Journal for Christ: God Wrought Faith

February 9, 2019

Worship in WORD:

Ps 28:6-29:1

6 Praise be to the Lord,

for he has heard my cry for mercy.

7 The Lord is my strength and my shield;

my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.

My heart leaps for joy

and I will give thanks to him in song.

8 The Lord is the strength of his people,

a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.

9 Save your people and bless your inheritance;

be their shepherd and carry them forever.

A psalm of David.

NIV

Ps 28:6-9

6 Praise the Lord!

For he has heard my cry for mercy.

7 The Lord is my strength and shield.

I trust him with all my heart.

He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy.

I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.

8 The Lord gives his people strength.

He is a safe fortress for his anointed king.

9 Save your people!

Bless Israel, your special possession.

Lead them like a shepherd,

and carry them in your arms forever.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation ®,

Ps 28:6-9

6 Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications.

7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.

8 The LORD is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed.

9 Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever.

KJV

Ps 28:6-9

6 Blessed be the Lord!

For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.

7 The Lord is my strength and my shield;

in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;

my heart exults,

and with my song I give thanks to him.

8 The Lord is the strength of his people;

he is the saving refuge of his anointed.

9 Oh, save your people and bless your heritage!

Be their shepherd and carry them forever.

ESV

I. Minor Key: vv. 1-5

A. Pleas (vv. 1- 3)

1. Hear Me! - v. 1

2. Have Mercy! – v. 2a

3. Help! – v. 2b

B. Imprecation (vv. 4-5)

II. Major Key: vv. 6-9

A. Praise (vv. 6-8)

B. Supplication (v. 9)

As noted in the previous study, we are stunned by the word “Blessed” at the beginning of verse 6. It is not a word we expected. If we anticipated anything (as if turning a virtual page in our mind when going from verse 5 to 6), it would be that David would continue to expand on his pleas and imprecations.

Instead, those thoughts are captured and drug away, and David is captivated by the thought of the One who has heard and will/has already answered his prayer. If it is the former, think of the faith it takes to anticipate and hope for the answers to his prayers. To praise God for answered prayer is right and proper, but to praise and thank Him in expectation of an answer takes a strong faith. I hesitate to say great faith. Only two people ever had this said of their faith. One was a centurion soldier (Mk 8:10, Lk 7:9) and a Canaanite woman (Mt. 15:8).

Perhaps the Lord said this to emphasize the lack of faith He found among many who professed to be followers of Yahweh. But our Lord did say faith as small as a mustard seed could move a mountain (Mt. 17:20; Lk. 17:6). Perhaps the adjective “strong” is also the wrong modifier to use. Perhaps the fuller descriptor “God wrought faith” is better. For strength is not intrinsic to faith, but to God who gives us faith and is “mighty to save.”

Isa 63:1

Who is this who comes from

Edom,

With garments of glowing colors from

Bozrah,

This One who is majestic in His

apparel,

Marching in the greatness of His

strength?

"It is I who speak in righteousness,

mighty to save."

NASB

Zeph 3:17

The Lord your God is with you,

he is mighty to save.

He will take great delight in you,

he will quiet you with his love,

he will rejoice over you

with singing."

NIV

So, let us not stand in awe of someone who exhibits great faith. Instead, let us worship the One

who grants and grows our faith (Eph. 2:8-10; Phil. 1:6, 29, 2:13).

And may the ones who had/have exemplary faith, inspire those whose faith is weak, to look to

the source and perfect example of faith and perseverance as the author to Hebrews exhorts us

to do.

¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses*, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³Con-sider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Heb 12:1-3 TNIV

* see Hebrews 11 for the “great cloud of witnesses” mentioned here.

I see no reason to not include all the great examples of faith down the corridor of time to the

present. However, we focus not on them and exalt them as “Saints.” Rather let us emulate them

in focusing on Christ, the supreme example of faith and endurance and who bore the cross and

wears the crown. And we are promised a crown if we too run the race with endurance, shedding

all encumbrances and sins and “fixing our eyes on Jesus” who waits at the finish line with reward

in hand (see 2 Tim. 4:8; James 1:12; 1 Peter 5:4; Rev. 2:10).

What a runner in the race was he! And what a race he ran! While we see him at the end of the course, holding out the crown, let us remember that he knows all the trials of the way, knows what pressure must be put upon ourselves ere we can reach the mark.

This psalm portrays these realities in a believer’s life and how we should respond. Doubt seeks

to defeat us. We seek the help of our God who seems silent. We pray unceasingly and faith

begins to dawn in our soul as we remember the goodness of the Lord and His past mercies. And

we look to the One who embraced His sufferings and placed His life into the hands of His Father

and follow His example and run the race unencumbered by “everything that hinders and the sin

that so easily entangles.” (Heb. 12:1b)

Worship in Witness:

If worship is just one thing we do, everything becomes mundane. If worship is the one thing we do, everything takes on eternal significance.
Timothy J. Christenson
(from 1001 Quotes, Illustrations, and Humorous Stories for Preachers, Teachers, and Writers, 2008 by Christianity Today Intl. All rights reserved.)

If you pay attention to details, you will have noticed that the threefold headings by which I organize my blog have changed slightly. Though it is only an addition of two words, the change is anything but slight. The truth they convey reveals more clearly my views on what worship is. I have held this conviction for a long time but never thought much about how my blog’s outline clashed with that belief.

Worship is a way of life. It is what we are called to as followers of Christ. It is what we will do in eternity. The Westminster Catechism implies this when it states:

Question 1: What is the chief and highest end of man? Answer: Man's chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever.(from Creeds of the Church, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2003, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

It is implicit in the words of our Lord when He addressed the hypocritical teaching and practice of the Pharisees.

⁵ So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with 'unclean' hands?"
⁶ He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
"'These people honor me with their lips,but their hearts are far from me.
⁷ They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men.'
⁸ You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."
Mark 7:5-8 NIV

I addressed this very aspect of worship back in my Journal entry on May 24^th, 2017. I was finishing up my comments on Psalm 26:8 at that time. I concluded with these thoughts which were also based on the same incident, but I had quoted the parallel passage found in Matthew 15:3-9 on that day.

Notice the context in which the Lord said this was not that of which we view as worship. The Pharisees and Scribes had come to Him and asked why His disciples transgressed the tradition of the elders by not washing their hands before eating. In response, He asked them why they broke the commandment of God by placing tradition above the Torah. After He cited their practice which exposed their hypocrisy, He then quoted from Isaiah 29:13 and used it to describe the real state of their heart when it came to honoring God’s word and their parents. In that quote we find these words, “They worship me in vain.” Therefore, worship is a way of life and not just in church or our quiet times. It is the attitude in which we approach all of life. Worship informs and transforms us. It is a means of grace. It is one of the ways we “are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

It’s ironic that I did not see the implications then, and change my outline at that time (nor the grammatical errors which now are corrected). ☹😊

I could end this portion with this explanation, but what’s the fun in that? I had stayed up to the wee hours of this morning gathering quotes about worship. I also developed an outline based on the words of our Lord found in John 4:23-24.

²³Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴ God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." NIV

Here is the outline:

Worship in “spirit and truth.”

1. Spirit

a. Internal

b. Led by the Holy Spirit

2. Truth

a. Orthodoxy (right belief) - internal

1) Based on His Word

2) Theocentric not Anthropocentric

b. Orthopraxy (right practice) - external

1) Corporately

2) Personally (I rejected “privately” because it limits this kind of worship to what is done in secret and excludes what is done in society)

The point of the outline is that all our worship – both formally, informally, and corporately in our daily walk during the week – is both internal and external.

· It is our spirit led by the Holy Spirit.

· It is truth informed by the Spirit-inspired knowledge we have.

· It is Spirit-empowered knowledge we apply to every aspect of our own life.

Furthermore:

· It is the product of a yielded life which is not based on the blueprint of the world but is grounded in the transformative power of a mind renewed by God.

¹ Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. ² Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Rom 12:1-2 NIV

Witmer states:

‎The word "bodies," mindful of the Old Testament sacrifices, represents the totality of one's life and activities, of which his body is the vehicle of expression. In contrast with Old Testament sacrifices this is a "living" sacrifice. Such an offering is holy (set apart) and pleasing (cf. "pleasing" in 12:2) to God. Furthermore, it is spiritual (‎logiken‎; cf. 1 Peter 2:2) worship (‎latreian‎). ‎Latreian ‎refers to any ministry performed for God, such as that of the priests and the Levites. Christians are believer-priests, identified with the great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Heb 7:23-28; 1 Peter 2:5,9; Rev 1:6). A believer's offering of his total life as a sacrifice to God is therefore sacred service. In the light of Paul's closely reasoned and finely argued exposition of the mercies of God (Rom. 1-11), such an offering is obviously a desirable response for believers.

Paul then stated general implications of a believer's offering his life to God as a sacrifice. Such an offering represents a complete change in lifestyle, involving both a negative and a positive aspect. First, Paul commanded, Do not conform (lit., "Do not be conformed"; this Gr. word occurs elsewhere in the NT only in 1 Peter 1:14) any longer to the pattern of this world (‎aioni‎, "Age"). Living according to the lifestyle of "the present evil Age" (Gal 1:4; cf. Eph 1:21) must now be put aside. Then Paul commanded, But be transformed (pres. passive imper., "keep on being transformed") by the renewing of your mind. The Greek verb translated "transformed" (‎metamorphousthe‎) is seen in the English word "metamorphosis," a total change from inside out (cf. 2 Cor 3:18). The key to this change is the "mind" (‎noos‎), the control center of one's attitudes, thoughts, feelings, and actions (cf. Eph 4:22-23). As one's mind keeps on being made new by the spiritual input of God's Word, prayer, and Christian fellowship, his lifestyle keeps on being transformed.

(from Bible Knowledge Commentary/Old Testament Copyright © 1983, 2000 Cook Communications Ministries; Bible Knowledge Commentary/New Testament Copyright © 1983, 2000 Cook Communications Ministries. All rights reserved.)

· It is performed daily through Christ our Saviour and High Priest. Our worship is only acceptable through Him.

¹⁵ Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise — the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

Heb 13:15-16 NIV

Calvin states:

But as it was the Apostle's design to teach us what is the legitimate way of worshipping God under the New Testament, so by the way he reminds us that God cannot be really invoked by us and his name glorified, except through Christ the mediator; for it is he alone who sanctifies our lips, which otherwise are unclean, to sing the praises of God; and it is he who opens a way for our prayers, who in short performs the office of a priest, presenting himself before God in our name.

Owen builds an argument to this truth through 7 points:

Verse. 15. —

1. Every act of grace in God or love in Christ towards us is in its own nature obligatory to thankful obedience.

2. The religious worship of any creature, under what pretense soever, hath no place in our Christian profession.

3. Every act and duty of faith hath in it the nature of a sacrifice to God, wherewith he is well pleased.

4. The great, yea, the only encouragement which we have to bring our sacrifices to God with expectation of acceptance lieth herein, that we are to offer them by him who can and will make them acceptable in his sight.

5. Whatever we tender to God, and not by Christ, it hath no other acceptance with him than the sacrifice of Cain.

6. To abide and abound in solemn praise to God for Jesus Christ, and for his mediation and sacrifice, is the constant duty of the church, and the best character of sincere believers.

7. A constant solemn acknowledgment of the glory of God, and of the holy excellencies of his nature (that is, his name) in the work of the redemption of the church by the suffering and offering of Christ, is the principal duty of it, and the animating soul and principle of all other duties whatever.

· Therefore, it pervades all aspects of our life.

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.1 Cor 10:31 NIV

· Finally, it leads to purity of life.

9 And I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, ¹⁰ so that you can determine what really matters and can be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, ¹¹ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Phil 1:9-11 (from Holman Christian Standard Bible® Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005 by Holman Bible Publishers.)

All this from explaining the change in format. Now I have to go back and read over what I wrote. In composing this little treatise on worship, I have compiled the parts and need to see how the puzzle looks now that I have put it all together. I tend to write with a general idea of what I want to say, but the particulars seem to come to me as I am writing, and I note patterns that emerge, and I expand upon them (for example the alliteration of my last two bullet points grew out of seeing the pattern in the two that preceded them. All the bullet points grew just out of noting the word “it”, etc.). Thus the lengthiness of much of my writing. Now you know 😊

Quotes I read while researching:

There are entire congregations who worship praise and praise worship but who have not yet learned to praise and worship God in Jesus Christ. The song, the dance, the banners have been accepted as worship instead of being seen as a means of expressing worship.

Judson Cornwall

(from 1001 Quotes, Illustrations, and Humorous Stories for Preachers, Teachers, and Writers, 2008 by Christianity Today Intl. All rights reserved.)

Idolatry is worshiping anything that ought to be used, or using anything

that is meant to be worshiped.

Augustine(from 1001 Quotes, Illustrations, and Humorous Stories for Preachers, Teachers, and Writers, 2008 by Christianity Today Intl. All rights reserved.)

1005. The Meaning of Worship

It is obedience to a divine command.It is a means of nourishing the spirit.It assists in achieving spiritual growth.It encourages others in their spiritual development.It shows the world where my priorities are.It is one means of expressing my love for God.It is an avenue God has provided by which I can praise His name.It is the offering of spiritual sacrifices.It is a way of showing my thanksgiving to God for all He has done for me.It is a period of communion with God with the world shut out entirely.It is an experience that should make the heart of every Christian glad!

It was said of Sir William Cecil, some time Lord Treasurer of England, that, when he went to bed, he would throw off his gown, and say, "Lie there, lord-treasurer," as bidding adieu to all state affairs, that he might the more quietly repose himself: so when we go to any religious duty, whether hearing or praying, coming to the Lord's table, or in any other religious addresses whatsoever, we should say, "Lie by, world; lie by, all secular cares, all household affairs, all pleasures, all traffic, all thoughts of gain; lie by all; adieu all!"(from New Cyclopedia of Prose Illustrations. Biblesoft Formatted Electronic Database Copyright © 2015 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d9/a1/9d/d9a19d1a6b8121e107cbbaf4024a55b8.jpg

Worship in Song: I Stretched Our My Hands (Ode 37) by Fernando Ortega

I stretched out my hands to my Lord:

and to my God I raised my voice:

And I prayed with the voice of my heart;

and He heard my cry He heard my cry He heard my cry

Lord have mercy on me for I am a sinner

I stretched out my hands to my Lord:

and to my God I raised my voice:

And I prayed with the voice of my heart;

and He heard my cry He heard my cry He heard my cry

Allelu, Alleluia,

Allelu, Alleluia

Alleluia

His Word came to me with His answer;

with His answer His Word came to me

He gave rest for the weary by the grace of the Lord.

He gave rest for the weary by the grace of the Lord

Hallelujah

Lyrics: https://anglicanprayer.wordpress.com/2014/03/18/a-five-minute-lent-retreat-fernando-ortega-i-stretched-out-my-hands/

Video: https://youtu.be/BRhujopTr9k?list=RDDEpcJv8HYr4

This song was based on an early Christian hymn found in a collection called the Odes of Solomon. For more information about them see the second link below the quotation of this short hymn.

Ode 37

1. I stretched out my hands towards the Lord, and towards the Most High I raised my voice.2. And I spoke with the lips of my heart, and He heard me when my voice reached Him.3. His Word came towards me, in order to give me the fruits of my labors;4. And gave me rest by the grace of the Lord.Hallelujahhttps://anglicanprayer.wordpress.com/2014/03/18/a-five-minute-lent-retreat-fernando-ortega-i-stretched-out-my-hands/

https://www.gotquestions.org/Odes-of-Solomon.html

Journal for Christ

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

God Wrought Faith

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