Work or Worship?

September has been a busy month for me. Crazy busy. Sometimes life's like that. Busy, busy, busy. And it's times like this when my Christian walk feels more like a frantic sprint. But before I assess this past month with too much disdain, I need to remind myself that Jesus did lament the desperate need in His Father's harvest for labourors -- that is, hard workers (Matthew 9:37-38). And Jesus was such a hard worker that He said His "food" was to accomplish the "work" of His Father (John 4:34) and that "My Father is working until now, and I am working" (John 5:17). In other words, God sees great need for work to be done and wants us to be working too.

But that doesn't mean God spends His time scanning the earth searching for workers. That would be like God looking down here and saying, "Ah yes, there's someone who could probably put in a good effort. He looks good and strong for all the hard work I've got to get done." Instead, Jesus specifies (in the same context in which He says His food is to do God's work) that God is looking for someone else: "the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him" (John 4:23). The latter part of that verse is typically lost in the shadow of the more famous phrase mentioned at the beginning of the verse. Yet the end of that verse is absolutely vital. The verse begins with Jesus defining true worship, but then He explicitly states who God is looking for as He scans the earth: God is searching for worshipers. God is looking down here saying, "Ah yes, there's someone who's heart is completely Mine. I will give her the strength to do great works in My name!" (see 2 Chronicles 16:9).

But with Jesus' great emphasis on working, as well as stating that the Father is searching for true worshipers, is it fair to say one is more important than the other? After all, isn't it true that our worship of God and our work for God are so closely intertwined that they're meant to appear indistinguishable? In other words, can I be a true worshiper of God if I'm unwilling to be a worker for Him? And can I even say I'm a worker for the Lord if I neglect to be a worshiper? To truly be one means I must truly be the other. Which would mean that a worker who worships is as valuable to God as a worshiper who works, right? And it is that very question that causes me to hesitate to equate these two characteristics of a follower of Christ because it fails to clarify the order in which I came to be both a worshiper and a worker -- and that is what I think Jesus was stressing when He said that the Father is seeking true worshipers.

Worshiping God must precede working for God. It must be so or we'll end up working in our own strength for the dim glow of our own glory eventually becoming a hard-hearted Pharisee who's forgotten the One we're working for! That's why God is seeking worshipers, whom He will then make into workers according to His strength working in us and through us (Colossians 1:29). He wants our hearts before we offer Him our hands. I'm sure that's why Jesus told Martha that her sister Mary had "chosen what is better" (Luke 10:42, NIV) when Mary chose to sit listening at Jesus' feet rather than to be so distracted by busyness.

So I now need to ask myself why I've been so busy. Is it because I'm busy working at all the things that the God I love and adore -- and listen so carefully to -- and receive all my strength from -- has asked me to do? Or is it because I think I need to work this hard for God in order to win His approval -- perhaps because I haven't found it easy to draw near to Him in worship amidst all my self-imposed busyness? And if God is seeking worshipers, what will He find in me when He finds me busily serving Him so hard?  Yikes. The answer will be in whatever the posture of my heart is as I serve Him with my hands: a worshiper of God who has become a worker for His God.

© 2010 by Ken Peters

Let's go up!

I was quite surprised recently by the encouragement I found in the final few words of the many words written in Chronicles. Chronicles can be a discouraging book given how badly God's people behaved. But in the last two little verses, the writer speedily fast forwards the story so that he can end the book with great hope following the lengthy and tragic explanation of Judah's and Israel's spiritual decline. And it was there that four simple words caught my attention.

The final verse describes Cyrus king of Persia inviting God's people to return to Jerusalem to build the house of God. Cyrus said, "The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has charged me to build Him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all His people, may the Lord his God be with him. Let him go up." (2 Chronicles 36:23).

Now that's an amazing thing for a pagan king to say to a conquered people, and focusing on that fact is reason enough to be encouraged by this verse. But as I finished the book, the words "Let him go up" caught my attention like never before. It seemed to me that that invitation must still stand. I paused and wondered, haven't I received that invitation as well?

I couldn't help but wonder if I'd heard an echo of this verse in the gospel. After all, isn't Jesus' invitation in John 7:37, "...let him come to Me..." an expression of the same heartfelt longing that we see at the end of Chronicles? In Chronicles, Cyrus said, "The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth..." Then he said, "Whoever is among you of all His people... let him go up." Centuries later, in the Gospel according to Matthew, we're told that Jesus said, "All things have been handed over to me by My Father..." (Matthew 11:27). Then He said, "Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28).

Cyrus had the authority from God to invite God's people to go up to build the house of God. And now Jesus has the authority from God the Father to invite us to come to Him to be the house of God, as God dwells in our hearts through faith in Him. The invitation stands: Let him come! Let him go up! This reminds me that when we chose to put our faith in Jesus, God "raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:6). In other words, as I come to Jesus each day, I am going up to be with Him. Up above my circumstances, up above this world's view of things, up above the emotional swirl that's sometimes in my heart. You see, the main reason I was taken aback by that ancient invitation "Let him go up" was because of my own emotional frustrations with my own spiritual struggles. There are days when I feel like a loser, low in faith, and can wonder if God even wants me near Him. But I can know that -- just as a people who had been disciplined for grave sins can be given an open invitation to go and build God's house -- I can be certain that a spiritually inconsistent man like myself can be invited to be God's house simply because Jesus is the King who's doing the inviting! A King who was crucified to pay the penalty for all my failures, and who's been raised to heaven to now call us up to Him.

That's why I'm encouraged by those words, "Let him go up!"  I believe it's still an invitation for today -- for right now. And I believe it's an invitation to rise above the discouragement of our troubles and to open our hearts to be a house of the living God -- Christ in us, the hope of glory! (Colossians 1:27).

© 2010 by Ken Peters

But we... and But HE...

The stories of the kings of Israel and Judah are sobering to read. The kings of Israel seemed to go from one level of evil to another until they were judged. But the kings of Judah had glimmers of light as many kings chose to do right in the sight of the LORD. What sobers me though is that even as the chronicler described kings who did right, they so often needed to qualify those descriptions.

Amaziah did right in the sight of the LORD, “but not with a whole heart” (2 Chronicles 25:2), which became his undoing. Then Uzziah did right in the sight of the LORD, and it says that “as long as he sought the LORD, God prospered him” (2 Chr. 26:5). “But when he became strong, his heart was so proud that he acted corruptly” (2 Chr. 26:16). And that was his undoing. The next king was Jotham, who did right in the sight of the LORD, and of whom it was said that he “ordered his ways before the LORD his God” and thereby became mighty (2 Chr. 27:6). And though no qualifier is mentioned regarding Jotham, the chronicler is compelled to mention a qualifier about the people he led as it says, “But the people continued acting corruptly (2 Chr. 27:2). It’s as though Judah was incapable of turning to God in such a way that deserved an unqualified commendation! There always seemed to need to be a “but…” Divided hearts, pride, acting corruptly. All stuff I’m capable of.

I want to serve the Lord in such a way that no “but…” is necessary, no qualifier needing to be mentioned about me. The problem is though, that’s not likely to happen in this earthly body, and that’s precisely why another use of the word “But… frequently appears in Scripture.

Ephesians 2:1-3 describes how God found us to be dead in our sins, walking according to the ways of this world, and deserving of God’s wrath. Then in verse four we read: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us… made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4-5). God knows that we cannot seek Him in a way that requires no qualifiers, and so He adds a qualifier regarding Himself: “But I will save you!”

The words “But now…” of Romans 3:21 have to be the most encouraging words in all of Scripture. Paul has just laid out how totally pervasive our sin is, and he sums up that dark description of this rebel race by asserting that no one can be justified by attempting to do well enough at following the law of Moses. It all seems hopeless. Then come those words, “But now…” There is hope for us. “But now, apart from the Law, God’s righteousness has been revealed… even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe” (Romans 3:21-22). In other words, for all who believe, the righteousness of God will become our righteousness.

What a wonder! There I was, standing in darkness and full of darkness, and suddenly – “But now…” – the sun rises right before my eyes and shines upon me, and fills me with brightness and warmth! All I need to do is believe in what Jesus has done for me. And I do! And now God’s righteousness is at work in me to make me wholly acceptable to God with no “buts” necessary to qualify His love for me!

© 2008 by Ken Peters