Tag: worship

Categories
Christian Living

I am not the center of everything. And . . . neither are you.

We all want to understand what life is all about. We want to know what to focus on. But when we think of ourselves as the center of the universe, and want everything and everyone to revolve around us, we elevate the wrong “center” and find ourselves frustrated and ultimately unsatisfied.

a question mark in the center of a maze to ask "what should be placed at the center?"
So what should be in the center?

The reason for this frustration is that when we put too much emphasis on the wrong center, we are expecting fulfillment from something that can’t provide it. It’s like climbing a ladder to the top of a building, only to discover you placed the ladder on the wrong building. Only when we learn what (or Who) should be properly placed in the center of life will we begin to experience true fulfillment and satisfaction. And spoiler alert – the only correct center… is God.

Now some may say, I don’t believe in God. I don’t like the idea of an ultimate Being that has created all things and guides all of life and history. But just because a person doesn’t like an idea, doesn’t mean it isn’t true.

C.S. Lewis points out: “A man can no more diminish God’s glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word ‘darkness’ on the walls of his cell.”

This quote is a reminder that I am not the center of all things. God is. But it’s hard to remember. It is so easy to make everything about me.

Here is an excerpt from the book Awe by Paul David Tripp that explains it well:

We quickly replace awe of God with awe of self.

This means that no story will be more important to me than my story. I will ask no bigger question than the question of how I am doing. I will have no bigger concern than my satisfaction and comfort. I will ask life to serve me, to submit to my interests, and to deliver whatever I demand. This viewpoint will guarantee me a life of huge disappointment.

The Bible calls the person who lives this way a fool (see Psalm 14). The problem is that all sinners replace God with something else. It is as natural and intuitive to us as breathing. Putting ourselves in the center of our awe is the DNA of sin.

We need our awe changed over to God… So that we will not only live in awe of God but will pass that awe down to the generation that follows.

Parents, you are called by God to inspire worshipful awe in your children. You have been called to something that is profoundly deeper than being a lawgiver, a law-enforcer, and a punishment-deliverer. You are to exercise your authority in such a way that it gives your children eyes to see the awesome presence, power, authority, and grace of God.

When our children are blown away by the glory of God, they will be more likely to reach out for his grace and submit to his will.

May we help our children, our spouses, and ourselves put our awe in the right place. Standing in awe of God, placing Him in the center, is the only way to true joy and life. quote from c. s. lewis - "I was made for another world."

(And on another note – Thank you for the encouragement earlier this week when I began posting again. My plan is to post here a couple of times a week. On a few other days a week, I’ll also post some smaller snippets, quotes, or thoughts on Facebook.)

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Categories
Worship

Are you trying to “get the feeling again” during worship?

man standing with uplifted hands during a sunset - symbolizing our search for a feeling during worship

Sometimes (maybe even too often) when we come to worship, we have come looking for an emotional experience… some aspect of having a specific feeling. Is that what worship is supposed to do – to give us an emotional high? Are you coming to worship in an attempt to have your heart-strings pulled?

Alistair Begg discusses his thoughts about those who say to him something along the lines of: “I’m just trying to get the feeling again.”

…I meet with people every week who think this is the answer to their spiritual impoverishment – if only they could get the feeling again.

…If you come to church on a Sunday for the feeling, I guarantee you that 9 Sundays out of 10, you’re going to go away disappointed. We have to acknowledge that we come to worship on the Lord’s Day in all kinds of conditions of heart & life.

…If you came hoping for your favorite instruments to get the feeling back again, then you might be disappointed; If you came hoping to sing your five favorite songs, you might be disappointed; If you came for anything other than truth to transform, then you may wait for a long time. And only the truth transforms and stays, because the feeling goes as the music dies.

When you attend worship with your church family, is it to experience some elusive emotion or feeling again, or is it to meet with God’s people as a family and hear the truth that has the power to transform your life? As we grow in our maturity, we should realize that our primary concern in worship should not be to have our emotions stirred, but for us to better know the truth of God’s Word. And what we will find is that if we better know God’s Word and embrace the truths there, then worship will automatically affect our emotions because we will be in awe at the grace of Jesus to rescue sinners like us. God’s truth is sufficient to impact us powerfully and to transform our lives.  

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Categories
Worship

Awe Problems Are All Around Us

“You don’t have to look very far to see awe problems everywhere around you.”

photo of person standing on mountain looking into a lush valley symbolizing the fact that our awe problem can cause us to find delight in the wrong things

My last two posts were connected to Paul David Tripp’s book, Awe. (You can read them by following these links: Post 1 and Post 2.) Today, I want to share what he says about Awe Problems – how looking for awe in the wrong places will lead us into sin:

In the heart of a sinner, awe of God is very quickly replaced by awe of self. This is the great war of wars. You don’t have to look very far to see awe problems everywhere around you.

Adultery is an awe problem. To the degree that you forget God’s glory as the Creator of your body and his place as owner of every aspect of your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual personhood, to that degree it is easier to use the members of your body to get whatever pleasure your heart craves.

Debt is an awe problem. When your mind is blown away by the thought that God provides everything you have, that every good gift really does come from him, you are predisposed to be a good steward of the things he has provided.

Obsession with the collection of possessions is the result of an awe amnesia that makes you ask of things what you will only ever get from the God of glory, who alone can satisfy your searching heart.

Living for power and control is an awe problem. When you live with the rest and peace that come from keeping the power, authority, and sovereignty of God before your eyes, you don’t need to work yourself into control over the people and situations in your life.

Gluttony and obesity are awe problems. When you forget the glory of the satisfying grace of the Redeemer, you are susceptible to letting things like food and drink become your temporary replacement messiahs.

Fear of man is an awe problem. When I forget that God’s glory defines not only him but who I have become as his child, I look to people to give me meaning, purpose, and identity.

The awe war is everywhere. So I know that in ministry I will be preaching, teaching, and encouraging people who are awe forgetful, awe discouraged, awe empty, awe deceived, awe seduced, awe kidnapped, and awe weary. My job is to give them eyes to see the awesome glory of God—his glorious grace, wisdom, power, faithfulness, sovereignty, patience, kindness, mercy, and love.

I hope that today, your eyes will be open to see how awesome God is, so that you can replace your own awe problems by looking at the glory, grace, and might of our wonderful Savior!

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Categories
Relationships

Things We Get Wrong, part 2… Children.

Wrong Thing #2. “Children are Annoying.”

rusty children playing sign to symbolize how we get things wrong with our childrenSure, some of you might be thinking: “That statement is neither wrong nor a myth…I see plenty of annoying kids throughout the week. Sometimes they are even my own.”

Okay. Point taken. As a youth and children’s minister for more than 12 years, I saw some children who were annoying, but that was usually because we adults had made some pretty dumb mistakes in modeling right behavior for them. Which might mean that we adults are pretty annoying and have shown our children how to do it well. Anyway…

What I actually mean to say about children being annoying is that we often get annoyed by children for the wrong things. Specifically, I am thinking about church. And this isn’t a new problem. Even the disciples thought that interacting with children was “beneath” Jesus, who obviously was so important that He didn’t have time to spend with bratty kids. Of course, Jesus straightened the disciples out on that issue quickly!

And so we come to church, and we find ourselves getting frustrated with small ones in our church services, ending up with an attitude very similar to the disciples.

Parents bring their child to church, and the child turns a bit fussy in the worship service. So we have these infants and toddlers in service… the ones who might cry during a prayer or talk a bit loud such that we can’t hear all that the preacher is saying or they are squirmy and distracting. And so we get a bit annoyed.

At the very same time, those same parents are worrying and fretting over the fact that their child is disrupting the service in some way. They are trying all the tricks in their “parenting bag” to get them to stop. At that point, some of these parents wonder why they even came to church that day. They are so very apologetic to others around them. Often they even come and apologize to me after service, thinking that I must have been distracted or frustrated with them.

But the truth is that if we stop and think about what it means – that these parents have thought that church is so important that they have gotten up early, struggled through waking up their children, getting them fed, getting them dressed, having to change them into another outfit because the first one just got messed up with milk and cereal, now packing them all in the car, and then bringing them to church where they can hear about God…

These parents are so serious about getting their children to a place where they can learn about Jesus. When we realize this, then we should celebrate the fact that we hear crying in our sanctuary, we should pride ourselves on the fact that our church has committed parents, we should be filled with joy that we get to see a new generation for Christ being raised in front of our eyes.

So, thank you parents for bringing your fussy children to church. They are not annoying. They are a great reminder to us that God is at work in your life and you want Him at work in their precious lives!

We can get things wrong and be just like the disciples if we don’t think deeply about what is taking place in our own sanctuary and church. And parents, also know that when your child is being a distraction, it is usually because the children’s minister is making faces at them and just having an overall great time antagonizing them from two rows back. I know I always enjoyed doing so! (just ask Gail Carr, Angela Gill, or Trent & Shannon Favre!)

In fact, I still get a few occasions to do so as a pastor! (just ask the Russell’s, Liggett’s, James’, McGee’s, Thomas’, Wagner’s, etc. ect.!)

Keep bringing your children to church. If you don’t, I’ll get annoyed.

Categories
Worship

Developing Your Personal Worship Plan

“Private personal worship is an effective tool of grace in the hands of God to kill those things in you that must die in order that you may be what you have been called to be.” –Paul Tripp

praying hands on top of a bible symbolizing personal worship

The last two years at FBC Newton where I pastor, we have provided people with a simple guide to use as they think through a personal worship plan. It is a list of some key spiritual areas that each person should consider strengthening and it provides some examples that can be used to determine new spiritual commitments for the year.

At the end of the post is a link that will let you download a pdf file that can be printed on a regular sheet of paper and then folded and placed in your Bible so you can refer to it throughout the year.

Here are the areas we ask people to consider praying through with examples of some possible commitments that could be selected or adapted:

Reading of God’s Word
I will commit to a daily Bible reading of ___ minutes per day.
I will commit to reading ___ chapter(s) per day.
I will commit to reading through the New Testament, Old Testament, or Entire Bible this year.

Prayer Life
I will commit to a daily prayer time of ____ minutes daily.
I will commit to pray daily with my spouse & children.
I will commit to pray with others outside of “church time.”

Personal Praise
I will commit to listen to only Christian music in my vehicle.
I will add personal praise into my daily devotion time.

Financial Giving
I will commit to tithe this year.
I will commit to increase my giving by ________ this year.
I will be a better steward of my remaining money.

Church Attendance
I will commit to attend a small group Bible study such as Sunday School regularly.
I will commit to participate in Sun. / Wed. Night services at my church.
I will commit to attend all services of the church.

Ministry Involvement
I will commit to find a ministry service so that I am using my spiritual gifts and abilities to serve my church and/or community for the Lord.

Scripture Memory
I will memorize _____ verses that are important to me.

Reading Christian Literature
I will commit to reading at least one Christian non-fiction book each quarter of the year.

Accountability Partnership(s)
I will commit to finding someone of the same gender to start an accountability group.
I will meet with my account. partner ____ times per month.

Mentoring & Discipleship
I will commit to finding someone to mentor me this year.
I will commit to finding someone to disciple this year.

Obedience – acting on God’s promptings
I will commit to say “yes” to all God asks of me.
I will commit to find and attempt at least one “action” to take each week from Sunday School/Worship.

Sharing My Faith
I will commit to writing out my testimony this year.
I will commit to sharing my testimony in Sunday School.
I will have the goal of turning every conversation I have toward Jesus.

Family Devotions (and praise)
I will commit to leading my family to have a devotional time together ____ time(s) per week.

Other Commitments God Wants Me To Make
Perhaps to cease a behavior/habit

Personal Worship Plan Booklet Link Just click on this pdf image link to open or download the file.

(if you are reading this on facebook or another source that doesn’t allow you to download the file, you will need to go to www.brianrushing.net to download it)