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...worship God in the spirit…(Philippians 3:3)
Paul points to the truth that the true Israel are the ones who are circumcised in their hearts (Romans 2:28-29 / Romans 4:12 / Romans 9:6-8 / Colossians 2:11), and that these are they who worship in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24). Let us realize that God created individual taste and culture, and that music style, etc., isn’t what is important, but the substance of our devotion and faith towards Him is.
This is part of what Paul means by having no confidence in the flesh, or confidence in external rituals, which Jesus has done away with. Ritual such as circumcision is obviously not worshipping in the Spirit, and worshipping God in the Spirit does not mean using spiritual gifts or a way of doing things. It is a way of not doing things in a sense. It is worship aided by the Spirit, yes, but it means heart matters, not outward show.
An experienced, wise man once wrote what many men of God have grieved over. He said, “As a pastor I again and again observed folks who could never be content in a church that seeks to be Christ-centered, and to preach the Word, if it doesn't engage in certain peripheral activities. They can't "feel the Spirit" without certain worship-styles, entertainments, playtimes. For them, "feeling the Spirit" – not preaching Christ – is the be-all and end-all.”
That is the truth. People just seem "bored" with the Bible, and "casual" with Christ. What they want is to feel what they call "the anointing", as if that is anything other than Christ Himself. People think being “in the Spirit” means some sort of mystical feeling, or extraordinary emotion. They will even point this out to others, telling of times when someone or something was “in the Spirit” or “in the flesh”, as if they have some modern day detect-o-meter.
You see, if some aren’t smart enough or learned enough to be puffed up by knowledge, they will point out the perils of being puffed up by knowledge. Many of these same people will be puffed up by their own imagination, leading them to believe they have some innate spiritual power of discernment. They can just “feel” if someone is being fleshly or spiritual. Funny how these types fall prey to every fad that comes down the pike.
Friends, rejoice about Jesus, and forget the show – get back to justification by faith, and the sanctification will follow. The reason some have to try everything under the sun is that they fail to focus on their justification, from which sanctification flows (1 Corinthians 1:30). They treat their salvation as a common thing and believe spiritual worship to be something other than the simple adoration of Christ. But the Holy Spirit has the role of pointing us to Christ as our all in all. When that is happening, then we are “in the Spirit”.
2 comments:
This is taken from a previous post from 3-5-07, but now includes the audio, which has additional material in it...we will be doing this with many of our older posts, so that they can have the audio attached to them...hope these are edifying and enjoyable for you...God bless...
...and don't be afraid to leave a comment if you haven't listened to the audio...the posts can stand on their own, too...
This is an area I have personally grown in, praise God. When you fall in to the trap of following Christ on a feeling, you fall prey to satan and his craftiness. The scripture warns us that he impersonates the spirit of God by disguising himself as an angel of light and he is extremely good at it. Christians need to learn to follow Christ by learning the character of God through His Word and not by emotions. Emotions are fragile and it seems to me that this would fall into the category of glorying in the flesh as Paul talks about in 2 Cor 11. Grow us up Lord God Almighty for your glory!
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