I’m here this morning to proclaim freedom. Freedom in the house of God. Freedom for the captives. Liberty for the prisoners. Liberty for you. Liberty for the lost. Liberty for all who are desperate, sick, confused. Let the house be built up, let life return to the ruins. This is the year of the Lord’s favor. There’s good news to be proclaimed. Freedom. Freedom to worship. Praise instead of despair. Everlasting joy. Let gladness fill the church. Let rejoicing be our portion.
This scripture is permeated with hope. It imparts vision and purpose. We also see the principles of worship. That’s what I want to speak about today. I believe worship is one of the key things to living your life in Christ. We are pretty casual about how we talk about worship. We have a “worship time” every Sunday, we have “worship nights,” and we “worship” when we give our offerings. We use this word “worship,” but we really don’t talk about what it is.
Morpheus from The Matrix: “Do you want to know, what, it, is?”
Worship
So what is worship? Why should we worship? How do we worship? What does worship look like?
If you go to Africa and wander into a church, you’re going to be worshiping for several hours, or longer, in a mud brick hut with a thatched roof. If you go into a pentecostal church in South America, they’ll be bouncing off the walls. If you go to a cathedral in England, you’ll find a huge pipe organ, and the congregation will sing a couple of hymns in somber reverence. If you happen to be in Sydney, Australia, you might go to Hillsongs. There will be an impressive light show, a dozen well-produced and carefully choreographed songs expertly performed, and an enthusiastic crowd of worshipers.
There are some churches that regard drums as satanic, and some that regard contemporary worship music as evil. There is a large portion of Christendom wants respectful, reverent worship. If it isn’t a hymn, it isn’t in.
There is a church for every taste, it seems. And frankly, for the most part it is really a matter of taste. A lot of what we want to see in worship is probably a result of what we grew up with, or what church we were saved in, or what experiences we have had. Worship in the Church today is probably more a cultural expression than it is a Bible–based one.
And that’s not necessarily bad. We have all “shopped around” for churches that suit our tastes. Every person has needs and preferences. Which means there ought to be a variety of churches.
What about us? Within this very congregation there are probably a dozen viewpoints about a proper worship service. Maybe worship to you is quiet contemplation and a whispered “amen.” Others of you are more demonstrative. Some of you are very demonstrative.
Clearly we don’t restrict worship to singing. That much is obvious. So what are all these people doing? What about raising hands, or flags, or shouting, or dancing? Why is all this happening?
It might seem odd if you’re not used to it. Does it go outside your comfort level? Is this really worship? Maybe you don’t know what to do. Should you feel obligated to what everyone else is doing? What should you do if someone is spontaneously singing? What about if the music is going long, or there’s no words, or the wrong words, up on the screen?
What if you don’t like the song, or the mix is bad, or someone plays a wrong note? Why don’t you "feel" it like other people? Are you a bad Christian if you don’t weep or dance when we sing? Should you close your eyes?
I have to confess: I don’t always get it right. One time during worship, I peeked. Once I said amen when I should have said hallelujah and ruined it for everybody.
So maybe it’s a struggle for you. Maybe these things are distracting to you. Or even offensive. Your background is different. Your experiences don’t include shouts of acclamation. Or kneeling. It could be that the whole idea of worship is hard for you. It may be that you aren’t at that place. Or something is going on in your life. What obstacles are preventing you from worshiping?
I think there’s room in our church for a diverse expression of worship. We can have reverence right next to vocal rejoicing. We can have hymns and we can have electric guitar. We can have shouts of acclamation and holy silence. I personally think this all can happen together. Our worship can be like a mullet.
Business in the front and a party in the back.
Our church culture leans towards freedom in worship. Our style maybe isn’t for everybody. Some of us might think we are too reserved, and others think we’re bonkers. We just have different points of view. This may be an obvious statement, but I need to say it: You can’t please everyone.
This means we need to let grace abound for one another. We need to be very cautious when it comes to evaluating peoples’ expressions of worship. Be careful at what offends you. Be careful about judgments. You charismatic types, you need to honor those who are more conservative. You who are more reserved, you need to honor those who cannot contain their joy. So let’s be careful not to judge one another. Let’s be worshipers. Let’s turn our focus to the King of kings.
More important than anything is that Father deserves all of our praise, all of our lives, and all of the worship we can give Him. Whatever He wants, we want him to have it. However it looks, whatever it costs, we must obey Him. Wherever Holy Spirit takes us, we want to follow.
I hope that is your desire too.
***
Defining worship
Maybe it would help if I gave you a definition of worship. The Hebrew word is Shachah: To bow down, to prostrate oneself. That’s why the Psalmist wrote: Ps. 95:6 Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker…
The Greek word is Proskuneo: To kiss the hand in a token of reverence, to fall upon the knees and touch the ground with the forehead as an expression of profound reverence, to kneel or fall prostrate to do homage.
You might remember Jairus, who wanted his daughter healed: Mk. 5:22 Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet.
This is also what the prostitute did.
Lk. 7:37-38 When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38 and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
Worship is bowing low before Father. It’s the humble and fitting response to the greatness, majesty, and glory of our God. Worship is our life offering to Father, because He deserves everything. Worship is the reverence, the holy fear, the cognizance of His boundless glory. He’s that good. He’s that awesome. And He is so worthy.
That means you should worship in any way that is fitting. It can be with your hands at your side. You can worship on your face in tears, or by jumping for joy. Worship is song. Worship is obedience. Worship is serving. Worship is spoken. Worship is movement. Worship is, at its base, a holy response to the revelation of the Most High God.
If there were one thing I could tell you to do, it would be to push as hard as you can into worship. You are breaking through. You are tearing down walls. Because of He who lives in you, you are breaking bondages. You are.
***
How should we respond to the One who created all things, who gave us life, who saved us and raised us and dwells within us, and loves us?
1) Worship through music
Ps. 100:2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.
Worship through singing and music is a command to us. It’s typically what we regard as worship. And this is understandable, for much of the expression of worship in the Bible is musical. That’s what the Psalms are, they’re lyrics to songs. The great acclamations in Revelation are songs. When Yahweh delivered his people from the hand of Pharaoh, Miriam’s response was a song and a dance with a tambourine.
That’s this church’s main expression of worship – music. We have a gifted worship team. Jeff is an incredible musician, but ever better, he has a worshiping heart. Matt on bass, he is a worshiper. He finds the pocket and stays there, tight with Dan or David, anointed as they play the drums. Being in the pocket, that is, playing squarely on the fat part of the beat, is worship. And Megan, Jourdin, and Cat. Does their singing move you to worship? Man, it does me. And Jordan on guitar. He’s playing to the Lord, and it only takes about 5 seconds for the atmosphere to change when he plays.
And then there’s you. When I am up on stage standing behind my keyboard, I hear you sing. I see you raising your hands. I hear the flapping of the flags. Some of you are dancing right at your seat. It’s an incredible sight to see, I wish you could see it. And it’s an amazing sound. It moves me when the people of God worship. You spur me on to go deeper in worship. Sometimes I can barely keep my composure. Sometimes I have to bow down.
2) Worship through Dance
If you’ve ever seen Krista worship in dance, you may well be brought to tears by it. There is something about her worship, not only because it’s skilled, but also because it is genuinely expressed for the pleasure of Father. Excellent dance can do that as just as well as an excellent song.
You might remember that the Ark of the Covenant was at Abinadab’s house for decades, and King David decided to return it to Jerusalem. The ark represented the holy presence of God, the power and favor of Yahweh.
David wanted to bring the Ark back to the holy city. There were celebrations and sacrifices and singing and shouting as the ark was carried, because the Presence was finally returning to Zion.
David celebrated with abandon by dancing in his ephod. This was unprecedented. It was very unseemly behavior for a dignified and proper king to take off his kingly vestments. His wife (Meekal) Michal mocked him for it. But he replied to her: 2Sa. 6:22 I will become even more undignified than this…
Apparently David believed that dignity was not relevant when it came to the worship God deserved. Dignity was so low on his priority list that he intended to get even more undignified. Worship was so important to him that he intended to go even lower so that God would be exalted higher. This might help us to understand how David could be called a man after God’s own heart, despite him being an adulterer and a murderer.
I think this should speak to us about what God deserves, and that we should not hold that back. It that means dancing for you, you should dance.
3) Worship through shouting, banners, and lifting hands
The Hebrew people were and still are demonstrative and celebratory. Whether it’s a festival, a wedding, or worship in the temple, nothing seems to dissuade them. It's in this context, the Hebrew mindset, that the Bible explains worship to us. Demonstrative expression is part of their culture.
And in actual fact, it’s part of our culture too. We shout when the Seahawks are winning. We shout when we down that elk with a perfect shot. We might even shout when our child crosses the podium at graduation. We clearly understand that the shout is an expression of celebration.
Does Father deserve less? Carl Boberg, the man who wrote “How Great Thou Art,” understood this. Verse four begins, “When He shall come with shout of acclamation…” There's going to be shouting in heaven when the King of Kings comes.
But the shout also is a is part of worship on earth. The Psalmist writes,
Ps. 27:6 Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the LORD.
Ps. 33:3 Sing to him a new song; play skilfully, and shout for joy.
Ps. 47:1 Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy.
Ps. 47:5 God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the LORD amid the sounding of trumpets.
Ps. 20:5 We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God.
Ps. 63:4 I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.
Hmm. Shout for joy. Sing. Play skillfully. Lift up hands. Lift up banners. You know, we also wave flags at football games. We have those big foam hands. We even paint our faces. We do know how to celebrate. So what’s wrong with celebrating Father the same way?
When I think about lifting hands, I think about what Moses was doing on top of the mount in Exodus 17 as the battle raged below him. I think he was worshiping. And when he couldn’t worship any more, people helped him worship some more. And Israel prevailed. Let me ask, what can you do to help your brother or sister prevail in worship?
I think there is warfare in worship. The lifting of hands is warfare. Banners are symbols of warfare. They were advertisements of identity and power. The banner had the name of your tribe on it. When a banner was raised, it was a call to war. Then the trumpet sounded, and that was the “go” signal. Is. 18:3 All you people of the world, you who live on the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains, you will see it, and when a trumpet sounds, you will hear it.
In fact, my non-expert opinion is that the raising of hands is the same thing as raising a banner. Why? Read the Exodus account. After Israel prevailed over the Amalekites, we find this: Ex. 17:15 Moses built an altar and called it The LORD is my Banner. Moses did not call the altar “The LORD lifts my hands.” He didn’t call the altar, “The LORD has helped us in battle.” No, he called it The LORD is my Banner. In other words, the raising of his hands is likened to a banner. Listen to that again. The raising of the hands is like raising the banner for battle.
I really want you to understand this. Flag waving, the raising of the hands in worship, the dance, the bowing down, the singing of His praises, you are warring in spiritual realms. You are serving notice to the enemies of God. Because you belong to Him, you are proclaiming the glory of God in His great victory over the powers and principalities and forces of darkness.
Last point about this. Remember, Moses built an altar there on the top of the mountain, and called it The LORD is my Banner. What is an altar? It’s where sacrifices are made, isn’t it? It seems like all over the OT there are altars being built at memorable events where an encounter with the living God occurred.
Noah built an altar in Ge. 8:20 when they came out of the ark.
Abram built an altar in Ge. 12:7 after Yahweh said, “To your offspring I will give this land.”
Isaac and Jacob built altars. Gideon built an altar. Samuel. David. Elijiah. Uriah.Technically, we have an altar right here in this place, and we are offering sacrifices to the Lord. Our sacrifice is worship:
Ps. 43:4 Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God.
He. 13:15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise — the fruit of lips that confess his name.
***
How to be a worshiper
How do we learn to be a worshiper? You can’t sing, you can’t dance, you can’t clap on 2 and 4. What can you do?
The thing about worship is that when Father begins to move in areas of your life and you respond with thanksgiving, worship, and praise, you begin to have a greater desire to do more of it. You start to want to push farther into his presence. Ja. 4:8 Come near to God and he will come near to you.
Of course He’s already here, but nevertheless James says Father will come nearer as we draw nearer in worship. Worshipers push farther. Worshipers want to be in the Presence. Worshipers will do what it takes to know Him. I hope that Father moves in your heart to pursue worship.
1) Dig up the fallow ground
The first thing we need to do in order to become worshipers is to dig up the fallow ground of our hearts. Worship does not come naturally. Worship is a spiritual discipline, like prayer, fasting, and study. We have to learn to worship. If you make worship a habit, if you train yourself to praise Him, you are disciplining yourself to worship. You are in essence getting rid of the Old Dead Man.
If you have trouble worshiping, or if you just don’t feel like it, I suggest you start with making scriptural declarations about Father. His glorious nature, His goodness, His greatness. Align yourself with Father about who He is. Remind yourself of the wonders of our awesome God. Don’t let your feelings or your situation dictate whether or not you will worship.
I love making scriptural declarations about the greatness of Father. One way is to declare His names and characteristics. These are what I would call “you are” statements.” Here’s some examples.
You are
The Alpha and Omega.
The Prince of peace.
Abba, daddy.
The Ancient of Days.
Savior.
Perfect.
Altogether lovely.
Majestic.
The bondage breaker.
High and lifted up.
King of kings.
Just and kind.
The lion of the tribe of Judah.
Lamb of God.
Wonderful.
Merciful.
The Anointed One.
Exalted.
Healer.
A Father to the fatherless.
A husband to the widow.
God Most High.
The Everlasting God.
God Almighty.
The Great “I am.”
The Lord of Hosts.
Worthy of all praise.
Altogether lovely.
Holy, holy, holy.
My shield.
My refuge.
My Hiding place.
My Rock.
My Comfort.
My deliverer.
My God.
There are so many more names He has! His wonders are many! Just speaking them out in declaration causes worship to rise in me. What a privilege it is to belong to Him and to serve in His kingdom! How great the Father’s love for us that He would call us his children! How blessed we are to experience His great kindness and endless grace! Isn’t it incredible that the God of creation lives inside us? It’s mind boggling.
Just thinking about this causes something to rise up in me. Then when I start speaking his praises, I admit, I start to get a little emotional. Then I get to singing, and I cannot contain myself. You’ll forgive me if I start to shout the glories of my God. After nearly 40 years of being saved, I just can’t get over how wonderful He is.
Do any of you feel like rejoicing?
Let me provide some scriptural support for declarations. The men who wrote the Psalms were declarers. I picked out just a few simple declarations from the Psalms:
Ps. 3:8 From the LORD comes deliverance.
Ps. 4:8 …you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.
Ps. 8:1 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Ps. 9:7 The LORD reigns for ever…
Ps. 12:6 …the words of the LORD are flawless…
There are maybe hundreds of declarations in the Psalms. David wrote a lot of the Psalms, and knew how to declare. And many times he did it when he was at his lowest. Basically, he was proclaiming truth despite the circumstances to the contrary. He was proclaiming reality.
How often we like to dwell in non-reality, even though we know what is true. That Old Dead Man keeps getting in the way. So taking what is true and transferring it from a principle we know into who we really are in Christ is the starting point of worship.
But if you’re worried about the idea of scriptural declarations, don’t be. We can trust David’s example. Speaking or singing back to Father the things He has already said puts you on safe ground.
***
2) Worship in Spirit and in Truth
The first thing we need to do in order to become worshipers is, the fallow ground of our hearts has to be dug up.
The second way we learn to become worshipers is to worship in Spirit and in Truth. Jesus tells us: Jn. 4:23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
Worship apart from Holy Spirit is futile. Worshiping in Spirit is a function of operating from our spiritual nature and not the Old Dead Man. So we discern and follow Holy Spirit’s direction, rather following someone’s ideas or rules about worship. When we start to walk in the Spirit, the desires of the old Old Dead Man start to fade. Our spiritual nature becomes attuned to Holy Spirit. Then we agree to go where he takes us, and enter deeper realms of worship.
Worshiping in truth means agreeing with Father about who he says he is, His nature, his mighty deeds, and his glorious word. Studying Scripture, praying, spending time with mature people of faith, all these will help the truth to be deeply planted in you. Then false ideas, bad doctrines, and faulty understandings will be cast aside.
We worship a God that can be known. Get to know him more, and you will worship more. That is worshiping in truth. But my mind wanders. I can only pray for a couple of minutes. The flag waving distracts me. I got mad at my husband this morning. My bills aren’t getting paid. My life is falling apart. And you want me to worship?
Yup, I do. Worship costs. It's a sacrifice. It's a higher call. In fact, because worship is a spiritual act, the soul part of you tends to get in the way and needs to yield. Your soul is your intellect, your emotions, your personality. If your soul hinders you, it needs to change, because we are commanded to worship with our whole being. Mk. 12:30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.
This is the worship expression that involves every part of you. Including your soul. Your first call from Father, before anything else, is to be a worshiper. It’s His purpose for us to bring glory to His name in our every word, every thought, every action, and every motive.
***
3) Don’t be conformed to worldly things
The first way we learn to become worshipers is to dig up the fallow ground of our hearts.
The second is to become a worshiper in Spirit and in Truth.
The third way we can become spiritual worshipers by not being conformed to worldly things. We need tranformation: Ro. 12:1-2 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Only God can change a heart. But not being conformed is a choice. A choice that requires the empowering presence of Holy Spirit. That is my definition of grace, you might recall from the last time I spoke.
The mind (a part of the soul) needs to be transformed in order to engage in spiritual acts of worship. Our souls need to get on board, be calmed down, get awakened, and put into conformance to holy principles. It’s in the soul where the Old Dead Man and the spirit wrestle with each other.
You have power over your soul. In fact, you can command it. The Psalmist did it.
Ps. 42:5 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and 6 my God.
Ps. 57:8 Awake, my soul!
Ps. 62:5 Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.
Ps. 103:1-2 Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Maybe that sounds a little goofy to you, but we actually do this all the time. I was BBQing a steak a while ago and I burned it. I said, “Dude, that was stupid.” I was driving along and missed a turn and said, “Man, what was I thinking?” I remembered to do something my wife asked me to do and I said to myself, “Nice work.”
I speak to my soul frequently without giving it a second thought. I bet you do too. So you probably shouldn’t be too surprised when I suggest that you change the way you deal with your soul. Take spiritual authority over your emotions and your thinking. If you start making it a habit to speak biblical truth to yourself, your soul will start to conform.
Some would say that what we speak actually creates reality, so then negative self-talk creates negative reality. I not so sure about that. But I do believe that unholy self-talk feeds the Old Dead Man, and the soul of course responds in negative ways. But speaking biblical truth to the soul feeds it a diet of righteousness and causes it to conform to spiritual reality.
Here’s a saying I think is true. You get more of what you feed.
4) Encourage one another through worship
The first way we learn to become worshipers is to dig up the fallow ground of our hearts.
The second is to become a worshiper in Spirit and in Truth.
The third way we can become spiritual worshipers by not being conformed to worldly things.
The fourth way is by way of encouragement by our brothers and sisters. We are commanded to edify one another, and one way that happens is through worship:
Ep. 5:19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord.
1Co. 14:26 …When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.
I like it that Paul says “everyone.” You have a hymn, a word, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. A worshiping church is an encouraging church is a supernatural church. Can you imagine someone standing up in a church service and singing a song of encouragement that breaks bondages and edifies the people? Can you imagine someone getting saved because of a spiritual song?
Paul says these things must be done. I’m inclined to obey him. I think that spiritual worship not only blesses Father, it encourages the brethren.
Are you an encourager? Are you quick to complain and criticize, or do you build others up? Do you make it a practice to bless someone you don’t really like? Have you ever responded to offense by being thankful for that person being in your life?
I have an ambition that our worship would be so rooted in biblical truth and Holy Spirit that heavenly powers would tremble in fear. I think that day is coming when we will learn to wage war with our worship in spirit and in truth. We will tear down strongholds with our worship. We will touch men’s hearts with worship. I believe that through worship, Holy Spirit will destroy the works of the enemy.
***
In Christ
I’ve talked about how to become a worshiper. I’ve talked about it as a discipline. I’ve mentioned how it encourages, how it’s a powerful spiritual force. Now I want to talk about worship as a position.
Ephesians is my favorite epistle. I've spent a lot of time there. There’s so much richness. Some of the greatest promises of Scripture are contained there. It’s short enough to read in one sitting, but so deep I could spend a lifetime studying it.
One thing I noticed recently is the number of times in Ephesians that Paul writes, “in Him,” or “in Christ.” I’ve read this letter dozens of times, but it struck me this time. “In him.” “In him” and “in Christ” appear 11 times in Ephesians alone, and 13 more times in Paul’s other letters.
In Christ we are blessed with every spiritual blessing. Ep. 1:3
In Christ God chose us to be holy and blameless. Ep. 1:4
In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Ep. 1:7-8
In Christ God made known to us the mystery of his will. Ep. 1:9
In him we were made heirs. Ep. 1:11
In him we were marked with a seal, the Holy Spirit. Ep. 1:13
In Christ Jesus we are seated with God in heavenly realms. Ep. 2:6
In Christ Jesus we are created to do good works. Ep. 2:10
In Christ Jesus we have been brought near. Ep. 2:13
In him we are a holy temple where God’s Spirit lives. Ep. 2:21
In him we can approach God with freedom and confidence. Ep. 3:12
Do you suppose Paul is trying to tell us something?
“In” is the Greek word en. En denotes a fixed position in location, time or status. I can sit in a restaurant, but that conveys nothing about my status or any connection to the restaurant. I don’t belong to the restaurant, the restaurant conveys no identity or position to me. I am not fixed there.
But to be in Christ is to be located positionally. Our status is changed. To be in Christ is to be contained in his exact same place and position. To be in means we are no longer out. Not only saved, but in. We have his identity. We belong. We are sealed. The old has passed away. Col. 3:3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. We are in.
Why should we be in? Because we have put on the new self and now bear the nature of Christ:
Ep. 4:22-25 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
We then can He. 4:16 ...approach the throne of grace with confidence... Imagine yourself standing before the throne of the Holy One, dressed in Christ. We enter heavenly realms when we worship. The psalmist writes in Ps. 96:9 Worship the LORD in the splendor of His holiness… Have you ever been in the splendor of His holiness?
When we are positioned in Him, we aren’t worshiping in a church building, it isn’t some location on earth. It doesn’t depend on how strong or weak you are, or how great of a singer you are. We are worshiping him in the place of His holiness. We come before him boldly, with confidence, bowing down, lifting hands, dancing, and making proclamations that He is most high God.
Through Christ
Then there’s “through.” Dia (dye-a), denoting the specific channel of an act.
That is, Jesus is the sole avenue by whom we approach Father in worship. Jesus is also the sole avenue by whom salvation, blessings, knowledge, correction, favor, and revelation of Father comes. We are found in, and we come through. We start in a position, and move through that position. Paul tells us this time after time:
Through him we’re saved from God’s wrath. Ro. 5:9
Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. Ro. 8:2
Through him we are more than conquerors. Ro. 8:37
Through Christ our comfort overflows. 2Co. 1:5
God reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. 2Co. 5:18
Through him we have access to the Father by one Spirit. Ep. 2:18
I can do everything through him who gives me strength. Ph. 4:13
Through him everyone who comes to God is saved completely. He. 7:25
Does that add some meaning to Jesus’ statement: I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Jn. 14:6
***
With Christ
And last, with.
With: Sun (soon), a primary preposition denoting union
We are co-heirs with Christ. Ro. 8:17
We have been crucified with Christ. Ga. 2:20
We are clothed with Christ. Ga. 3:27
We are made alive with Christ. Ep. 2:5
We are raised up with Christ. Ep. 2:6
When we are in Christ we access Father through Christ because we are one with Christ.
(Worship team)
I wonder if we have a handle on the magnitude of this salvation we have in and through and with Christ. Does this change in any way how you might approach worship, or serving, or sharing the Gospel? Would this change your prayer life, or your attitude about the offering? If you understood your position and access and connection to Christ to a greater degree, would it impact your life in any way?
Every time I preach I try to remind you of who you are. The way we understand who we are is to increase our understanding of who He is. The degree to which you understand Father is the degree to which you understand you.
If we understood this, the issues of the church or the troubles of our lives, those things that bother us, would probably fade in importance. Let me tell you, if we would simply commit to being a worshiper in Christ and come to Father in and through and with Christ, you would gain a heavenly perspective that would be unshakable.
No comments:
Post a Comment