Tag Archives: Disciple

What Jesus Calls Great

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Wouldn’t You Like To Know?

Have you ever given thought to what it would have been like to be one of Jesus’ disciples and just walk through life with Him? To literally walk through life with Jesus—because that was the most common method of transportation in that day! And to hear Him speak God’s wisdom into every situation they encountered! Mark, who wrote the Gospel of Mark, tells us about a time when Jesus and His disciples were on the road, going up to Jerusalem. Jesus gets real serious with them and begins to tell them that the chief priests and the religious leaders would condemn Him to death—that He would be mocked, spit on, flogged, and killed! And it was weird—like they didn’t even hear what He was saying—but two of the disciples, James and John, who were brothers, approached Jesus immediately after He dropped that “bomb” on them and asked if they could sit on each side of His throne in glory!

Great, to Jesus, is Service

That really ticked off the other ten disciples! Mark records it like this: “Jesus called them over and said to them, ‘You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles dominate them, and their men of high positions exercise power over them. But it must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be a slave to all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life—a ransom for many.’” Mark 10:42–45. In so many words, Jesus was teaching them that if you’re great in God’s Kingdom, this world probably won’t even notice you!

Jesus’ Leadership Model

What Jesus calls “great” and what the world says is “great” are generally two entirely different things. Jesus calls you great when you reject the world’s leadership style (v. 42). Those who lead in this world dominate or lord it over anyone in a “subordinate” role, Jesus says. Having a position of power is of great significance—but that’s not the case in Jesus’ Kingdom! If we follow Jesus’ leadership model, we have to reject the world’s style of leadership. Instead, Jesus calls you great when your ministry is measured by the people you serve (v. 43). “…it must not be like the world’s leadership style…” among believers, He says!

Do You Want A Title

In the ministry of the church, Jesus says it’s not about having a “title.” Do you want a title? If you’re an elder, you serve! If you’re a deacon, you serve! If you’re a Sunday School teacher, a small group leader, an AWANA or nursery worker, you serve! If you’re a worship team member—it’s not a show! Jesus doesn’t care about your title. He cares about your service! You want to be great? You want a title? Take the title of “servant,” Jesus says! And then Jesus calls you great when you humble yourself and become the world’s slave (v. 44). Some versions render the word “servant,” but that’s not right! The word is doulos in the original Greek language, and the only correct way to translate it is “slave.” Jesus meant for us to take on the humility of a slave when it comes to our ministry and service to others!
 

Give Up Your Life

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Great In God’s Kingdom

In my last post, we talked about the kind of life that Jesus called great! We picked up on His conversation with the disciples after two of them—James and John—asked if they could sit in seats of power next to Jesus in His kingdom. “Jesus called them over and said to them, ‘You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles dominate them, and their men of high positions exercise power over them. But it must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be a slave to all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many’” (Mark 10:42–45). In so many words, Jesus was teaching them that if you’re great in God’s kingdom, this world probably won’t even notice you!

Slave or Servant?

Jesus calls you great when you reject the world’s leadership style (v. 42). He also calls you great when your ministry is measured by the people you serve (v. 43). But there are two more points I’d like to draw out from this text related to what Jesus calls great. He also calls you great when you humble yourself and become the world’s slave (v. 44). We touched briefly on this point in our last post. The word is doulos in the original Greek language, and it can only be translated accurately as “slave” in English. So while the Holman version actually translates it “slave,” many translations choose to use the word “servant.” While they can be credited with sensitivity for choosing to translate the word as “servant” because the history of slavery in America is so repulsive and offensive, we probably ought not to change the word Jesus used.

The Humility of a Slave

He meant for us to take on the humility of a “slave” when it comes to our ministry and service. In this way, we actually serve like Jesus did: “Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus,” the Apostle Paul wrote, “who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage. Instead, He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave” (Philippians 2:5–11). In other words, Jesus didn’t use His title—God—as a big stick! In His incarnation, He took the form of a slave!

Suffering For Others

Finally, from Jesus’ words here, we discern that He calls you great when you give up your life to suffer for others (v. 45). Even Jesus suffered for others willingly, all the way to the cross! He served till it hurt—till it killed Him! And you image Jesus when you live your life similarly! That’s probably not going to get you a fancy title or the corner office in a big corporation, but it will get you a “Well done, good and faithful servant” from Jesus! You may have noticed that the focus in this post was not on spiritual gifts. The reason is that the greater emphasis in Scripture is on heart attitude toward ministry rather than giftedness or knowledge. Jesus emphasizes humility over giftedness, and power is never said to be in our gifts but in the Holy Spirit. So, how will you respond to the needs around you?

Is Every Believer A Disciple?

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What Does Scripture Teach?

The Church, here in the West, has often made a distinction between a “believer” in Jesus Christ and a “disciple” of Jesus Christ. It’s a distinction, however, that Scripture fails to make—that you can be a saved “believer” and live your entire life for yourself. That, if you desire, you can become a “disciple” and live out your days as a “super saint” for Jesus. Nowhere in Scripture does Jesus say anything even close to that. If you abide in Jesus, you will produce the fruit of a disciple. That’s the outcome of genuine faith.

Grape Vines Produce Grapes

There will always be fruit where there is genuine faith. It’s as natural as a grapevine producing grapes. That’s what grapevines do. And there is fruit that is naturally produced by God’s Spirit in the life of every genuine believer who abides in Jesus. In fact, that’s exactly what Jesus says. Fruitfulness is the proof that you’re a “believer” and a “disciple.” “If anyone does not abide in Me,” Jesus said, “he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be My disciples” (John 15:6–8). We bring glory to God when our lives produce fruit because it proves that He’s saved us. The proof is in the fruit.

Love, Joy & Obedience

Then Jesus expands on that in the next several verses (vv. 9–17). Fruitfulness, He says, is measured by our love, our obedience, and our joy. “This is My commandment,” Jesus said, “that you love one another as I have loved you.” Loving others isn’t an option for anyone claiming to be a follower of Jesus. If there’s no love, it’s because there is no spiritual life. Where there’s no love, there’s no “abiding in Jesus.” “You are My friends,” He said, “if you do what I command you.” We cannot pick and choose what we’re going to obey in God’s Word. Disobedience isn’t an option. If we truly abide in Christ, we’ll repent when we disobey and realign our lives accordingly with the Scriptures. And there will be joy in your life—“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” Our joy is linked to a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ. It’s not circumstantial.

Even When Life Is Hard

Abiding in Christ produces joy. Even when the rest of life derails, our joy is centered in Jesus. All those grumpy, mean-spirited haters out there who claim to be followers of Jesus must have missed that Scripture—or they don’t really abide in Christ. This text presents a clear case that God the Father won’t stand idle while His children act up. He will prune: “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:2). He will discipline His own. He will spank. But He doesn’t spank the devil’s kids. Our response to His discipline will either confirm or deny that our “faith” is legitimate. We will confess sin and let His Spirit clean house.

How God Wants Us To Pray

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He Wants Us To Repent

So, let me tell you what I believe God wants us to do if our prayer life looks like that of the typical Christian! I believe He wants us to repent of our prayerlessness! I believe He wants us to denounce all our human efforts and admit our total helplessness when it comes to getting God’s work done in our own strength! And I believe that, in order to accomplish that, He wants us to change some habits in our lives—He wants us to add time to pray into our schedules! That means we might need to actually move some other things out of our schedule! And then, He wants us to pray with absolute dependence on Him!

Pray Over A Crisis of Faith

I believe all these things about prayer are based on the many and various texts of Scripture on the subject! Take Acts chapter 12, the first five verses, for instance. It begins: “About that time King Herod cruelly attacked some who belonged to the church, and he killed James, John’s brother, with the sword. When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter too, during the days of Unleavened Bread. After the arrest, he put him in prison and assigned four squads of four soldiers each to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover. So Peter was kept in prison, but prayer was being made earnestly to God for him by the church.” We can draw a prayer principle from that reading. When trouble comes our way, God uses our crisis of faith, in His sovereignty, to get us engaged with Him in prayer!

The Human Way We Pray

There’s something dreadfully human about the way we pray when life is great! When the job is secure, when the marriage is healthy, when there’s plenty of money, when life’s great… we don’t pray! That says, “We’ve got this,” doesn’t it? We have the false sense that the job’s secure, the marriage is healthy, and there’s plenty of money because, “We’ve got this!” Because we’re so good at living life! We credit ourselves for the good life. But God knows how self-deluded we are!  When Israel entered the Promised Land—after God had miraculously delivered them from slavery to Egypt; after God had dried up the Red Sea so they could safely cross; after God had fed them with manna and quail in the desert; after God had preserved their clothing and sandals for 40 years in the wilderness—He knew they would be tempted to take credit for their good life. He warned them!

Be Careful Not To Forget The Lord

God knew how Israel would respond to His going before them, dispossessing the land from wicked nations, and handing over to them homes, cities, and land they hadn’t earned. He warned them:  “When the Lord your God brings you into the land He swore to your fathers… a land with large and beautiful cities that you did not build, houses full of every good thing that you did not fill, wells dug that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant—and when you eat and are satisfied, be careful not to forget the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” — Deuteronomy 6:10-12. What do we have that God has not given us? But we get comfortable and forget, don’t we?

Prayer Is Not Counseling God

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We Don’t Know What’s Best

I’m afraid that many people treat prayer as their opportunity to counsel God on certain matters. We ought never to pray like we’re trying to convince God that we know what’s best—as if the eternal, all-wise God, who knows the end from the beginning and everything in between, needs our advice for anything! His eternal plans for creation were already laid out before the world began. The writer of Acts reminds us: “The God who made the world and everything in it—He is Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in shrines made by hands. Neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives everyone life and breath and all things.” —Acts 17:24–27

God Doesn’t Need Our Counsel

When it comes to prayer, let’s get one thing straight: GOD DOESN’T NEED ANYTHING… INCLUDING OUR COUNSEL! He didn’t create us because of some deficiency, hoping that we could fix Him. There’s a clear, underlying message in Jesus’ response to His disciples’ question: “Lord, teach us to pray.” God doesn’t need us—we need Him! According to Jesus’ response in Matthew 6, prayer is to be GOD-CENTERED. “Pray like this,” He says, and He begins with the “Father,” not with us. By the way, He didn’t tell them to memorize it and repeat it mindlessly—“Our Father, who art in heaven…blah, blah, blah.” He said, “…pray like this.” This is how we’re supposed to pray—it’s Jesus’ model prayer.

Don’t Try Twisting God’s Arm

Rather than making prayer our attempt to twist God’s arm over something we want Him to do, prayer should begin with a focus on God the Father. Start your conversation with the Creator of the universe by honoring Him for His character. Praise Him for who He is! Don’t rush into His presence like your schedule is what matters—“Here’s my grocery list of needs, God! Will You go shopping for me?” Show Him reverence when you pray. You’re entering the throne room of Heaven! God transcends far above anything on your agenda. There’s an order here: Your kingdom first, Father! Our greatest desire should be that God’s name is hallowed, admired, and cherished. And He’s “our” Father too, Jesus says. Never get over that great doctrine of adoption—that God has birthed us into His family!

We Become His Children

Though we were born children of wrath because of our sin, He adopts us into His family in Christ. We’re FAMILY! Depend on Him like He’s family—because He is! We’re brothers, sisters, and joint-heirs with Jesus Himself. Then Jesus models prayer by moving from the Father’s character to His KINGDOM: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” —Matthew 6:10 So, pray like this, Jesus says—pray for the Father’s KINGDOM and for His WILL. If we’re praying like Jesus taught us to pray, our primary concern will be for the Father’s glory and the advancement of His kingdom. Our prayers will be GOD-CENTERED. Take note of the things you pray for. Are your prayers motivated by your dreams and goals, or by God’s eternal kingdom, His will, and His plans? Mature believers pray for God’s will above their own.

Lord, Teach Us To Pray

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Bad Prayer Habits Abound

I want to begin this series of posts on the subject of prayer by sharing with you the results of a survey titled “Top Ten Bad Prayer Habits.” Here they are: #10 — “My prayers are just a grocery list!” #9 — “I make my grocery list during my prayer time!” #8 — “I only pray by myself!” #7 — “I see prayer only as my personal wish list!” #6 — “I always pray the same thing and get bored!” #5 — “I only pray when I’m in a crisis!” #4 — “I do all the talking while I pray!” #3 — “I can’t stay focused while I pray!” #2 — “I’m just too busy to start my day with prayer!” #1 — “I don’t pray at all!” Can you identify with any of that? I can! I’m guessing we’ve all had—or still do have—some bad prayer habits. Now, if you claim to be a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ, you can see how that would be a bit problematic if you don’t pray at all, right?

Praying Like Jesus

There’s an amazing New Testament text about prayer in Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus was praying, and when He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray!” Now, let me share my take on that scenario. I see it kind of like one of our typical church prayer meetings. Jesus and His disciples are all gathered in a circle praying, and the disciples have their little prayer lists: “God, keep us safe from the Romans… Help Zebedee catch lots of fish today… Help us not to get leprosy! That’s been going around… Oh, and bless the missionaries!” And when they finish, they look up—and Jesus is still praying! Minutes pass by. Maybe an hour. We don’t know. The text doesn’t tell us. But I get the idea that things begin to feel a bit awkward as the inadequacy of their own prayer lives becomes evident. Maybe they start whispering among themselves, as they often did:  “Hey, ask Him how to pray!” “I’m not gonna ask Him—that would be embarrassing! It’d be like admitting I don’t know how to pray!” However it actually worked out, one of them wrenches up the courage to ask Him: “Lord, teach us how to pray!” Not “me,” but “us”! So Jesus tells them how to pray. We need to pay attention here, church! To summarize, He tells them never to pray like they’re counseling God.

When You Pray

He told them: “…you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, Your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one…” —Matthew 6:9–13 If you were to underline or highlight any of Jesus’ words here, I’d go back to: v.5: “…whenever you pray…” v.6: “…when you pray…” v.7: “…when you pray…” v.9: “…pray like this…” Over the next couple of posts, we’ll dig deeper into Jesus’ instruction about prayer. And—spoiler alert—Jesus makes it clear that God doesn’t need us to tell Him what to do. That’s not prayer! Don’t hang out a shingle and try to be “God’s counselor.” Jesus tells them that prayer is how we align ourselves with God’s sovereign plans.
 

Honoring Jesus With Our Gender

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The Culture Doesn’t Get It

We honor Jesus in our hearts when we obey Him with our lifestyles. And by our obedient lifestyle, we create curiosity. The answer the culture is giving about our sexual identity isn’t working—and it never will. But when we live sexually in obedience to God’s Word, we earn the right to share it when the world gets curious—to share with them the Gospel and God’s purpose for gender. This is difficult subject matter! It’s layered with lots of abuse and painful injuries dating all the way back to the Garden of Eden, and it’s just not easy to jump into without laying a foundation of understanding, empathy, and love.

Say It With Empathy & Love

And that is what the world needs from us: understanding, empathy, and love. It’s simply not helpful when, instead, we offer them self-righteous judgment and vindictiveness. So, let me try to unpack some of the main points from the first two chapters of Genesis—especially as it relates to gender and sexual identity. We need to take note of some of the implications it has for our homes, our families, and how it plays into our child-rearing. Keep in mind, from an interpretive standpoint of the text, that Genesis chapter 1 presents the “big picture” of God’s creative act, and chapter 2 fills in the details. Chapter 1 is like the Super Bowl headlines the day after—“Patriots Win the Most Boring Super Bowl Ever”—and chapter 2 is like the story that fills in the details of how the Patriots pummeled the Rams into submission.

What Shapes Our Opinions?

Let’s also remember the most important detail as followers of Jesus Christ: when determining our roles as men and women, God’s Word must shape our opinions—not the culture! And perhaps the most significant point of the text is that God created humanity to reflect His image: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth’” (Genesis 1:26). God created humanity to function as His living image over the creation. And I believe it’s correct to interpret “man” here as “mankind,” including both man and woman. I believe the next verse bears that out—God created humanity to bear His image as male and female.

God Created Maleness & Femaleness

The text says:  “So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female” (Genesis 1:27).  Our “maleness” and our “femaleness” are essential parts of being God’s image-bearers. Somehow—and I don’t want to get weird here—but somehow it seems that God is saying it was in the complementing or the completing of the man with the creation of woman that humanity was created in the image of God. That image wasn’t clear or evident until woman complemented God’s creation of man. So here’s my plea: Men and women—we need each other to correctly image God in His creation! When we grasp the significance of that, we’ll begin to glory in both manhood and womanhood. Together, we are God’s intentional design of human diversity!
 

God’s Glory Is A Big Deal

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The Beauty Of His Character

God deserves all glory because He alone has designed everything, and His name is on everything! It’s His name that adds value to humanity and to the rest of creation! So, when we speak about God’s glory, we define it as “the essence and beauty of His Spirit.” We’re not referring to His material or aesthetic beauty—like we typically define human beauty—but to the beauty of His character—to all that He is! John Piper defines God’s glory as “the manifest beauty of His holiness.” Holiness points to His absolute “uniqueness.” 

The Goal Of All Things

He is one-of-a-kind! He is in a totally separate class all by Himself! There is no other God like Him! “O nations of the world, recognize the Lord, recognize that the Lord is glorious and strong. Give to the Lord the glory he deserves! Bring your offering and come into his presence. Worship the Lord in all his holy splendor” (1 Chronicles 16:28-29, NLT). God’s glory is a really big deal to God, and it’s a big deal in the Holy Scriptures! The goal of all things is God’s glory! And I’m not overstating that one iota!

Creator and Creation

Let’s not forget that there is God and there is everything He created! That’s it! There is nothing else! And in the original creation—before sin—God declared that all of creation was good! Why? Because all of creation reflected God’s beauty, so it all brought Him… glory! In a similar fashion, we say that an artist’s painting is a reflection of the artist, and the artist’s work brings him a certain “glory!” God has blessed humanity with certain creative abilities, but they’re all small “c—creative” because all mankind’s creative abilities were received from the capital “C—Creator” God. So, every “artist”—who is a true disciple of Jesus—will redirect all praise received to Creator God! In part, that is one way that we bring God glory—by redirecting all praise and compliments received to God who created us with those abilities! We acknowledge that whatever talent or ability we have is on loan from God! It ultimately belongs to Him! Our greatest preoccupation must be with God’s glory because that’s our reason and purpose for existence!

Mandated To Give God Glory

Here’s an observation from the 1 Chronicles 16 text: the writer, King David, was inspired by God’s Spirit to offer this mandate regarding God’s glory. This is an imperative or a command to “declare God’s glory” (v.28). When David became king, he determined to make worship a priority again in Israel. One of his first acts was to return the Ark of the Covenant, which had been neglected under King Saul, back to Jerusalem. In the process, David preaches this great message that is included as the inspired Word of God. That means it’s authoritative—not because David said it, but because God inspired him to say it! So, “declare God’s glory,” he says! Don’t just study it and keep it to yourself. We’re commanded to declare it, and that’s a general statement that means to declare it everywhere to everyone.

The Glory Due His Name

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About New Year’s Resolutions

Why do resolutions at the start of a new year rarely work? I recently did a Google search for “New Year’s Resolutions” and came up with 18,600,000 hits in 0.54 seconds. There are more than 18 million articles, blogs, posts, sites, and news stories dedicated to the subject of New Year’s Resolutions! What does that mean? Well, I’d say, among other things, it means that people are always longing for change! They’re looking for strategies and formulas to help them eat less, exercise more, quit smoking…yada, yada, yada! Can I make an observation?

The Problem With Self-Focus

Full disclosure here—I am NOT against “New Year’s Resolutions”! I am not against “self-improvement”! But, I’ve come to believe that the reason New Year’s Resolutions and other methods for self-improvement aren’t very successful is because they’re all “self”-focused!  As a Bible believer and disciple of Jesus Christ, I agree with the doctrine of man’s fallenness. I see the depravity and brokenness in my own life. I’ve learned that I can’t trust my fallen nature, so I’m not surprised by my inability to keep promises and resolutions to myself. I need help. I need a Savior. Here’s what I’ve seen in my life and the lives of countless others through the years—when I quit focusing on myself and focus my heart, my thoughts, and my energy on Jesus Christ, change begins to happen.

What About God’s Glory?

Personal change happens when I stop being absorbed in myself and look at Jesus over and over again—meditate on Him and memorize His words. For change to take place, our greatest preoccupation must be with God and His glory. We exist for His glory. So, if we don’t live our lives for His glory, we miss our purpose, or our very reason for existence. We live a wasted life. I don’t like the sound of that, and I’m sure you don’t either. Preaching on the doctrine of “God’s glory” is difficult because it’s as deep as God’s character, which is eternal, inexhaustible, and indefinable. It’s also difficult because it’s easily misunderstood—“Why is God so concerned about His glory? He must be some kind of glory hog!” And then, it’s difficult to understand the part we play in bringing God glory, all of which means that we don’t really know how to define it adequately, do we?

A Working Definition Of Glory

Let me try to illustrate “glory” for you. While stopping at a store in Hollywood, Christian music artist Lecrae pulled a very ordinary, plain cotton T-shirt off a rack to check its price. Thinking it must be mismarked, he pulled another one only to find the same price on the tag. Incredulous, he approached the sales clerk to question the exorbitant price of $640. He was told that was the “special” sales price! When he asked what could possibly make it so special, the clerk said, “It’s the designer’s name on it that adds value to it.” Get the illustration? The reason God alone deserves all glory is because He’s the designer of everything. His name is on everything! And it’s His name that adds value to it! So, when we speak about God’s glory, we define it as “the essence and beauty of His Spirit,” or the beauty of His character.
 

Worship God Rightly

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An Example of Biblical Worship

It’s been my experience that many, who claim to be followers of Jesus, do not worship God rightly. I’ve found many who claim to be worshipers, but their worship fails to resemble what God commands worship to look like in Scripture. A great example of biblical worship can be found in King David’s Holy Spirit-inspired message to Israel about proper worship. Just open your Bibles to 1 Chronicles 16 and you’ll see what I mean. Among other things, David commands the congregation to worship God with their offerings: “…ascribe to Yahweh the glory of His name; bring an offering and come before Him. Worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness” (v.29). Don’t come to worship God empty-handed!

Stewards! Not Owners!

Remember that we are stewards and managers of God’s stuff, not OWNERS! God owns all of our stuff! We’ve been given the responsibility to manage a portion of God’s estate. God is the owner of it all! And worship has always included an offering! David also led Israel to worship God for His creation— “…the world is firmly established; it cannot be shaken. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice, and let them say among the nations, ‘The Lord is King!’ Let the sea and everything in it resound; let the fields and all that is in them exult. Then the trees of the forest will shout for joy before the Lord, for He is coming to judge the earth” (vv. 30-33). All of creation— the heavens, the earth, the sea and everything in it; the fields and all that is in them; the trees of the forest— all worship Yahweh, David says!

The Very Rocks Would Cry Out

At Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, when the Pharisees told Him to rebuke His disciples for giving Him honor as Messiah, Jesus told them that “…if they kept silent, the very rocks would cry out…” We are called to worship God for the wonder of His creation and for the wonder that all creation worships Him! And then, David instructs Israel to worship God now because they’ll be worshiping God for all eternity— “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His faithful love endures forever. And say: ‘Save us, God of our salvation; gather us and rescue us from the nations so that we may give thanks to Your holy name and rejoice in Your praise. May Yahweh, the God of Israel, be praised from everlasting to everlasting” (v.34). We don’t know a lot about heaven, but worship will be part of it!

Worship Beyond Imagination

It’s a clear sign that a believer hasn’t spent a lot of time in prayer and the Word— seeking after God— when they express fear that an eternity in heaven may get boring! After a billion years, we’ll still not know our God completely! But I’m certain I will find Him more fascinating than all the Super Bowls and Star Trek reruns I’ve ever watched! As David finished his sermon, the text says that all the people said “Amen” and “Praise the Lord” (v.36).  And there was great joy as God dwelt with His people. The disciples also had great joy as God, the Messiah, dwelt with them during his three-and-a-half-year ministry leading up to the cross. In heaven, Revelation reveals that “God will dwell among us”; forever we’ll worship Him!