The Joy of Our Worship

Jesus made it pretty simple when He declared that it would be our love for one another that would signify to the world that we are His disciples. He said, "By this all the world will know you are my disciples because you love one another."

I think in like manner the world will know we are the disciples of Jesus Christ because of the joy in our worship that exists independent of circumstances in this life.

In studying and preaching through the Book of Nehemiah, there is one verse that has recently pierced my heart and lingered long on my mind. It has challenged me to examine whether my life of worship, as well as my gathering with other believers to worship, is marked by joy in the character of God and the great deeds of His hand.

The nation of Israel endured painful times as the city of Jerusalem was laid waste and the people were scattered throughout the ancient world. For 140 years the walls of Jerusalem were reduced to a pile of rubble. The gates remained charred from the fire set to them that left them ruined and unusable and of no value. Yet God used Nehemiah and the people and through them he empowered them to miraculously rebuild the city in 52 days.

It is no wonder that there was a great gathering of all the men, women, children, leaders, and officials to celebrate this and dedicate their lives and work to God. The verse that most strikes me from this account is this: "And they offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and children also rejoiced. And the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away."

God has done more than rebuild my walls. He nailed His Son to the cross in my place to receive the punishment for my sin in order to rebuild a broken life. God has done more than restore me to the place of my ancestors. He through the resurrection of Christ has given me a life that restores me to the relationship and life I was made to have with and in Him.

If anyone should be able to say that "God has made them rejoice," it should be the followers of Jesus Christ who understand the gospel. The gospel isn't do better or try harder. The gospel is the message of good news that I am a wrecked man without hope whom God has lavished His grace, mercy, and compassion to make me what I could never be on my own.

All of this great work flows from the great heart and character of God. And He is to be worshipped and that worship is to be done with great joy and that worship of great joy should be a witness to the nations to the glory of God and His great name.

The worship of God's people should be a compelling witness to the world. The joy of their worship was heard far away that day. There's no record of what impact that witness of their worship may have had. But we do know that Rahab reported to the spies in the Book of Joshua how she had heard of their God and the mighty deeds He had done. What she had heard from far away led her to believe and follow God!

Does the world want to know our God because of the joy of our worship and the great God of whom our worship speaks?

In Every Facet

A nation divided because of a failure to worship properly, not a disagreement over politics, national security, or taxes.

Solomon inherited a united kingdom from his father David. Israel was a nation of 12 tribes united together. God had stated plainly that if Israel did not worship Him alone then the kingdom would be divided. When Solomon died that promise rang true.

Like his father, Solomon had difficulty controlling his lust for other women taking many women from other nations to be his own. These women did not come alone. With them came their pagan worship practices and foreign gods who robbed God of His proper worship as people worshipped those who are not gods at all.

At the moment of Solomon's death, the kingdom divided. As we often do, the division could be seen as the result of heavy taxes or political differences. But the Scriptures state clearly that the reason the kingdom split was due to a worship issue.

Today in our own nation, we often make the issues about taxes, deficits, political differences, political issues, red and blue states, and more. Today in our churches, we often make the issues about the music, preaching style, attire, building aesthetics, and more. Rarely, if ever, do we frame the discussion as an issue of worship.

Israel failed as a nation and a people because worship drifted from God into an eclectic, polytheistic enterprise. The people didn't stop worshipping. Instead, they worshipped more as they multiplied their gods. Sometimes bigger and larger isn't better, especially when there is One God and Him alone should we worship. The failure and division over worship led to the division in everything else.

Worship is still the most important issue for we were made as human beings to be worshipping beings who worship God alone. Only through the door Jesus opened by His death and resurrection can we access God's throne to worship Him properly and as we were created. Are we making worship central to our lives, our family, our work, and our churches? Are we accurately seeing worship as more than the music, preaching, and place of our worship and more about our response of all that we are in light of the revelation by Christ and the Scriptures of all that God is?

Take a Daniel moment:
1.  Worship God for all that He is with all that you are.
2.  Pray that worship (responding to all He is with all we are) will be central in every facet of our lives.

Praise the Lord

Praise be to you, Lord,

the God of our father Israel,

from everlasting to everlasting.

Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power

and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,

for everything in heaven and earth is yours.

Yours, Lord, is the kingdom;

you are exalted as head over all.

Wealth and honor come from you;

you are the ruler of all things.

In Your hands are strength and power

to exalt and give strength to all.

Now, our God, we give thanks, and praise your glorious name.

Take a Daniel moment:

1.  Praise God who is our Father from everlasting to everlasting.

2.  Praise God's power and greatness, glory and majesty and splendor.

3.  Declare and celebrate that everything in heaven and earth is His.

4.  Celebrate that His kingdom is above all others and of that kingdom He is head.

5.  Give thanks that all wealth and honor is from Him.

6.  Worship the name and power of our glorious God.

Even in This

I confess, as embarrassing as it may be, that there have been difficulties in my life that drove me away from God. My prayer life went silent like a dropped cellphone call. The dust collected on the cover of my Bible between Sundays as I would not open it. I did not speak of God unless necessary.

What had happened in my life is what happens to others. My difficulties turned me against God. I had concluded that God was responsible for my difficulty and I didn't want anything to do with Him anymore. Even more tragic, I concluded that I didn't deserve the difficulties that God had thrust upon me. I let my hardships turn me against the only person who could comfort, strengthen, encourage, and see me through whatever situations I faced.

There were definitely times that the hardships and struggles were not of my own doing. Either because of sin in general that has broken the world or the specific sin of an individual in my life, I faced hard times as a result. This, however, was not always the case. 

My immaturity didn't always allow me to see that some of the hard times came as a result or consequence of my own doing. I blamed God for what I had brought upon myself. I expected God to allow me to do what I desired without any issue, even if it ran contrary to His will and purpose.  

Regardless of when and how the hard times came, I found myself responding to God as if He had done something wrong. No matter if it was a consequence of my own disobedience or the difficulties that affected me from another person's struggles and life, I usually responded as though I thought the Christian life should not be riddled with such things. And tragically my worship of the Creator God who had rescued me out of the kingdom of darkness into His marvelous light just went cold.  Even now, there must be a constant guard against allowing the circumstances of life to create such a travesty.

As I continue reading through the life and reign of David, king of Israel, I read of David's actions after confronted about his adultery with Bathsheeba. He did repent and seek God's grace and mercy. But then God told David that a consequence for his act of disobedience was that the child born through this act of adultery would not live. Instead of running from God, David ran to God. He fasted and prayed. He laid on the ground in sackcloth through the nights and he would eat nothing.

God did strike the child with illness and he died.  When David asked the attendants told David the baby had died, he got up off the ground, washed and changed his clothes. It is hat he did next that convicted me. 

He went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. 

This is not how I often respond when things don't go as I planned or when I believe or know God to have done contrary to what I wanted or asked. But it is a great challenge to me that in whatever I face I would worship Christ my King because He is worthy.  

The circumstances of our lives do not change the worth of God. When the difficulties of my life keep me from worshipping God, it isn't that God has changed. He remains the same forever. There is no way to improve upon perfection and God is perfect.

Is there anything keeping you from worshipping God today?

Take a Daniel moment:

1.  Adore God for who He is, what He does, and the character with which He does it.

2.  Celebrate that God never changes though everything else may change.

3.  Repent of any known sin. Ask God to reveal any hidden sin.

4.  Acknowledge any sin or circumstance that has hindered your worship of God.

5.  Spend time worshipping Him.

Is He Worth It

I never cease to be amazed at how you can read the Bible for years only to read a familiar passage and once again be struck by it. Such was the case in reading with our boys recently.

We have been reading through the Gospel of John and discussing it together. As we were reading John 12, we read of how Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, came into the room with an expensive ointment and anointed the feet of Jesus. It was a beautiful moment of worship in which her worship filled the room with a powerful and wonderful aroma. This perfume was costly as it would have taken 300 days of working to purchase. And yet in one moment it was all used.

Judas Iscariot didn't like that she did this because he knew how expensive it was. After all, he was all about money. He was the personal accountant for the disciples and treasurer of Jesus's ministry. He would betray God's Son for thirty pieces of silver. He was all about loving money and using people, rather than using money to love people. So he scolded this act of worship.

Here's what struck me: Jesus was worth Mary's most expensive possession, while to Judas He was not.

Is Jesus really worth giving your most expensive possession, your greatest dream, your deepest secret, your most treasured relationships?

Is Jesus really worth it to me?

Is He really worth it to you?

Am I really demonstrating this with the way I live my life? With where I spend my money? How I use my time? What I possess or let possess me in this world?

The truth is simply this: We will all live like Mary or Judas, there is no in-between! We will all decide that either Jesus is worth everything or that He is not. And that decision will make all the difference in how we live our lives.

Take a Daniel moment:
1.  Celebrate God as the most precious gift a person could receive. The gospel is about getting God.
2.  Pray that Jesus would remind us today of His infinite worth.
3.  Ask God to reveal what may be competing for first place and for greatest treasure in your life.
4.  Repent when He reveals it. Withhold nothing from Him. He is worth it.

Three Tents

Yesterday was a different day! Our worship time at Refuge Church looked very different. While that may not always be the case and may not be common, I pray what is not rare is the power of God's presence like we experienced yesterday.

In Matthew 17 Jesus took Peter, James and John upon the mountain where Jesus was transfigured before their eyes. His face was brilliant like the sun and His clothes glowed with the glory of God. Then, they saw Elijah and Moses appear and speak with Jesus. At this Peter offered to make three tents or dwelling places for Jesus, Elijah, and Moses to dwell. In short, what Peter saw was so powerful he just didn't want to ever leave. 

I felt some of that yesterday. I didn't want to leave. I want it to be common for God's presence to be almost tangible and uncommon when it is not. I want to expect when we gather to see Him at work in great ways and not expect He might show up on occasion. I don't want to live in yesterday, but I want the presence of God from yesterday to be here today…and tomorrow…and the day after that.

Take a Daniel moment:

1.  Praise God for what He did yesterday at Refuge and in our hearts.

2.  Ask God to make His presence known just as great if not greater in your life today.

3.  Pray for God to show you where He is at work around you.

4.  Confess your struggles, every one of them, to Him and ask for His strength and grace.

5.  Lift Refuge to Him and ask for Him to do even greater things.

6.  Surrender control. That was a common theme from a number of us yesterday. Let God work.

A Choice Will Be Made

Today a choice will be made. You and I, along with every one in the world, will make that choice. It is the choice of who or what we will worship and serve.

Our land is flooded with idols. Hindus may erect idols in their homes and shops with the heavy aroma of incense burned to these gods. Dare we judge and criticize them and others without scrutinizing our own lives and culture.

We may have fashioned our gods of other materials, but they are gods no less. Whether the god of money, sex, pleasure, power, position, relationships or some other, we live with countless gods we have created by our own hands. These we worship and serve as if they are suitable substitutes for the True God. That is by definition an idol—a God substitute.

 God is jealous for His own glory. He permits no substitutes or rivals. He expects complete surrender and whole-hearted devotion.

Joshua came to the end of his days and he implored the people to make the choice.  He said, “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

There is a choice to follow Jesus that comes as a conscious act of the will decision in which we place our faith and trust in Him alone to be rescued from sin and restored in relationship to God. Yet every day there must be the decision to worship and serve Him alone. Every day idols must be identified and torn down. Every day my own desires must be put to death so they do not obstruct the path to follow Jesus.

Jesus told every would-be follower the cost was high. “You must deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow Me.”  The choice will be made today and every day. You will make the choice whether purposefully or by default. You will worship and serve Him or you will worship and serve another.

What will you choose today?

Take a Daniel moment:

1. Praise God that He alone is worthy to be worshiped and served.
2. Celebrate that God is the all-wise and only true God.
3. Ask for God to identify the idols in your own heart.
4. Pray for yourself to be nailed to the cross with Christ that nothing in you would hinder your following Jesus or get in the way of God’s work and mission.
5. Surrender yourself to worship and serve Jesus today.
6. Repeat tomorrow.

Team Effort

For years it has been reported that in most churches 80% of the work is carried on the backs of 20% of the people. In truth, this could be more optimistic than reality (some suggesting that it is more like 90/10).

Why this is true cannot be reduced to one single issue. Reasons range from a person diffusing responsibility to others around them to the selfish pleasure of merely seeing church for what one gets rather than what one can give.

Individuals sometimes do not volunteer because they got "burned out" trying to do too much or because they don't like the way things are being done. Others have so flooded their schedules and the schedules of their family that they simply do not believe they have the time to give. Still others simply have never come to realize that God has gifted them for the benefit of His church and the advancement of His mission.

The beauty at Refuge Church, since we are a church plant and have known from the beginning this is a team effort, is that we are certainly above the 80/20 margin. Even so there are still areas where volunteers are needed, still individuals who haven't yet connected in an area of serving, and still blessings individuals are missing out on until they choose to take the next step of volunteering/serving.

These are specific areas where you can connect and be blessed in serving at Refuge Church, as well as meet needs as we serve together to fulfill our mission.

Kids Ministry
We believe at Refuge Church that no one is too young to begin hearing and learning about God's love and encountering Jesus personally. Our youngest ones at Refuge Church aren't just tagging along with adults, they are here for us to display the gospel and declare the hope of Jesus Christ.

Areas to Serve: Early Childhood on Sundays or in our Kids Worship on Sundays.

Set-up and Take Down
Sometimes being a portable church we get a sense of what the Israelites experienced in the wilderness. Each week we set-up our worship, kids, guest services, and next steps areas.

Areas to Serve: Set-up Team or Take Down Team.

Guest Services
Every week we typically have first time guests. We strive hard to think about the guest experience from the moment they pull into the entrance till the moment they leave the campus. Reports show that 87% of guests do not return for a second time. When a guest returns for a second time they are significantly more likely to continue coming. Guest services focuses on first impressions, greeting, and assisting guests who are unfamiliar with things we take for granted (where are the bathrooms, where do my kids go, where is the worship area).

Areas to Serve: Guest Services Set-up, Guest Services Greeting/Guest Reception

Worship
We were made to worship and worship is the most important aspect of who we are individually and at Refuge Church. We want to continually create an atmosphere of worship and lead individuals to behold and worship Christ.

Areas to Serve: A/V Team, Worship Team, Creative Team (for worship and message series)

Connections
We want to strive to create better connecting points for guests and regular attendees at Refuge Church. 
The primary way for individuals to connect and belong in community is Refuge Life Groups. Additionally, we want to create periodic times in 2014 for connection among different Life Groups and for connection among all Refuge Church. We hope to have quarterly men and women's connection times, along with periodic lunches following our worship gatherings.

Areas to Serve: Life Group Leader, Life Group Host, Connections Coordinator (men and/or women)

Ministry and Administrative Assistance
As resources allow, our goal will be to have a ministry and administrative staff assistant. In the meantime, volunteers who have interest in taking tasks that arise would free pastoral staff to focus on primary areas of responsibility.

Areas to Serve: Office tasks, data entry, ministry projects, local mission partnership outreach/planning


As we advance forward, there will be other needs that arise. But when everyone sees the work and mission of Refuge Church as his or her work and mission, everyone will find his or her place of volunteering and we will see the beauty and power of God working through a team (body).

If you are not currently volunteering and would like to be connected with the Ministry Team Leader of any of these areas, please email me at Justin@refugenc.org or Chris Leader at Chris@refugenc.org.

Who God Wants

The people God wants are true worshippers.

John Piper says missions exists because worship does not. Not all people worship God who made them by His hands, in His image, for His glory and fame. So missions exists to reconcile alienated humans with God, who alone is worthy of worship.

Worship is more than words. More than music (traditional or modern). More than preaching. More than one specific time each week. And certainly more than a building. 

All of these things--music and singing, teaching and preaching, a building and specific time--aid in or can be essential parts to worship. But to define worship as preaching or to relegate worship to music and singing is a grave mistake.  

One of the most beautiful examples of worship, extravagant worship, comes in a passage in Luke 7. Here we read of no music, no singing, no preaching, no temple/church building, no worship service, no words spoken.

Jesus accepted a dinner invitation at the home of Simon the Pharisee.  While the dinner was in progress, a woman entered who had quite the scandalous reputation. This woman was likely a prostitute whose insidious acts gave her a sordid reputation. She’s lived this hard and lonely life.  She’s been used, if not abused.  True love eludes her grasp. Guilt covers her like a heavy robe. Any purpose in life is veiled from her eyes.  Her life has failed to fulfill the deepest longing of her soul. She has accumulated an astronomical sin debt that’s left her spiritually bankrupt.

Regardless of the scandalous life she has lived, God’s grace and mercy trumped it. Nothing she had done was greater than God’s power to save her and bring healing into her life. Jesus declared to her that her sins were forgiven because her faith had saved her.

She, whose debt had been cancelled, worshipped Jesus with extravagance. She didn't speak any words.  No verse of a song was sung. There was no preacher who gave a moving sermon. A formal invitation wasn't given. She worshipped from an overflowing heart of gratitude where Jesus was exalted above all others.

Jesus is looking for people who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. He desires those who will exalt Him above all others, focusing on Him more than any other, giving whatever it costs to engage in love and worship to Him. 

He isn't looking for those who can sing best or loudest. His goal isn't those who raise hands or dance around. Worshipping one day for one hour doesn't hit the bull's eye of God's target for our lives. These may all be expressions of worship at times, but they do not guarantee that true worship or even extravagant worship is taking place.

God wants a people who worship in spirit and truth as a lifestyle; a people who don't rationalize away extravagant worship for fear of the cost or how others will react. He is our focus of worship and on Him alone we fix our eyes.

To read the account of this woman's extravagant act of worship, take time to read Luke 7:36-50.