I know there are many forms of worship....worship is, after all, simply any kind of expression or action that exalts God's qualities, or acknowledges His character. It is something done in the (S)spirit (remember the women and the well story?) and is not simply a feeling.
But man...music and singing is a great form of worship, isn't it? I know it is for me. Something about music just opens me up and helps me feel the power of God that is always there. Music is also so beautiful, and especially in a setting like chapel, unites believers together in a God glorifying symphony. Just focusing on the words of the song, picturing the throne of God, and imagining His return just stirs up such great feelings in me--that's not a bad I don't think, worship isn't emotion, but can cause emotion.
I don't know about anyone else, but just singing praise songs corporately together makes me desire the kingdom even more....I certainly feel completely satisfied singing praise to God, and am always a little upset when it has to end and I return to daily routines. I just want to capture those moments and take them with me everywhere, you know? I guess that's a challenge for me...I should be experiencing that satisfaction everywhere I go.
For me, an eternity of singing praises to God--that wonderful feeling of unity with believers and the Spirit being contiunually sustained--sounds absolutely perfect.
Friday, February 9, 2007
Monday, February 5, 2007
In Clarification
I want to make sure people are deciphering the implications of being a Christian and the actual substance of what saves a person.
When I say things like "falling in love with Christ" isn't what saves you, I am not somehow suggesting that this "falling in love" is absent in a Christian's life. No, all I am saying is that that feeling by itself has no saving quality. In fact, I believe that "falling in love with Christ" is something very real that happens to every new Christan. However, to reiterate my point, stating something like that as what saves a person is innacurate, rather "falling in love with Christ" is a result of coming to have faith in Christ's atoning death and His resurrection from the dead.
This feeling vs. faith is something that is discussed pretty heavily in Moreland's Love Your God with All Your Mind. Feelings are great, yes, but they are driven by what? Yes, your emotions. Emotions, as you will find out in a detailed study of the Bible, are really products of our soul.
Our souls are currently in an unsaved state as you can deduce from 1 Peter 1:8-9: "Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith--the salvation of your souls.
We obviously have not reached the end of our faith--that'll come when Christ finally returns to take us home and we see Christ completely for who He is and are ourselves conformed utterly into His glorious image. So knowing that our souls are still very much under the influence of our sin nature, we don't want to rely solely on them to discover truth; rather we want to rely on our spirits.
1 Corinthians 2:10-16 explain that we have access in some way to the very Spirit of God. Similary Acts 1:5 says that we are "baptized with the Holy Spirit." Examples of this "imersion" into Christ and the joining of our spirit to God's can be seen in Romans 6, Romans 8 and Ephesians 1. These passages also explain that affirmation between God and ourselves about salvation is through our spirit (Romans 8:16).
So I guess the point is to put your faith in something more solid than wavering emotions. Christ said that we are to "worship in spirit and in truth," if you're just worshipping with emotions, you can never really be sure of their authenticity.
When I say things like "falling in love with Christ" isn't what saves you, I am not somehow suggesting that this "falling in love" is absent in a Christian's life. No, all I am saying is that that feeling by itself has no saving quality. In fact, I believe that "falling in love with Christ" is something very real that happens to every new Christan. However, to reiterate my point, stating something like that as what saves a person is innacurate, rather "falling in love with Christ" is a result of coming to have faith in Christ's atoning death and His resurrection from the dead.
This feeling vs. faith is something that is discussed pretty heavily in Moreland's Love Your God with All Your Mind. Feelings are great, yes, but they are driven by what? Yes, your emotions. Emotions, as you will find out in a detailed study of the Bible, are really products of our soul.
Our souls are currently in an unsaved state as you can deduce from 1 Peter 1:8-9: "Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith--the salvation of your souls.
We obviously have not reached the end of our faith--that'll come when Christ finally returns to take us home and we see Christ completely for who He is and are ourselves conformed utterly into His glorious image. So knowing that our souls are still very much under the influence of our sin nature, we don't want to rely solely on them to discover truth; rather we want to rely on our spirits.
1 Corinthians 2:10-16 explain that we have access in some way to the very Spirit of God. Similary Acts 1:5 says that we are "baptized with the Holy Spirit." Examples of this "imersion" into Christ and the joining of our spirit to God's can be seen in Romans 6, Romans 8 and Ephesians 1. These passages also explain that affirmation between God and ourselves about salvation is through our spirit (Romans 8:16).
So I guess the point is to put your faith in something more solid than wavering emotions. Christ said that we are to "worship in spirit and in truth," if you're just worshipping with emotions, you can never really be sure of their authenticity.
Sunday, February 4, 2007
Loosy Goosy
Since when did the Gospel become "falling in love with Christ" as Donald Miller once said on a radio show? Since when did "asking Jesus into your heart" become a step for being saved? And whoever got the idea that somehow humans have the power to turn their lives around for Christ?
Why are people making the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ so complicated? Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, "...I declare to you the Gospel which I preached to you, which you also received, and wherein you stand; By which also you are saved if you keep in memory what I taught you, otherwise you have believed in vain." Get that folks? Paul is about to say what someone must believe in order to be saved. "That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried and that He rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures."
That's it. Belief in Christ's death, burial, and resurrection is what saves you. Not some invitation, some declaration, or some secret prayer. Specifically it is faith (substance of things hoped for, evidence of things not yet seen, Hebrews 11:1)...faith, that I might add, that is not even from ourselves (Ephesians 2:8...might talk about this in another blog).
How did such a basic Christian doctrine become so polluted? I really don't know...but I think that if we don't know the very basic of our Christian faith than we're in big trouble.
I guess my message is this...let's stick to the Bible. The Bible isn't a list of suggestions, it's a great story of God's work with mankind...one that contains the highest wisdom ever revealed. Revere it as such and don't be so ignorant as to think you can describe salvation better than God.
--1 Corinthians 15:1-4
Why are people making the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ so complicated? Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, "...I declare to you the Gospel which I preached to you, which you also received, and wherein you stand; By which also you are saved if you keep in memory what I taught you, otherwise you have believed in vain." Get that folks? Paul is about to say what someone must believe in order to be saved. "That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried and that He rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures."
That's it. Belief in Christ's death, burial, and resurrection is what saves you. Not some invitation, some declaration, or some secret prayer. Specifically it is faith (substance of things hoped for, evidence of things not yet seen, Hebrews 11:1)...faith, that I might add, that is not even from ourselves (Ephesians 2:8...might talk about this in another blog).
How did such a basic Christian doctrine become so polluted? I really don't know...but I think that if we don't know the very basic of our Christian faith than we're in big trouble.
I guess my message is this...let's stick to the Bible. The Bible isn't a list of suggestions, it's a great story of God's work with mankind...one that contains the highest wisdom ever revealed. Revere it as such and don't be so ignorant as to think you can describe salvation better than God.
--1 Corinthians 15:1-4
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