Making the Most
of the means of grace
05
5. The "rest" of the Lord's Day
Sunday, the Lord's Day, the one day of the week we are to gather together and come before the Lord to worship and praise His name as a Body. The Puritains were very strict about the Lord's Day and perhaps they had a valid point. For them is was to be treated much like the Jewish Sabbath and to be a day of prayer and reflection.
But today it's a day mostly used to get stuff done around the house, to be entertained, to do for ourselves. No, it is not to be some legalistic, cold and dry time nor is it to be considered a part of any works righteousness but isn't it to be more than just a day for our own interest and pleasures?
Don't we really need one day in seven when we can fight off all the distractions and diversions and focus on the Lord, to really "rest" in Him? Can we be disciplined enough to set aside all the concerns and interests that keep our minds off of Him and simply relax in His goodness and grace? Does it not seem right that we sacrifice one day of "me" to have a day for "Him?"
I mentioned the way the Jewish people would have counted days, from sunset to sunset, in the last blog. Could we not begin to train ourselves to do the same. Could we not begin to focus on His worship and His rest at sunset Saturday and set aside the mundane and common things of life until sunset Sunday? Do we think we would really be losing anything by such an effort and practice?
Bible reading, prayer, spiritual discussions, faith related DVD's and programs are all means to keep our focus on Him and His grace for a mere 24 hours. Would this not revolutionize our lives? Of course it would and the blessings of doing so would be great.
The Lord's Day is meant for us to rest in Him. And we all have to admit we need that rest - that rest in Him. We need to have a time when we intentionally let go of our little worlds and cling to the hem of His garment. Coming to Him on such a regular and disciplined basis will relieve us of much of the running to Him we have to do in a crisis.
This is not an easy thing to do. It takes commitment and discipline and the mercies of the Holy Spirit but when done it will produce a greater sense of His peace and presence. It's not some drab and monkish practice but rather a joyous giving on one day to Him and the things of His Kingdom. One day, just one day.
The means of grace are great gifts He has provided so that we may consistently be growing in Him. They are, well, essential practices He has given us so that we may facilitate, to whatever degree our efforts can, our being conformed to His likeness. They are indeed means of grace -- and growth -- and hope -- and love.
Let me encourage you to begin making use of these means. Seek the power of the Holy Spirit in making them an integral part of your life. Accept the gifts and learn to enjoy them.
Finally, if you decide to indeed take up the means of grace I encourage you to follow the advise of one of the Puritain fathers.
"Do it as you can in order that yoou might do it better."
God bless you and keep you.
Showing posts with label worship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label worship. Show all posts
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Friday, March 28, 2014
Making the Most 04 The Lord's Supper 032714
Making the Most
of the means of grace
04
4. The Lord's Supper
I won't even try to get into the issues surrounding the exact nature of the Lord's Supper. Not only are they too broad for this brief devotion but they are pretty much too deep for me.
Let us lean on Paul for our understanding:
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 ESV
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, [24] and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." [25] In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." [26] For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
For me the key to the grace of the Lord's Supper is found in with phrase, "in rememberance of me."
This rememberance is not just about His death though Paul focuses us on that in verse 26. Rather I think that it is a broader rememberance which encompasses all of what it means to be the Christ, the Promised One, the Redeemer.
This would take us all the way back to Genesis and the promise to Eve. It would include the Exodus, David's reign, the Prophets, John the Baptist and so very much more. The rememberance should overwhelm us as it stems all of the history of redemption and not just three years of ministry.
This rememberance is created by the Word, understood better through prayer and is indeed an act of Worship. Now we see how the "means of grace" work together supporting and enhancing one another. They are five pillars if you will upon which we build and which build one another.
But back to our "rememberance." It is a shame that we have so little time in worship for remembernance. The plate and cup are passed and it's over in just a few moments. Hardly time to remember anything.
That is why I suggest strongly that we prepare prior to even getting to the worship meeting. We all usually know when we will celebrate supper and so we can all prepare for partaking as we prepare for worship.
Now I'm going to get wierd. The Jews counted days from sunset to sunset and this was certainly critical in their preparation for their Sabbath rest and worship. Let me suggest that we consider emmulating them at least one day a week. Let our "Sabbath" or Lord's Day begin at sunset on Saturday and run till sunset on Sunday.
My rational is simple. Let us prepare for worship the night before, especially when we know we will be partaking of the Lord's Supper. I know we are used to Saturday being "our" day but maybe we can plan it better and use the evening more productively.
*NO - I'm not trying to create a new "law" just a new and beneficial habit.
The Lord's Supper, the rememberance of His redeeming us, the proclamation of His death with the promise of His return should never be a common endeavor. It is not a "magical" moment but it is in a sense a mystical moment. It is, at least for me, the moment when I desire all of me to be focused on Him, what he accomplished and what He has promised. I can't really do that in the typically all too brief "communion service," but I can do that ahead of time so that in those few moments whenI am actually partaking I am truly remembering Him.
Let us take very seriously Pau's admonition:
1 Corinthians 11:27-29 ESV
Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. [28] Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. [29] For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.
Prepare, oh dearest brothers and sisters, prepare your minds and hearts for those moments when you are partaking. Do not allow your partaking to be just an act in the moment but make good use of the time before - the night before - to set yoour mind and heart on Him and all there is to remember.
of the means of grace
04
4. The Lord's Supper
I won't even try to get into the issues surrounding the exact nature of the Lord's Supper. Not only are they too broad for this brief devotion but they are pretty much too deep for me.
Let us lean on Paul for our understanding:
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 ESV
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, [24] and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." [25] In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." [26] For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
For me the key to the grace of the Lord's Supper is found in with phrase, "in rememberance of me."
This rememberance is not just about His death though Paul focuses us on that in verse 26. Rather I think that it is a broader rememberance which encompasses all of what it means to be the Christ, the Promised One, the Redeemer.
This would take us all the way back to Genesis and the promise to Eve. It would include the Exodus, David's reign, the Prophets, John the Baptist and so very much more. The rememberance should overwhelm us as it stems all of the history of redemption and not just three years of ministry.
This rememberance is created by the Word, understood better through prayer and is indeed an act of Worship. Now we see how the "means of grace" work together supporting and enhancing one another. They are five pillars if you will upon which we build and which build one another.
But back to our "rememberance." It is a shame that we have so little time in worship for remembernance. The plate and cup are passed and it's over in just a few moments. Hardly time to remember anything.
That is why I suggest strongly that we prepare prior to even getting to the worship meeting. We all usually know when we will celebrate supper and so we can all prepare for partaking as we prepare for worship.
Now I'm going to get wierd. The Jews counted days from sunset to sunset and this was certainly critical in their preparation for their Sabbath rest and worship. Let me suggest that we consider emmulating them at least one day a week. Let our "Sabbath" or Lord's Day begin at sunset on Saturday and run till sunset on Sunday.
My rational is simple. Let us prepare for worship the night before, especially when we know we will be partaking of the Lord's Supper. I know we are used to Saturday being "our" day but maybe we can plan it better and use the evening more productively.
*NO - I'm not trying to create a new "law" just a new and beneficial habit.
The Lord's Supper, the rememberance of His redeeming us, the proclamation of His death with the promise of His return should never be a common endeavor. It is not a "magical" moment but it is in a sense a mystical moment. It is, at least for me, the moment when I desire all of me to be focused on Him, what he accomplished and what He has promised. I can't really do that in the typically all too brief "communion service," but I can do that ahead of time so that in those few moments whenI am actually partaking I am truly remembering Him.
Let us take very seriously Pau's admonition:
1 Corinthians 11:27-29 ESV
Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. [28] Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. [29] For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.
Prepare, oh dearest brothers and sisters, prepare your minds and hearts for those moments when you are partaking. Do not allow your partaking to be just an act in the moment but make good use of the time before - the night before - to set yoour mind and heart on Him and all there is to remember.
Sunday, February 2, 2014
The Hell of Melancholy - Sunday
I've tried four times to write to you concerning Sundayship - it all boils down to this - at least for me - at times . . . .
Go
Get up - get dressed - and go
Don't go with expectations
Just go
Be there
With others
Who are just as needy as you
But don't know it
Go
Be there
With them
With Him
Go
Enter late - sit in the back and leave early - but go
Go
Go
Go
Go
Get up - get dressed - and go
Don't go with expectations
Just go
Be there
With others
Who are just as needy as you
But don't know it
Go
Be there
With them
With Him
Go
Enter late - sit in the back and leave early - but go
Go
Go
Go
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Worship 002
Deuteronomy 11:16 ESV
Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them;
We can not help but acknowledge that our hearts are at best fickled and at worse they are deceitful beyond measure. Even though we are redeemed and set apart for, in and to Him our hearts are still prone to waywardness, rebellion and self-seeking. Certainly, as we mature, we expect to see our hearts grow stronger and wiser and more faithfu but there's no easy or quick (or here, definitive) way for that to happen.
Examining our hearts in light of the Word under the guidance of the Spirit was a practice, indeed a duty the Puritains placed great emphasis on. This examination was not just some curosry "check-up" but a deep and intense examination a spiritual angiogram if you will. They saw this as essential not only for maturation in the faith but for the glorification of God. I believee that regardless of how much time and effort we spend in the Word and prayer, if we do not purpose it to examine our hearts, it is little more than busy work.
David prays:
Psalm 139:23-24 ESV
Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! [24] And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
A very bold prayer and one we would be well advised to not just pray asking but pray demanding. It's a risk, it's dangerous because God must say "Yes!" It is a risk and an danger because it will result in a deep and perhaps painful challenge to many of the things we thought we had right.
But unless we are willing to pray this and accept what He shows us we have casue to question if indeed we are His or not. To ignore the need for self- and God's examination of our hearts and/or to fail to acknowledge and respond to what is found is a sin of self-protective rebellion and a self-abusive sin.
It is perhaps in regard to worship that our hearts need close examination - which too little of which is ever done. The church has wandered into the morass of comfort, convenience and culture that has alienated her from her head and sorely weakened her witness. We have stacked so many pretty things, practices and ideas around worship that only a very dim light can be seen.
Where we should be focused on what God prefers we focus on what we prefer. Instead of seeking and practicing what God requires we seek and practice what our flesh and the unbeliever requires. Our worship has become more about us and less and less about God.
We promote worship as contemporary or traditional. The real issue is whether it is acceptable or unacceptable, holy or profane, reverent or rebellious. We have not only brought strange fire to God's worship but we have laid aside some of the most fundamental tenets of the faith. We have abandoned the main and plain truths for the bright and shiny deceptions. We have made worship an issue of "What's in it for me (us/them)?" instead of "What's in it for Him?"
This is nothing new. The first murder resulted from unacceptable worship. So we can take some strange comfort in the fact that this is a common and continuous problem. but that strange comfort must convict us and bring us to repentance. it should drive us to the Word to do the hard work of examining OUR hearts in regard to worship and what we think, believe, want, don't want, etc.
We must prayerfully cry out for God to show us how to worship Him not just in spirit but in truth as well. The "how" of our worship is a clear indication of the "who" of our worship. We need, individually and collectively to examine our worship (inside and out) to see if it is what He wants.
Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them;
We can not help but acknowledge that our hearts are at best fickled and at worse they are deceitful beyond measure. Even though we are redeemed and set apart for, in and to Him our hearts are still prone to waywardness, rebellion and self-seeking. Certainly, as we mature, we expect to see our hearts grow stronger and wiser and more faithfu but there's no easy or quick (or here, definitive) way for that to happen.
Examining our hearts in light of the Word under the guidance of the Spirit was a practice, indeed a duty the Puritains placed great emphasis on. This examination was not just some curosry "check-up" but a deep and intense examination a spiritual angiogram if you will. They saw this as essential not only for maturation in the faith but for the glorification of God. I believee that regardless of how much time and effort we spend in the Word and prayer, if we do not purpose it to examine our hearts, it is little more than busy work.
David prays:
Psalm 139:23-24 ESV
Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! [24] And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
A very bold prayer and one we would be well advised to not just pray asking but pray demanding. It's a risk, it's dangerous because God must say "Yes!" It is a risk and an danger because it will result in a deep and perhaps painful challenge to many of the things we thought we had right.
But unless we are willing to pray this and accept what He shows us we have casue to question if indeed we are His or not. To ignore the need for self- and God's examination of our hearts and/or to fail to acknowledge and respond to what is found is a sin of self-protective rebellion and a self-abusive sin.
It is perhaps in regard to worship that our hearts need close examination - which too little of which is ever done. The church has wandered into the morass of comfort, convenience and culture that has alienated her from her head and sorely weakened her witness. We have stacked so many pretty things, practices and ideas around worship that only a very dim light can be seen.
Where we should be focused on what God prefers we focus on what we prefer. Instead of seeking and practicing what God requires we seek and practice what our flesh and the unbeliever requires. Our worship has become more about us and less and less about God.
We promote worship as contemporary or traditional. The real issue is whether it is acceptable or unacceptable, holy or profane, reverent or rebellious. We have not only brought strange fire to God's worship but we have laid aside some of the most fundamental tenets of the faith. We have abandoned the main and plain truths for the bright and shiny deceptions. We have made worship an issue of "What's in it for me (us/them)?" instead of "What's in it for Him?"
This is nothing new. The first murder resulted from unacceptable worship. So we can take some strange comfort in the fact that this is a common and continuous problem. but that strange comfort must convict us and bring us to repentance. it should drive us to the Word to do the hard work of examining OUR hearts in regard to worship and what we think, believe, want, don't want, etc.
We must prayerfully cry out for God to show us how to worship Him not just in spirit but in truth as well. The "how" of our worship is a clear indication of the "who" of our worship. We need, individually and collectively to examine our worship (inside and out) to see if it is what He wants.
Friday, July 12, 2013
WORSHIP 001
Deuteronomy 11:16 ESV
Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them;
It's not "how" you worship but "who" you worship. That is the priority. BUT who who worship must shape how you worship or it is not worship.
The "who" must shape the very nature of the the "how." When we decide the how based upon our own preferences, affections and perceived needs we destroy any real point of purpose to our worship. It becomes about us and Who and we nullify not only our worship but who we worship as well.
When we seriously consider the detail and intricacy of the the God of the Bible directed Israel to worship Him we have to admit that He has some pretty specific desires for worship Himself. The power and purpose, the very heart of Israel's worship was to be found in their obedience to God in regards to worship. When they began to order their worship according to their affections, preferences and percieved needs things went very badly for them. To change the "how" from what we find in God's word to a "how" that we have developed is to change the "who" and "why of our worship.
Now "when" is worship? I'm writing specifically of the gathering of the saints on the Lord's Day for the specific purpose of corporate worship. I'm not talking about Bible studies, Celebrations, Singings or anything else the Body of Christ has found to do for its building up and equipping. Those things can be good and beneficial but we need to be careful we understand the difference between worship and and activity that acknowledges God and is done reverently (perhaps even worshipfully).
Worship is a deadly business. "Strange fire," is not only unacceptable but can get you killed. Assuming a role in worship that is ordained for another can have soul killing results. Worship is deadly business.
But, to make the key point, it is all about the who. If you've got the who wrong or if the who is mixed with a little me or us then it is not worship. Indeed if there is me or us mixed in then there is no He in it. As Thomas Case wrote about sin, "a little poison if still poison."
It will take a diligent examination of the whole counsel of God to determine the how and I doubt we'll ever get it totally right until we are with Him. But isn't it worth the effort? Isn't is a good thing for us to work hard for? Isn't He worth it?
As I work through this for myself I'll share my thoughts and insights. but I will state from the outset that worship needs to be all about Him. Worship, true and wholesome worship, is serious business - deadly serious and we should approach it with fear and trembling.
Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them;
It's not "how" you worship but "who" you worship. That is the priority. BUT who who worship must shape how you worship or it is not worship.
The "who" must shape the very nature of the the "how." When we decide the how based upon our own preferences, affections and perceived needs we destroy any real point of purpose to our worship. It becomes about us and Who and we nullify not only our worship but who we worship as well.
When we seriously consider the detail and intricacy of the the God of the Bible directed Israel to worship Him we have to admit that He has some pretty specific desires for worship Himself. The power and purpose, the very heart of Israel's worship was to be found in their obedience to God in regards to worship. When they began to order their worship according to their affections, preferences and percieved needs things went very badly for them. To change the "how" from what we find in God's word to a "how" that we have developed is to change the "who" and "why of our worship.
Now "when" is worship? I'm writing specifically of the gathering of the saints on the Lord's Day for the specific purpose of corporate worship. I'm not talking about Bible studies, Celebrations, Singings or anything else the Body of Christ has found to do for its building up and equipping. Those things can be good and beneficial but we need to be careful we understand the difference between worship and and activity that acknowledges God and is done reverently (perhaps even worshipfully).
Worship is a deadly business. "Strange fire," is not only unacceptable but can get you killed. Assuming a role in worship that is ordained for another can have soul killing results. Worship is deadly business.
But, to make the key point, it is all about the who. If you've got the who wrong or if the who is mixed with a little me or us then it is not worship. Indeed if there is me or us mixed in then there is no He in it. As Thomas Case wrote about sin, "a little poison if still poison."
It will take a diligent examination of the whole counsel of God to determine the how and I doubt we'll ever get it totally right until we are with Him. But isn't it worth the effort? Isn't is a good thing for us to work hard for? Isn't He worth it?
As I work through this for myself I'll share my thoughts and insights. but I will state from the outset that worship needs to be all about Him. Worship, true and wholesome worship, is serious business - deadly serious and we should approach it with fear and trembling.
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