Real Worship

Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.
Matthew 5:23-24

Here we have a brief passage from Scripture which I never hear mentioned by preachers or theologians.

Perhaps the passage is too difficult to derive doctrine from ... or perhaps everyone who reads it comes to fear it in such a way that it is seldom remembered.

The command is deceptively simple. If you are giving something to God in His house and realize you have wronged someone, then you should leave the service and make things right and then come back.

Sounds like a casual, easy-to-follow command, right?

Perhaps the command would be easy to follow if we didn't cling to our reputation as a god over us.

In some ways, the command could be heard as, "That part of you that wants others to think highly of you even though you've wronged them ... that's got to go if you want to worship me."

I can't say I have perfectly followed this command, but I can remember obeying the command at least once ...

I had said something about someone at a party that made someone sound a little "scandalous" if you know what I mean. This person was a young man, let's call him Greg, serving in active ministry.

The day after the party I remember waking up and thinking, "I'm going to worship God today ... with the same mouth that I said that terrible thing about Greg ..." And the verse was emblazed like fire on my heart.

So I tried sitting down to play some video games before the service ... but really I was thinking about the verse.

I kept thinking about how if I tried to be reconciled to Greg he would misunderstand, or I would make it sound a lot worse than it was, or he would think I was an very untrustworthy fellow, et cetera.

And then the theological justifications came in ...

'If I put reconciliation before worship, it means my earthly relationship is more important to me than God.;

'If I leave the service to work it out with Greg, it just means I haven't trust God's finished work on the cross to make things right for me.'

The more theological gymnastics I went through the closer the verse stayed with me. It was like ... it didn't matter if everyone in the world was breaking this command of Christ ... it was still right there in my face and it said:

"Hey! You've got to decide whether or not you're going to obey me!"

Phew!

I am glad to say that this is one of the few times where I followed the leadership of God's Spirit and apologized to the guy.

Yes, it was VERY awkward, but it was real.

Of all the things to happen, Greg respected me for the apology and told me never to worry about the incident again!

I can't describe how beautiful it was to hear that. It was like heaven opening up and everything becoming good again.

It wasn't an achievement I could take credit for, it was mostly like the walls I had erected to protect myself from obeying God came tumbling down.

Part of the reason I bring this up has to do with a disagreement I'm having with a teacher at my old Bible school. The professor claimed that we shouldn't examine our own lives to see if we have faith because that would involve self-examination, which is narcissistic and a failure to focus on the complete work Christ has done.

As I learned in my apology encounter, God's goodness doesn't mean we can ignore what He has called us to.

The theologian (inside me) wants to respond to Jesus and say, "Why should I leave my sacrifice to make things right? Isn't God so perfect that it doesn't matter how I live?" Or as Dr. Jenson could have put it, "Isn't God more important than my issues?"

The answer is that God would rather have the earnest praise of a true follower over the false praise of a hundred million followers.

Just because I put authenticity before worshipping God does not mean I have more value to myself than God. In fact God demands that we 'get serious' about our choices before coming to Him.

And this is precisely the difficulty of the commandment.

God offers the forgiving work of His Son to all, but that doesn't mean that a half-serious seeker will find it.

Paul writes that a man ought to examine himself to determine if he is in the faith. This is the true (and daunting) task that Christ wishes for His disciples.

Sermon on Ezekial 18

There are many voices in the world today.

One does not need to listen hard to hear them, or to sense their number.

Many are those who tell us we are all in this life together and how 'this person' is not at fault and 'that person' is not at fault, but really it is society that is at fault.

Or the government ... or 'big' business ...

And if there is sorrow, these voices say it was their fathers who set their teeth on edge, that our parents are the ones to blame. Or our children are to blame. Or the public is to blame.

And they make the understanding of justice so complex ...

They preach that the path to goodness is a matter of having the right circumstances ... of having the right education, the right resources, the right ideology.

But the God of Israel has determined that our solution is a new heart, and a new spirit.

The voices speak today as they spoke in the time of Ezekiel. They are a chattering of gossipers, a slandering against God, and yet they talk of proverbial wisdom. In their craftiness they accuse God of being unjust.

There's nothing for the criminals to do. They have to turn to crime.
The rich just keep getting richer -and they don't deserve their riches.
People that do good things are punished for them.

Are God's ways unjust? Or are our ways unjust?

Certainly there are occasions when misfortune strikes the just, and God allows His rain to fall on the evil as well as the obedient.

Yet, God assures his people that the soul who sins will die.

A man who appears to do evil seems to succeed, but death is already coming for him.

God is not blind to the cries of the oppressed. We may not see the work he does to protect and to change, and we may not hear clamboring voice drawing the least attention to it, but the one who sins will die.

The word of God is a different voice. One only needs to catch a glimpse of it to see that it is not like the voice of worldly wisdom.

The world never singles out a person and says, "If you hear me and follow my ways you will certainly live." The world only understands probabilities, trivia, and generalities.

'If you steal the sour grapes, someone else will (probably) be punished...'

How great is the depth of the scorn and deceit of the world!

It first sets itself up as a judge to scoff at the criminality of others, when it is clearly one's own life that is at stake. Mixed with the pride in judging these invisible criminals, it begins to envy them and say, 'How much better I am than the evil-doers, and how much I would wish to be like the evil-doers eating the sour grapes!'

The second practice of the world is to join in the acts it condemns. To what can we call the agony of duplicitly holding such opposite intents, but death? We have the assurance of God Himself that death waits for those who sin and do not turn from their evil ways.

How unlike the voices and proverbs of the world, to say everything is left up to the individual! To say that life and death are at hand! To identify the singularity of the moment and say, 'This is when you must decide!'.

To count a man's sins against him no longer!

Very often a worldly man will welcome someone with a tarnished background. He will smile and excuse his acts with societal proverbs about grapes -the very proverbs he excuses his own behavior- and even before the lowly one reluctantly agrees the worldly man is already saying to himself:

What a despicable man, wholly inferior and a reminder of my greatness.

The worldly man is quick to recall the injustices of others, but unable to survey the criminality of his own ways.

The ways of the Lord are set apart. When a wicked man turns from his ways and sets in his heart to obey all the decrees of God's Word, the Lord himself says,

None of the offenses he has committed will be remembered against him.

When a famous person errs, he often gathers the crowds and apologizes. The spectacle draws many, but no one forgets and the condition of the man is the same.

But when a sinner errs and turns to God, it is as though the jabbering of the crowd quiets down and vanishes away. His offences will not be remembered against him, and, behold! He is a different man because he is alive!

In the same way God calls everyone -the ones who have deaf ears as well as the ones with ears that hear- to repent and be saved from the downfall of sin and death.

Teach us, O Lord, to view our sins, and to turn from them that we may find our wrongs forgotten and our hearts full of life.

Ezekiel 18

The word of the Lord came to me: "What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel:

"The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge'?

"As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son - both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who will die.

"Suppose there is a righteous man who does what is just and right.
He does not eat at the mountain shrines or look to the idols of the house of Israel.
He does not defile his neighbor's wife or lie with a woman during her period.
He does not oppress anyone, but returns what he took in pledge for a loan.
He does not commit robbery but gives his food to the hungry and provides clothing for the naked.
He does not lend at usury or take excessive interest.
He withholds his hand from doing wrong and judges fairly between man and man.
He follows my decrees and faithfully keeps my laws.
That man is righteous; he will surely live,
declares the Sovereign Lord.

Suppose he has a violent son, who sheds blood or does any of these other things (though the father has done none of them):

He eats at teh mountain shrines.
He defiles his neighbor's wife.
He oppresses the poor and needy.
He commits robbery.
He does not return what he took in pledge.
He looks to the idols.
He does detestable things.
He lends at usury and takes excessive interest.

Will such a man live? He will not! Because he has done all these detestable things, he will surely be put to death and his blood will be on his own head.

But suppose this son has a son who sees all the sins his father commits, and though he sees them, he does not do such things:

He does not eat at the mountain shrines or look to the idols of the house of Israel.
He does not defile his neighbor's wife.
He does not oppress anyone or require a pledge for a loan.
He does not commit robbery but gives his food to the hungry and provides clothing for the naked.
He withholds his hand from sin and takes no usury or excessive interest.
He keeps my laws and follows my decrees.

He will not die for his father's sin; he will surely live. But his father will die for his own sin, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother and did what was wrong among his people.

"Yet you ask, 'Why does the son not share the guilt of his father?' Since teh son has done what is just and right and has been careful to keep all my decrees, he will surely live. The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him.

"But if a wicked man turns away from all the sins he has committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die. None of the offenses he has committed will be remembered against him. Because of the righteous things he has done, he will live. Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?

"But if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked man does, will he live? None of the righteous things he has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness he is guilty of and because of the sins he has committed, he will die.

"Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' Hear, O house of Israel: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust? If a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin, he will die for it; because of the sin he has committed he will die. But if a wicked man turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will save hsi life. Because he considers all the offenses he has committed and turns away from them, he will surely live; he will not die. Yet the house of Israel says, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' Are my ways unjust, O house of Israel? Is it not your ways that are unjust?

"Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each according to his ways, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!

Ezekiel 18

There are many voices in the world today.

One does not need to listen hard to hear them, or to sense their number.

People in these times preach from the roof tops about how we are all in this life together and how 'this person' is not at fault and 'that person' is not at fault, but really it is society that is at fault.

And if there is sorrow, these voices say it was their fathers who set their teeth on edge, that our parents are the ones to blame. Or our children are to blame. Or the public is to blame.

And they make the understanding of justice so complex ...

They preach that the path to goodness is a matter of having the right circumstances ... of having the right education, the right resources, the right ideology.

But the God of Israel has determined that our solution is a new heart, and a new spirit.

The voices spoke today as they spoke in the time of Ezekiel. They are a chattering of gossipers, a slandering against God, and yet they talk of proverbial wisdom. In their craftiness they accuse God of being unjust.

"There's nothing for the criminals to do. They have to turn to crime."
"The rich just keep getting richer -and they don't deserve their riches."
"People that do good things are punished for them."

Are God's ways unjust? Or are our ways unjust?

Certainly there are occasions when misfortune strikes the just, and God allows His rain to fall on the evil as well as the obedient.

Yet, God assures his people that the soul who sins will die.

A man who appears to do evil seems to succeed, but death is already coming for him.

God is not blind to the cries of the oppressed. We may not see the work he does to protect and to change, and we may not hear clamboring voice drawing the least attention to it, but the one who sins will die.

The word of God is a different voice. One only needs to catch a glimpse of it to see that it is not like the voice of worldly wisdom.

The world never singles out a person and says, "If you hear me and follow my ways you will certainly live." The world only understands probabilities, trivia, and generalities.

'If you steal the sour grapes, someone else will (probably) be punished...'

How great is the depth of the scorn and deceit of the world!

It first sets itself up as a judge to scoff at the criminality of others, when it is clearly one's own life that is at stake. Mixed with the pride in judging these invisible criminals, it begins to envy them and say, 'How much better I am than the evil-doers, and how much I would wish to be like the evil-doers eating the sour grapes!'

The second practice of the world is to join in the acts it once condemned. To what can we call the agony of duplicitly holding such opposite intents, but death? And we have the assurance of God Himself that death waits for those who sin and do not turn from their evil ways.

How unlike the voices and proverbs of the world, to say everything is left up to the individual! To say that life and death are at hand! To identify the singularity of the moment and say, 'This is when you must decide!'.

To count a man's sins against him no longer!

Very often a worldly man will welcome someone with a tarnished background. He will smile and excuse his acts with societal proverbs about grapes -the very proverbs he excuses his own behavior with- and even before the lowly one reluctantly agrees the worldly man is already saying to himself:

What a despicable man, wholly inferior and a reminder of my greatness.

The worldly man is quick to recall the injustices of others, but unable to survey the criminality of his own ways.

The ways of the Lord are set apart. When a wicked man turns from his ways and sets in his heart to obey all the decrees of God's Word, the Lord himself says,

None of the offenses he has committed will be remembered against him.

When a famous person errs, he often gathers the crowds and apologizes. The spectacle draws many, but no one forgets and the condition of the man is the same.

But when a sinner errs and turns to God, it is as though the jabbering of the crowd quiets down and vanishes away. His offences will not be remembered against him, and, behold! He is a different man because he is alive!

In the same way God calls everyone -the ones who have deaf ears as well as the ones with ears that hear- to repent and be saved from the downfall of sin and death.

Teach us, O Lord, to view our sins, and to turn from them that we may find our wrongs forgotten and our hearts full of life.

Beyond Understanding

I recently read an article on hydrocephalus that was hard to believe.

Hydrocephalus is a disease where the cranial fluid does not drain correctly from the vessels in the head. It gradually builds up over time, and for years it killed many children.

One of the cases was hard to believe.

Apparently, there was a fourteen year old boy who was treated for hydrocephalus. He returned to the doctor's office as an adult claiming he felt a mild weakness in one of his legs.

The hospital staff performed an MRI on his head and produced what I consider to be one of the most shocking pictures I have ever seen!



When I first looked at this man's head I thought the dark stuff was the brain. It turns out that the dark part is actually water.

His brain is the lighter edge around the dark middle part. As you can see, there isn't a lot of it.

The images were most unusual... the brain was virtually absent.
Dr. Lionel Feuillet

He was able to lead a seemingly normal life with almost no brain left. They gave him an IQ test and he scored a 75, which is considered low, but not retarded.

What perhaps baffled me the most was the fact that he was married and had two children. He also worked as a civil servant for the government.

One of his doctor's remarked on the case:

"What I find amazing to this day is how the brain can deal with something which you think should not be compatible with life,"

In some ways I think the doctor's words reflect how I have often viewed the brain: as a profound, almost celestial organ that gives us life and saves us from every problem and disaster we face.

People almost talk about the brain ("the mind") like it is something spiritual, like it alone gives meaning to their life ... as if they are saying, 'If I find love and loved greatly, but have a weak mind, my life is then nothing ...'.

...Lean not on your own understanding.
Proverbs 3:5b

People often consider themselves highly because of the immensity of their knowledge. They see it is a noble duty to learn as much as they can and lord it over others ... I know this was my attitude through many of my highschool and college days.

In some ways the story is a good reminder of how much brain activity it takes to live ethically before God and our authorities on earth.

I find it tragic the way people commit awful crimes and their lawyers say, "If only they were more educated, if only they knew better." I wish I could go into those court rooms and hold up the MRI scans from that French man and shout loudly for the whole room:

"This man knew better!"

In some ways the story reminds me of Paul's command to become like infants in regard to evil.

Certainly the man's life says a lot about living with the fullness of obedience, and the richness of living an ethical life. I also find another aspect to the story.

Christ praised his Father beause He had ordained praise from the mouths of infants. I think there is a tendancy to look at infants and say, "Those little tikes are so cute, but so ignorant."

As humans we tend to value ourselves on the basis of our own shrewdness, but God listens to the praises of infants. He hears the requests of those who become like little children.

In the end of all things, I don't think it really matters whether one brain is larger than another brain. Maybe the French man comically thought he was a genius. I can't say.

What I can say is that it is very important to simply rely upon God and not on the puffed-up notions we have of our own intelligence.

If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
1 Corinthians 13:2

May the Lord direct and continue to direct us to His perfect will, which human thoughts cannot understand.

God's Miraculous Work

"I will; be thou clean." Mark 1:41

Primeval darkness heard the Almighty fiat, "light be," and straightway light was, and the word of the Lord Jesus is equal in majesty to that ancient word of power. Redemption like Creation has its word of might. Jesus speaks and it is done. Leprosy yielded to no human remedies, but it fled at once at the Lord's "I will." The disease exhibited no hopeful signs or tokens of recovery, nature contributed nothing to its own healing, but the unaided word effected the entire work on the spot and forever.

The sinner is in a plight more miserable than the leper; let him imitate his example and go to Jesus, "beseeching Him and kneeling down to Him." Let him exercise what little faith he has, even though it should go no further than "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean;" and there need be no doubt as to the result of the application. Jesus heals all who come, and casts out none. In reading the narrative in which our morning's text occurs, it is worthy of devout notice that Jesus touched the leper.

This unclean person had broken through the regulations of the ceremonial law and pressed into the house, but Jesus so far from chiding him broke through the law himself in order to meet him.

He made an interchange with the leper, for while he cleansed him, he contracted by that touch a Levitical defilement. Even so Jesus Christ was made sin for us, although in Himself He knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

O that poor sinners would go to Jesus, believing in the power of His blessed substitutionary work, and they would soon learn the power of his gracious touch. That hand which multiplied the loaves, which saved sinking Peter, which upholds afflicted saints, which crowns believers, that same hand will touch every seeking sinner, and in a moment make him clean.

The love of Jesus is the source of salvation.

He loves, He looks, He touches us, WE LIVE.

Morning and Evening Devotions
Charles Spurgeon. September 4th.
The Old Time Gospel Hour. Lynchburg, Virginia.

Spurgeon has a gift for emphasizing the inner things that often go unnoticed. In this case, the inner plight of the sinner and his meager faith that God can cleanse him of his sins.

Spurgeon certainly holds to his Calvinist creeds, but his devotionals are rarely to the effect of pushing dogma. Instead it gives his writings a sense that, 'Judgment is approaching! Where are you with Jesus?'

Although he can be very indirect about it, he keeps his laser focus on coming to Jesus with our wrong-doings.

Another aspect of Spurgeon's writings that I like is the way he contends vigorously that we only need to believe on Christ and we will be forgiven. If he were a dogmatist, he would only say it once and leave it at that, but he places emphasis on it, though, because he knows that there is the part of the human soul which is not easily convinced that he or she can be forgiven.

Spurgeon responds to the ethical consideration that the justice of God is perfect and inescapable. Although he agrees, he also maintains that we may escape God's wrath because of Christ's finished work -even though we are sinners. Spurgeon gives our ethical reservations their due, but goes in a completely different direction.

Of interest in this passage is Spurgeon's epistemology -his view of what we humans can observe and know. The leprosy shows no empirical signs of hope. By making this emphasis, Spurgeon directs us to the domain of faith, which the five senses have no power over.

The posts here usually ask the question, "How does a life of mere devotion differ from a life of worldliness?", but sometimes the best way to examine the question is to actually sit in the counsel of writers like Spurgeon as they were lead. I recommend getting a copy of his devotions and reflecting on them.

May God touch us, and may we each receive His divine touch, as we see the Day approaching.