Greater Passion in Worship Part 4

Exodus 20:8-11 ESV

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

1. Close out all tradeoffs of the eternal for the temporal. God has created us for a purpose to bring glory to Him. One of the areas that we are to glorify God is in the profession (employment) that He has called us. It is just as high and important to call by God to be a garbage man as a pastor of a local body of believers. He has also given us a creation to enjoy with the purpose of giving Him glory individually, family and corporately. Like all other areas of our lives our sinful natures will take something good and make it evil by our heart and actions. When God created the worlds in six complete 24 hour days, He set aside the seventh to rest (Sabbath) He set the example for us the priority of work is not a 24/7 exercise of our lives. I coined a phrase a few years back that got me in trouble with a portion of our church congregation. The term was vocational adultery. The belief that one can be so engaged in the pursuit of a career, and/or money that family, church and worse God are neglected. God's purpose for the Sabbath was to force us to remember that our time on earth is limited and to spend time on careers, pleasures, or other human pursuits at the exclusion to worship of God individually and corporately was and still is a bad trade off.

• Do you willingly and even look forward to working in a constant overtime situation that keeps you and family from consistent corporate worship?
• Do you engage yourself and family members into activities that are scheduled regularly at the times of corporate worship.
• Do you make an effort to ask and seek for time off to corporate worship if you work a job that does schedule you during corporate worship?
• Does it genuinely ache in your heart when you are forced by your profession to work during corporate worship?

Greater Passion in Worship Part 3

Exodus 20:7 ESV
“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

1. Cry out in word and deed the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I find it ironic that the one name that God commands us to not take lightly or dirty up it is His own. But we cannot go through a day without someone, who is angry, frustrated or in pain, using the name above all names to vent their emotion or feeling. Certainly we who are saved by the blood of Christ should not be guilty of such language. In Proverbs 30:3 we find a clear application of taking the (profaning) the Lords name in vain beyond just the vocal misuse of His name. My dad would constantly warn me that not only did what I say, but also what I did would always reflect on the name Blair. I was born a Blair and nothing would change that, but I could make the name Blair pleasant or repute just by my behavior. I am born again into God's family, and praise God I am secure by Jesus in this Family (Christian). But my behavior will reflect on the name of Christ in both speech and action. 
• Does my speech bring the name of Christ down by cursing, gossip, revenge, envy, unthankfulness, complaining, sarcasm, or just plain thoughtlessness?
• Does my speech lift up the name of Christ by, praise, forgiving, thankfulness, compliments, teaching and loving admonishment, and truth spoke in loving benefit towards the other person(s) in His name?
• Do the actions of my life bring down the name of Christ at work, on the highway, at home, in public, by selfishness, laziness, rebellion, or apathy?

• Do the actions of my life lift up the name of Christ at work, on the highway, at home, in public by kindness, diligence, obedience, or genuine concern for others in His name?

Greater Passion In Worship Part 1

Exodus 20:1-11 ESV

And God spoke all these words, saying,“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
        “You shall have no other gods before me.
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Have you ever wondered why it is that when someone is angry, frustrated or in pain that the words "Ooooh Adolf Hitler" rarely ever seem to be uttered? Or how about "Oh Maria mother of Fidel Castro"?
I ask a couple of co-workers this question the other day at my place of employment. The looks and answers were quite enlightening. For all the answers of blaming the culture, family, or just plain co-incidence, they seemed to scoff the idea that the answer lies in the heart of each of us who are in rebellion and war against God.
When it comes to the purpose of our very existence the ultimate top of the list is our individual and corporate worship of God. Worship is at it's simplest definition is giving to God acknowledgement, devotion, and effort, to His glory and praise.
The first four commandments of the famous ten seem to be a good starting point for our goal of Greater Passion in Worship in 2013. Below are just some applications where some improvement and growth can come.

1. Clear out all competing gods. One of the biggest deceptions that we all seem to have is that we all worship all the time. Whether we realize it or not we in our heart give honor, praise, and time to something(s). It could be employment, sports, hobbies, entertainment, activities, people, or groups of people. God makes Himself very clear that He shares glory and praise with no one. We who claim Christ as Savior are in a life time warfare with ourselves to cast our these gods that seek to steal from the one true God who deserves our undivided attention. Sometimes comparison, commitment, or compromise will clue us in on our heart's attention. 
• In comparison does a headache keep you from group worship but not something else more fun, or "important"?
• Is your commitment to the group worship dependent on feelings and circumstance?
• Do you make compromising deals with yourself and others in name of doing a good activity?

Greater Passion in Worship Part 2

Exodus 20:4-6 ESV
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

1. Cleanse out all desires contrary to God. "Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love." That hymn writer was very honest with God and himself about the condition and desires of our heart. Even in our pursuit to to worship we try to out think God by making assumptions as to the best or only method of worship. For years I lived in the selfish belief that there is only a specific kind of music that pleases God and certain others could not possibly please Him. I was confronted with some convicting questions as to what the bible said and did not say about music. The most convicting was the use of the term sacred and unsacred music in the bible.
• Can you worship with fellow Christians who worship differently without being critical?
• Can you worship without being distracted by those around you?
• Can you change and maybe even eliminate worship methods that are unbiblical?
• Can you change and maybe even eliminate worship methods for the benefit of other believers growth?