Sunday’s high call is to worship Christ and serve others. That sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? Truly it would be if not for one persistent problem that continually seeks to get in the way. Nope, not the devil. It’s not your spouse, your children, the weather, the economy or the person who did you wrong…
Your biggest obstacle to worshiping God and serving others is You.
Before you accuse me of accusing you, let me assert that this same difficult thing is true of me. We have a natural self-focus that must be overthrown during the days of our lives in the hope of leaving us joyously God-focused and others-focused. Sundays serve as a wonderful opportunity to get militant about this required coup and the first step is to learn to deny yourself.
Most of my readers will be involved in some form of corporate worship today. Before you arrive at that place with those people, convince yourself that the time together doesn’t have to suit your taste. As long as the music has an objective focus on the glorious Savior, then choose to joyfully engage your heart, even if the tempo is slower or faster than your personal preference. Is the teacher loud and demonstrative when you prefer a subtle and soft voice? Then pay more attention to what he or she seems to be passionate about wonder if you ought not also be stirred. Perhaps the style of the one instructing you is a little subdued and you are craving some umph; well, be careful not to give into the style-over-substance nuance of our culture. He or she is not auditioning for Lectern American Idol, he or she is communicating sublime truth about Holy God. Yes, we are prone to have an inner remote control that flips songs and sermons off if we don’t like style of the presentation. Don’t mute the messenger.
Let me stipulate again, it’s not about you. You are the servant, the doulos, the bondslave. Your Savior told you to show up wearing your servant’s robe, not a queen’s tiara or a judge’s clipboard. You and I can be so persistently engaged in meeting the needs of others that we are scarcely able to be subjected to fits of frustration because things are not just-so. What makes us think our opinion is so important anyway? I’ll tell you what: PRIDE. If we are to ever experience the presence of the Lord in a manner that transforms us then we must abandon the persistent pull of our flesh which puts us at the front of the line. This change in our thinking never happens accidentally or incidentally. God calls us to assassinate that part of us that presumes entitlement and exaltation. What an awful potential might await us today as we gather in the humbling grace of the Master. We come together to magnify Him, to speak of Him, to exalt His unspeakably worthy name in song and prayer and sacrifice. We gather to serve others by sharing our gifts and words and deeds. We forfeit our rights and wants and preferences and presumptions. We are a people who have proclaimed God to be centermost, others to be our aim and our own selves to get used to the bottom of the list but…
Self doesn’t exactly like that. Self may not mind it too much, as long as Self has its needs met first, but Self is not going to cooperate with this removal of authority. Self runs the show, or have you forgotten?
So let’s kill Self today – is that radical enough for you? Let’s spend the Lord’s Day as assassins. Target your enemy and slay him. Don’t think this to be too dramatic because there can be no unworthy extreme in humbling ourselves if our aim is to honor Christ and bless others. If someone has to be disappointed today, let it be you. If someone has to be denied this morning, make it the person who stares at you from the mirror. If someone has to ardently commit to move to the back of the line then let it be you who hyper-extends the elbow as you pump your hand in the air repeatedly to volunteer as the one who will be last. Get extreme as you look Self in the eye with a locked jaw and pointed finger and say, “Not today, mister. Your vote doesn’t count because you always vote for you. My Sunday is for my King and His servants. Take a seat in the back.”
Then, when the sun sets today, tell me if this was not the best Sunday you’ve experienced in a long time.
Ummm….a lot there that I need to think about. May message you soon!
Attending Sunday church and all other services is always a great blessing to us.We are never critical of anything because this is the Lord’s house and this the Lord’s word.As to the music we are blessed by these hymns.My wife sometimes can share in singing but I am unable to follow the rapid rhythm of the songs most of the time.I follow the words of the songs on the screen and they are very conforting.Brother Jose, Mrs Jill and all members of the choir are wonderful and we are blessed by them.We are blessed too by Pastor Jeff and all other pastors who share in preaching.
We are thrilled by finding the comment of Amy on the blog and we thank God that she was able to type them.I like her optimistic personality and we praise the Lord for her progress in healing.It was my observation throughout my surgical career to see faster and better recovery of patients with such personality though I do not know of a scientific explanation to this.However, the spiritual explanation is that optimistic people have stronger faith in God.Trusting in the Lord is the clue to all miracles.
I can tell you that I have learned this lesson . I would be so excited to be able to go to church this morning, it would not matter to me if the music, teaching, etc, etc fit my preferences or
not. Praying I’ll be able to attend church again very, very soon!!!!!
Reminds me of the people who say that they “don’t get enough out of Church”… always because they are not putting enough INTO service and into Church. I try to never say that I ‘attend’ Meadow, rather I serve at Meadow. Semantics. Sure. But important for my mindset.
You point out that we have a tendency to be critical of music, teachers, ministers…. there’s a saying for that too and it has relevance. ‘If you want a better (minister, teacher, music), pray for the one you’ve got”. Let me tell you, Brother. While I do not “wish” for a better minister, I do pray for you continuously so that the Holy Spirit will always fill you with the Word.