yes, but what we are saying is that God chooses to do some of His best work within the environment of relationship. In community, the disciples were transformed. Paul first encountered Christ on the Damascus road, but it was in relationship with Ananias and Barnabas that God finished the work. Paul often finished his letters by expressing his love and gratefulnes for the people who were in community with him.
A physical therapist once told me that your bodies muscles need the proper "environment" to heal and strengthen. In a similar way, we all need proper environments for growth. I believe scripture teaches this environment is in small group relationships.
Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:25)
God commands us to love on another and to forgive one another and serve one another. Paul links our relationships in biblical community to "complete joy." We find our joy in the Lord, but as part and parcel of that joy is the joy we find in each other. This is why we seek to provide multiple community environments for people to plug into including small groups in recovery, discipleship in homes, ministering groups and mission teams.
Our ultimate aim is to move people into this environment. In fact, we want to become a church OF groups and not just a church with groups. In everything we do, we must seek to love one another and "spur one another on." It is where growth happens, where accountability is found, where people experience depth of meaning and are challenged to new levels of commitment.
It is where we seek the joy of the Lord as we find joy in each other!
We say it like this:
This is where life change happens most effectively- in a small group environment where people are encouraging one another, challenging one another and “doing life” together. When Jesus began His earthly ministry, the first item of business was to gather a group of men and women around him and form community with them. He challenged them to the essential qualities of community life and told them, “people will know that you are followers of me by how you love one another.”
But is it correct to say that life change happens most effectively there? After all, isn't it the Holy Spirit who does the changing?
Yes, but what we are saying is that God chooses to do some of His best work within the environment of relationship. In community, the disciples were transformed. Paul first encountered Christ on the Damascus road, but it was in relationship with Ananias and Barnabas that God finished the work. Paul often finished his letters by expressing his love and gratefulnes for the people who were in community with him.
A physical therapist once told me that your bodies muscles need the proper "environment" to heal and strengthen. In a similar way, we all need proper environments for growth. I believe scripture teaches this environment is in small group relationships.
Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:25)
God commands us to love on another and to forgive one another and serve one another. Paul links our relationships in biblical community to "complete joy." We find our joy in the Lord, but as part and parcel of that joy is the joy we find in each other. This is why we seek to provide multiple community environments for people to plug into including small groups in recovery, discipleship in homes, ministering groups and mission teams.
Our ultimate aim is to move people into this environment. In fact, we want to become a church OF groups and not just a church with groups. In everything we do, we must seek to love one another and "spur one another on." It is where growth happens, where accountability is found, where people experience depth of meaning and are challenged to new levels of commitment.
It is where we seek the joy of the Lord as we find joy in each other!
the need for celebration
I was asked recently if celebration was really the correct word for worship? Good question. It does seem to fall short if we only embrace the word in it's popular context. We celebrate a birthday or celebrate a touchdown, but is it accurate to call what we do in worship a celebration?
I believe it is a good, not perfect, description of worship. The word "celebrate" is defined by Websters:
1. To perform publically according to certain form.
2. To observe in some special way.
3. To praise; to make known publically.
In the context that we use the word we are saying that to celebrate is to come together as a community of believers and to do together what we cannot do seperately in our public oberservation and praise to God and corporate expression of our joy in His presence.
Worship is the cry of the heart and celebration is the expression. In ancient times, the Israelite living in a theistic community understood this kind of experience in a unique way. In this biblical era society, the small villages dotting the countryside surrounding Jerusalem would participate together in spiritual community day in and day out. They would sing psalms, quote scripture and learn from their elders. But several times a year they would make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem and experience the feasts among hundreds of thousands of other faithful.
This was the time they would see themselves and the God they served in the greater context. The need for worship is so strong that it will happen wherever communal life emerges. Our need for worship is so profound that God's first great command to us was to avoid worshipping other gods. The opposite of Chrstianity is not unbelief, but idolotry.
The solution to idolotry is worship. The Israelite worshipped not because of stone tablets, but because of what was written in their hearts. God put salt on the tonque so that we thirst for the Living Water.
For the believer and follower of Christ, this is the experience of corporate worship that his heart cries out for. God commands us to seek our joy in Him, to rejoice and be glad, to become what Piper calls "Christian hedonists" passioantely seeking happiness in Him alone. This is what corporate worship becomes. It is a time to celebrate all God has accomplished in your life and His purpose and and to say with others that your joy is found in His presence and in His will. It is a place to come to and be reminded our God is satisfying His purposes in our lives and that we can glory in Him; that life has a center and no matter how hard life becomes or how complex the issues and struggles one deals with, God is in control. It is that place where I confirm in my spirit God is bigger than all of my problems. This is the place where my heart cries out, “the joy of the Lord is my strength!”
But do not fall into the trap of thinking that unless we are always smiling we are not worshipping. Worship involves confession, it involves repentance, it involves falling on our face before a holy God in brokenness and saying with Isaiah "woe is me, I am a man with unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips." But this is not the final state of worship. It is only the bottom floor as we approach Him. It is our longing for Him and our need for Him and our crying out for Him that gives our celebration such resonance.
Suppose you were a soldier deployed Iraq and away from your first born son for most of his first year. Every day you would look at his picture and grieve the loss of time away from him. Now suppose that you get word that you are going home, and that you will be just in time for his first birthday. Now that is a celebration! Your celebration begins not at the time of the birthday, but in the anticipation of seeing him, of being "restored" to him. Your grief leading up to the celebration made the experience more poignant, more important. Our celebration of Him is always preceded by our longing and anticipation of being restored in His presence. It does not make the celebration less, but more.
Someone may say that "yes, but that is not celebration, that is anticipation." And I am saying that anticipation is an important part of it. When we come into a place of worship and we do not celebrate, our worship is not complete. We have anticipated something that was not fulfilled.
But when we truly find our gladness in him after a time of anticipation and longing, we have experienced the essence of corporate worship.
All of this is done in the context of a greater community of faith. I look around me and see my friends and family and many hundreds of others who are in it with me and we lift our voices together in song and praise. We open scripture together and learn together and experience the transforming work of His Word together. The big group experience in the big room is important to my spiritual transformation because it gives me a sense of place and context, it tethers my spirit to the One who is unshaken, to the Word that will never fade and to the Body that will stand in eternity.
And it is in eternity that our celebration will be brought to it's fullness. Is "celebration" a good word for worship? Yes, I think so, because I believe that in a very real sense we were all made for celebration!
I believe it is a good, not perfect, description of worship. The word "celebrate" is defined by Websters:
1. To perform publically according to certain form.
2. To observe in some special way.
3. To praise; to make known publically.
In the context that we use the word we are saying that to celebrate is to come together as a community of believers and to do together what we cannot do seperately in our public oberservation and praise to God and corporate expression of our joy in His presence.
Worship is the cry of the heart and celebration is the expression. In ancient times, the Israelite living in a theistic community understood this kind of experience in a unique way. In this biblical era society, the small villages dotting the countryside surrounding Jerusalem would participate together in spiritual community day in and day out. They would sing psalms, quote scripture and learn from their elders. But several times a year they would make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem and experience the feasts among hundreds of thousands of other faithful.
This was the time they would see themselves and the God they served in the greater context. The need for worship is so strong that it will happen wherever communal life emerges. Our need for worship is so profound that God's first great command to us was to avoid worshipping other gods. The opposite of Chrstianity is not unbelief, but idolotry.
The solution to idolotry is worship. The Israelite worshipped not because of stone tablets, but because of what was written in their hearts. God put salt on the tonque so that we thirst for the Living Water.
For the believer and follower of Christ, this is the experience of corporate worship that his heart cries out for. God commands us to seek our joy in Him, to rejoice and be glad, to become what Piper calls "Christian hedonists" passioantely seeking happiness in Him alone. This is what corporate worship becomes. It is a time to celebrate all God has accomplished in your life and His purpose and and to say with others that your joy is found in His presence and in His will. It is a place to come to and be reminded our God is satisfying His purposes in our lives and that we can glory in Him; that life has a center and no matter how hard life becomes or how complex the issues and struggles one deals with, God is in control. It is that place where I confirm in my spirit God is bigger than all of my problems. This is the place where my heart cries out, “the joy of the Lord is my strength!”
But do not fall into the trap of thinking that unless we are always smiling we are not worshipping. Worship involves confession, it involves repentance, it involves falling on our face before a holy God in brokenness and saying with Isaiah "woe is me, I am a man with unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips." But this is not the final state of worship. It is only the bottom floor as we approach Him. It is our longing for Him and our need for Him and our crying out for Him that gives our celebration such resonance.
Suppose you were a soldier deployed Iraq and away from your first born son for most of his first year. Every day you would look at his picture and grieve the loss of time away from him. Now suppose that you get word that you are going home, and that you will be just in time for his first birthday. Now that is a celebration! Your celebration begins not at the time of the birthday, but in the anticipation of seeing him, of being "restored" to him. Your grief leading up to the celebration made the experience more poignant, more important. Our celebration of Him is always preceded by our longing and anticipation of being restored in His presence. It does not make the celebration less, but more.
Someone may say that "yes, but that is not celebration, that is anticipation." And I am saying that anticipation is an important part of it. When we come into a place of worship and we do not celebrate, our worship is not complete. We have anticipated something that was not fulfilled.
But when we truly find our gladness in him after a time of anticipation and longing, we have experienced the essence of corporate worship.
All of this is done in the context of a greater community of faith. I look around me and see my friends and family and many hundreds of others who are in it with me and we lift our voices together in song and praise. We open scripture together and learn together and experience the transforming work of His Word together. The big group experience in the big room is important to my spiritual transformation because it gives me a sense of place and context, it tethers my spirit to the One who is unshaken, to the Word that will never fade and to the Body that will stand in eternity.
And it is in eternity that our celebration will be brought to it's fullness. Is "celebration" a good word for worship? Yes, I think so, because I believe that in a very real sense we were all made for celebration!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
