Shalom Aleichem...
Reflections is a weekly Christian Teaching Ministry. Each week we will talk about the Bible and lessons we can put to use in our daily life. We will try to, on a weekly basis, provide to you stories, thoughts, and just easy ways to live your life on a straight path.
THIS WEEK'S TEACHING....July 1, 2019
As we continue our look at the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, this week we go into....Acts 16:16-34
There’s much confusion today about worship. Should we sing with the lights on or off? Do we sing with a choir or orchestra or with a band? Do we sing hymns or contemporary songs? Having visited most ot the churchs on Oahu and several on neighbot islands I see such a variety of worship. However I have a question for all of you...
What if worship had nothing to do with music – or with our venues with technology? What if worship was an issue of the heart instead of a preference of style?
In John:4, with the Samaritan woman Jesus said:
A time is coming… when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they’re the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth. Jn. 4:23-4
So....what does it mean to worship in the Spirit & Truth?
In Acts 16, we find one of my favorite passages in the Bible regarding true Spirit-inspired worship – Paul and Silas in jail.
We are in Acts learning about the unstoppable power of the Holy Spirit and how the Christian life isn’t a matter of human ability and ingenuity but submission to the Holy Spirit. This means the gift of salvation and the ministry of the church have never been, nor will ever be, a work of human effort and ability, but solely the work of the Holy Spirit.
The same is true of authentic God-honoring worship – it doesn’t begin with us, it begins with God abiding within us. Here are Jesus’ words again in John 4:24: God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.
In the Spirit means true worship is inspired and authored by the Holy Spirit abiding within us – and our role is the surrender of our mind’s ATTENTION, our heart’s AFFECTION, our will’s AMBITION, and our body’s ACTION to the Holy Spirit
I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. Rm. 12:1-2
1. "Offer (paristemi) to release."
It’s a technical term used by priests in the temple when they placed an animal on the altar for sacrifice as an act of worship. So when the priest offered the whole burnt offering it meant the entire animal was placed on the altar to be sacrificed and nothing was withheld.
Paul’s saying a Christ-follower is to voluntarily “release” his or her life completely into God’s hands without reservations. The verb tense means we make this offering on a continual basis to remain surrender.
Any human attempt at worship offered independent of the Holy Spirit in flesh is idolatry because you cannot worship in the Spirit if you do not walk in the Spirit.
Talk about a scary proposition? This means any attempt at worship authored in the flesh is not a fragrant offering to God but a self-centered, self-gratifying slap in God’s face.
It reminds me of a worship video spoof I once saw. It goes..."Lord I lift My Name on High and I Exalt Me."
Jesus described worship as loving God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength… what He was saying wasn’t love God with all of your human ability – but love God out of the love He has poured into you thru the Spirit.
2. Love (agape) God’s unconditional, sacrificial love.
We know from Galatians 5 that agape love is a fruit of the Spirit bearing evidence of a surrendered, spirit-led life. So we’re to love God out of the love He’s imputed and invested in us thru the Holy Spirit – we worship because God first loved us.
So with this in mind, let’s look at Acts 16 and Paul and Silas. The two were in the city of Philippi sharing about truth of Jesus and the love of God. After several days of being harassed by a demon-possessed fortune-teller, they command the demon come out – and it did! Only the men abusing this woman’s skills aren’t too happy about it and they have Paul and Silas illegally arrested, beaten, and put in stocks in the local Roman jail.
Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At once the spirit left her. When her owners realized their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.” The crowd joined in the attack against them, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
Under the circumstances, no one would have blamed Paul and Silas if they were unhappy with their conditions. As Roman citizens, the injustice alone would’ve been enough to send most of us over the edge. But they’d been mistreated and abused too. Now bloodied and battered, they’re in stocks in the depths of a Roman jail.
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. What faith these two had. They could have been bemonaing and crying out what a disservice was being perpetated on them, however they chose to Worship God with hymns.
Worship is a CHOICE
There’s often a great misunderstanding in the Christian life that bad things cannot happen to God’s people; but nothing could be farther from the truth. Sometimes it’s just the opposite. For when we stand w/ Christ in a Christ-less world, many times, the world desires to silence the faithful.
This might be hard to fathom, but sometimes God allows difficult earthly circumstances for Divine, eternal outcomes. Sometimes He puts us in challenging situations to show Himself to others because He wants to show Himself as God. I see this everyday as a Chaplain and am amazed at the amount of faith some people have...and yes the amount of fear others have.
So the question isn’t whether bad things can happen to God’s people, but instead, as God’s people, how will we respond when non-preferred things happen in our lives?
Paul and Silas show us that authentic, God honoring worship is a choice even in the midst of the worst of human conditions because true worship is a choice of the heart and not a result of one’s circumstances.
Worship is CAPTIVATING
…and the other prisoners were listening to them.
This phrase gets me. Its midnight in a jail filled with hardened criminals, and they are so overcome they tune in and listen.
Here’s what I have learned about worship – it can capture the attention of the hardest of hearts. I cannot tell you how many times I have entered into worship when my heart wasn’t right only to be overwhelmed and drawn into the moment by God.
I think that’s what happened here. I cannot imagine this duet of Paul and Silas was very good; yet God moved and the other men were captivated by His presence because when God shows up – He has this uncanny way of drawing people to Himself.
Worship is not CONSTRAINED
Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once the prison doors flew open, and their chains came loose.
In the midst of an earthquake there was a faith-quake – and people’s lives were transformed into real freedom. The demon-possessed girl was set free from abuse and misuse, Paul and Silas were set free from injustice, and the jailer and his family was set free from lostness.
Worship can CHANGE Lives
This is the best part. When God shows up, people are physically, emotionally, socially, and spiritually rescued. Lives are retrieved from death to life. The FAITHLESS find FORGIVENESS.
The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself b/c he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized.
Notice the jailer’s response. He was so overwhelmed by God’s presence he seeks out what is required to be saved. He says to Paul and Silas, what must I do to have what you have?
Make no mistake – it was because of their Spirit-infused worship and passionate pursuit of Christ that this jailer fell at their feet. He knew there was something different about these men that caused him to desire whatever it was that they had.
A few years ago, Norman Cousins, the editor-in-chief for the Saturday Review, wrote an editorial in which he reported a conversation he had on a trip to India. He shares about talking with a Hindu priest named Satis Prasad. Satis said he wanted to come to the USA to work as a missionary among Americans.
Cousins assumed he meant he wanted to convert Americans to Hinduism, but when asked, Satis said, "Oh no, I’d like to convert them to the Christian religion. Christianity cannot survive in the abstract. It needs not membership, but believers (worshippers). The people of your country may claim they believe in Christianity, but from what I read at this distance, Christianity is more a custom than anything else. I would ask that either you accept the teachings of Jesus in your everyday life and worship Him only in your affairs as a nation, or stop invoking His name as sanction for everything you do. I want to help save Christianity for the Christian."
I pray that Satis is still working because from what I have witnessed over the past few years, Christianity has more "singers of worship" than "doers of worship." Ponder this as you move through your week. Are you a singer or a doer? I love you all:)
DID YOU EVER WONDER???
12 things to remember:
1. The past cannot be changed.
2. Opinions don’t define your reality
3. Everyone’s journey is different.
4. Things always get better with time.
5. Judgments are a confession of character.
6. Over thinking will lead to sadness.
7. Happiness is found within.
8. Positive thoughts create positive things.
9. Smiles are contagious.
10. Kindness is free.
11. You only fail if you quit.
12. What goes around, comes around.
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE...A TEACHING
We continue our tour through the Books of the Bible...This week, we study Pauls letter to the Colossians....
Who wrote the book?
Before Paul wrote this letter to the Christians in Colossae, he had never been to their city (Colossians 2:1). This helps explain the personal greetings he included at the end of the letter, a practice he usually reserved for letters to churches he had not visited (for example, Romans). Paul sought to develop personal connections with the people he hoped to teach and serve, rather than just going around from city to city asserting his apostolic authority. The more personal tone at the close of this letter would have been especially significant in creating a connection with the Colossian believers, given the fact that part of Paul’s reason for writing involved calling out the heretical teachers who had infiltrated the Colossian church.
Where are we?
In AD 60–61, during his first imprisonment in Rome, Paul penned this letter to the Colossian church after he had received a report that they were struggling with a christological heresy. The report came from Epaphras, likely the leader of the church at Colossae and a convert of Paul’s from his more than two-year ministry in Ephesus. Epaphras had come to Rome in part to serve Paul during his imprisonment (Philemon 1:23) but also to confide in him regarding the dangerous teachings the Colossians were hearing. So Paul sent this letter, along with the letters to Philemon and to the Ephesians, with Tychicus, accompanied by Onesimus (Colossians 4:7; Philemon 1:10–12). Tychicus was a coworker of Paul who would have been able to help the Colossian believers understand and apply the apostle’s teachings in the letter.
Why is Colossians so important?
The church at Colossae was under attack from false teachers who were denigrating the deity of Jesus; they were teaching that He was not actually God. Though Paul had never been to the church itself, he addressed these issues head-on. The nature of Jesus Christ as Creator and Redeemer was nonnegotiable, so Paul wrote to them that he might bring his wisdom to bear on this difficult and trying situation. It was critical to him that this church know God in His greatness and glory, rather than in the deficient view given them by the false teachers (Colossians 1:25; 2:1–2).
What's the big idea?
In this book, the apostle Paul described Jesus with some of the loftiest language in all the New Testament, focusing on Christ’s preeminence and sufficiency in all things. Paul presented Christ as the center of the universe, not only as the active Creator but also as the recipient of creation—in His taking on of human flesh. Christ was and is the visible image of the invisible God, containing within Himself the fullness of Deity (Colossians 2:9). Because of His divine nature, Jesus is sovereign, above all things with an authority given Him by the Father. As such, Jesus is also Head over the church. He has reconciled all things to Himself through His death on the cross, making believers alive to God and setting them on the path to right living. This proper view of Christ served as the antidote for the Colossian heresy as well as a building block for Christian life and doctrine both then and now.
How do I apply this?
Your view of Jesus Christ will impact every area of your life. Many today want only practical instruction and helps for living, eschewing “esoteric” topics such as doctrine and theology because they seem to be out of touch with their day-to-day reality. Paul’s view was different. He saw that the christological problems in the Colossian church had practical importance as well. Believers have died with Christ; therefore, we need to die to our sins. We have also been raised with Christ; therefore, we must live well in Him and put on qualities that are motivated by Christian love. And because He is Lord over all, the life of the Christian is a life of submission to Jesus. Are you following after Jesus as you should? Our faith in Jesus Christ should transform the relationships we have in every area of our lives—in our homes, our churches, and our world.
HAVE A SAFE AND BLESSED WEEK:)
Ho'omaikaʻi ka Pua iā kākou