In the Spirit (with audio)

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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”.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Crucify Him! (with audio)

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And after saying this he said to him, "Follow me."
(John 21:19 – ESV)

As Romans 8:13 declares, if you through the Spirit put to death the deeds of the flesh, you will live. We think this means that the Spirit gives us power to put those deeds to death, but the reality is not that we put to death the flesh, but that through the Spirit we are to do it. This may seem subtle but it is important, very important. Now, what does this mean, through the Spirit?

Well let’s think about that for a second. Those led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God (Romans 8:14). The Spirit is leading to the cross and all the sons of God are to follow Him there to their own cross. We think to put to death the deeds of the flesh means to do it ourselves, that we crucify our flesh ourselves, but again, let's begin to think more clearly.

When we think of going to the cross, of taking up our cross, of following Jesus we think we do it, like we go running to it, but that winds up having us just bring those things we want to end to the cross, and not all of us, or not those things Jesus wants dealt with first. We pick and choose which part of our flesh will die. That isn’t what the “crucified life” is all about.

Now some of us know better than that and we think we let Him do it, but this winds up just being us praying harder and going up to the altar every week and wondering why we still want to do those same old things. With both scenarios it is still we doing it in sense.

However, the bible says we have already crucified the flesh, and that we just need to walk in that (Galatians 5:24-25). That is where the misunderstanding takes place, going from the position in Christ to the condition in life, and beginning to realize, to make real this crucified life in our daily walk. The truth is that this should be a daily walk to the cross.

Now consider this about crucifixion. Crucifixion is not putting yourself to death. Rather, it is yielding yourself up to death at the hands of others. The crucified victim doesn't get to choose his own death (John 13:37-38, 21:18-19). You don’t kill yourself, you let yourself die; you let yourself be killed. The truth is that you are already dead (Colossians 3:3); the role of others whether they realize it or not is to help you to reckon it so (Romans 6:11).

This is a big difference that people just don’t seem to get. When Jesus says follow me He means to the cross and into the hands of people who want you dead, it is the other people and other situations that kill you, but of course this is used by God to bring resurrection life.

Just as it was with Jesus, to be able to see and understand the resurrection power there must first be the cross, and before the cross there must be the garden. The question is in that garden will you plant the seed of surrender (not my will but thine be done) or the seed of self. You surrender and suffer death in the church community, or you barricade yourself in your own flesh at home. You visit the garden every day, friends. There are always new crops to harvest.

Consider John 21:21-22 – looking at others and their cross is not the Way in it is looking for a way out. Live out the truth of 1 Peter 4:1 – believe it and receive that cross when it comes, carry it, follow Him, and have life. If we win the battle of the mind we will win the battle with sin. It is time to stop sinning and start winning.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

American Idol (with audio)

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…worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator…
(Romans 1:25 – ESV)

It is part of the sinful nature to love ourselves more than we love God (2 Timothy 3:1-5 / Romans 1:30). Just as in Paul’s time, it continues today, but to love self more than God is to hate God, and ourselves. When we value what God has made more than we value God, we devalue God and we will inevitably devalue man. It backfires on us; we don’t even love ourselves.

We may not be doing some of those things the pagans are doing, but we have exchanged our heritage as God’s special creation and traded the value of God for less so often that in Christian circles we have bought into the secular/spiritual divide. In so doing we think we can pick and choose things out of the world such as gothic fashion or “Christian yoga” and say that it is harmless, without examining what the roots of these practices are.

The root is Mother Nature or our own nature, but we don’t recognize the source of the idolatry and so we don’t realize the scope of the sin. Why do we feel the need to do these new things? Perhaps it is because we are not comfortable with how God really is, and we must invent a god who is like us, instead of becoming like Him.

We want to worship a god who worships us. We think things have no spiritual significance because we have limited our spirituality to our quiet time in the morning and once a week at church. Of course that also goes for the thinking that we can “do” church any old way we want to, or not at all, and still call ourselves Christians.

We have made an idol of God, and often we rationalize our behavior in light of what we think are good intentions, but we are actually trying to carry out our own will without truly knowing the big picture. We might do some small good, in order to bring about our own desired end, we help others because of what they can or will do for us. All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirit (Proverbs 16:2 – ESV).

We must yield to God, and know His Word in order to have true judgment. The key is to know “I the Lord search the heart” (Jeremiah 17:10). Then we can pray, like David, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24).

Are you making the right exchanges in your life? Is Christ being formed in you (Galatians 4:19) or are you making an image for/of yourself?

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©