A Repainted Faith

Chaising God

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

The un-lovely.

The story of God is filled with unlovely people and God is big on loving the unlovely. My favorite story of an unlovely person is the story of Paul. Now Paul didn’t start off as “Paul, the great man of God” no Paul started out as Saul. Saul was the one of the unloveliest people around in the early days of the church. The story starts with Stephen. In Acts 7 Stephen is giving a defense to a group of people that “where unable to cope with the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking”.1 Question after question Stephen answered with even more grace and more control. I can imagine these moments full of tension and expectancy and in the back of the room was a young man named Saul. Now Saul was probably a handsome man, a young man up on the rise in the community. I know none of this describes a person that we would consider to be unlovable, but what we see as lovable isn’t always lovely. So Stephen is at this point preaching to his persecutors and with every word that comes from his mouth their anger grows until the point were they were “gnashing” their teeth. Now gnashing teeth is like grinding your teeth but to an extreme. Stephen remained calm and full of the spirit. Now it gets so intense that Stephen is driven out of town and they began to stone Him. All this time Saul followed, As Stephen was being Stoned Saul was holding the robes of the stoners. I can imagine Saul’s grimace at Stephen as he passionately cried out to God, but what thoughts must have coursed through his mind as Stephen said “Lord, Jesus receive my spirit”2. I think it was something like a mixture of satisfaction in Stephens’s death and fear and confusion that this man was willing to die for what he believed. As Stephen Lie lifeless on the ground I think that Saul stood there and questioned himself a little.
I was talking to Collin the other day while we were running at the park and I said, “Do you know why people give up on exercise so quickly, because the results are not immediate.” The results aren’t immediately visible but there are results. When people exercise most of us want to lose that little bit of weight we think we have, that little bit of fat that seems to always be there. We all give up pretty quickly, but do you know where the change takes place first? The change takes place first around the heart. The heart has a layer of fat around it to cushion it from damage. So when we start exercising we loose dangerous fat around our heart before we loose weight anywhere else. The change is an internal job before the external gets involved.
So here is Saul sometime later is on the road to Damascus. Saul by this time had become one of the leaders in the persecution movement of the early church. He was on the move after the disciples with every thing he had. Pretty unlovely at this point wouldn’t you say. Then the most amazing thing happens the unlovely becomes lovely. Saul underwent a change on the road to Damascus. He encountered the one, which he sought to persecute.


Acts 9 (New International Version)

Saul's Conversion
1Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest 2and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"
5"Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked.
"I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied. 6"Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."
7The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
10In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, "Ananias!" "Yes, Lord," he answered.
11The Lord told him, "Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight."
13"Lord," Ananias answered, "I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. 14And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name."
15But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. 16I will show him how much he must suffer for my name."
17Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit." 18Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19and after taking some food, he regained his strength.


So Saul had an interaction that changed him. He went from Saul the persecutor to Paul the servant in a matter of moments. For most of us the conversion isn’t so drastic it’s more of a process. Paul was an amazing character. He wrote the vast majority of the New Testament and endured so many hardships due to his beliefs that if most of us were in his shoes we would have probably bailed. The point to this is that God took the unloveliest and made him lovely.
I can remember (looking back) before I became a true Christian that I was pretty rough around the edges and I can remember sitting in church Sunday to Sunday and seeing people walk in that looked like they had been out in the woods for weeks. They smelled bad and I didn’t want anything to do with them. I thought I was Lovely and had it all together. But I remember the day that I gave in to the feeling in my heart and the sudden realization that followed of how just un-lovely I truly was. The point I am getting at here is that God can make the most wretched thing into the most beautiful thing. He did it with Paul. He used Paul to speak the good news to the gentiles. (Gentiles being you and I) Just imagine what he can do with us. There is a trap we can fall into when God starts using us to accomplish his will.
The trap that so many of us fall into is the “me trap”. The “me trap” occurs when we start to think and act like it is all about us. Lets talk about the loveliest people that God ever made, Adam and Eve. They were the first man and woman created, and what were they created for? They were created to reflect Gods glorious image. So you can image that they were pretty darn near perfect, lovely in every way. They had it made; they got to be with God on a physical basis, they were the first to see all of his creation. They were caretakers of his splendid creation, and were like know other creation around; they were made in the image of the creator. Adam and Eve reflected Gods image. Can you imagine, all is going well one day until eve falls into the “me trap”

Genesis 3:1-6 (New International Version)

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "
4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.


The thing that always troubled me was that Adam and Eve took the fruit. Why? I use to think to myself while my Sunday school teacher told the story. You guys had it made and blew it for the rest of us. It wasn’t till recently that it clicked. The “me trap”. If you will notice Adam and Eve didn’t just suddenly stop believing in God, they just basically said, “wow you are awesome, but I think I am too”. Here you have Gods prize creation that was designed to reflect the light of his glory, trying to be there own source of glory. The creation wanted to be like the creator. A reflecting surface can’t do anything unless the light is already present. The mirror was trying to be the light, but the only thing a mirror can reflect without external light is darkness…
Two of the world’s first people, the loveliest creation around suddenly became the unlovely people around. So what does God do about this? He doesn’t write them off like so many of us would, were we in his position. He loves them and says I will use these now unlovely creations to proclaim my glory. I will use what the serpent intended for evil for good, because I alone AM.

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Worship- A passionate verb
I. A reaction
II. A lifestyle
III. A choice


What is worship all about? It’s a word that we are familiar with, but I think that few of us have a grasp for what it truly means. We come to this place Wednesday after Wednesday and Sunday after Sunday and we lift our hands we sing songs, we here terms like “worship Him” or “give Him praise” what is it really all about? I believe that worship is more than just what we do when we come to church. It’s more than just lifting our hands and singing songs. And please don’t misunderstand me when I say that because, those things are a very big part of worship but they in themselves are not all there is to what the word means. So what is worship? There are three things that pop into my head when I here the word. The first is that of a reaction.
Now I want to say that (and this is going to step on some toes but,) we all worship something. The short video clip that we just showed says a great deal about this. Look at the things in your life you spend the most time on. It is different for everybody. One person may love sports and spend the vast majority of there time looking at sports heroes for identity, while still others spend there time on a relationship be it boyfriend-girlfriend or just friends type of relationship. These are merely examples. For me for the longest time it was about being on top in everything that I attempted. The dangerous thing about worship is “what ever you worship, you imitate; whatever you imitate, you become”.
1” If you don’t like what you’re becoming, take an inventory right quick”.1 For me it became an unhealthy obsession that spilled into everything I did. I found a value for myself in what I worshiped. When people said “hey good job your #1 at this, congratulations” I heard this is what you are worth your identity. That was my reaction. Worship in general is a reaction. You see it all through out the story of God a.k.a. the Bible. Let’s look at the word.

Leviticus 9:23-24 (New International Version)
23 Moses and Aaron then went into the Tent of Meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people; and the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people. 24 Fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.


Did you catch that it was a reaction to the “glory of the LORD appearing” the most amazing part of this scripture to me is “they shouted for joy and fell facedown.” It was an immediate reaction. When I was doing some research for the subject of worship I found that the most common reaction through out the story of God was that people hid themselves. Take a look in exodos.

Exodus 3:4-5 (New International Version)
4 When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!" And Moses said, "Here I am."
5 "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." 6 Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

Moses just came into contact with the God of the universe, his reaction to hide for fear. Look at Isaiah

Isaiah 6:5 (New International Version)
5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."


Isaiah saw a vision and in it was God. What was his reaction? He declared at that moment that he was unworthy to see such a thing and it doesn’t necessarily say this, but I believe he was terrified and wanted to hide. Still there is more, Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 1 (New International Version)
This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking.


Ezekiel dropped like a sack of bricks at “the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD”. Then you have Mary carrying the unborn son of God Jesus in her womb. She meets up with her cousin Elizabeth who is pregnant with John the Baptist.

Luke 1:41 (New International Version)
41When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.


Here you have an unborn child that leaps for joy in the presence of God. What am I trying to get at here? The point I am trying to make is that the reaction everyone has to God is different. For some it’s a fearful one for others it’s a joyful one and still others it’s a mixture of the two. You can’t characterize worship as there really being a correct type. The second thing that comes to me is that worship as a lifestyle.
I know we have heard that a lot in church or maybe you haven’t but let’s take a look at it. There are two words in the bible that I found that explain worship, one from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament. The first is from the old.


Abad-to actively serve, to work or to minister, or to serve another

The second comes from the New Testament, it’s a Greek word.

Proskuneo-to do reverence or homage by kissing the hand, or to adore.

“These two definitions, adoration and service hold each other in a creative tension”2. Now what I mean by that is that they reinforce one another. What in the world does this have to do with a lifestyle or a reaction? If you look at worship as a reaction then a lifestyle reflects the reaction. A lifestyle of worship is in a nutshell taking the things you do every day, the very life that you have been gifted with and presenting it to God as an offering. By doing this you serve Him and adore Him. My next question is what does God do with your life as an offering to him? Let’s revisit Leviticus.

24 Fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed the burnt offering
He consumes the offering with his fire. He reveals Himself to you by his spirit. That’s why you see Paul in the New Testament so Gung hoe for God. The more he offers himself up as a sacrifice the more God consumes him. Now all this talk about worship brings me to a point. When I was younger I use to think “wow” God must be on an EGO TRIP with all this worship stuff, but what I have come to find out is that when we worship God and we tell him how great he is we aren’t telling him any thin he doesn’t already know. When we worship him verbally we are merely speaking the truth about him. God doesn’t need our worship he desires it. He made each one of us here uniquely different. And if he wanted all of us to worship him and react to him in the same manner he would have probably done things differently. I have always thought it amazing that he could command the very floor we stand on to worship him, but he doesn’t desire that. You worship Him. Why? Because “it’s the one thing no one else on this earth can give Him, Your unique affection.”1 What is the nature of a lifestyle of worship? This is described in Romans 12:1

Romans 12 (New International Version)
Living Sacrifices 1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer (present) your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual[
a] act of worship


There are three words that stick out in this scripture. The first is offer or present. This word is military in origin and means to stand before a superior at attention. The second word is bodies. This indicates all of our physical beings “the sum total of everything we are physically, emotionally, intellectually, volitionally, and spiritually”2 The third word is sacrifice. This word has so many negative connotations in our world today. “We see sacrifice as giving up something that belongs to us at a great personal loss or inconvenience”2. Is this the biblical idea of sacrifice? Is it really that much of a great personal loss or inconvenience to give to God what is already his?

1 Corinthians 6:19b-20a: "...you are not your own? For you were bought with a price

God wants all of us, not just the little parts of our life that most of us give him access to. In doing so, in giving our all to him to be used we enter into A LIFESTYLE OF WORSHIP. So the question becomes do I give my all to him? Do I give my energies, my time, myself to him?

That brings us to what I alluded to earlier about “we all worship something” worship is a choice. God gives us all free will to choose. To bring it to terms that make more sense “would you rather hang out with someone because they were made to hang out with you or would you like to hang out with someone who genuinely wants to be around you for who you are? The latter I hope and it’s no different with God.
Derek said something last Wednesday night that made me think. He said is during praise and worship “sing it like its real” and to me that begs the questions, what would happen if you did? What would happen in your life if the worship that God so earnestly desires, you chose to give to him. God invites you into his presence every morning that you wake up; even now as we sit here he is inviting us to worship him. Every morning you wake you have the opportunity to worship the God of the universe. Worshiping God brings rest, because when you step back and say lord look what you have done and for that I Give you my all, the things you bring to worship with you melt away and what’s left?, You and Him. Will you choose him? Will you give him your all? He gave his all to you on the cross. What will you do? who will you worship.