Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Bodily Worship (from Jonathan Edwards, 1722)

This is what Jonathan Edwards thinks about using your body during worship. I must concur! What is required of us is "manly worship"!! (see below to understand that reference...)

"I don't suppose that any understanding men, of whatsoever sect or opinion, will say that God is really pleased with bodily worship as such, that is, that merely such and such gestures and motions of body are what delights him as a part of virtue; but only as they are helps to the exercise of real virtue and the worship of the mind. Now there is an indissoluble, unavoidable association, in the minds of the most rational and spiritual, between things spiritual and things bodily. Thus when we are joyful and express our joy, 'tis natural to do it with a lively voice; and when we express sorrow, to do it with what we call a mournful voice. This is natural to us, and the association becomes much stronger by use in other matters.

Therefore if, when we come to praise God or confess our sins, we resolved not in any measure to alter our manner of expression for sorrow or joy, we must restrain that which is strongly associated with the joy and sorrow; and thereby shall unavoidably, in some measure, forever restrain the spiritual affections themselves, till we quite dissolve the association: which cannot be, in the most rational, while in the body. So we are necessitated to join some gestures to some habitudes of mind in common affairs, as uncovering the head, and some other gestures besides fitting with reverence. Thereby there grows a strong association, so that if one be restrained the other will unavoidably be restrained too. So that some bodily worship is necessary to give liberty to our own devotion; yea though in secret, so more when with others. For we having associated the idea of reverence and other habitudes of mind to such and such gestures of body, it would restrain our notion or apprehension of another's reverence, etc., if we should see those gestures which we have associated to contrary dispositions; so that our own devotion would not be so much assisted by theirs but restrained, and the communion in the duty in some measure destroyed, and so the end of social devotion. 'Tis necessary that there should be something bodily and visible in the worship of a congregation; otherwise, there can be no communion at all.

I acknowledge, that the more rational a person, the less doth his disposition of mind depend on anything in his body; and that if he practises gestures of body in worship, where there is no necessary and unavoidable association, it tends to make him, or to keep him less rational and spiritual. But yet there are some associations of this nature that [are] equally unavoidable, and coeval with the association of soul and body. So many as are thus necessary, we are allowed in gospel worship, and more [than that] are contrary to its nature; for the gospel supposes the church to be no longer an infant, but as come to the stature of a man. Wherefore the weak and beggarly elements are rejected, and the childish bodily ceremonies cashiered, as being fit only for children, and unworthy of those who are come to riper years; and the worship that is now required of [us] is only that which is manly, rational and spiritual."

Wednesday, June 23, 2010


The Truth is that Jesus already is happy with me.
The Truth is that Jesus already has paid my debt.
The Truth is that Jesus stands before God as my intermediary.

Is It Really "Love"??


Enough said......



Tuesday, February 16, 2010

The Prayer of Jabez???

Perhaps you've heard of the prayer of Jabez phenomenon that went on a few years ago. It seemed to take the "christian" world by storm! I think it started as a good thing, a prayer to increase your influence for Jesus, but I fear it began to take the form of the "prosperity gospel" crap that is still so prevalent today.
If we are going to pray about our situation(s) and so on, allow me to offer another perspective than that of what the "Prayer of Jabez" ended up as.
Consider David. Yeah, David. The King who danced around in his underwear in front of the entire congregation of Israel while his wife told him he was an idiot. The same guy who got mixed up with adultery and then murdered the woman's husband for fear of being caught (as luck would have it he got a son out of the deal anyway!). The same guy whom his predecessor, King Saul (the 1st King of Israel given by God... much to God's dismay...), chased through the wilderness and in and out of caves because Saul was apparently a little punch-drunk on his own self-righteousness and thought David was conspiring against him. And YES... the same David who, through all of this, God stills says that he is a man after God's own heart.
Though he failed throughout his life (repeatedly & admittedly), David still saw God as his greatest treasure and hope, and ultimately his strength, guide, and deliverer. Even though life was brutal for David at times, sometimes his doing & sometimes not, he truly, throughout his life, clung to Yaweh. And ultimately, when David prayed, his heart was revealed and we see that he loved God above all else. Sure, there were times in his life that he loved himself more, but ultimately he loved Yaweh God.
So, in light of his many prayers, and of his many persecutions, allow me to offer up the thought that we need not pray for a new BMW, a new house, a million bucks, faster internet, an amazing retirement, or even for life to magically just get better. Rather, we should pray for God to direct our paths so that we may be able to walk with him and bring glory to his Name and Kingdom. David illustrates how to pray, with the right spirit/heart, for deliverance from rough situations:

May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you..."

Psalm 25:1-21

Tuesday, January 12, 2010


"I'll bring the Perspective..."

I was watching one of my favorite animated movies the other day and a line from it stuck out to me in a spiritual way. This is not a normal occurrence, but I figured it was timely given that I had just watched/listened to a sermon out of Mars Hill Church in Seattle called "Humble Christians" (by Mark Driscoll). I can't remember the line from Ratatouille word for word, but it's the part where the food critic Ego comes into Gustav's restaurant for his "final" review. If you don't know the part that I'm talking about I'll explain a little.
The premise of the movie is that a young, out of luck, not good at much human kid is struggling to find his place in life. There is also a parallel storyline where a young rat (literally) is struggling to chase his passions for cooking rather than giving in to the "normal" rat way of just eating garbage. The human kid, and the rat kid, eventually meet up and team up through some random happenstance stuff. The rat is truly the great cook, and the kid just begins to get credit for the cooking because... well, let's face it, a rat cooking in a kitchen is not exactly the chef that humans expect and/or want. So, more funny and random events happen and the movie boils down to this food critic, named Ego, entering the restaurant and challenging the kid to make him something amazing (because, for the movie's sake, Ego's opinion is the only one that matters).
So, now we're at the crux of the movie and the waiter asks what Ego would like to order; Ego replies, "Perspective." Of course the waiter looks at him dumbfounded wondering what he wants (because obviously "perspective" isn't on the menu) and he fumbles all over himself. Ego then goes on to clarify, becoming somewhat miffed at the incompetent waiter, "Very well... if you can't provide the perspective then have the chef serve me something, if he dares, and I'll provide the perspective..." Again, this is loosely quoted, but this isn't my main point.
The main point I'm trying to make is this: "What is the perspective in our life? How do we view life?"
As believers, do we worry about what we're doing? About doing the right things? About doing the wrong things? Do we ask questions like: What do I need to do to get to heaven? OR Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?
I'm writing this message to make a point, and I promise I'm getting there. Are you ready for it? Are you ready, Christian, to know what point I'm wanting to make? Have you figured out my point yet? Ok... here goes... here it is... are you ready?
This is a concept that I usually sum up with two words: KINGDOM PURPOSE (or Kingdom Mindset).
How does this apply to our lives? How do we get there? Well, I’m a baseball player so I’ll start with a baseball analogy... When a baseball player goes up to the plate thinking “don’t strike out” or “make sure you hit the ball” or “hit a home run” or something to that effect, the plate appearance usually ends badly. Rather, when you get up to the plate thinking about how you can best facilitate your team gaining advantage things usually go better, and things tend to be simpler. The thoughts change to be more like “just punch the ball through on the right side” or “hit a ground ball to the right side” or “I should bunt because there are runners on 1st & 2nd with no outs, and that’ll move them around.” See, you start to think with a greater purpose than just your stat line. Instead of worrying about your batting average, or how many home-runs you do or don’t have, you start to think about what is best for your team gaining advantage. It’s all about how you perceive the situation and the game.
The game of life isn’t a lot different. In fact, I might even go as far as to say life is slightly more important that baseball (*sarcasm*), but we can certainly learn from our national pastime. In our lives we tend to focus so much on “me” or “us” and it suffocates what our perception should be. Rather than thinking about the steps we can take, or how to remedy a situation on/in our own power, we should begin with focusing on Jesus. Even more so, we should think with Kingdom purpose. How does this effect the team I’m on. Oh, and by the way, the “team” we’re on is Jesus’ team, and the goal isn’t to win the game per say (because He has already conquered sin & death) but to make His Name great and to work for His kingdom! Rather than asking the question “how do I fix my situation?” we MUST start with “how does/can/will God receive the most glory?”
Ultimately, it truly is a matter of perspective. I wish we would just get over ourselves, get off our high horse, and get real! God created us, we didn't create Him. God created the Earth and everything in/on it. Who are we to think that we matter MORE than He does? I'm not saying we completely ignore our situations or anything because, in fact, if we don't take care to watch what we do (and the way we live our lives) we don't bring God glory. We have been given one life, one body, one set of Earthly family, and the Bible clearly tells us to take care of those things. But how do we best "take care" of those things? What does God say about that? The answer is Himself! He is how our life finds fulfillment. HE is best for us. Jesus, God's plan of salvation, is best for us! God already knows hat we need and how we are most satisfied, and it's in close communion with Him, and by following Jesus' example and making much of Him! When we seek Jesus, when our life's decisions revolve around God's Kingdom first and foremost, He is most glorified and we are most satisfied.
So, what's our perspective? Does our thought pattern revolve around us (most likely), or does it revolve around making much of Jesus and His Kingdom?

Sunday, May 3, 2009

New Song

There is a new song (well, new to me) out there written by Kristian Stanfill. It's called "Lord of All" and it's awesome! Reverent, glorifying, and ultimately a great song to sing praises to the Lord of all! Enjoy!