The Fear Of The Lord

Twice this week the I have encountered the topic of reverence for God, at worship kinship and in Monday's devotion. 

The Hebrew word for fear is yare which literally means to fear or to be afraid or to revere.  Other meanings include to stand in awe or to have a deep respect or honor for what is holy.  So the fear of the Lord is to have a deep, genuine, and abiding respect for Him which includes a holy, reverential fear or honor of Him because of who He is, what He can do, and thankfully what He has done for us.

In 1 Samuel 5-7, the Philistines captured the ark of the covenant, the ark of God.  The ark was a gold-plated chest which contained the stone tablets upon which the Ten Commandments were written.  It's golden cover had two sets of cherubim wings facing each other.  God's presence was to have rested or to have been enthroned between these wings.  

God gave the Israelites not only the specifications for building the ark but also specific rules for handling it.  He commanded that it be treated in a holy manner following His guidelines.

When the Philistines captured the ark, they placed it in the house of Dagon, the fish god.  The next morning the Philistines found that the statue of Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground in front of the ark.  They then set the statue in its place again.  The morning after, the statue had again fallen facedown to the ground before the ark.  This time Dagon's head and both the palms of his hands were cut off on the threshold of the temple. 

After the incidents in Dagon's temple, the Lord plagued the ark's captors with tumors.  The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us,  for His hand is severe on us and Dagon, our god.  

So the ark was sent from city to city for awhile.  In each city, the hand of the Lord was against that city bringing confusion and more tumors.  This lasted for seven months.  Eventually the Philistines sent the ark back to the land of the Israelites along with an offering.  For twenty years it rested in Kiriath-jearim and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord.  

In the years afterwards, Samuel called Israel to return to the Lord, Israel demanded a king, Saul became king and was again at war with the Philistines, the Lord rejected Saul as king, David was anointed the next king and soon began to serve Saul, and David defeated Goliath and became friends with Jonathan and married into Saul's family.  After Saul died and after a brief civil war, David was crowned king.

After David was crowned king, he defeated the Philistines and gathered the chosen men of Israel and the people to bring the ark home to Jerusalem.  They placed the ark on a new cart at the house of Abinadab which was on a hill.  Abinadab's sons were accompanying the ark, and the people were celebrating before the Lord with all kinds of instruments. 

But when they came to the treshing floor of Nacon, one of the sons reached out to steady the ark because the oxen nearly upset it.  The anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah, and God struck him down dead there by the ark for his irreverence.  David became angry at the Lord's outburst and was afraid.  How can the ark of the Lord come to me?  Unwilling to move the ark, David took it to the house of Obed-edom where it remained for three months.  (2 Samuel 6)

Enough with the history lesson. 

Why kill Uzzah?  How could God do something like that?  Fourth paragraph above.

God gave the Israelites not only the specifications for building the ark but also specific rules for handling it.  He commanded that it be treated in a holy manner following His guidelines.

The ark of God was never meant to be carried on a cart, new or otherwise.  It was to rest on golden poles on the shoulders of men, specifically the Kohathites who were priests before the Lord.  Furthermore, some historians think that the cart might have been a Philistine cart since they had just been defeated again.  I know, I know.  There is a long span of time between God's commandments and David's time.  A lot of life happened in that time.

Ignorance is no excuse.  Maybe someone should have done a little research on how to handle the holiest piece of furniture in Israel's history - literally the house of God, the place where He was enthroned on earth. 

All of that to say this:  We need a healthy dose of the fear of the Lord.  We have the holy and the profane even in our day.  Do we take seriously our duties and services to the Lord and our worship of Him?  Or do we just plow right on into the holy place with a little dirt on our hands and face? 

The older I get, the more I feel like Paul in 2 Cor. 7: 1.  Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 

What promises?  2 Cor. 6: 16-18:  I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate and do not touch what is unclean and I will welcome you.  And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me.

So, since we have these promises, we are to cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, from anything worldly, anything that is more important to us than God, and we are to pursue holiness which is embodied in only Christ.  We are to live and move in Him.

 

May we be reverent toward God in all things and at all times.

May He keep us from any unspiritual service, or Philistine way of doing things.

May we be not confused by the voices and customs of the world around us

but be separate and live as the children of God.

May we be like Jesus who said only what He heard the Father say

and did only what the Father wished in every detail.

Teach us how to walk in reverence before You.

May we seek His will and His timing and follow these in every detail.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom.

   

Martha and Mary

Everywhere I turn these days, someone is complaining about being too busy to get anything accomplished.  People seem to want it "all" - clean house, manicured lawn, ironed clothes, home cooked meals, upwardly mobile job, waxed car with clean interior, problem-free friends with time for lunch dates and movie dates and shopping trips and workouts and leisurely coffee breaks and walks, attentive spouse with energy for romance, two hopefully cleaned and fully dressed, well-rounded children who are into everything and doing everything well.  Whew!  Time for one of those coffee breaks.

Wait a minute.  Did I leave something out of that list?  Home, car, spouse, friends, job, dog.  I did leave something out - the dog!  Now I feel better, but
my list still looks incomplete. I have that and that and that and that and - wait!
I forgot God.  How could I forget God?  Forgetting Him is really not that hard.  People do it every day.

When I look at that list, I don't see where I could work God in.  There just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day. 

Maybe that is why our world is spiraling out of control.  Jesus did say to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto to you.

These days, when I think of Martha and Mary, I think of "do-ers" and "be-ers."
So much of spiritual life is spent running around doing instead of being.  When we do this, our doing becomes a fleshy, religious service that isn't much different from what the world deems service.

I think God wanted much, much more for us.  He created us for relationship, not religious acts of service.  Service without relationship is getting the proverbial cart before the horse. 

 

Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices? (1 Sam 15: 22) 

 

The multitude of your sacrifices - what are they to me? I have more than enough. (Isaiah 1:11) 

 

My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. (Psalm 51: 17)

 

 

Our service should simply be the outflow of our relationship with Him.  We love because He loves.   How do we know He is loving and good if we don't have relationship with Him?  How can we offer others the hope that is found in Jesus if we don't really know Him who is hope?

 

There will never be enough time to have a relationship with God if we don't make it our number one priority.  I don't know how to tell you to do that because we all are different.  What works for one might not work for another.

I do know that those times with Him are precious and important and worth every minute we are willing to spend.

 

 

To All Us Marthas

 

Lord, I have a Martha's heart

yet desire to be like Mary.

 

Don't want to miss the sweet reality of Your presence

being frantically busy trying to please you.

Don't want to forfeit Your tenderness

busily eager to minister to You and Yours.

 

You desire not my efforts to please or my ministry

but all of me, my heart and soul, my love.

If I could but learn to give these first,

then everything done afterwards would be light and free,

unencumbered, never confining or burdensome.

 

Would You deconstruct my Martha's heart and make it more like Mary's?

Could it learn to be at peace?

Could it know the sweet reality of Your tender presence,

the freedom of Your precious love?

 

As a song is easily transposed from one key to another,

do so in me.

Transpose my heart.

Help me shift gears,

or I will not survive.

 

 

Mary

 

Mary,

oh what an example of extravagant love -

exquisite jar, expensive perfume,

broken, emptied over the head of Love.

"And the house was filled with fragrance."

 

Could have been sold,

given to the poor,

but somehow she knew what His closest did not.

Kneeling, she seized the opportunity.

"And the house was filled with fragrance."

 

Private moment, public place.

Tears mingled with oil.

Hair in humble hands washing holy feet.

World fades away as private drama unfolds.

"And the house was filled with fragrance."

 

Two kinds of lovers in this old world -

those who hold back nothing, give their all,

and those too afraid, too self-conscious to give at all.

May we choose to be like Mary.

"And the house was filled with the fragrance."

 





Speak the words.  Do the works.  See the wonders.  ~ John Wimber

A Really Good Read

History - HIS (Jesus') STORY - will judge us all one day.  The fruit will be inspected, the words and the works will be weighed, the chaff will be separated from the wheat, foundations will either crumble or stand, the gold and silver will be found pure or corrupted with baser metals, and the holy will be separated from the profane.

I believe with all my heart that John Wimber's life story will be judged a best seller in eternity.

Now you may be asking, "Who is John Wimber?" 

• singer, musician, songwriter (Righteous Brothers)
• preacher, teacher, evangelist
• equipper of the saints
• founder of the Vineyard Movement and Vineyard Music
• prayed for healing and deliverance for who knows how many thousands of people
• intercessor
• writer, speaker
• church growth specialist and church planter worldwide
• theologian, reformer
• husband, father, grandfather, friend, mentor
• lover of the church and of Jesus and of all mankind
• minister to the poor and oppressed
• "just a fat man trying to get to heaven"

Out of this list, I feel that perhaps his most important role was a church reformer.  His worship, teaching, friendship, and theology definitely changed me.

I will never forget sitting in the auditorium in Anaheim, California, in 1984 eagerly awaiting the beginning of the MC510 conference.  I thought I knew what to expect, but I really had no clue. 

When the band began to play and the multitude began to sing and worship, I began to cry.  Yes, I am a crier.  When God is recognizably present, I cry.  I kept thinking, "I'm home.  I'm home."

I've been a Christian 50plus years.  I was raised in the church.  I've been reading my Bible as long as I have been able to read.  I 've been singing in church since I was about four or five years old.  For all but a few years, the church and my relationship with God and music have been my number one priority.  None of this could compare to what I experienced during that conference and what I have experienced from being part of a Vineyard Fellowship over the last thirty-something years. 

Wimber was one of the wisest men I have ever known.  I know that I write from time to time about people who have been "mentors" to me, people I never met, people who were dead long before I was born.  I feel like I really know them.  However, I was fortunate enough to meet John and to actually have conversation with him a couple of times.  He actually asked me to pray for him at a New Orleans conference because he wasn't well.   He is real to me.

Martin Luther, a 16th century priest and professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg, Germany, was a leader in the Protestant Reformation.  He taught that salvation and eternity in heaven are not earned by good deeds but are received only as a free gift of God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ as redeemer from sin.  This theology challenged the authority of the priests and the Pope and invited the common man into the priesthood of the believer.

I believe that John Wimber's basic teaching on the kingdom of God in the twentieth century will soon be seen as comparable with Luther's priesthood of believers.  Both invite and empower all believers to partner with God to bring His kingdom rule.  Both Luther and Wimber were visionaries who changed, or reformed, the church existent in His day.

Wimber was an excellent speaker/preacher/teacher.   Often, his theology was conveyed through witty tidbits that were easily remembered.  Marty Boller, who has served in pastoral ministry within the Association of Vineyard Churches and has worked alongside Francis Frangipane and has been a field rep for Promise Keepers, has penned The Wisdom of Wimber As I See It.   If you are a lover of Jesus or of the Vineyard or of John or of the church of Jesus, please read this book.  Thank you, Marty, for the refreshing memories and for writing this book. 

I leave you with a few of my favorite Wimberisms.

Everybody gets to play.

 

Let me grow up before I grow old.

 

Jesus wants His church back.

 

I'm a fool for Christ.  Whose fool are you?

 

Doin' the stuff

 

As leaders, we're not in the people keeping business.

We're in the people processing business.

 

We get to give to get to give again and again.

 

How do you spell commitment?

Time, energy, and money

 

Live simply - Love extravagantly

 

It's not enough to be biblically literate;

we must also be biblically obedient.

 

You'll reproduce in kind.

 

The church - A family, a hospital, an army

 

The first and foremost question isn't, "What's in it for me and my family?"

but rather,

"What's in it for Jesus?  What is He going to get out of this?"

After all, it's His church.

 

The Lord of the harvest adds to our numbers those who are being saved . . .

those whom He chooses."

 

We're given power for a purpose.

 

Commitment to Christ is commitment to Christ's body.

We must love what Jesus loves. 

 

 

 

Other recommended Wimber reads:

• Everyone Gets to Play
• The Way in Is the Way On
• Power Healing

Eternal Life

"Dwell in Me

And I, in you."

This is eternal life,

life made new.

 

Your presence, the center.

I bursting with new life.

Pregnant and swollen,

Your spirit moves deep inside.

 

No longer, a before.

No after, too.

Death no longer delineates

between the two.

 

Past, present, future -

intertwined, redeemed -

All is well, will be well.

Life is much more than a dream.

 

~inspired by Henri Nouwen

 

February 24, 2014

 

 

His Work / My Work

Getting to know God involves action on both my end and God's end.  He doesn't just pick up His divine funnel and pour it into me.  This sacred education is a process which requires my cooperation.
He stands ever ready to do His part, but I must be willing to do mine.

When studying our language, one will find that there are basically two kinds of verbs: those that "do something" known as action verbs and those that show what something is or "be -ing" verbs, often called linking verbs because they link the subject of the sentence with what it is or what it is like.  For instance, she is beautiful.

Both being and doing are part of my relationship with God.  The being part is where I rest by faith in God's existence, in His goodness toward me, in Jesus and the salvation He has so lovingly provided for me, in the indwelling of Holy Spirit, in the promises of scripture, etc.  However, my relationship with God involves more than just "being"; there is also a "doing" that must be done.  Psalm 119:25-32 illustrates this beautifully.

Half of the verbs in this Psalm are actions I must perform; the rest are actions God does.

My Part

• to cleave to - I must hang on firmly, loyally, and unwaveringly to God.  He must be my Rock, my peace, my joy, my hope, my everything.
• to talk to - I must set aside time to talk to Him, to be with Him, to pray.  How else do people get to know each other?  Don't forget to listen.  He speaks to us all of the time, but sadly we are too busy to listen.
• to meditate - I must spend time in quiet thought about Him and His words and His works and His wonders.  I must not just read the scriptures but let them soak into my soul.
• to weep - I must discover those areas of my life that are displeasing to Him and then in honesty come to Him and have genuine sorrow over the sin in my life and agree with Him and repent remembering that repentance means change.  He doesn't have to change; I do.
• to choose the faithful way - I always have a choice.  No one can force me to do anything.  So I must discover what the faithful way entails and then do it, obey.  The faithful way will be the way that best reflects the character of God and Jesus. I must study the scriptures and pay special attention to the way Jesus lived and to what He said and did.  There is no other way to be happy in Him.
• to place His law, His rule above all else - I must love what He loves and hate what He hates.  He loves His son and the church and people.  He hates anything that separates me from Him.
• to cling to the testimony of His goodness - Life isn't fair, and sometimes we are tempted to think that He isn't paying attention and doesn't really care and isn't really there.  Faith is believing that He exists and that HE IS GOOD all the time.
• to run, not walk, in the way of His commandments - I must be excited and energetic about following Him and expectant that He will move.  I must be quick to trust and obey Him.

His Part

• to revive -  When something is revived, it is restored to life.  He brings us out of darkness and into His light.  He energizes us and refreshes us.  He stimulates our mind and our senses so that we are aware of what is happening all around us.  He is big enough to do this, and His word promises that He will.  He and His word are sufficient. 
• to teach - Jesus sent Holy Spirit to enable us and to equip us and to teach us.  He stands ready and waiting.
• to make me understand - While there are many excellent books and cds and speakers out there, God still remains the best source of instruction. He will unravel the things in His word that we do not understand.  He will help us understand His ways.  He will show us the way we should go, illuminate our path.  He doesn't want us to get lost.
• to strengthen - His Spirit dwelling inside of us will strengthen us, and His grace will give us everything we need for our journey.  He is a generous God and pays for all that He orders.
• to remove all that is false in us - He grants us discernment so that we will recognize the holy from that which is not holy.  If we have something other that His truth in our heads and if we are the teachable sort, He will weed out all that is not of Him and keep us on the right path.
• to grant us His law - He desires to share with us what is on His mind and have us partner with Him as we walk in love and truth.
• to enlarge our heart - He promises to grow us and to build us up, not tear us down.  He expands our field of influence and give us tasks to complete.  We start with a little, and if we are faithful with that little, He gives us more.  We can have as much as we want.

As I stated earlier, this sacred education is a process, and my relationship with Him is one of the most important and most rewarding relationships I will ever have.  May we all press into knowing Him.

 

When we walk with the Lord in the light of His word,

What a glory He sheds on our way!

While we do His good will, He abides with us still

and with all who will trust and obey.

 

Trust and obey,

for there's no other way

to be happy in Jesus,

but to trust and obey.

 

Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet,

Or we'll walk by His side in the way.

What He says we will do, where He sends we will go;

Never fear, only trust and obey.

    

               

Children of God -

such are we.

 A work in progress -

  no one yet knows what we will be,

but when He appears,

 all will see.

 We will be like Him.

  The diligent Refiner,

   with tireless love and steadfast hope,

 sits by the fires

   gazing, guarding the silver, the gold.

                                                         "When is it finished,                                                           

  all the impurities truly gone?" 

 "The moment I see My face."

                                               ~ 9.15.2003                                                                               

 

 

 

Aslan is on the move!

1 + 1 = 1

 

 

That they may all be one

even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You,

that they also may be in Us.

~John 17:21

 

 

One + one = one.  Really?  Jesus said so.

 

For months now, the topic of unity and its biggest enemy have engaged my mind.  Unity is a vital component of life in the Body of Christ.  No unity, no life or peace, no fruitful ministry because everything is a struggle and everyone is suspicious of everyone else when there is no unity.  It's similar to a group of people in a tug of war.  Without unity our churches and we cannot be or become truly who we were created to be. 

 

When making a speech or writing a paper, speakers and writers usually present their most important reason in the final section of their speech or paper.  I find it interesting that Jesus' prayer for unity was the very last item He prayed for before His arrest, trial, and crucifixion.  Unity seems to important to Him.

 

What is unity's biggest enemy?  Fear, not diversity.  

 

How does this fear work? 

• We see something that we don't understand which makes us afraid because this something could somehow bring changes in our own lives.  
• Then we become obsessed about this thing and make judgments about others without going to these people and really finding out what is really happening.  
• Once we make these judgments, we begin to put into practice our defense against this thing. 
• Then our tongues begin to work, and we share our important information with someone else who then also "sees". 
•  Paranoia ensues and peace becomes a dream. 
• Then come repercussion that could ultimately end in a split or a parting of ways.

Why was unity so important to Jesus and Father God and Holy Spirit?  In verse 21 of John 17, Jesus says that our unity will make the world believe that God sent Him.  The world today is a mess.  We see very little unity anywhere.  O, that our churches and worship groups would be places of unity, a holy breath of fresh air set apart from the world at large.  Our unity will convince those in our sphere of influence that Jesus came, that He was who He said He was, and that God and Holy Spirit truly exist.

 

Our unity is also His glory.  In verse 22, Jesus prays that the glory which God has given Him be given to us so that we may be one just as Jesus, Father God, and Holy Spirit are one.  He was willing to give us His glory so that we might be unified - "perfected in unity so that the world may know that You sent Me and loved them even as You have loved Me."(v22-23)  This unity allows us to demonstrate to the world that the Father loves them and us just as much as He loved Jesus, His only Son (23).  This unity allows the love that Jesus deposited in our hearts to be lavished on those around us (v26). 

 

Paul also has much to say about unity in Ephesians 4: 1-6. 

 

I implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,

with all humility and gentleness, with patience,

showing tolerance for one another in love,

being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

There is one body and one Spirit,

just as you were called in one hope of your calling;

one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all

who is over all and through all and in all.

 

 

Yes, this is sound doctrine, but it is also our duty, His command.  It is a principle that we need to practice.  We need to position ourselves in this so that our behavior will reflect our belief. 

 

• What is humility?  Having a modest opinion of one's own importance / not thinking you are better that other people
• What is gentleness?  Being mild spirited and self-controlled
• What is patience?  Accepting delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset  or complaining / enduring the whatevers, whoevers, and whenevers of life
• What is showing tolerance for one another in love?  Bearing with others and their uniqueness continuously and unconditionally
• What is diligent? Industrious, hard-working, conscientious, careful, thorough, painstaking

 

A church is composed of many members - the gifted and the not-so gifted, the loveable and the hard-to-love, the loud and those who hardly speak, the sick and those who need healing, the teachers and the students, the leaders and those who follow, those with big ideas and those who implement those ideas, the self-sufficient and the needy, etc.  Yes, we are a diverse group created by an extraordinary God which makes each and every one of us extraordinary.

 

We all get to play.  We all are a gift to the body.  All of our gifts regardless of size are important and vital. 

 

May all of us see the God in each other and rejoice over His creativity and diversity.  May all of learn to tame our tongues and to be bold enough to go to the source before jumping to conclusions. May all of us learn how to "play nice" and how to walk in faith and not fear believing that He who created us all is perfectly capable and is big enough to take care of everyone else. 

 

I don't know about you, but I have enough trouble just taking care of me.