-/\/\-----------------------------------------------------------------
\ / HEARTLIGHT(R) Magazine -- http://www.heartlight.org/
--\/------------------------------------------------------------------
April 23, 2009
|-- Hurt By Infidelity? -----------------------------------|
Want to stop the pain and rediscover hope?
Then click on the following link, and at no charge,
receive specialized resources which build hope,
stop painful thoughts and redevelop trust.
|-- http://ads.heartlight.org/email/176/ ------------------|
=========================== TODAY'S ARTICLE ==========================
Worship in the Real World, by Phil Ware
[Jesus said] "A time is coming and has now come when the true
worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for
they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit,
and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth" (John
4:23-24).
[The Apostle Paul wrote] "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and
sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living
sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God -- this is true worship" (Romans
12:1).
We don't like to stand in them, but despite all our protests, we really
do like them ... in fact, much of what we do depends upon them. I am
talking about lines.
We have foul lines in baseball. We have sidelines and yard lines in
football. We have sidelines, baselines, three point lines, and free
throw lines in basketball. We have all sorts of lines in tennis. We
have center lines and dashed lines and double yellow lines and double
white lines and solid white lines and crosswalk lines for our highways
and streets. We have lines to show us where to park and lines to guide
us when we exit the freeway. We depend upon these lines for games,
life, and safety.
So we shouldn't be surprised when we so easily draw a line between the
secular and the sacred in church. Folks have been drawing this
religious line far longer than we've had baseball, football,
basketball, and motor vehicles. This line has been a huge struggle
those who claim to follow God in every generation.
Part of our eagerness to draw this line between the secular and the
sacred is our convenience. If we can confine God to a religious box at
a religious time, then we begin to feel like we can control God.
God-stuff doesn't intrude our stuff -- fun stuff, friend stuff, dating
stuff, office stuff, political stuff, language stuff, driving stuff ...
We can sing and say one thing on Sunday and live a different way Monday
through Saturday.
We want to say this is not true, but our language betrays us. We "go to
church" rather than "being the church." We have a "worship service" or
"go to worship" so we can "enter to worship and leave to serve." There
is a clear line.
We want to claim that we are better than this, but our daily ethics
betray us. A number of surveys over the last several decades reveal
there are only a few percentage points difference in the ethical
behavior of professing Christians and those who are not. "Bible
believing" Christians are often not much different than our unbelieving
neighbors in their dating relationships, their marriage behaviors,
their on-the-job ethics, and their attitudes and actions in the grocery
store, at our kids' games, or on the roadways.
We often find it easier to live the way we want as long as we can keep
this line between secular and sacred in place. God stays on His side of
the line and we go visit Him every now and then. We can get a taste of
the sacred; then we can go back to doing what we want to do the rest of
the week on the other side of the line. But, when we draw this line
between the secular and the sacred, the line eventually blurs, fades,
degrades, and disappears. The values of the secular invade and rob the
sacred of its authenticity and vitality, eroding any sense of the
sacred. All of life becomes secular, leaving us with nothing more than
a trip to the religious box.
God in human skin, the incarnation of God in Jesus of Nazareth, teaches
us that this dividing line between the secular and the sacred is deeply
flawed. Our loss of the sense of God's holiness, and our loss of our
role as God's holy people, doesn't happen because the line between the
secular and the sacred has become blurred. No, our loss of the holy
happens when we draw a line God does not draw. We lose the essence of
what holiness means in our day-to-day world and we forget our purpose
as God's holy people.
Instead of seeing holiness as something powerful, invasive, and
transformational, we draw a line and make our sense of the holy into a
visit, an experience, a segmented piece of our deeply fragmented lives.
Instead of seeing holiness as daily, pervasive, and integrative, we
choke the life out of a daily faith and turn it into a "god-in-the-box"
event.
The whole theme of worship in Scripture, and the intense focus of
worship in the New Testament, remind us that we are a holy people, a
kingdom of priests (1 Peter 2:9-10) placed in the world to live out our
holiness as salt and light in a world of darkness and decay (Matthew
5:13-16).
One of the clearest declarations of the continuity between our sacred
worship and the sacred nature of our daily lives occurs at the end of
the book of Hebrews (Hebrews 12:28-29; Hebrews 13:1-16). We often miss
this point because of the chapter and verse divisions that mask the
continuity of what is said. (Remember the chapter and verse divisions
of the Bible were added hundreds of years after the last book of the
Bible was written!) The passage is framed by a call to worship God:
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken,
let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence
and awe, for our "God is a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:28-29).
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a
sacrifice of praise -- the fruit of lips that openly profess his
name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for
with such sacrifices God is pleased
(Hebrews 13:15-16).
These bookends* that begin and end this thought on worshiping our holy
God remind us that God is holy. We honor and celebrate this sacred
holiness in the praise of what we say and sing. We also honor and
celebrate God's sacred holiness by doing good and sharing with others.
These latter acts of kindness are not merely service offered to others
in the secular world, but are the invasion of the secular world through
our everyday worship. Notice that both the praise of lips and the
sharing and serving of others are described by the phrase, "with such
sacrifices God is pleased."
Even more powerful, between these section-framing calls to worship, we
find a list of ways to "worship God acceptably with reverence and awe":
* Loving one another as brothers and sisters in Christ (Hebrews 13:1)
* Showing hospitality to strangers (Hebrews 13:2)
* Caring for those in prison (Hebrews 13:3)
* Keeping our marriage relationship healthy and holy (Hebrews 13:4)
* Not getting caught up in greed, but trusting in God's presence (Hebrews
13:5-6)
* Honoring our spiritual leaders (Hebrews 13:7-8)
* Not getting caught up in strange spiritual teachings, but remember
our roles in the world following Jesus' example (Hebrews 13:9-14)
This is an everyday lifestyle of the sacred. This is a daily worship of
God with reverence in awe. This is a keen awareness that while our home
is not here, we have been placed here to honor God in every walk of
life and in every day we are given that life. As children of God, we
are called to erase the line between the secular and the sacred. We are
God's holy temple, His sacred dwelling place (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
Any place we go, we are honoring or dishonoring our holy God in worship
as we live the liturgy of life.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This is an everyday lifestyle of the sacred.
This Sunday, we have our annual WATS Day. WATS is an acronym for "We
Are The Sermon." We have all of our services and our home gathering
groups meet for a communion service, then we spend the rest of Sunday
worshiping in the community by doing acts of kindness. This is
especially directed toward those who are economically disadvantaged,
aging, or ill. We paint, roof, build handicap ramps, clean, wash, move,
pray, and serve those who desperately need some help. However, we try
to make it clear that this is not a day of service projects, but a day
of worship. We want to remind each other that these acts of kindness in
the real world away from our church building are really what we are
called to do with our lives.
More churches, all over the world, are joining us in WATS day every
year. (You can learn more about WATS by going to the WATS links listed
below.)
Of course the goal is not to have one day a year where we do something
like this, but to help our folks and our community remember that
worship is an everyday gift done in everyday acts of kindness to share
the grace of God. LIFE Questions:
I would love to get your reaction to the thoughts above or to any of
the questions below, on my blog (http://thephilfiles.com) or by email
(phil@heartlight.org)
Why do you think that humans have always struggled with confining
worship to a place and time rather than an everyday lifestyle?
How do we infuse each day with a sense of worship of God? (Romans
12:1-2)
What makes it difficult to see our time at work or school or with our
families as part of our worship of God? (Ephesians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:9-10)
How does seeing our behavior at work, at school, at our kids' events,
during our time driving, or in our recreation time, change our
behavior, attitude, and influence in these areas of our lives? (Matthew
5:13-16)
If worship is something we are to do in our everyday activities, then
why is meeting with other believers important? (Hebrews 10:19-25)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE:
* The technical term for this way to indicate a rhetorical unit of
thought is called inclusio.
---------
(c) 2009 Phil Ware <phil@heartlight.org>. All rights reserved.
RELATED LINKS:
* W.A.T.S. Happening
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200604/20060424_wats.html
* W.A.T.S. Day Resources
http://www.southernhillschurch.org/templates/System/details.asp?id=41803&PID=660675
* Previous W.A.T.S. Day Resources
http://www.southernhillschurch.org/templates/System/details.asp?id=41803&PID=552376
* Southern Hills Church of Christ
http://www.southernhillschurch.org
This article can be found on the web at:
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200904/20090423_worshipnrealworld.html
=========================== FEATURED PRODUCT =========================
CAPTIVATING: UNVEILING THE MYSTERY OF A WOMAN'S SOUL, by John & Stasi Eldredge
Many Christian women are tired, struggling under the weight of the
pressure to be a "good servant," a nurturing caregiver, passionate
lover, or capable home manager. What Wild at Heart did for men, this
book can do for women.
http://shopping.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/link?223
Find more great books, CDs and videos at the Heartlight store! With
each purchase you make, you're helping to support Heartlight's
ministry. Thanks SO MUCH for your help!
HEARTLIGHT DAILY EMAIL /\/\
===============================================================\ /===
http://www.heartlight.org/ \/
Visit HEARTLIGHT on the web for even more articles, plus music,
devotionals and more for your Christian walk!
ABOUT HEARTLIGHT:
Heartlight, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) religious non-profit organization.
Donations are welcome and tax-deductible! Find out how to help!
http://www.heartlight.org/support
EDITOR: Phil Ware, phil@heartlight.org
HOW DO I SUBSCRIBE?
It's FREE! To subscribe send a blank email to:
join-heartlight@maillists.heartlight.org
HOW DO I LEAVE?
To unsubscribe send a blank email to:
heartlight-unsub@maillists.heartlight.org
STILL HAVING TROUBLE?
If our automated unsubscribe system isn't working for you,
send an email to mailmaster@heartlight.org and let us know
what list you would like to leave. We'll take care of you.
======================================================================
