When Even Heaven's Worship Isn't Good Enough

During the time of response to God’s Word today we were led in a song that took its text from Revelation 5:12. As I was singing and thinking about that chapter of Scripture, I had some thoughts.

Heavenly worship is described in Revelation 4:1-11.

How does John, the earthly and inspired observer of heaven’s worship, react to heaven’s worship?

“I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy” (5:4).

Without the Lamb, the best worship – even heaven’s worship – is grievous to the exiled earthling.

When the “Lamb standing, as if slain,” divine possessor of the Spirit of God, reveals Himself to be Fulfiller of God’s Word, heaven and earth and all creation worship

and worship

and worship

and worship.

It is not a true or saving faith unless Jesus is the center of it.

Preaching, teaching, studying the Bible is not biblical unless it leads you to Jesus (because the Book is about Him).

To John, even heaven’s worship wasn’t worship until the Lamb was revealed to be its center.

I need more of John’s passionate focus on Jesus in my life.

Foundation of the Pilgrim Song

“A Song of Ascents.

In my trouble I cried to the LORD,
And He answered me.
Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips,
From a deceitful tongue.
What shall be given to you, and what more shall be done to you,
You deceitful tongue?
Sharp arrows of the warrior,
With the burning coals of the broom tree.

Woe is me, for I sojourn in Meshech,
For I dwell among the tents of Kedar!
Too long has my soul had its dwelling
With those who hate peace.
I am for peace, but when I speak,
They are for war” (Psalm 120).

This is the first of the Songs of Ascent, a series of Psalms (120-134) to be sung on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Pilgrim, sojourner: the biblical attitude for the believer in this world (Philippians 3:20; Colossians 3:1-3; Hebrews 11:13-16; 1 Peter 2:11), whether a king in a palace (1 Chronicles 29:15) or a persecuted saint (Hebrews 11:37,38).

Hear the song. Regardless of the voices around you, be for peace (Romans 12:18; Hebrews 12:14). Speak for peace. It is found only in Christ (Isaiah 9:6; 53:5; John 14:27; 16:33; Acts 10:36; Romans 5:1; Philippians 4:4-7).

This song reaches back to the beginning of the Bible, and forward to where it intersects us at the end of the Book. “Meshech,” in the tribe’s earliest description, is associated with the name “Magog” (Genesis 10:2; 1 Chronicles 1:5; Ezekiel 38:2). Rather than trying to relate these names to modern groups (which I think just clouds the point of the text and relies on conjecture), hear the Psalmist’s cry. He is surrounded by those who speak lies and hate peace – and therefore hate those who speak the truth of God and proclaim the peace of God in Messiah, the Christ, the Prince of peace.

This aggression is found in the last pages of the Book: “When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog [relative to Meshech], to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city” (Revelation 20:7-9).

In other words, no matter where you are, no matter the neighbors or co-workers, speak the truth and peace as it is found in Jesus Christ alone. This is the foundation from which the pilgrim sings and longs for home with the Lord.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9).

Lake Taneycomo (Missouri) morning...within
the hour Table Rock Dam began generating,
and the stillness was gone.

Praise the Father to the Fatherless

“Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord” (Baptist Faith & Message (2000), XVIII).

On Thursday mornings I have a men’s theology reading group at a local coffee shop. After yesterday's meeting I was driving around town listening to National Public Radio (NPR). There was a segment on the growth of human embryos in “lab dishes,”kept alive up to two weeks old – the current deadline for laboratory guidelines in the U.S. (the nervous system begins to form after this point). The embryos develop without “receiving instructions from the mother’s body…without any information from mom.”

My first thought was, “what a striking image of loneliness.” These human beings are conceived in a lab, grow for a brief period of time in a “lab dish,” and are terminated at two weeks – all in isolation from a mother’s womb. They are conceived to be observed and then thrown away. Alone. While not having awareness, they are human beings, and human beings were created to be the image of God, and were created with souls.

I am a one-issue voter: I am politically active for human life, conception to natural death. Apart from pro-life political activism, though, I was comforted by a single reality as I drove  - grieving - through town yesterday morning. These souls, conceived to serve human pragmatism alone and destined to die in two weeks, have a Father in heaven Who knows them and guarantees they are not to spend eternity as they spend those two weeks:

“…let the righteous be glad; let them exult before God;
Yes, let them rejoice with gladness.
Sing to God, sing praises to His name;
Lift up a song for Him who rides through the deserts,
Whose name is the LORD, and exult before Him.

A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows,
Is God in His holy habitation.
God makes a home for the lonely” (Psalm 68:3-6).

While we oppose this laboratory conception of the lonely doomed, we should, at the same time, praise the Father Who has a home destined for them in heaven’s eternal family. He doesn't miss one of them, no matter how small.

He is worthy of our praise.

Drinking Mercy (and Coffee) Instead of Sorrow

“...I will rejoice, for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith” (Philippians 1:18-25).

Sometimes we read (and teach) this passage with an emphasis on Paul’s “gain” and “desire to depart and be with Christ.” This is a good and right thing – we need more of a scripturally-informed leaning toward and yearning for Christ’s heaven (Colossians 3:1-4 is a very important passage to me). However, that’s not the whole story.

I got to be part of a 100th birthday for a dear sister in Christ yesterday. She was having a difficult day health-wise, but it was a joy to see her reach – by God’s grace – this landmark. I thought of the difficulties and sorrowful loss her family has experienced in the years I’ve been their pastor, and was reminded of this profound truth proclaimed in the midst of heartbreak:

“This I recall to my mind,

Therefore I have hope.

The LORD’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,

For His compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul,

‘Therefore I have hope in Him.’

The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,

To the person who seeks Him.

It is good that he waits silently

For the salvation of the LORD” (Lamentations 3:21-26).

This was Tuesday’s meditation for me.

Today is Wednesday. I got a call this morning telling me that another dear sister in Christ, a 94-year-old prayer warrior of the highest degree, was in the hospital with a possible stroke. I confess: I felt a bit of fear inside. I was thankful to find her sitting up, smiling, eating breakfast, and drinking coffee (that magnificent elixir gifted from heaven to a sod-bound race). It was good to see her like this.

I don’t know what the next hour, day, or month holds, but I told her I hoped we’d be celebrating her 100th in six years. She agreed. I read Psalm 30 with her, prayed, and left. On the drive in to the office another passage from Philippians came to mind, and it wasn’t the one at the top of this post.

“But I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my need; because he was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow” (Philippians 2:25-27).

It’s interesting that Paul’s “gain” and “desire to depart and be with Christ” didn’t make him emotionless or oddly inhuman about “the last enemy” (1 Corinthians 15:26). The apostle loathed this thing (as I do with all my soul) and considered it the mercy of God that his fellow servant and dear brother was brought back from the brink, so that Paul wouldn’t have to drink a cup of “sorrow upon sorrow.”

I long for the heavenly Home where my Savior and Lord is. A lot. But I hate the process of getting there, and despise the fact that a funeral is always somewhere unseen around the corner. Paul held both of these emotions without contradiction or sin, which strengthens me. I pray for the grace to do the same.

Music and the "Where" of the Holy Spirit

“Holy Spirit, You are welcome here. Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere.”

- from the song, “Holy Spirit,” by Bryan & Katie Torwalt, © 2011 Capitol CMG Genesis (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing), Jesus Culture Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

God the Holy Spirit, one of the three Persons of the one true God, is not said to dwell in a “place” or “atmosphere.” The one passage I can find which is closest to the text of the Torwalt’s song is Acts 4:31. The Church has just prayed, “grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus” (4:29,30). In response to this request, “the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.” The “place” (nor the “atmosphere”) is not filled with the Holy Spirit, but Peter and John’s “own” (4:23), the people of the Church who have just “lifted their voices to God with one accord.”

The same thing happened on the day of Pentecost: “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance” (Acts 2:1-4). They were “speaking of the mighty deeds of God” (2:11). The “place” where the Church was gathered was affected, but it is the people who were filled with the Holy Spirit. And the result is not merely an emotional rush or mystical experience for its own sake, but the proclamation of God’s saving work in Christ to the lost.

I’m not making note of this merely to criticize a very popular contemporary song, but to remind us all that the Bible has specific things to say about where the Persons of the Trinity manifest Themselves and work. I have personally tried to pay attention to this in my Bible reading, and have purposefully tried to reflect biblical language in my prayers, thinking, teaching, and preaching about God Himself.

Again, if you’re a fan of the song “Holy Spirit,” I’m not trying to be mean. But we are called to “love the Lord” our “God with all” our “mind” (Matthew 22:37//Mark 12:30//Luke 10:27). That’s not a sentiment or pleasant idea, but a command. It’s part of what the Lord Jesus Christ called “the great and foremost command” (Matthew 22:38), and, along with Leviticus 19:18, “there is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:31). It seems, therefore, that we should strive for passionate accuracy according to the Scriptures when we think of God, pray to God, and – yes – sing of God.

In the new covenant, if there is any sanctity (holiness) of a place (which I don’t see in the New Testament), it is because it is populated with believers in Jesus Christ, who are filled with the Holy Spirit by virtue of the promise of the Gospel. The Spirit doesn’t inhabit a place. He indwells a people.

The Lord Jesus spoke of “the Spirit, Whom those who believed in Him were to receive” (John 7:39).

For further clarification, let me add: He does not fill a place, but a people, and He does not do so in response to a song, but is sent by the Father and Son to those who believe in the Son. The result is singing, no doubt (Ephesians 5:19), but the singing does not bring Him to fill.

I’ve led worship. Sometimes everything comes together, and it can be a very stimulating and emotionally-charged time. Sometimes not. What I fear is that we can fall into a non-Gospel mentality, lifting up the effectiveness of the music/worship team/atmosphere above the gracious gift of the Spirit given by Father and Son based solely on Jesus’ cross and nothing we have done. Do you see the difference? What if you come away from a service feeling nothing? Did the stage team fail to bring the Spirit? Is there something wrong with you that the Spirit didn’t come? The Bible says we only deserve the wrath of God, not His glory or presence. The Son, though, took that wrath upon Himself on the cross, and as a result of believing that message of the Gospel (not the result of experiencing music), the Father sends the Spirit because of the intercessory request of the Son from heaven. The Holy Spirit indwells sinners despite their efforts, not because of them. And, as a result, we sing of “the gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

God the Holy Spirit indwells the people who are the Church. “...through [Christ Jesus] we...have our access in one Spirit to the Father,” and “are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:18,22). “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? ...the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are” (1 Corinthians 3:16,17). “...do you not know that your [plural] body [singular] is a temple [singular] of the Holy Spirit Who is in you [plural], Whom you [plural] have from God, and that you [plural] are not your own? For you [plural] have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your [plural] body [singular]” (1 Corinthians 6:19,20). “...you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5). It’s not the “place” or “atmosphere.” It’s you (plural) in Christ.

This is a precious, glorious, awe-inspiring truth that does not require a musically-based experience to be a reality. While there is nothing wrong with a Christian music experience (I love good music of all styles), remember that it is the fruit, not the root, of the loving Father, gracious Son, and communing Holy Spirit.

While offering this loving reminder of the Scripture’s witness, let me add: the Son is at the right hand of the Father in heaven since His ascension, ruling over “heaven and...earth” with “all authority” (Matthew 28:18). He is also continually interceding from that place for believers in Him (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25). He is, from that place, to be our focus while we are here on earth: “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1-3). I wonder if, instead of invoking the presence of God the Trinity in our gatherings, we would be better served to beg Him to lift us up to where He is, “holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens” (Hebrews 7:26). Holiness. Innocence. Purity. Separation from sin. The exaltation of Christ. These are things we desperately need, and they are found where He is. So maybe we should be called to worship yearning for that place, lifted up to it by the sent-from-heaven Spirit Who dwells in us, Who seals us in the Son Who is at the right hand of the Father in heaven.

God showed up in a place at the dedication of Solomon's Temple (2 Chronicles 5:14; 7:2) in the old covenant. But we are part of a new covenant whose prized adjective is "better" (Hebrews 7:19,22; 8:6; 10:34; 11:16,40; 12:24). God drawing us to a heavenly place is as much better than God dwelling in an earthly place as the new covenant in Christ is better than the old covenant.

“I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus...for our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; Who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself” (Philippians 3:14,20,21).

Can you feel Paul’s yearning, his longing in these words?

Father, thank You for sending the Holy Spirit as the matchless Gift. Son of God, all glory to You for earning the Gift of the Holy Spirit for a people who could not possibly ever merit such a precious Presence. Holy Spirit, we treasure Your indwelling the Church of Christ-believers, and ask that You continually bind us together in Christ, lifting us up higher day by day to our longing and desire: the heaven of the Father and Son, the place where we are welcome solely by the merit of Christ. Holy Trinity, mighty and gracious God, we are in awe of this all-consuming reality, witnessed in the promise of Your all-sufficient and flawless Word. And so, anchored to this dirt but longing for eternal heaven, we proclaim, pray, and sing with all our art the marvels of Who You are and what You have done. You alone are worthy.

I Want It More Than I Want It

“Lord, Your testimonies are completely reliable; holiness is the beauty of Your house for all the days to come” (Psalm 93:5, HCSB).

That forever-house is where we will experience the holy Father (John 17:11), holy Son (Mark 1:24//Luke 4:34; Luke 1:35; John 6:69; Acts 2:27; 13:35), and holy Spirit fully and eternally, hearing and joining in the heavenly song, “holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!” (Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8). It is where the battle against sin will be ancient legend, and the command to be holy as He is holy (Leviticus 11:44; 19:2; 20:7; 1 Peter 1:14-16) will be as natural and free and exhilarating as breathing in rain-scented air in the desert.

I want it more than I want it.

That was my first thought when I read Psalm 93:5 yesterday morning. It was my thought when one of our men read it in the call to worship at the gathering of the saints later that same morning. Some part of me wants that unending beautiful holiness more than my distracted, stressed, and usually confounded mind wants it. I want it more than my often-divided and tempted heart wants it. I definitely want it more than my flesh wants it (Psalm 63:1...can my flesh realize this one day, please?). But there is something (Someone) in me that desires with a longing alien to this earthen vessel for that holiness which it barely knows or comprehends. I want it.

I understand the incredible promises of no more night (Revelation 21:25; 22:5), no more tears (Revelation 7:17; 21:4), no more pain, the banquet table (Matthew 8:11), the peaceful rest (Hebrews 4:9), and even to some extent the glory of heaven promised to us. I marvel at the thought of seeing Him face-to-face (Revelation 22:4)...but maybe even more that in seeing Him I will somehow, unimaginably, be like Him (2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 John 3:2). Even in His beautiful holiness.

Holiness. Do you know what it is to be holy, or that He Himself is infinitely holy? Can you comprehend what it means for that holiness to be the beauty of our forever-home, Church? As the Holy Spirit makes us holy, He is preparing us for that wedding Day when the beauty of the Bride will be the beauty of holiness (Ephesians 1:4; 5:27; Colossians 1:22). Beautiful holiness is our destiny.

Until then I will want it more than I want it, and by the grace found in Christ alone will sing and pray the psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs of the ages about His beautiful holiness.

“Ascribe to Yahweh the glory of His name; bring an offering and come before Him. Worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness” (1 Chronicles 16:29).

“Ascribe to Yahweh the glory due His name; worship Yahweh in the splendor of His holiness” (Psalm 29:2).

“Your people will volunteer on Your day of battle. In holy splendor, from the womb of the dawn, the dew of Your youth belongs to You” (Psalm 110:3).

God of Heaven

“A Song of Ascents. To You I lift up my eyes, O You Who are enthroned in the heavens!” (Psalm 123:1).

Pilgrims, as we lift up our eyes to our heavenly God, may our eyes of faith see Him as He is through the teaching of Scripture. He is Trinity:

• Father: “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father Who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name’” (Matthew 6:9).
• Son: “...Jesus...because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens” (Hebrews 7:24-26).
• Holy Spirit: “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there” (Psalm 139:7,8).

“Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the LORD, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other. So you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I am giving you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you” (Deuteronomy 4:39,40).

“So Judah gathered together to seek help from the LORD; they even came from all the cities of Judah to seek the LORD. Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD before the new court, and he said, ‘O LORD, the God of our fathers, are You not God in the heavens? And are You not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Your hand so that no one can stand against You’” (2 Chronicles 20:4-6).

“...our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases” (Psalm 115:3).

From the "Ocular Catechism" of William Perkins (1558-1602)

“The Lord our God is the one and only living and true God...in this divine and infinite Being there are three subsistences, the Father, the Word or Son, and the Holy Spirit. All are one in substance, power, and eternity; each having the whole divine essence, yet this essence being undivided. The Father was not derived from any other being; He was neither brought into being by, nor did He issue from any other being. The Son is eternally begotten of the Father. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. All three are infinite, without beginning, and are therefore only one God, Who is not to be divided in nature and being, but distinguished by several peculiar relative properties, and also their personal relations. This doctrine of the Trinity is the foundation of all our communion with God, and our comfortable dependence on Him...worship is to be given to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and to Him alone” (1689 Baptist Confession, 2.1,3; 22.2).