NORTHSHORE CHURCH OF CHRIST

As I was reading my Bible this morning, I came across the seventh plague in Egypt, a mighty and terrible hailstorm. God gave Egypt plenty of forewarning, and it records, “Then whoever feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses, but whoever did not pay attention to the word of the LORD left his slaves and his livestock in the field” (Exodus 9.20–21).

Meditating on this, two truths spring to my mind.

Fearing the LORD Is Good

When we fear the One True and Living God, the thrice-holy God, the Holiest of Holies, we listen to Him! His word is not frivolous nor simply suggestive but rather emphatic and commanding. Just as balls of solid ice fell upon those dismissive Egyptians, so God’s word does not fall to the ground void—it always accomplishes what He intends with irresistible power.

When God said He would harden Pharaoh’s heart, there was no way his heart could not have been hardened. When God said He would deliver His people from Egypt, there should have been no question He was able to accomplish His purpose; Israel could trust His word. So many accounts are recorded in Scripture in which God proves Himself; we should be ashamed to ever doubt His faithfulness. Let God be true and every man a liar.

Fearing the LORD Means Acting in Faith

Also, in the text above, I saw Egyptians who acted upon God’s word because they feared His wrath and power. They believed. After all, this was the seventh plague! They had seen terrible things over the past few months, and even if their Pharaoh wouldn’t budge, some of them were convinced. They pulled their animals and their slaves out of the field and sheltered them because God had warned.

This is what it means to fear the LORD. Solomon said the whole duty of man is to fear God and keep His commandments (Eccl. 12.13), and in the next verse he explained we should fear God because God will bring every matter (everything we say, do, and think) out into the open in the Judgment. Do you believe it? Does your daily walk show it?

Fearing Man Is Bad

A few days ago, I read Luke 12, and Jesus there taught His disciples, “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!” (Luke 12.4–5)

Jesus’ disciples are frequently faced with enemies who push us to go against the word of the Lord, and we must decide whether we fear them or God. This choice comes before us more often than we would care to admit. Someone pushes the perspective of the enemy, preaches falsehoods in our face, argues for some corrupt cause, and we have a choice. Do we remain silent? Do we walk away? Do we go along to get along? We find champions of faith who we should imitate, like Daniel and David, Ruth and Rahab, who faced lies, temptations, and demands from God’s enemies and replied in word and deed: “We must obey God rather than man.”

Fear can be good, and fear can be bad. It depends upon the context. It depends upon the object of our fear.

Whom do you fear?

I wonder if my generation hasn’t underemphasized ritual and overemphasized spontaneity.

Consider the husband who brings his wife flowers every Friday. He replaces the old flowers in the vase and kisses his sweetheart.

Consider, also, the husband who brings his wife flowers once or twice a year when he gets that special urge. His wife wonders what the occasion is.

Some think the second husband is more romantic and his gift would be more heartfelt. But why should it be that way? Could not the first husband’s flower ritual be more heartfelt than the second husband’s haphazard way of showing his love?

Neither necessarily shows what is in the husband’s heart, but I would guess the first husband thinks of his wife more than the second. He certainly puts more effort into his marriage, at least from a flower-gift perspective.

Think about your daily prayers. And, yes, dear Christian, you should have a daily prayer habit! Daniel prayed three times a day, and his enemies knew exactly where and when he would hit his knees. Daniel had a prayer ritual in place. Just because you pray at the same time every day doesn’t mean it’s not heartfelt. In truth, some days will be more heartfelt than others, but the ritual does not determine this. The ritual makes sure you pray.

Think about times of spiritual devotion with your family. Do you think you are more spiritual if these times are unscheduled? Dad randomly yells, “Okay, kids, let’s have some family worship!” If your kids are like mine, at least a few of them will come grumbling because you interrupted something they were doing. But if you have it scheduled, the kids tend to set aside that time and gather with a more focused mind.

What about meeting with the saints? We meet on a regular schedule, and our organized fellowship and worship looks very similar from week to week. We have rituals established. Does that mean they are not heartfelt? Not at all! The rituals give us a framework to our activities. We don’t have to think through the entire schedule every Lord’s Day, and we can focus on the important matters. We sing together, pray together, share the word of God together, and eat the Lord’s Supper together every week. Are we less than genuine? Not at all!

God gives grace through the excellent daily and weekly habits we build. The ritual helps us continue exercising what needs to be exercised. This week’s fellowship may not be outstanding or mind blowing as a single event, but our times of fellowship build momentum and we experience growth and feelings of solidarity, peace, and joy in what our Lord is doing.

Don’t fall for the lie that our worship and expressions of love must always be spontaneous to be genuine. It’s not so. In fact, we will wear ourselves out if we try to live life this way! Another grace God gives through ritual is that it prevents burnout. The husband who tries to think of something new every day to show his wife how much he loves her will eventually run out of ideas. The husband who knows a few things his wife loves and continues to give her and do those things week after week will find a steady rhythm to life.

This does not mean that spontaneity does not profit. Everyone likes changing things up once in a while! But spontaneity should be the exception, not the rule.

God gives grace through ritual. Don’t wait for the muse to hit, for lightning to strike, for inspiration to fall. Just plan to be where you need to be every day and every week and keep those commitments faithfully. Remember the tortoise and the hare and keep faithfully plodding.

In The Message—an interpretation, not a translation (so read with caution!)—the introduction to Galatians includes the following:

Through Jesus, Paul learned that God was not an impersonal force to be used to make people behave in certain prescribed ways, but a personal Savior who set us free to live a free life.

The Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary includes under its entry for "Logos":

In relation to humanity, Jesus the Logos was not the impersonal principle of Stoicism, but He was a personal Savior who took on human flesh in the incarnation (John 1:4–14).

Most of the evangelical world employs this phrase. Perhaps "Are you a born again Christian?" (isn't that redundant?) is even more popular, but "Have you made Jesus your own personal Savior?" definitely competes.

Can we claim Jesus as our own "personal Savior"?

Personal is used here in the relational sense—that Jesus saves me personally; He and I share a personal relationship. The alternative to this personal relationship, I suppose, would be a relationship between Jesus and His body, the church, which does not somehow translate into a relationship between Him and me or Him and you, personally.

What does the Bible teach on this?

The Bible does not contain those exact words—"personal Savior"—but what about the concept? Consider two of the most God-fearing and God-loving men in the Bible, one who lived under the Old Covenant and one under the New: David and Paul.

David

David wrote of his relationship with God, even as his Savior, in the Psalms.

I love you, O LORD, my strength.
The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. (Ps. 18.1-2)

I cried aloud to the LORD,
and he answered me from his holy hill. (Ps. 3.4)

Do not forsake me, O Lord!
O my God, be not far from me!
Make haste to help me,
O Lord, my salvation! (Ps. 38.21-22)

Do you sense a personal relationship in David's words? Yahweh was not just the God of Israel; He was David's God! This relationship comforts and empowers because it does not depend upon the state of anyone else in the world—it's directly between a man and his God.

Paul

Paul also helps us understand the nature of our relationship with Jesus the Savior.

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Gal. 2.20)

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. (Phil. 3.12)

I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. (1 Tim. 1.12-14)

You

Can you say Jesus is your personal Savior? Do you have a personal relationship with Him? I dearly hope you do! It is the single most important relationship any human being can have—and you either are His or you aren't.

Is worship just a state of mind? Is it a special feeling that lets you know you are properly connected to God? Is it a great swelling in your chest or a fire in your bones?

Some Pictures of Worship in the Old Testament

Genesis 24.26, 48, and 47.31 reference the action of bowing low in worship, and that wording is found all over the Old Testament.

We often find Service together with worship (i.e., Deut. 29.26; 30.17).

Nehemiah brought true worship back to Israel:
 

On that day men were also appointed over the chambers for the stores, the contributions, the first fruits and the tithes, to gather into them from the fields of the cities the portions required by the law for the priests and Levites; for Judah rejoiced over the priests and Levites who served. For they performed the worship of their God and the service of purification, together with the singers and the gatekeepers in accordance with the command of David and of his son Solomon. For in the days of David and Asaph, in ancient times, there were leaders of the singers, songs of praise and hymns of thanksgiving to God. (Neh. 12.44-46)

It is said "they performed the worship," which again couples the concepts of worship and service, specifically temple service, in this case.

In Psalm 66.4, God is worshiped through songs of praises:

         “All the earth will worship You,
         And will sing praises to You;
         They will sing praises to Your name.”

Psalm 95.6:

         Come, let us worship and bow down,
         Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.

Psalm 96.9:

         Worship the LORD in holy attire;
         Tremble before Him, all the earth.

This does not mean we should dress in our finest clothing; some who would impress their brothers and sisters by outward dress do not dress themselves in holiness. This has to do with the heart's attire, an attitude of holiness before YHWH.

Some Pictures of Worship in the New Testament

In the New Testament, worship often involves some physical posturing or activity of service.

The wise men "fell to the ground and worshiped" the Holy Child (Matt. 2.11). Satan demanded Jesus "fall down and worship me" (Matt. 4.9). Jesus speaks of worship with service in His answer to Satan: "You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only" (Matt. 4.10). Towards the end of Jesus' ministry, the disciples "took hold of His feet and worshiped Him" (Matt. 28.9).

In the early church, Paul writes of an unbeliever who "will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you" (1 Cor. 14.25), and in the Apocalypse "the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne..." (Rev. 4.10).

How Do We Worship?

Does our worship look like how the Hebrews worshipped? Does it look like how the New Testament disciples worshipped? When was the last time you fell on your face or knelt in worship?

But it's not really about the posture; it's about the heart, isn’t it?

It certainly is about the heart...but the heart should drive us to actively serve the Lord. Although the word worship is never directly associated with singing, praying, or preaching in the New Testament, we understand those activities to be spiritual services of worship. In those activities, you might fall prostrate before Him, reflecting on how great, glorious, and magnificent God is. You might kneel and bow your head, dwelling on His majesty and holiness.

Worship is a state of mind, but not just a state of mind. In worship, we actively and intentionally diminish ourselves and magnify God.

Worship is not just a good mood we get when we hear religious music. Many Christians today think only of music ministry when they think of worship. For them worship is when the people on stage play music and get the crowd all worked up. When they cry, laugh, or feel a great swelling in their chests, they feel they have worshiped. Those feelings may (and should) result from true worship, but it's the God-praising, God-glorifying, God-magnifying activities we do which are the actual worship—not the feelings which result from worship.

The best thing we can do is look in God's word to see how He desires to be worshiped. Then do those things with all our might!

Teach me to do Your will,
For You are my God;
Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground. (Psalm 143.10)

YHWH be praised!

Here we are at a new beginning, the Lord’s Day rightly being the fountainhead from which flows the rest of life. Worshipers bowed low and paid homage to the Creator of all things. From their mouths gushed praise and confession. Preachers exposited the word of God to assemblies of saints, who had come to drink deeply from the well of the Holy Spirit. Brothers and sisters encouraged one another in the Lord, ate together, prayed together, and made plans for the week’s work.

What shall we do with this week? What shall we do to honor and glorify God? How shall we work? What shall be our priorities?

Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Col. 3.17)

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Cor. 10.31)

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength which God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Pet. 4.10–11)