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Plainly Speaking
with Karl J. Forehand
Purpose
– Part 1
(Reasonable Worship)
by Karl J. Forehand
*This series developed in part based on Rick Warren’s
Purpose Driven Life
George Santayana said,
“Fanaticism is redoubling your efforts when you have forgotten your
aim.” I have been on a personal
quest to help myself and my congregation rediscover our purpose. It seems that most people struggle with
identifying that very thing. A sign
was once seen on a business that said, “Going out of business – forgot what
we were in business for.” That sign
should hang over many churches.
Purpose answers the question,
“Why?” When we know why we are doing
what we are doing, we can endure most of the circumstances of that endeavor. Paul Shepherd gives some simple rules that
have great impact.
1.
Everything God creates has a purpose
2.
When purpose is ignored, there is abuse (or neglect)
3.
If you want to know the purpose of a thing – don’t ask the thing
4.
Purpose is only found in the mind of the creator
Should
we have purpose?
Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men,
but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand
what the will of the Lord is. (Eph.
5:15-17)
This passage says we should
have purpose; but to fulfill this passage, we have to know our purpose. But, what is our purpose? The Westminster Confession said, “Man’s
chief aim is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” While that is good, I need more detail. What does that mean to me.
Solomon was going through his
mid-life crisis when he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes. He exclaimed numerous times that all of
his pursuits had been “vanity” and a “chasing after the wind.” But, in the last chapter of that book, he
writes, “The conclusion, when all has been
heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every
person.” (Eccl. 12:13)
First of all, let’s talk about
how we should approach finding our purpose.
How about we start with Job’s attitude. Listen in toward the close of his calamity.
Then Job answered the LORD, and said, "I know that Thou canst do all
things, And that no purpose of Thine can be thwarted. 'Who is this that hides counsel without
knowledge?' "Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand,
Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know." 'Hear, now, and I will speak; I will ask
Thee, and do Thou instruct me.'
"I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye
sees Thee; Therefore I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes." (Job 42:1-6)
If we want to find purpose, we
have to admit that we don’t know what it is.
Is that too simple? We will
never find wisdom if we assume we already know the answer. We have to approach God humbly and
repentant. This is the proper
attitude.
The first purpose God’s Word
prescribes for us is Worship.
Every book of the God’s Word contains admonitions for worship. We don’t need to discuss methods; because
the Bible does not. We need to
discover our purpose in worship.
Let’s go to Romans.
I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which
is your spiritual service of worship.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which
is good and acceptable and perfect.
(Rom. 12:1-2)
Notice the phrase, “spiritual
service of worship.” The Greek word
for spiritual here is logikos, which means reasonable. One translation says, “the worship that is
right for you to give.” Another
translation even calls it “intelligent” worship. It is reasonable – the right thing to do – it is “using your
head.”
1.
Worship is our response to God
The NIV says, “in view of God’s
mercy.” The previous chapter deals
heavily with God’s mercy, then this passage says “I urge you
therefore….” Because of God’s mercy –
in response to God’s mercy, we should worship reasonably. My kids bring me hand-made gifts because I
show love to them – it is their response.
My dog brings me dead animals and trash as gifts – it is his response
to our care for Him. Our response to
God is worship.
The following story was told by Rick Warren:
Liz Curtis Higgs was one of the best-known
disc jockeys in America, and she lived quite a wild life. A really wild
lifestyle without God. In fact,
Howard Stern was the a.m. show, and Liz Curtis Higgs was the p.m. show. And one day Howard Stern said to Liz, “you
know, you need to get clean up your act.”
Now, that really says something if Howard Stern is saying it,
okay? I mean, she was a little on the
wild side. And because Liz Curtis
Higgs had been burned by so many men and her heart had been broken and she
had been hurt by so many men, she became a militant feminist. And I underscore, militant feminist. But she had a Christian girlfriend who
kept inviting her to church.
So one day after a long, long time, she
said, “Okay, I will go to church one time and ONE TIME ONLY.” So she went to church one time with her
friend. And that week, the pastor
just happened to be teaching on the Bible verse that says “wives submit
yourselves to your husbands.” Now,
that’s not exactly a good verse to start with a militant feminist, okay? And she got a little uptight, a little
ticked, a little angry. But she
continued to listen and she actually heard the second part of the verse,
which nobody ever talks about. You see, the second part of the verse says
“and husbands - you sacrifice yourself; you give yourself for your wives just
as Jesus Christ sacrificed Himself for the church and died for her.” People don’t ever hear that second part,
okay? Who is asked to give their life
up? The husband or the wife? The husband. Okay? The husband.
Well, when Liz heard that part, she leaned
over to her friend and said with a little cynicism, “well, shoot, I’d gladly
give myself to any man if I knew he would die for me.” And her friend leaned over and said, “Liz,
there is man who loved you enough to die for you. His name is Jesus Christ.
That’s how much He loves you.”
And it was not long after that that Liz dropped her guard, surrendered
her life to God in love, became a believer.
Today she is a well-known Christian author and speaker.
Worship is our natural response
to God’s love and mercy.
2.
Worship must be directed TO God.
We often focus on “me” when we
worship. We talk about what we like,
what we feel, or what our needs our.
This shopping mall approach to worship really misses the point. Worship is toward God, not us.
because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward
God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even
able to do so; and those who are in
the flesh cannot please God. (Rom
8:7-8)
We cannot please God unless
our mind is “set” on Him in worship.
God wants our minds to be transformed to focus toward Him. Believe it or not, we can do that all day
long by:
-
establishing a quiet time
-
meditating day and night on the Scriptures
-
letting God speak to us in our circumstances
-
responding to what He does in us
It all starts with a direction
change -- we have to focus toward
God. God’s love and mercy are
perpetual. Our response should be a
continual stream of worship if we are facing the right direction.
3.
Worship is showing my affection for God.
I have a friend that when I
say, “I love you,” he always says something like “Yep…take care now.” It is not enough for us to feel the
emotion -- we have to express it. If
anyone knows you love them, God certainly would. We may be very militant about reading the Bible, going to
church, giving our tithe; but if we are leaving out genuine worship
(expressing our affection) to God; then we are missing something major.
What if you expressed this to
your spouse, “Hey, I am giving you flowers.
After all, I am your husband/wife – it is our anniversary – therefore
I give you these flowers.” The
flowers aren’t the important part – the important part should be the expression
of affection.
Actually, most of us should just
be honest with God. We should say,
“Hello God, I’m taking a break now.
I’ll be ignoring you until next Sunday. I’ll probably be too busy to read your word. If something major happens, I’ll be sure
to beg you for my perceived solution to the problem. If you don’t hear from me – no new is good
news.” You wouldn’t accept that type
of treatment from your spouse or your children, yet that is how we treat God
most of the time; then we think He is pleased because we sing a few songs and
listen to a sermon once a week. He wants
more than that – He wants your affection.
4.
Worship is using my gifts
Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever you do, do
it heartily, as for the Lord.” This
passage says that our offering is to offer ourselves.
-
worship is not just bowing in church – it is bowing to serve others
-
worship is not just singing in church – it is also singing His praises
all day long
-
worship is not just listening to the pastor – it is also listening to
your boss and working hard
James 1:27 says, “This is pure
an undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans
and widows in their distress.”
Worship is taking the gifts that God has given us and using them
enthusiastically for the purpose they were given. Don’t you think that would please God? If I gave my son some tools and taught him
how to build a house, it would make me extremely happy if he did something
very simple – build a house.
Why? Because, he would be
using the gift I gave him. That would
bring honor to me.
If we are not using the gifts
God has given us, we are missing part of worship.
Worship is knowing and loving
God. We probably should take some
time to understand Him (start with Isaiah 40). Then, we can respond to his love and mercy, direct our worship
toward Him, and use our gifts to serve Him.
This is reasonable worship.
Karl
J. Forehand, 2002
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