In Search of my own “Vicious Pursuit” of God’s Will.
This past Sunday was an amazing experience in the presence of God. Worshiping in unity with God’s people is refreshing and weighty. I always come away lifted and heavier. I get a fresh view of myself and a fresh view of my responsibility and a fresh view of God’s worship.
I am always grieved at somethings and encouraged at other things. Sitting under Pastor Martin has made me unavoidably aware of man-worship that sits on the throne whenever we gather to worship. We can’t seem to help finding a way to pat ourselves on the back for having gathered or for some other sundry odd thing. Aren't we so great for being here. Pastor Martin used to beat our bottoms sore for even thinking such a thing. Not a Sunday past that he didnt reprove our man centered thinking. I have grown to expect that aspect of my sensitization. I am not sorry for always praying that God would cleanse us from our selfishness in worship and our Humanism.
To and For the Glory of God!
Worship is to Him and through Him and for Him. Our unprofitable servant status should be understood and it often isn't.
We have some songs that exalt God and some songs that exalt ourselves. Sometimes I am so wrung out by the spiritual battle that is the singing, that I hardly expect God to say anything else. Pastor Loran always, always surprises me. He never backs down from the towering place that we are when we are in unison and one accord worshiping God. He knows that there are some there who are simply entertained by the beauty of the Holy Communion of God’s people and the amazing skill of those who are given to the task of prepping us for the surgery of hearing the Word of God. There is some sedative value in the music of Central and much needed, because Pastor Loran never has to apologize for cutting us and taking our mysterious unconscious state on as a serious Western gunslinging battle. He takes us on with our self aggrandizement and our fake self flagellations, both.
God is to be praised and I really felt like his mini sermon meant that I was going to have a reprieve from the usual weight of conviction and brooding over the state of my soul. He tricked me, as usual.
I say to myself, “this isn’t consecutive, expository and thus it will be the pablum that is for my aged and ailing soul in these last times.” He always grabs my decrepit reasoning and throws it around the room in awe of the way that God can come in there like a guntoting cowboy and shoot up the entire room of drunks who sit there drowning their sorrows in the most beautiful mixed drinks in the universe and He says “get up!” He punches us into sobriety and shows us ourselves every time! I question the ability.
That wasnt my focus. He started with a rant of God’s goodness, yesterday. Do you know who he is? Is your mind in your empty glass of spiritual drinks? Wake up! We is in a battle, y’all!
God has saved you and you know it, but what are you doing with it? Checking your consciences with false convictions about what? We are his workmanship, working and willing his good pleasure. His rant got me on my feet, spiritually. Who are we talking about? He is amazing. He grabs my limp soul by the collar and throws it around the room until it decides to fight back.
Oh boy, I wasnt ready for such a spiritual fight in a minisermon. And then it was over. Not consecutive, not exegetical, Doctrinal spiritual warfare with a bunch of spoiled American Bible belt babies, who “have no clue”.
Finally it was over, I was bleeding and cut and beaten and determined to give my service to the Lord again this week. Why? Because He is Worthy! Not because I think I am so good or so bad. Dont get caught up in the distractions of your fighting with your soul about the rightness of this or that doctrinal deception. Get up! Do your part! Be what God intends you to be and then we segued into the yearly Bible verse.
Hooray, now it is play time. He put his gun in the holster! Yippee!
Boy, was I wrong.
We got our verses and that was his slingshot practice shooting the verses and his vision for the verses coming to life in our experience in his prayer for each section of the church. What an amazing unification of our huge congregation? I felt one in the spiritual ambitions of God’s true purpose for His people. Warriors in faith. I see my life in the reality of who my real enemy is and I pull out the big guns that I have in my arsenal and use them to mortify my own sins that plague me. All without Exegesis or Isogesis or Expostitory, it’s a miracle!
No comments:
Post a Comment