Being Discipled to Make Disciples who Make Disciples

Despite the great flurry of activity that marks our local church gatherings, we quite often fail to produce disciples who make disciples. That is, while the heart of the church’s mission is to make disciples (Matt 28:16–20), the work of our churches and the individuals who comprise a local church usually reflect a number of other missions: “good” missions for sure, but not His mission. The problem is that if we are not doing His mission, then we have meandered from being His assembly to being another kind of assembly that places another’s glory above God’s.

In one sense, every church will struggle with this dilemma until the LORD returns. There are no perfect gatherings for Christ now, and there will not be any until the new heavens and the new earth when the whole creation will reflect God’s glory as the waters fill the sea. However, in another sense our current weakness at making disciples ushers in a new opportunity to reveal His unfading strength: to walk by faith and enshrine Jesus as our hero—to borrow David Prince’s phrase. We reveal Jesus as sufficient for today’s problems by obeying His Word to show that even today we trust what Christ has provided for us now and in the last day. It is, more specifically, an opportunity to walk in faith with Christ by quickly and thoroughly reforming our disciple making motives and methods to more biblical models.

Ironically, with the best of intentions our current approaches to disciple making have relied too heavily on programs and past routines that “worked” to make disciples. Churches operated on an assumption of an exterior Christian America that most everyone they discipled already knew the basics, those who did not could be quickly told the basics and that a “normalization” of behaviors probably marked one as a disciple. As long as people who appeared to be Christian by their actions filled our churches, we have usually accepted that they are being discipled in Christ. They gave money, sat in the pews, dressed nicely, said the right things and never complained with the way things were. However, many of them were dying from the inside out. Some were genuinely saved but had no way to grow in Christ. Many of these carried the weight of their failure to behave perfectly, stumbling into human sorrow. Others, however, were not saved at all. Many of these misunderstood the gospel for an emphasis on a list of behaviors that also allowed pride to fill them and to draw them away from life in Christ. That is, the real fruit of being a part of Christ is being discipled so that we might make disciples. And, it is missing.

How should a local church respond to such? We have only one option: we must bring the Word of God to bear on every part of our lives. That’s it, and yet it is so much more than any man or church can bear alone. Bringing God’s Word to bear on everything we are and do is, however, something that any believer and any local church can do in Christ.

This commitment begins with the pastors or elders of a local church. Why must a pastor intensify, multiply and apply his interactions with the Scripture privately and publically? It is because we cannot grow in Christ and position ourselves to make disciples unless we, too, are being discipled to make disciples. Our personal walk in the Word also connects to our public ministry as one of the many applications of a deep, private time with God. The private walk with God “invades” the public walk in the church and in the world.

If the people cannot see the pastor’s public ministry as modeling what it means to wrestle privately with the Scriptures, it will hinder his people from digging deep into the Scriptures. If he won’t do it, why should they? While a pastor can always find an incredible video study with deep insights into the Bible, the pastor is called to let his own study and life with God to be a chief mechanism to prompt his people to follow Jesus by the Word and the Spirit. That is, the people need to see the gospel lived out before their lives by their pastor more than they need a perfect video presentation. If a pastor does not push himself to study the Scriptures deeply, to pray intensely and to share the gospel daily, then he is hindering not only his own spiritual life but also the lives of those in his care. Disciple making depends on real people genuinely pouring themselves on their own into the actual Scriptures. It does not rely on having the latest Bible study video or glossy book series. The people need to be shown what walking in these disciplines look like so that they can put on such in their own lives.

The most central issue for reforming disciple making in my church is, therefore, to recognize that I must be in the constant mode of reforming myself according to the Scriptures by constantly seeking to obey Christ in the most central of spiritual disciplines: prayer, intense Bible reading, and disciple making. As I let Him change me, I prepare the way for Him to change them. I must deepen their dependence on Jesus, not on me. He must become more, and I must become less.

Here is how I how I have begun to reform my own disciple making so that as I am being discipled He may make disciples who make disciples one heart at a time.

1. Protect my private time with God in the most central spiritual disciplines: prayer, intense Bible reading, and disciple making (including sharing the gospel to unbelievers).
2. Preach, practice and train my wife and children in these spiritual disciplines, especially Bible teaching.
3. Preach, practice and train the whole congregation in these spiritual disciplines, especially Bible teaching.
4. Mentor another man privately in which I preach, practice and train him in these spiritual disciplines, especially Bible teaching.
5. Repeat every day, always seeking to send disciples to make new disciples.

That is, the way to adjust to the changing world is to turn back to God’s unchanging truth. We respond to the troubles and treasures of our time with the timeless disciplines with which God has gifted His church. The Lord will work through the prayer of His people. He will bless the deep study of His Word by humbling us, and our God will not allow His Word to return void when we seek to disciple those whom he places in our lives. As we surrender more of our hearts to being discipled in Christ, we prepare for the making of disciples who make disciples for the glory of God in His Assembly on His mission.

Parenting my children away from idols and toward Jesus

Few things grieve this father more than watching my own children fight each other. Their conflicts that reflect the struggles that I had with my sisters and that my dad had with his brothers and so on usually do not emerge from a rotten child afflicting a poor, good child: the tale of a dastardly and powerful villain troubling a heroic victim. No, the more likely scenario involves two equally selfish villains, that is, two beloved children who are battling for control of something that neither wants to use rightly and both dangerously and idolatrously love more than each other or God.

 

In such situations, my natural temptation as a father is to manufacture a quick and easy solution that will silence the two, three or four yelling children so that I can return to what I want to do. However, such swift judgments in this context hurt the children and me because they bypass the gospel and provide a momentary and easily broken truce: a Balkan stall in conflict where each child takes the pause as a time to rearm for the next round. In other words, on most occasions my idol of quiet and convenience tempts me to ignore addressing my children’s idolatry.

 

Why is ignoring my children’s idolatry such a temptation? It is because trying to get to the heart issue of their conflict is hard work; the answers are not easy, and the time needed to get to a solution is much longer than my impatient heart allows. My parenting laziness leads in the long run to even more problems because when I choose one child as right—Who had it first?—I promote a story of justice stripped of gospel truth. I endorse the pride of the victor and continued division instead of humility and repentance. In quickly declaring a villain and victim, therefore, I often needlessly distance my children from each other and Jesus. Pride and self-pity are not the fruit of the Spirit. In these times, I am not teaching them of our need of Jesus to sustain us in whatever we may lose or gain in this world, even our time.

 

In most days, therefore, my sinful heart leads me away from disciple-making our way out of conflicts in the home because I have

1) idolized my convenience,

2) appeased my frustration,

3) cheapened the concept of justice and mercy,

4) eliminated the possibility of loving your neighbor and God

and 5) broken the natural connection between this sinful conflict and the gospel story.

 

That is, instead of teaching my children that all men are sinners, I have divided them one from another into conflicting camps with a story of “us and them” rather than the biblical paradigm of “us and Him.”

 

So, what should I do when my children have such conflicts? This key question is answered best when I connect the conflict du jour to the Great Commission (making disciples who make disciples who love Jesus) and the Great Commandments (loving God and others through the work of Christ).

 

How do I do such? I myself must start by worshiping (obeying) Jesus and not idols. I cannot effectively ask them to obey if I will not do the same. Thus, I must obey Him and enshrine Christ as the hero of the home and the conflict. As I obey Jesus’ command to make disciples of my children (Great Commission), I must also explain the biblical principles and the gospel story (Great Commission) and call them to obey God and love others (Great Commandments). Ultimately, I intend to create opportunities for each child to give a gift willingly to Jesus by abandoning his idol: repent, trust and obey.

 

At the younger ages, such guidance is limited, but my goal must eventually be to reach my children’s hearts by teaching them the Scriptures as I discipline them. That is, my justice and mercy must not be silent; it must communicate the perfect goodness of God, the complete depravity of man (especially my own sin) and the power of Christ’s cross to fix my sin, this sin and all sin. In such a short post, I cannot explain or even come close to modeling every situation and every age paradigm. As I said above, it is hard work; it is not easy. However, I must today highlight one basic principle: we must target bringing the Great Commission and the Great Commandments to bear on the hearts of our children. That’s it.

 

You have no control over a child’s response and no magic button to perfectly parent each child. You and I are not perfect as parents, so we must get over our idolatry of getting it perfect by repenting of our own sins and obeying what we do know from God. Indeed, God can perfectly use our own failures and repentance to teach our kids about the conflicts that also plague their hearts. It is “us and Him,” not “us and them” when I discipline and when they fight. Jesus is the only hero. I share my children’s problems.

 

Indeed, when I sin before my children, I must willingly and freely repent of my idolatry, just as the child who has taken the toy must return it on his own because of his idolatry. Both the parent and the child can turn the moment of discipline into the worship of God in Christ. However, until his own heart hands the toy over, he has not begun to address the depths of his sin. I must take my child where he is in learning this principle, but I must also recognize that sin starts in the heart, not the hand. I may force a child to hand the toy over, but my eventual goal must be that this child one day will willingly give it over when confronted by his sin because He loves Jesus more than the toy.

 

When the child who has wronged his sibling freely turns it over, this “villain” then teaches his sibling about Jesus; he is learning to make disciples. That is, when we aim for the heart of the earthly villain, we also aim for the heart of the earthly victim, the other child, who had the toy first. I must also warn him of his idolatry, as he is being tempted to regard himself as the hero. I do so because in Christ he too can make disciples to love God and others.

 

At the end of the day, God intends this parenting paradigm to be hard work, not a parenting checklist. It is painful and slow because it requires me as the parent to rely on Jesus and His Word. Its success depends on Jesus. If my approach to parenting does not depend upon the presence of God’s Word and Spirit, then it is not gospel parenting. It will bear a fruit, but only Spirit can beget Spirit and yield His fruit.

 

Over time, these are the questions that test my heart as a parent: Do I really love Jesus and them? Do I really want to see them grow in Christ? If so, it will not only be costly for them but for me, the parent, who loves them. After all, we saw such love on the cross and must give no less as we call people, even our own children, to trust our Savior.

The Seams of the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings

In my last post, I argued that Jesus is the message of Moses’ book, The Torah (Gen-Exod-Lev-Num-Deut). In the coming weeks, I hope to help readers test whether I have rightly understood the Torah. As such, today I want to begin the process of defending this rather bold and biblical claim.

I will begin defending this idea by outlining the shape of the Old Testament (OT) canon. While our English Bibles divide the OT into four parts, Law (Torah), History, Wisdom and Prophets, the more likely original or canonical division of the OT is in fact three parts: Torah, Prophets and Writings. This observation begs the honest question, “Does the order of the same books really matter for interpretation?” Yes, it does, as we will outline below. However, in saying such I do not mean that we should throw out or abandon another order. I want us to test the orders by examining how much they help us understand most of the OT and its most important parts.

Please know that there are multiple versions of the three-part order and that there is nothing wrong with our four-part order since it covers the same books. Indeed, our four-part order provides us with a comfortable reading approach, but it is not the oldest arrangement. Why would finding the oldest, original or earliest possible order matter so much to those of us reading it today? It matters because the differing orders themselves reflect different ways of reading the Bible. The order is a guide, saying, “Read this first. Then, turn to this book and finally this book.” The order, thus, forms a story grid. In doing so, any reading order creates relationships across individual books by sticking them together, arranging them, to form a canon via the phenomenon of juxtaposition. How that order’s story begins, continues and ends portrays a particular understanding and message of the OT. But, which story, guide and order is best?

It seems that the oldest arrangement is most likely to show us the earliest way that the biblical books were read. When one arranges books in an order, the beginnings and endings of “attached” books form seams that hold the whole canon together. These seams highlight possible connections between the endings of one book and the beginning of the next, but it would be ideal to find such reading guidance from the actual biblical authors themselves since they know how they want their books to be read. To do so would be to find a “guided tour” through the OT that is hosted by the biblical authors. We may have to settle for other tour guides, and we usually do settle. It would be best, however, if the seam connections we “find” were actually positioned there by the biblical authors and not by later readers because it would connect what we find at the seams to the very heart of the books. At a minimum, we should want to find the oldest order possible and see if it can provide helpful insights into how the books should be read by showing us how they have been read.

Here is (in my view) the oldest, best and perhaps original (canonical) order of the OT:

The Torah

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy

The Prophets

The Former Prophets

Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings

The Latter Prophets

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, The Twelve (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi)

The Writings

Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 and 2 Chronicles

In the order listed above, we will note that Proverbs, which ends with a description of a virtuous woman, leads into Ruth, which shows a Moabite woman who proves herself to be a virtuous woman by binding herself to the promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. That is, putting Ruth after Proverbs sets Ruth as a commentary on the wisdom of the virtuous woman at the end of Proverbs. When we then see that the book of Proverbs itself echo these same insights, we also begin to understand how this order guides us through 1) interpreting each book individually, 2) understanding the books’ meanings together and 3) reading the books as a part of the whole canon. This is why the three-part order will ultimately prove helpful: it provides key insights and connections in the juxtapositioning of its books.

Over the coming weeks, we will see how the three-part order of the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings explains the most important connections between its books. These same seams fortunately also reflect the key themes within the books themselves. That is, they hold the canon together by shining explanatory flashlights on what is inside the books, not just on their edges. The design of the seams points to the design of the books so that their close connections suggest that this early reading may not only be a way that the Bible was read but also a way that it may have been written.

While I do not have the time or the space to get into a detailed defense of this idea, I hope that it creates for you, at least, a new set of categories and questions about how the Bible was written and how it should be read. The Bible is a book unto itself with its own beginning, middle and ending, and the arrangement of the biblical books sets them into a specific story. The reading order that draws out the connections between the different books most likely reflects the oldest order and beckons us to read (or at least consider reading) it in that pattern.

In the coming weeks, we will walk through parts of the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings in this order so that we can continue to learn the message of the OT and its gospel focus.

If we believed Moses

I am positive that I did not truly understood the implications of John 5:46 the first few times that I read it. Indeed, most days I am still not sure that I have fully recognized the scope of Jesus’ claim at that moment. As Jesus faced conflict from the Pharisees, He answered them by defining Himself as the message of Moses’ book:

If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. (John 5:46 ESV)

He did not claim in this verse merely to be a footnote or a hidden portion of Moses’ book, the Torah (Gen-Exod-Lev-Num-Deut). No, he claimed that He was the message of the book because to believe what the book said was to believe in Jesus: If you believed Moses, you would believe me. He said, in other words, “If you read Moses rightly, you will know me because Moses designed his book to teach his readers about me.” This not only was a shocking notion then but also problematic to those of us who read the Torah today because it overturns so much of what we have been told about the beginning portion of the Bible.

Here’s the question paraphrased from my former mentor, John Sailhamer: “If you had to put a category over Moses’ book, would it be law or gospel?” While many Christians in the Protestant tradition would quickly chisel “Law” over Moses’ book, Jesus’ words suggest that “Gospel” would be a better answer.

Note carefully what the Lord did say at this key moment. Amongst men who had probably memorized every word of the Torah, He boldly claimed that the source of their hope was truly to become the source of their despair. Why? This judgment would come not because of a lack of devotion to God but a wrongly guided devotion because they had misunderstood the Scriptures. Their fathers had passed to them an understanding of the Torah that was foreign to both God and Moses: he wrote of me. That is, Jesus was not offering them a new perception of Moses’ book but an old one, the original interpretation … even Moses’ understanding of this same book.

Could it be possible that Moses intentionally and thoughtfully wrote his book with the aim of giving hope in Jesus as its message?

Yes, it is more than possible; it is more than probable. It is a certainty that can be traced on the very pages of Scripture itself. Moses, the Prophets and the Apostles turn their readers back to meditating upon a hope that is grounded in God’s work in the past as a picture of God’s work in the future.

Moses’ book itself uses the dark background of man’s past failures to then point the reader to the hope of God coming to man in the end of the days. While the laws that fill up much of the Torah are good, Moses never proposed these laws as the solution to the Torah’s dilemma. In Deuteronomy’s third speech, Moses explained the need for a new heart from God (Deut 29) and the promised hope of a new heart (Deut 30) that would come from Him. Moses does offer a solution to man’s heart problem, but it is a solution for whom the reader and the Prophets must wait.

While the Pharisees thought they had understood Moses’ book, they had in fact totally misunderstood it. They had used the Torah, but the Torah had yet to use them … at least to use them as God intentioned. This misunderstanding of God’s Word hardened their hearts from seeing life. How ironic it is that those who should have responded to God’s presence with joy and life instead sought God’s death and suffering.

My concern today is not with the Pharisees’ understanding of the Torah but with those of us who read the Torah today and might be tempted to a misguided zealousness that will also produce death. As Joshua was called to meditate upon the Torah, we must do the same.

I hope over the coming weeks to point my readers to the Jesus that is found in the very pages of the Old Testament, especially the Torah. If Jesus spoke of His presence in Moses’ message, perhaps we should take Him at His word. We should humbly begin to re-read the Torah and ask where the author spoke of Him and how. While we do not want to add Jesus to the Old Testament, we do want to find what Moses and the Prophets actually said of Him.

This is the hope of why I write to you today: I want you to know that Moses wrote to us and that he wrote to us about Jesus. Do we believe Moses? We must, and in Christ we will.

Soon to return to blogging …

The pace of work has been busy, but I hope in the next few weeks to again blog.

Charleston Southern University Fall 2012

I am in the midst of preparing for my course load this fall at CSU and couldn’t be more excited about the school, the students, the other faculty and my course load. Specifically, I will be teaching Old Testament Survey, Introductory Biblical Hebrew, the Pentateuch and Genesis. God has really blessed me with this opportunity, so I am asking Him to help me encourage my students to walk more faithfully with Him. That is, I am praying that God would move our hearts to get excited about what Moses and the Prophets wrote to us.

As such, I have two great goals in teaching the Old Testament:

1. I want you to know that Moses and the Prophets wrote to you.
2. I want you to know that they wrote to you about Jesus.

How can this be? Please join us this fall in one of my classes and find out. Learning to read the Bible that Jesus read is indeed a walk with Him. I hope, CSU Students, that you will join me on this walk.

Back to the Blog … A New Time to Worship

I am now just a few weeks away from my dissertation defense, so I will return to updating this blog.

The past few years working on the analysis of Deut 28:69-30:20 has been an amazing and arduous journey, but the race is not over yet. Now, my task is to stand before three or more world-class scholars and defend what I wrote. It is, indeed, a trial by fire that is part of the process, but it can become more than that. Specifically, it can become worship of the Triune God.

Worship is a right response to the true revelation of God. It occurs when the Spirit of God and the Word of God collide in a man’s heart to draw Him to obey, love and trust Jesus Christ. Worship of Jesus instead of worship of myself or success must be the goal of my defense … and every moment of my life. I explain below why I am called to worship Jesus in my defense and in every part of my life as a part of the body of Christ.

The Christian alone possesses the unique privilege and joy of worshiping the Triune God who is proclaimed in Scripture. God alone proves worthy of the Christian’s worship, and the local church serves an essential role in the worship life of a Christian. Defining and understanding what worship is and is not remains crucial to the healthy growth of an individual Christian and the local church. Every Christian needs to move beyond an understanding of worship as merely music or a gathering on Sunday morning. Sunday morning is a time of worship, but it is not the only time of worship. Singing a hymn is an activity of worship, but it is not the only activity of worship. A Christian who knows only the narrow understanding of worship cheats himself of understanding the treasure of his whole life being an act of worship. Therefore, let me propose below a simple, basic theology of worship for the local church with the aim of equipping persons to worship the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in Spirit and truth.

The term ‘worship’ may be used and defined in a number of ways in varying contexts. We will define worship as the Christian’s faithful response to God’s purposeful revelation of (1) who God is, (2) who man is and (3) how God saves men by the Cross. This definition does not limit worship by where or when a Christian is, but it paints the need that genuine worship cover every moment of a Christian’s life from his regeneration. This broad definition should humble and encourage the Christian for through worship every moment of his life may be infused with meaning and purpose because every moment for a Christian is, in fact, an opportunity to worship God by trusting Him. Consequently, this definition breaks our understanding of worship into two general categories: (1) the activity of God and (2) the activity of men.

God is the initiator of worship; only what He starts may result in true worship. He created man according to His image (Gen 1:27) and designed man from the very beginning to worship Him (Gen 2:15). Not only did God create man and man’s purpose, but He also creates the new man by regenerating him to new life (John 3:5-8;Tit 3:3-7). God’s action to create, therefore, establishes His authority and power as well as the preeminence of His plan and design for all of creation. Hence, worship responds to God’s work to create, sustain and redeem man. His work involves His revelation of truth about who He is, who man is and how God saves men. Scripture, as the source of this precise knowledge, forms the indispensable component of revelation since general revelation of nature, etc. does not provide enough insight to bring a man to salvation. The word of God, appropriately, becomes central to worship for this very fact: only Scripture properly presents this critical picture of who He is, who we are and what He has done. Hence, God works in all of creation to accomplish His glory, and He desires that men shall truly worship Him. What is not borne of His Spirit and His Word is not and cannot be true worship of the Triune God. According to this design, therefore, worship begins with God’s actions, but it continues in the heart of a Christian.

As God brings new life into the heart of a man through regeneration, the man receives the Holy Spirit to guide Him to all truth (John 14:1ff; 16:1ff). While theologians debate the order or primacy of the parts of this process, the end result is not debatable: the true Christian has a heart of flesh instead of a heart of stone (Jer 24:7). Despite this change, however, his old nature remains until his death. Paul himself laments of the pitched battle between his old and new natures (Rom 7). He wants to do the will of God, and yet at the same time he desires his old will. Paul is in tension and may only be led at any given moment by one or the other: New or old, Spirit or flesh. Worship emerges from and within this battle. That is, only in the context of such a conflict within the believer’s heart may worship occur in this life. A believer cannot engage in worship without engaging in war against his old self. Each moment when the Christian responds to God’s revelation by the prompting of the Holy Spirit–and not by the prompting of His old nature–is a moment of worship. Every time a Christian follows the always true guiding of the Spirit of His Lord, he is worshiping God in Spirit and truth: a worship that pleases the Lord and serves Him. Thus, a Christian who yields to God’s will is giving God glory as he dies to himself and chooses that which pleases the Lord.

How is it possible for man to wage this pitched war against himself? He cannot do it be himself, can he? No, he cannot. If he needs God, then what can he do about it? This is the dilemma of living in the Christian life now in the midst of our sanctification. Specifically, worship is impossible by man himself, but it is possible by the union between God and believer. As Paul explains to the Philippians:

So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (Phil 2:12-13 NASB)

Worship can occur in the a man’s heart in this world because God has made a powerful and genuine union between Himself and the believer in and through and by Jesus Christ. This union with God in Christ is the central and powerful reason and engine for worship of God and denial of the old man.

As part of this worship from the believer’s real union with Christ, one absolutely important factor persists: the Lord’s will must be done in faith. A Christian only pleases God when he believes and trusts that (1) God exists, (2) God is good and (3) God will righteously bless those who come to Him (Heb 11:1, 6). Whether at Sinai or in Seattle, to come to God is to trust Him with all of one’s life. This trusting of Him is not merely praying a certain prayer, coming forward at a church or following a basic ritualistic rite. To trust God is an inward desire borne of the Holy Spirit to be in God’s presence that may form within the regenerate person. The validity of the actual transformation of his heart and the sincerity of his trust will be made manifest over time by the actions of his life. The first act of worship by the regenerate person is to come to the Lord by repenting of his way and trusting the Lord and His way. Every act of worship essentially repeats this pattern: repent and believe. Salvation models the continuing Christian life because it is centers on who God is, who man is and how the Cross saves men. The Holy Spirit leads, granting a repentance of sin and godly desire, and the man chooses to follow this lead by coming to God, yielding his will to the Lord’s.

While worship involves an active response, the activity, per se, is not the worship. One may pray, fast, study Scripture or sing praise songs, and yet he may not be worshiping the Triune God. It can only be true worship when a heart of flesh wraps the action in a genuine desire for God’s presence. Worship must be properly motivated, and such motivation may only come by the leading and working of the Holy Spirit upon a heart of flesh. If I pray with a focus on what my pastor thinks of the prayer, my prayer is not worship of God. If I teach a Bible Study and am not led by the Holy Spirit, my teaching is not worship of God.

The Christian life, therefore, is not about learning rules. Instead, it is about learning how to worship, that is, learning how to respond with the heart of flesh to the revelation of God in one’s life. Worship will produce sorrow and repentance over sin as well as joy for redemption. An absence of repentance in one’s life, for example, is an absence of worship formed from forgetting who God is, who man is and what God did in the cross; it is a rejection of God ‘s authority and control of one or more parts of a person’s life. At any given moment we either desire to be in His presence or to flee from it. Our worship, or lack of it, then produces a visible testimony to others.

Ironically, our worship, which is a response to God’s revelation of Himself to us, can also become a part of His revelation to another; our worship may become a part of leading another to worship as they in turn respond to God’s revelation through us according to the Scriptures. This reality stresses the importance of worship in evangelism and discipleship since neither can happen without worship. As part of this understanding, the intelligibility of worship becomes essential. If another person need not ever understand my worship, then the intelligibility of worship would not be essential. In such a model no connection exists between the vertical and horizontal components of worship. Thus, we could worship without concern for how our words impact another person, especially upon a lost person. However, the vertical aspect of worship requires a concern for the horizontal aspect as an intelligible means to convey the gospel in evangelism and discipleship.

The local church represents a gathering of believers bonded together as the body of Christ to glorify God. As Jesus ministered to God and to others by His body during his earthly ministry, so the Church now is to minister to God and to others. Jesus’ worship had both a vertical component, relating to God, and a horizontal facet, relating to men. The Church must do the same. Accordingly, no individual may hate his brother and at the same time worship God (1 John 2:8-11; 4:20, 21). A major hindrance to worship, therefore, is a Christian who fails to restore horizontal relationships. One is not truly coming to God if he at the same time hates his brother. In other words, the failure to humble oneself before a brother is also a failure to worship God because of this horizontal relationship. This failing of a relationship with another person also prevents true worship in the vertical relationship with God. As one fails to come to God, fails to follow the Spirit’s leading in the horizontal relationship, the vertical relationship suffers. However, as one desires and pursues God’s presence in his horizontal relationship, the vertical relationship is positively affected. This affect does not occur by the action itself but by faith being placed in God as we humble and love others for God’s sake in Christ. Thus, the vertical and horizontal aspects of worship are intimately related to each other.

What is true for the individual worshiper is also true for the local church. Evangelism and discipleship stem from this worship and are truly a part of this worship. The church’s horizontal evangelism to the lost, for example, is at the same time vertical by its trust in God. When a church body shares the gospel with a lost person, they do so individually and corporately because of a trust in Jesus. A congregation who desires to be in the presence of God will yield to His will and not its own. Worship, therefore, literally remains the pulse of the church, focusing our discussion now to the corporate worship service that usually fits a more common and narrow understanding of the term ‘worship.’

This narrower definition, referring to our specific Christian gatherings, must fall in line with the broader definition of worship. As a result, when a worship service, a gathering of the local church, determines its worship program, the elements of the worship must tie to the broader definition in some way at some level. The prescribed elements, or activities, of the worship service are not worship because they are an activity done by a Christian. Instead, they are worship, if they are a drawing near or coming to God by faith as expressed in His word. Thus, the core issue for the local church is not how to worship, such as with which musical style to follow, but whether the congregation will have a desire for God. If the Holy Spirit produces a genuine desire for the Lord, any biblically based liturgy, can be used to promote genuine worship by the whole congregation, which will edify believers and evangelize the lost.

The worship service should include at least prayer, teaching/ preaching and reading of God’s word. Most every service should also include congregational singing, offerings, confessions of faith, a benediction and even special music. Many services should include one or both of the two ordinances, the Lord’s Supper and Baptism. These elements should be constructed so that a focus on the vertical relationship remains dominant, while concern still continues for the horizontal aspects. In other words, music may be chosen which praises God, but it should also be discernible and intelligible to those who attend. Such a statement would not exclude ‘deeply theological’ hymns out of a concern for the lost for a brief introduction to a hymn or the sermon itself may ‘fill-in-the-blanks’ for those who have yet to understand the truths expressed. Such a testing against the ultimate criteria of drawing closer to God by biblical standards must be applied to each element individually and the whole service together.

To conclude, worship centers upon a one-on-one relationship between God and man and the theology that supports any man’s worship of God shapes the worship’s form and content. True worship begins with the Holy Spirit’s leading and finishes by a Christian heart desiring and pursuing the presence of the Triune God. Worship occurs individually with each area of a Christian’s life and corporately in a special way when the church gathers together to seek the Lord. While most people may view the question of worship as a fight over musical styles, a much bigger issue emerges: do we trust God? The more we trust Him, the more we will be worshiping. In such trusting, therefore, the more glory shall be given to God.

The Torah and the Psalter

The last few weeks have been a special time of teaching for me. I have had the chance to teach on the Psalter every Sunday morning and on the Torah every Sunday night.

The busyness of the schedule has kept me from posting comments on books 1 and 2 of the Psalter thus far, but I do hope to provide some general comments before too long. Going through the Psalter has been a humbling experience, as it is for any Sunday School teacher, because the book is so big and complex. There never seems to be a time in teaching it when I truly feel prepared.  The Lord, however, has blessed and the Hope Life Group of Wake Cross Roads seems to have really enjoyed thinking more clearly about this book.

In addition to my normal Sunday School teaching, two other opportunities have kept me very busy. First, I was able to preach on Psalms 19 and 20 on a Wednesday night. It’s a critical part of the book, so I was delighted to help another group of people see the bigger picture of the Psalter. Second, I have been and am teaching a discipleship class on the Torah. We’re 3 weeks through a 6 week discipleship class emphasizing the big picture of the Torah.

The six week class, entitled Tour de Torah (a title borrowed from a good friend), is an effort to help teach Sunday School teachers, pastors, and “regular lay people” to see the big picture of the Torah. I am essentially applying and summarizing the high-points of Dr. Sailhamer’s approach to the Torah in 6 sessions. My hope is to be able to teach such a discipleship course again and again in as many places as possible. I have no doubt that the ability to read the Bible well hinges on being able to read the Torah well. When the average man in the pew can sit down and understand the intentional gospel message of the Torah, it changes how all of the Bible is read.

While I am still working out the kinks of the class, I have broken it down into six sessions.

Session 1: Introduction and the Poems: The Beginning and the Ending

Session 2: Repetition, the Narratives, and the Poems: The Past and the Future

Session 3: Exodus 19-24 and the Laws of Sinai: Why the Law?

Session 4: Exodus, Leviticus, and Creation: What is the Tabernacle?

Session 5: Numbers and the Prior Stories: Haven’t we Been Here Before?

Session 6: Deuteronomy and the Torah: The Author Interprets His Torah

We are doing these sessions once a week on Sunday nights, but it would be possible to cluster the sessions into Friday night, Saturday morning meetings over two weekends. On the first weekend, session 1 would occur on Friday night with sessions 2 and 3 on Saturday morning. On the second weekend, session 4 would occur on Friday night with sessions 5 and 6 on Saturday morning. It would be a lot of material in a short time, but it is possible.

At any rate, if your church might be interested, please let me know. I would be glad to talk to anyone about the intentional Christ-centered message of the Torah.

To God be the glory!

Thank you.

In one of the longest weeks of my life, I want to say and am saying ‘thank you’ to my many friends who have prayed for us in regards to the passing of our baby. Becky and I as well as our 3 children were never able to see the child apart from one ultrasound last month. He was never born but was alive. And, now we know that he is with the Lord Jesus, holding the hands that formed his frame. God’s will is good even when it hurts. It is good because He is good. His provision is perfect at all times because He provides Himself in the person and work of Jesus Christ. To Jesus be the glory!

Busy is the Season

I intended to have some thoughts posted on psalms 3-9 already, but I have been focused on rewriting my prospectus. I hope to have it submitted (again) early next week, so the Psalter posts will have to wait. In the meantime, for those who are teaching off of Lifeway’s ETB schedule, you might want to refer to the previous Psalter postings to place your lesson within the context of the book as a whole. This book is consumed with the hope of Messiah, that is, Jesus Christ. Please make sure that your lesson does not miss the Psalter’s big message. Good exegesis is worth the extra effort.

Can’t wait to tell you more of what I have seen in the text …