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OK, take a deep breath before you react to that title and please consider my explanation.Read this post and hear me out before you light me up. =)
Recently, it struck me that I could not find any place in the “red text” of Scripture in which Jesus asked someone to give Him their heart as an end in itself.The tires were humming as I was driving late one night through the rain - and the thought crossed my mind.Hm…. Could it be true?And if it were true, what kind of implications would that have on my faith?
As I thought about it more, I began to become concerned about this common terminology of “giving your heart” to Jesus.Basically because it seems to be creating confusion for people who only give their hearts, while hanging on to the rest of their lives as they have always been.I think a lot of people, including me, have at times misunderstood the whole point of coming to Jesus at all, and have gone through some serious issues with God and the Church as a result of this one point.
It’s not just about forgiveness, while that is an essential part of a relationship with God.It’s not just about the ways in which our lives have promise of improving as we walk with Him, or the blessings that He can add to our lives.In the words of Jesus, I find it’s more about covenant, about diving into the deep end in abandon and never looking back - whatever the cost. I think that’s what Jesus said following Him would require.
As these thoughts began to form in my mind, I thought about how Jesus called the disciples.He didn’t just ask them to say a prayer with Him, give them a Bible study outline to follow, and release them back to the lives they were living before that encounter with Him.He told them: “Follow Me.” And in many cases, that required leaving everything they had known before behind to follow.He forced them to make a decision, to lay everything on the line for Him. Is this still the message the Church of today has in the forefront?
If I had only given my heart to my wife when we got married, then we would have had immediate issues when my entire body, soul, mind and spirit didn’t come along with it!These last fifteen years or so would have been even more complicated… We made a covenant to bring all that we were to the relationship, not just our feelings.For better or for worse, in sickness and in health, until death separates us. It’s obvious the madness that would have created if I had only given my heart to her and not my life.
I sincerely believe that this point of confusion is derailing thousands of people from their Faith in God, because bringing your heart is only a small part of the picture.But it is often the first impression people respond to at an altar call, or salvation prayer.Love the Lord your God, with all your heart, might, mind, body, spirit…(Deuteronomy 6:5, and again in Mark 12:30). It sounds like God is really hoping we’ll bring our whole life to Him, and not just our hearts in a brief prayer.
I realize that in response to an altar call/response time, often people are given Bibles and info to help them get started in their life of Faith, and I am not being critical of any of those efforts.Not at all.I’m just wondering if we would have better fruit in the long run if it was clear that coming to Jesus is a matter of bringing Him all that we are - the good, the bad, the beautiful - and living for Him from then on. More than our hearts need redemption and change.God is pursuing generations, one person at a time.
I believe that Jesus fulfilled covenant on our behalf, so that we could walk in the benefits of it with Him.The exchange of all that we are for all that He is.This is the nature of covenant: all that belongs to each becomes the asset or liability of both.This is the point of salvation, and why covenant matters.It’s more than God being kind and gracious to forgive us.It’s about God taking our place through covenant, and doing for us what we could never have done for ourselves.Like the wedding ring on my finger, the nails in the hands of Jesus remind me that Jesus was and is “all in”, no matter what it would cost.
I wonder if the post-modern Church would have more “fruit that remains” if it communicated a message of covenant rather than convenience.If the point of it all wasn’t so much about us, as it was about God.If there were fewer books about what we gain from knowing Jesus, as there were on what it means to take up our cross and die every day, as Jesus said following Him would be.If worship wasn’t so much about the songs we like, getting the lighting just right, and the music being too loud or too soft on Sundays.I think that something has been lost in the translation as we attempt to reach a culture on terms of preference, rather than His presence.
So, I guess what I am trying to communicate is that I wonder if Jesus really just wants our hearts, as much as that is a common phrase.We bring Him our hearts, as part of bringing our entire being in surrender to the Kingdom of God.From that day forward, living our lives in worship to Him, and in a way that allows His nature to become more and more a part of us.In a culture where self-realization is paramount, marriage is no longer about covenant but convenience, and where all types of traditional values are being reduced to relativism, it’s easy for the compass to get knocked off true North. Even in the Church.
I know it sounds old-fashioned, even quasi-religious, but I am finding it more and more difficult to embrace a convenience Gospel defined by what I get out of the deal.Nothing about the life Jesus lived was convenient, without a cost, or defined by what was in it for Him.Jesus gave us His heart, but that was part of Him giving everything He was for us.His heart was just part of the commitment to love us back into eternity with Him, whether we liked it or not. Why would we think that He would want anything less from us in return?
This is what a Lifestyle Of Worship is all about. More than giving God our hearts, we give Him our lives.
“Take your everyday, ordinary life — your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life — and place it before God as an offering” (Romans 12:1 MSG)
The winner of a free this month is: Chrissy Nixon!
(Winners are notified directly via email and provided a private link where they can download the CD)
Congratulations to Chrissy, and thank you to everyone who entered the download contest by subscribing to the Lifestyle Of Worship Blog over this last month. Our apologies for an entire month with no posts to the blog, but we are preparing for a move and it’s been a semi-demanding month around here. We’ll be posting more info on the upcoming move, and some other incredible developments over these next few weeks…
Well, it’s officially June 1, 2008 and we’re happy to announce that we have two winners in our recent contest, offered to all new Lifestyle Of Worship Blog subscribers.
The winners for the contest ending June 1, 2008 are:
Robert Streets, who wins a Free download of the entire We Belong to Heaven CD in mp3 format!
Pat Rich, who wins a Free download of the music video single “Free”!
Congratulations to our winners!
Winners will receive confirmation and download instructions from the Lifestyle Of Worship Online Store via their subscribed email address.
Your chance to win has been extended to the end of June 2008 (details below)…
The response to this contest has been great, so we are going to extend this offer another month to all recent subscribers (except for Robert and Pat…), and to everyone else who subscribes between today and the last day of June 2008! So - if you didn’t win today, it doesn’t mean you’ve lost. How’s that for happy?
Have a great week, and remember that God’s never going to love you any less!
Well…we just finished migrating all of our subscribers from the Lifestyle Of Worship email list to our Lifestyle Of Worship Blog FeedBurner account. If you were already subscribed, you should receive an email asking for you to confirm your subscription. That email from confirmations@emailenfuego.netis not spam. It was sent from Lifestyle Of Worship to our opt-in list.
Just click on the link within that email to activate your account, and you should begin receiving posts we make to the Lifestyle Of Worship Blog. Please let us know if you don’t receive it, and we’ll get right on it.
In all of the hoopla around our “FeedBurning” (whatever that means…), we decided to give our subscribers a Thank You Gift just for being a part of the Lifestyle Of Worship community:
Everyone who confirms or subscribes between now and June 1, 2008 will be entered to win a Free mp3 Download of the entire We Belong To Heaven CD by John Mandeville.
Every new or confirmed subscriber between now and June 15, 2008 will receive a Free Download of the Video Single: Free by John Mandeville.
So there’s no way for anyone to lose, and that’s just the way we like it around here.
Winners will be announced on our FeedBurner email list June 1, 2008!
Better than just a clever play on words, you can get a download of John Mandeville’s Free music video for free, zip, nada, just by subscribing or confirming your existing email address between now and June 1, 2008.
So find that email and start clicking, people! The clock is ticking.
Or - if you’ve not subscribed already, just type your email address into that Feedburner email subscribe form to the right, and you will be automatically entered to win.
It was during communion a few years ago that God birthed the phrase “lifestyle of worship” into our family, just as He was forming it into our lives. My wife looked around the table with our children that night and said to me, “You know, our nights used to be filled with drinking and fighting - but now we’re living this whole lifestyle of worship. It’s really amazing what God has done!” Something divine happened that night when she spoke it. I realized then that God was redeeming our generation, as prophesied in Malachi. He was literally turning my heart toward my children, my home, and their hearts toward me. You can read a recent story about it here.
what is a Lifestyle Of Worship?
I think Paul expresses this concisely, here in the Message version:
“Here’s what I want you to do. Take your everyday, ordinary life — your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life — and place it before God as an offering.”
- Romans 12:1 MSG
Out of 463 references I could find in the Scriptures to “praise” and “worship”, only one of them actually contains a reference intrinsically to singing a song to God. Yet a large part of American churches equate singing with worship. Could there be more?
Strongs# G5214
ὑμνέω
humneō
hoom-neh’-o
From G5215; to hymn , that is, sing a religious ode; by implication to celebrate (God) in song: - sing an hymn (praise unto).
It is worth noting that worship and praise are not necessarily expressed through singing, according to Scripture. Before you shoot the messenger, please hear me out because my family and I love music.
Jesus didn’t use:
A microphone
A light show
A power point outline
A sound board
A band
A production team
How unorthodox in American Church culture, but the Bible supports a much more broad definition of worship than singing songs for 15-25 minutes on Sunday mornings. Regardless of style, tradition or preference. Maybe taking a second look at what worship has become is worth our time. Especially if the Father is actively seeking those who will worship Him in spirit and truth - continuously. In a Lifestyle of Worship.
The first definition I could find of worship in Scripture translates literally: bow self down. Self must die for God to live in us. It’s minute-by-minute, and as Paul said, we must die daily. He must become more, and we must become less. Or it’s not going to work.
This is the Lifestyle Of Worship Jesus called his followers to thousands of years ago, and it’s the same lifestyle He is calling us to today. More than singing songs in just the right key, and just the right way so that everyone is comfortable. Worship has really nothing to do with our preference, and everything to do with His Presence. We just get blessed in the process of connecting with God.
It is also worth noting that so much of what the modern Church in America requires in order to “worship” could have little to do with biblical worship and praise. As much as I love great music, production and am committed to offering God the best.
Worship is a lifestyle, a world-view, a covenant perspective. It is an expression of that perspective to God. And while I don’t always do it well, this is the ideal I aspire to in my life.
If you have your own blog, or are thinking about starting one, don’t bother asking anyone else for help but the Blog Tech Guy, Joel Williams. I had been hacking my way through the jungle of WordPress and the blogosphere for several weeks, yet Joel was able to resolve all of the issues I was facing in literally less than 24 hours (some of which I had brought upon myself… Thanks for sorting me out, Joel!).
If you are primarily a writer, and are daunted by the sheer “techiness” of getting a blog up and running, there is no one I could recommend more highly for making your blog function with all of the widgets, plug-ins, and goodies that you need to give your blog the functionality you imagine. Make sure you tell Joel you heard about him on the LifestyleOfWorship Blog.
Thanks again for everything, Joel! Without a doubt, you are the most responsive and technically capable “blog master” I have ever come across.
I was so grateful to attend The Call Orlando, with my wife, family, and a large group of people we love from our home church in Orlando (Church In The Son). To say that it was inspiring and a life-changing day would be a complete understatement. Familiarize yourself with The Call, if you’re not already related to them, and get involved in this prophetic movement of hope for our times.
During The Call Nashville, Pastor Alex Clattenburg and I had the pleasure of meeting with Ferrell Gallaway and several Orlando area pastors about The Call coming to Orlando. Lou Engle heads up The Call organization, and an outspoken supporter of Bound For Life. Thankfully, the Call did come to Orlando, and the day was truly remarkable.For those of you who missed it, hopefully the pictures will give you a glimpse.
For those of you who were there in Nashville or Orlando, you already know that I am attempting to describe the indescribable. My next post here will include some pics I shot at the event, and some pics I have gathered from my friends at Resound who were there (You can check out Resound at the link below). To be continued…
OK - so I’ve been a little bit busy lately and have not updated this blog with a few things I have wanted to. Modern life can become a real circus without much effort at all it seems. And sometimes I wonder if I might be some relation to P.T. Barnum…. But in my defense, just this morning I was soaring at 30,000 feet above the Earth en route to San Diego, and stumbled upon a very encouraging article in support of those of us who enjoy the thrill of racing the clock so much that we sometimes intentionally put things off - all for the thrill of victory. A little article titled: Procrastination. Everything worth doing, is worth doing later, by Sara Blask. You can find it in Spirit Magazine this month, if you happen to find yourself with nothing better to do while sitting on a Southwest Airlines jet, or while savoring your .81 ounce bag of Nabisco chocolate “air crisps” they give out as snacks. What the heck are they, anyway? They literally dissolve to…..nothing. Nothing at all in your mouth. What ever happened to cookies? Normal food? Clever way to package a 100-calorie “healthy-concious” snack, in my opinion.
But back to my point. Based upon this liberating article for me personally, I am in great company. Whether I agree with their artistic expression or not is beside the point. The likes of Agatha Christie (over 1 billion English books sold), Mark Twain (semi-successful), Douglas Adams (Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy), who it is claimed has said that he loved “the whooshing sound” of deadlines as they whizzed by. So maybe it’s the writer in my that just resists “getting with the program”, unless it’s the one I happen to be tuned into at the moment. Which may have changed a few times within that moment. To quote study author and assocaite professor Piers Steel of University of Calgary, “Natue’s default is procrastination. It’s the natural thing to do. We see it in almost all species.”
Anyway, I”m sure that most of you who are reading this live your lives like a clock, always on time, arriving at every appointment with a few extra minutes to enjoy a cup of Joe and smell the roses along the way - but I have to admit that more than once I have been sucked into an internet vortex which had nothing to do with my To-Do list for that day. It happens on some days. Like every day. But who’s counting? I’m more of the tribe that is often found slamming a second Starbucks or RockStar Energy Drink, in place of a meal, and crashing not-so-elegantly into nearly every meeting with a sincere apology for my propensity to just lose track of time. Some say it’s a character issue - others just say I’m a character. I can’t decide which is true.
So there you have it. Successful procrastinators. Cold, hard, scientific opinion. Deal with it however you want to. But it all sure put a smile on my face. How un-American to not chop your life into hyper-managed compartments, run yourself to the point of complete exhaustion, sleep half of what you need to be healthy, slam down enough caffeine to overdose an elephant, and just keep right on plowing. But…. I think it’s finally proven for me to be OK with simply obeying this “call of the wild”, and to value what is important to me, rather than automatically responding to the urgent. Finally. I can feel good in my do-that-not-so-pleasant-task-in-just-a-minute skin.
One for the procrastinators. How about a round of applause for Sara Blask? When you can get to it.
PS: I plan to get caught up on several worship-related posts about my take on living a LifestyleOfWorship just as soon as humanly possible.
Have a great week, and remember that God’s never going to love you any less!
