True Worship: Humility

     So I am writing a Character study on John the Baptist and I was extremely convicted by one of the passages that I read. "And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have borne witness, behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him.' John answered and said, 'A man can receive nothing, unless it has been given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before Him....He must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3:26-27, 30 NISB) The phrase that stuck out and convicted me so much was "A man can receive nothing, unless it has been given him from heaven." (v.27) The humility of John's response here astounds me and it revealed to me so much of my own spirit and lack of humility. John had been part of an active growing ministry within the Judean wilderness preaching repentance. His influence was great, even so that even Jesus recognized that he was greater than all the prophets. Even after his death, John still had a following as can be seen in Acts. He is mentioned in all four gospels and in Mark is referred to as the beginning of the gospel. He was the forerunner of the Messiah that Isaiah and Malachi prophesied. Yet, he knew his place. His life was a life devoted to worshipping God and he knew that God had come to earth. When Christ began his ministry, John's was fulfilled. It was not about him, it was about Him. This is why he said, "I must decrease, while He must increase." (v. 30)

A couple of things stuck out to me personally through these passages and a few other things I will share later. One, I tend to want to make things happen. There is a tendency within me to want to make something happen. Here is where God convicted me first. I can try and make things happen all day, all night, all week, all year, all my life, but if God does not give us the ministry it won't happen. Things can work out but we are to know who ultimately allowed it. Two, my heart is usually in the wrong attitude. I can put on a face and say all the right things like "all glory goes to God", yet in my heart I desire the recognition and the adoration. I honestly struggle with that. That may put me in a place where I never get asked to lead worship again, but I believe every lead worshipper deals with the same thoughts and desires. I am just being honest about it. John's whole attitude was not about personal gain, when the ministry started turning towards Christ, John knew his place. "I must decrease, while He must increase." 

      "The Hebrew term (shaha) is most widely used Old Testament word for worship. English Bibles understand the expression in a variety of ways, including: bow down (low or deeply, Gen. 18:2; 47:31), prostrate oneself or do homage (Isa. 49:7), or worship (Gen. 24:26; Exod. 12:37). The literal meaning of the verbal root is the act of falling down and groveling or even wallowing on the ground before royalty (2 Sam. 14:22; 1 Kings 1:16) or deity (Exod.34:8; 2 Sam. 12:20; 2 Kings 19:37)....Thus worship springs from an attitude and posture of humility prompted by the recognition of one's rank or standing in the order of God's creation (Ps. 8:3-8). More importantly, genuine humility is the sacrifice acceptable to God (Ps. 51:17). The Lord turns his face and extends his favor to the humble and contrite of heart (Isa. 66:2) The God of heaven and earth abases the proud, but he saves the humble (Job 22:29). For this reason the prophet Micah exhorted the Israelites "to walk humbly with your God" (6:8). Jesus Christ is the ultimate example of humility before God, for "he humbled himself and became obedient to death"(Phil. 2:8) (Hill, Andrew E. "Praise from the Tabernacle". Michigan: Baker Books, 1993, 6-7. emphasis added)

      I was reading a chapter out of Bob Kauflin's book, "Worship Matters", and Kauflin was talking about how he didn't even realize how much was desiring adoration and praise for what he was doing. How he battled thoughts of depression and anxiety for no reason. Now, I was relating with him so much and not just with worship services but with my worship as a way of life. I desire so much to be successful and have security for my future family and be able to teach the Word of God or write songs for Worship, but if I just write songs to have popularity and money and financial stability, its still worship but not the right object. Writing songs of worship should be an outflow of the heart to solely our God and not for the recognition of our fellow peers. My life should be that of one that lives in true humility knowing my place before my Creator. Allowing what He has done for me bring me to a place of humility to where all I can do is love to do the things of God. I can't say that I am always in that place. I know I wasn't today. That is the beauty, though, he has saved me from that pride and freely gives me the mercy and grace to come back into right fellowship with Him which brings me to want to worship Him correctly. We cannot truly worship God nor lead others to truly worship God if we do not truly know God according to His Word. I would venture to say many "worship leaders", including myself, rely on emotions and what "think" we know about God to be our understanding. This is half hearted and I would dare to say doesn't fully please our God. A man can receive nothing, unless it has been given him from heaven...He must increase, and I must decrease.

Philosophy of Understanding the Problem of Evil

The problem with evil has been a daunting problem throughout the ages. Why would a God who is good and all powerful allow such a thing as evil within the world? Doesn’t He have control? Doesn’t He love us? Questions that even the most devout have wondered including Job. Who are we to question? Erickson does mention three different possible solutions for the problem of evil.

The first that Erickson discusses is finitism. Erickson mentions Edgar S. Brightman who “developed the concept of a finite God as the solution to the problem of evil.”[1] This idea or concept rejects the idea of God’s omnipotence. God is does not have the power to over come evil which is where Erickson sees a flaw in this idea. “That is to say, it gives an explanation as to why there is evil, but does not offer us real encouragement for believing that evil will be ultimately overcome.”[2]

The second concept that is mentioned is the concept of God’s goodness. Here Erickson discusses the view that God is in control of all things and uses the example of Calvinist, Gordon H. Clark. Clark “rejects the concept of the permissive will of God.”[3] He believes that God is the “author of sin” but not the “emmediate cause of it”. God does not sin but God does cause it in a sense. Basically, Clark has “redefined the goodness of God.”[4] It can be seen in this equation:

Whatever happens is caused by God

Whatever is caused by God is good.

Whatever happens is good.

The problem seen by Erickson is that “we virtually cannot know what it means to say, ‘God is good.” Also, he points out that “Clark is in danger of holding that God’s will is arbitrary. He also talks of the nature of goodness itself is called into question. He talks about how accountability determines morality but that Christ was not accountable to anyone, and would not be punished for not submitting to the cross, he did in fact lay down his life.[5]

A third solution to the problem of evil is the denial of evil. This way of thinking can be found in Christian Science. “The only reality is God, infinite mind. Spirit is real and eternal; matter is unreal and temporal. Matter has no real existence even in the mind. It is an illusion held by an illusion…Evil has no reality.”[6] Erickson shows in this view that even the evil of disease is not even really a reality to those who think this way. The problem is that even if they say that evil does not exist, the illusion of evil does, which in itself backlashes the very thought. There is a reality that Christian Scientists do become ill and die, it is a reality.

I agree with Erickson at the end of the chapter that evil is a result of our sin and that “God became the victim of evil so that he and we may be victors over evil.”[7]

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[1] Erickson, 440

[2] Ibid, 441

[3] Ibid, 442

[4] Ibid

[5] Ibid, 44

[6] Ibid, 445

[7] Ibid, 456

My Hope for this Blog

     I want to start sharing what is going on and what I am learning to help others learn what I am learning. I have been in seminary for about a month and a half now and I am very excited about what I am learning. So far I have been in two classes: New Testament Survey and Systematic Theology 1.
  
     I enjoy both classes very much but am very challenged in my thinking. When growing up, one never thinks about how the Bible was put together or the Intertestamental time period, the time in between the Old and New Testament which spans about 400 years. We don't think about what books should be placed in the canon of scriptures and which should not. The complexity of it can be overwhelming when bringing in all of the thought that has gone into doctrines. What makes it a doctrine? I do not profess to have all the answers or understanding  and hopefully will never feel like I do. I do not, though, want to be ignorant and feel content in my ignorance. What we believe is truth and I want others to have the confidence that I can have, knowing that every part of scripture is inerrant and inspired and can bring others to a full knowledge of the salvation from sins by the righteousness (state of being right) of Jesus Christ.

     There is so much evidence throughout history that shows what we believe is true that it is overwhelming. There are 5,000 known manuscripts of Scripture. The closest manuscript is Homer that only has 300. History that is revealed within Scripture depicts real places and real historical people. There has been a council within Germany that has devoted themselves to find evidence for the Bible for years.

     I do not, though, want to bring just knowledge and evidence. My heart is worship. That is what I am going to school for and I desire to share an understanding of worship with you, the reader. It has become such a misunderstood practice that I feel that there is a need for a solid understanding for myself so that my life may not mislead others into a wrong thinking of biblical worship. I hope to grasp a better understanding and share that understanding with you, so that you may worship, in a true biblical sense, our God. I hope that the blogs will be educational, share resources, music, passion, and more. I hope that my life will continue to grow into a life that reflects Christ. I have a long ways to go.