Covered

The Brookstone in Chattanooga closed down.   Brookstone is a chain of retail stores across the country that specializes in high-end gadgets such as helicopters, expensive massage chairs, and high-end kazoos.  Though it saddens me a bit (probably because the massage chair was reasonably close to the children's corral), it does not surprise me.  As much as I love home, and everyone else seems to love Chattanooga, we are not necessarily known for indulging in the 'elegant'.  We are a matter-of-fact city, built on the backs of mill workers and continuing to offer the option of selling any type of insurance you prefer.  

The absence of Brookstone is causing major issues in the way that approach Valentine's Day.  DISCLAIMER:  I am terrible at this holiday for many reasons.  I am not a good gift giver:

• I bought my grandmother an electric popcorn popper for Mother's Day in 1995
• I made Hope a scrapbook that is the essence of phrase 'recurring joke' in our household
• All perfume makes me sneeze
• I cannot get by the thought that the way to a woman's heart is, somehow, tied to new athletic shoes, regardless of whether or not she realizes that essential truth

I also am not good at Valentine's Day outings.  I prefer to avoid the crowd and go on the 15th.  This, in and of itself, is not a problem.  However, it does cause issue when, on your first celebration of this 'holiday', you take your girlfriend-and-eventual wife to see a terrible pre-prequel to Silence of the Lambs that was made only for the sake of money after eating at a local burger chain.  

Obviously, when it comes to bows and arrows, I prefer Legolass, Katniss, the Green Arrow, Hawkeye, and Darryl Dixon to Cupid.  Brookstone was my go-to.  I have no idea what to get for a birthday? Here is a neck massager.  What do you get for that family member who has everything? A sweet, sweet robe. 

One year, I bought Hope a blanket.  It is the perfect weight.  It is described as "cozy, warm, and completely relaxed".  This description is very reassuring because, if there is anything I hate, it is a cold, stressed out blanket.  It is a perfect gift. 

It just is not a perfect gift for me.  For all of its comfort and quality, the blanket that I purchased just is not big enough.  If it is covering my feet, it is not covering my legs.  If my shoulders are cozy, I need to be wearing thermally lined sweat pants and wool socks. For everything the blanket does well, it does not do those things enough.   It never seems long enough.  Or wide enough.  Or enough enough.  For all of its completeness, it is incomplete.

For many of us, the notion that we can be 'righteous' is laughable.  

Why the humor?

• We know what we think about
• We know what we don't think about
• We know what we do
• We know what we should do
• We are savvy enough to have interacted with the 'public.'

For all that we do to cover up our exposure to the elements, there are so many things about us that stick out and sense the cold.  These exposures are both intrinsic and external.  We wrestle with the inadequacy of the while something else comes along tries to yank it off.

One of the key elements of Christ, His cross, and resurrection has been to point out our inadequacy.  It is not pointed out in order for us to fix the problem. It is pointed out to let us know that we cannot.  As the Scriptures take us to that Easter weekend, we see this unfold in a number of ways:

• The promise of a Messiah for an inconsistent people
• The inability to keep God's law apart from God's grace
• The declaration of a Great Commandment that a religious superstar is 'not far from'
• The most well-written NT author declaring that he wants to 'do what he should not do'

This is, in no way, an exhaustive list.  We are, however, able to see the inability of natural people to behave supernaturally in their natural strength.  So...

We twist.  

We turn.  

We endure the elements. 

We hope that we are covered enough to go unnoticed.  

In and of itself, this displays an incomplete understanding of the righteousness of Jesus.  Why?

Sin for us is unavoidable-therefore He becomes sin so that we may become the righteousness of God.  

Sin is the essence of our shame-He endures the cross and scorns the shame is tied to it. 

Sin is death-He overcomes death to declare life is possible. 

In short, the righteousness of Jesus never stops being the righteousness of the believer.  He is not a throw that is used to make a couch look better-He is the roof, the vents, and the fireplace.

His work is not supplemental to our righteousness. It is shelter for our unrighteousness.

He doesn't claim that we can seek security because of what He did.  He shows us that we live secure inside of Him. 

So, for every time that we look to be what we are unable to be and do what we do not have the intrinsic power to do, let's consider the words of a favorite preacher of mine:

"Lay your deadly doing down

Down at Jesus' feet

Stand in Him, in Him Alone

Gloriously Complete."

 

Why Worship?

What does the Bible say about worship?

"The fuel of worship is a true vision of the greatness of God; the fire that makes the fuel burn white hot is the quickening of the Holy Spirit; the furnace made alive and warm by the flame of truth is our renewed spirit; and the resulting heat of our affections is powerful worship, pushing its way out in confessions, longings, acclamations, tears, songs, shouts, bowed heads, lifted hands and obedient lives."-John Piper

Worship is a word that can start a church fight faster than anything (with, perhaps, the exception of long-winded preachers who make us late to the Picadilly).  However, it is a word that is used that can have a variety of different meanings depending upon who is using it.

For some, worship is anything that reflects tradition.  For others, it is an emotional rush that one has when he/she attends a concert.  Many believe that Christian worship seems a bit contrived.  The vast multitude of us have no idea that we worship everyday-we are just worshipping false things and, therefore, idolaters.

With all of these things considered,  what does the Bible really say?

We first see the word for worship in Genesis 22 when Abraham is about to sacrifice his son Isaac.  Abraham trusts in the LORD to the point that he is willing to sacrifice his only son.  On the way up the mountain, he says to the servants, “We are going to worship-and we are coming back.”  This great display of trust reminds us that worship itself involves sacrifice.  

In John 4, Jesus meets with a woman at a well-henceforth named “the woman at the well.”  She has more life-issues than an entire Reba McEntire discography.  She has been married multiple times and is now living with a man in order to pay her bills. She tries to separate herself from this nosy Jew and all of his questions by saying “we worship here-you worship there.”  Jesus lets her know that a day is coming when true worshippers will worship in Spirit and in Truth.

In each of these scenarios, there are no choirs.  There are no  orders of worship.There is no special music, no organ, no guitar.  There are no ushers.  There are not even greeters with stale amalgamations of butterscotch and peppermint.  The idea of worship is wrapped up in spirit, truth, and sacrifice.  However, this great faith is not private-it was not designed to be.  

What does the Bible say about corporate worship?  

The Old Testament is full of very direct instructions on worship. Not only is God emphatically clear that He is worthy of worship, He also directs the people of Israel as to how they are to approach Him. In addition to the directions for sacrifices, offerings, attire, and attitudes of the worshippers, the Lord commanded praise from a variety of musical instruments.  The trumpet, lute, hard, tambourine, strings, pipe, and cymbals are just a few of the instruments referenced in  Psalm 150.

In the New Testament, we find that worship is a group effort for the sake of dealing with heart issues.  Two of the primary Pauline passages used to discuss worship are:

• [16] Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. [17] And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:16-17 ESV)

• ...Be filled with the Spirit, [19] addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart (Ephesians 5:18-19 ESV)

Each of these texts helps us to understand the importance of one’s heart in worship when gathered together with other believers. While we are called to be living sacrifices of worship, that sacrifice is effectively used by God in the lives of brothers and sisters as we gather together in response to all that is God and emphatically say, “Yes!”  Is He good? “Yes!” Does He save? Yes!  (The list goes on-I trust you get the point.)

What is to take place in corporate worship?  

Corporate worship has a vertical direction with horizontal implications.  

Singing is for teaching. Praise is for instruction. Adoration is for encouraging one another.

One of the popular ways that worship is ‘ordered’ finds its roots in Isaiah 6.  

1. God is great and glorious and to be praised (6:1-3)
2. Man is fallen, sinful, and without hope(6:4-5)
3. God is gracious and forgives-man is thankful (6:6-7)
4. God speaks-man responds (6:8)

Each week, our hope is to celebrate these ideas as we gather to worship:

1. We sing of His greatness
2. We consider our lives apart from Him
3. We are thankful and giving because of His forgiveness
4. We hear from His Word
5. We respond to His Word

Worship for us is a matter of us seeing, seeking, and savoring the God of the Bible revealed to us in Jesus because of who He is and what He has done.  

Closing Thoughts

The wrong question to ask is, “Do we worship?” Worship happens.  It happens at sporting events. It happens at water coolers.  It happens when our children succeed.  It happens when we succeed.  Therefore, the question that we must ask is, “Is it happening rightly?”   Do we declare the eternal, limitless, grandiose worth of an Almighty God based upon A) His nature, and B) His actions toward us?  

"Reverent corporate worship, then, is not optional for the church of God...Rather, it brings to expression the very being of the church. It manifests on earth the reality of the heavenly assembly."-Edmund Clowney