In the introduction to this section, we discussed the book of Hebrews and how it taught us the superiority of the priesthood of Christ. He is our great high priest and our representative who partners with us by his blood, water and Spirit.
The book of Hebrews is all about the contrast between the Torah Law given by Moses and the covenant of the Spirit given through the broken body and blood of Christ. Our complete focus must be on Christ, however as Paul said we can learn from the Old Covenant Law.
When I mention the word worship what pictures come into your mind? To many in the modern church when the word worship is mentioned, we immediately think of a service where the focus is music and singing. I am not saying this is totally incorrect, but the view is limited in its outlook concerning biblical worship. Worship is greatly enhanced by music and singing to become an expressive action.
The simple definition of the word worship in both the Old and New Covenants simply means to bow down or to be humble before someone as an act of respect before a superior being.
I define true worship as the rule of the Spirit of God inhabiting the heart of man, where expressive acts of godly service are performed in complete surrender to the Father. Yes, this includes such acts as bowing down in humility of heart or lying prostrate before the presence of the Lord, but it can also be giving to the poor in obedience to Christ.
As I have already said in previous lessons, we live in a day when many things are trying to rule over our hearts. It is important that we understand that it is not a building from which God is seeking worship, but the Father is seeking worship from our hearts. John 4:23 states that our Father God is seeking true worshipers. He is not looking for the burning of incense or the chanting of songs. He is not looking for the blood of bulls or goats. He is not looking for a specific race, gender or color of people.
God is looking for hearts in all nations that are dedicated and offered up to Him in true worship so that He can inhabit and dwell as a Father in the hearts of His sons and daughters.
Let's take a look at the context of John 4 so that we can see the dramatic transition that Christ brought in regard to the way in which man would relate to the Father in regard to worship. The scene is set on a dry day in Samaria in a city called Sychar at Jacob's well, the son of the patriarch Abraham. Jesus was tired and thirsty, so he sat down by the well alone while His disciples went into town to get food.
The story starts with a Samaritan woman coming to the well and Jesus asking her for a drink. To say that the Jews and Samaritans had their differences regarding the facts of the way to worship would be an understatement. To begin with, the Jews regarded the Samaritans as an inferior race. In the same way that Gentiles were regarded as unclean based on their race, the Samaritans were considered half-breeds and looked at as worse than dogs by the Jews. Indeed, they had no dealings with one another and were separated by many centuries of deep hostility. However, the root of the problem was not just lineage, but over the way they both viewed worship.
The Jews built their temple on Mt. Zion where Abraham offered up his son Isaac and David originally setup his tabernacle then later Solomon built the temple. The Samaritans had built their own temple and built it on Mt. Gerizim, where they offered sacrifices according to their understanding of the Law. They believed that they had access to a means of acceptable sacrifice, validated by a long historical tradition, which gave them a legitimate claim on the God of Israel. From a Jewish perspective following the Mosaic law, this worship could never have been correct under any circumstances.
The rift between Jews and Samaritans was one of race, ritual and location.
It is through the Jews that redemption has entered into the world. Abraham, the father of our faith and of the Jewish nation, was separated from his family and called to the worship of Jehovah. The covenant made with Abraham separated him from all the nations of the earth and his physical lineage became God's nation among the nations to be Jehovah's chosen people. This nation, according to God's Word as Moses said, will be "my own possession among all the peoples...a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exodus 19:5-6). Thus, the very fabric of humanity was rent at that moment, as the Lord God separated unto Himself a people who would be different, somewhat exclusive and set apart for a specific purpose...This nation was the sole recipient of the revelations of God — His favor, His blessing, and His chastisement.
All other nations, in fact the rest of the human race could only relate to and interact with the God of creation through the agency and mediation of Israel. Israel was given the word of God, the temple, and the prescribed pattern of worship. The entire nation of Israel was to govern its social, political, economic dealings and worship around the Torah Law given to Moses and worship at the temple. A departure from the prescribed pattern of Law was the basis of punishment and even death.
The Jewish nation was instituted by God to be a vehicle to display His glory to the nations and be His own special people in the earth.
It is in this context of Jewish and Samaritan worship that we need to take a look at the encounter of Jesus and the Samaritan woman. Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well was significant to give us an understanding that Christ, redefines worship in an even greater way than David the messianic figure.
In the time of the Bible, getting water was a necessity of daily life and something the women did in the early hours of the morning before the heat of the day. It was a social occasion for the women of the village where they would exchange news and interact.
The woman in this story was at the well in midday and alone, which lets us know she was a shunned woman. Jesus asks her for a drink and the encounter begins. In John 4:9 it says, "The Samaritan woman, taken aback, asked, 'How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?' (Jews in those days wouldn't be caught dead talking to Samaritans.)" Jesus then begins to tell her about the Living Water he has available to quench her true thirst. When she requests to receive this gift, he then begins to draw her out to face the necessity of repentance so that she could receive the gift of Living Water. The first step to worship is a heart turned in true repentance.
The woman, once confronted with her sin, then turns to the question of worship. If Jesus could read her heart, could he not then answer the question of worship, which separated Jews and Samaritans for centuries? Jesus gave her a revolutionary answer and redefined the entire focus of worship. Jesus said to her, 'Woman believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall you worship the Father. You worship that which you do not know we worship that which we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.``' (John 4:21-24).
Jesus' answer was that the Samaritans did not have a clue about true worship. In addition, He declared that the Jews only had a partial revelation of worship instituted by the Law of Moses, which was merely transitory.
Jesus redefined worship by declaring that it was no longer a matter of location and ritual, nor did a person's racial history make any difference.
The New Covenant and its new worship instituted by Christ has been instituted for all nations. However, the center of worship is no longer captive to a physical location in the earth, but the earthen vessel of man is now a habitation of the Spirit of the living God. It was revolutionary to speak in such terms. The Jews spent centuries worshiping under the prescribed manner of the Law.
Now the Messiah in whom the promise of Abraham was fulfilled was saying the hour has arrived to break out of the box of the Law and its restricted worship.
The first martyr of the church Stephen declared: "The Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands as the prophet says: `Heaven is my throne, and earth is the footstool of my feet what kind of house will you build for me? Says the Lord." (Acts 7:49). How could we ever think that God could be put into a box? He is not bound to any geographical location: God is Spirit. It is the Spirit of God that is the common source of the body of Christ throughout the nations of the earth.
It was on the day of Pentecost when the church was birthed with the Holy Spirit that the confusion brought at the tower of Babel was broken. It was broken when the One New Man, the church made up of both Jew and Gentile with Christ as head, was born from above through the power of the Spirit.
At Babel, God confused man's language, but on the day of Pentecost, by the power of the Spirit, all who have been born from above, through Christ's blood covenant, have been united together by the unity of the Spirit.
It is only through the Spirit that we can be the true worshipers that the Father is seeking. However, to fully have the Spirit, we must also embrace with our whole hearts the truth. Paul said that in the last day's men would be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God (2 Timothy 3:4).
Postmodernism has saturated our age and even affected the church. Relativism has its typical catchphrases. 'That may be true for you, but not for me.' it all depends on how you look at it.' `Nothing is black and white.' Thus adultery, like beauty, is reduced to a function of the eyes of the beholder and sodomy is reduced to an 'alternative lifestyle.'
All values and judgments dissolve into a pervasive gray haze. That grayness is fatal to truth. It is the result of practicing relativism and mixing right and wrong, white and black, light and dark.
If we want to be the type of worshipers that the Father is seeking to have intimate fellowship with, then we have to become lovers of the truth. When Jesus confronted the woman with her sin, she did not run away from the light, but allowed the light to penetrate the darkness of her heart. In the same way, we must allow the Spirit to penetrate the innermost being of our hearts so that we have truth in our innermost being.
David, the most vivid picture of a man after God's own heart in the Old Testament, wrote Psalm 51. He wrote this Psalm after Nathan the prophet confronted him about his covetous action of adultery and murder. David, like most of us hid from his own heart, but when confronted he repented and wrote that God desires truth in our innermost being, and wisdom in our hidden parts.
If truth is not in our hearts, we are false despite all of our outward professions.
Truth is a spirit and it has to do primarily with our spirit, our heart, our innermost being. To walk in truth is to walk in and by the Spirit of Truth. If we receive the Spirit and allow truth to dwell in our innermost being, then we will become the habitation of the Spirit and will be sons of God, who have intimate fellowship with the Father. False worship or idolatry will never satisfy the deep longing of man's heart, but only an open heart filled with the Spirit can produce the type of intimacy for which man is searching.
Covetousness fills the heart with earthly worship, but leaves our hearts thirsty. Covetousness leaves our hearts like the U2 lyric, which says, "I still haven't found what I’m looking for". Covetousness is a continuing searching yet never being filled. Like the man and woman in the garden, when the Spirit exposes sin, the human tendency is to cover it up or make excuses for why you are the way you are.
Religion is a substitute for true worship and always makes excuses. The strength of religion is found in legalism, or its antithesis lawlessness.
If you look at the writings of the New Testament, you will attest to the fact that it is these two realities that form the greatest battle to a heart dedicated to Christ. However, if you get down to the root of the issue: legalism and lawlessness come from the same source. That source is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which is one tree with two results. I hear it all the time. It's only white magic. Whether it is white or black it comes from the same satanic source. Let’s look at legalism first.
Legalism can be defined in many different ways. "Restrictive" would be one way that we can define the word. The woman at the well understood that, in her day, there were restrictions to worship in regard to ritual, location and race. Do we have any man-made restrictions on worship in regard to ritual and location today? When I mention the word church, what is the first picture that pops into your mind? If you are like most people, then the picture of a physical building pops into your mind. It may be an old white building with a steeple, an old cathedral or the dressed-up metal buildings of our modern places where believers gather many times today.
I am not in any way opposing the cultural norms that we have developed in regard to church buildings. However, there are great numbers of believers worldwide meeting together for fellowship in a variety of ways outside of traditional formats. Practically speaking many are following these "new paradigms" of organizational structure based on the cost savings of not having to maintain buildings or sharing facilities among multiple congregations. In addition, it gives a congregation the flexibility of not being tied down to one place. I am in no way saying that by simply throwing off cultural norms you are actually entering into true worship. At the same time, the majority of believers meet in what we label "church buildings" and many have a true understanding of worship not being bound by ritual or location.
I am challenging the mentality that worship is defined as a certain type of style and restricted to a certain physical location.
It has been my experience, and if you look historically at the church anytime, we think that we have God boxed in, He breaks out of our restrictions. It’s exactly what happened in the book of Acts. David's Tabernacle was breaking outside of the box of Jewish traditionalism.
David revolutionized the concept of worship and exemplified the king priest ministry of the New Testament.
The priesthood of the believer is about the Holy Spirit working through our lives to perform works of service and the Spirit giving us wisdom to implement the will of God. It’s a very simple focus upon the grace of God connecting us to the throne of the lamb in holistic worship dedicating our whole lives to Christ living through us. It’s the only way we can fulfill the original mandate given to man and fulfill our individual calling. It’s about being a part of the representative priesthood of Christ upon this earth. As a part of the priesthood of Christ we are earthen vessels made of the dust of the ground, but through Christ resurrection and our identification with Him through the cross we have been given His power. The cruciform life is to be no longer us living, but us living our lives by faith working through love.
Now when it comes to worship style it can vary depending on a group's preference and the cultural setting. I’ve lived in rural settings and many times people in rural settings tend to be more conservative in style than we find in a progressive city setting. The same applies to ethnic varieties of expression and then you just have different genres of music. We need basic guidelines, but the bottom line is that it is the presence of the Spirit, which is the distinguishing mark of true worship.
Worship style and physical location is irrelevant if it does not have the distinguishing mark of the Spirit! If we want to be true worshipers, then we must be carriers of the presence of the Spirit in our daily lives and corporate gatherings, since it is only the Spirit which sets us apart to be the children of God.
The picture below is a picture of the outside and inside of the tabernacle of Moses. It was all built according to the pattern given to Moses. In previous lessons we have talked about the Bronze Altar which was the beginning place of entering into the presence of God. It was the place of blood sacrifice and symbolized the blood of Christ shed for us on the cross. Then the priest came to the Bronze Laver and it was the place of baptism along with daily cleansing which is a complete identification with Christ through the water. Inside the tabernacle behind the first curtain was the Table of Shewbread, the Golden Candlestick and the Altar of Incense.
The Table of Shewbread had 12 loaves of bread that were daily replaced and represented the diverse twelve tribes united together as one nation of Israel. As the priest daily partook of the loaves it was the priest being a living representation of the entire nation. In the same way we are to daily take up our cross by eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ identifying with the cruciform life of Christ living in us.
The Golden Candlestick was daily filled with oil and gave light to the Holy Place and represented the need to rely on the Spirit of wisdom, understanding and his power for daily living.
The Altar of Incense as shown in this lesson was right before the curtain entering into the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the covenant was placed. The Altar of Incense is about carrying the presence of God through prayer, praise and our lives dedicated to worshiping in spirit and truth.
The nation of Israel’s entire existence was to be centered around the temple with its sacrifices and lifestyle of worship. The priesthood of the believer is about the Holy Spirit working through our lives to perform works of service and the Spirit giving us wisdom to implement the will of God. It’s a very simple focus upon the grace of God connecting us to the throne of the lamb in holistic worship dedicating our whole lives to Christ living through us. When we dislocate our worship from everyday life then it is possible to have a stronger identity and dedication to supporting a system of ritual instead of living a life of worship. As a result, far too many believers have a stronger identity to a physical location and style of worship instead of the person of Christ. The unintended consequences are a replacement of the presence of the Spirit in our lives to ritualism.
It is important that we maintain a holistic approach to worship that affects every area of our lives. Our worship cannot be restricted to a certain style, ritual or location. We must be carriers of the presence of the Spirit wherever we go. True revival is the church impacting all facets of society because we are carriers of the Spirit. One of the main things that keep us from the presence of the Spirit is legalism.
Legalism restricts, judges anything outside of established norms and proposes exclusion for those who refuse to submit.
I spent years judging others for not following certain styles of praise or ideas of church life. I still have my preferences when it comes to a certain corporate worship style and church life, but I realize it is my preference, so l give others the freedom to choose their preferred style. It seems that we have allowed divisiveness to enter into our worship of the Father, which should unite us. 1 am not talking about uniting around a particular style, but united around our surrendered humility of heart in worship of our one Father. We can all learn from one another, and no group has a monopoly on how to worship the Father since we are each unique.
Legalism causes us to judge by externals and put confidence in our own ability.
Legalism is a religious critical attitude no matter what form it takes. If we are filled with the Spirit, then we are going to give others the liberty to follow the Spirit. Jesus was not just filled with truth, but He was also filled with mercy. The Holy Spirit does not just convict of sin, but He also liberates the heart with freedom and flexibility. We need to give one another the freedom and flexibility to be themselves. The Holy Spirit uses many types of vehicles or ministries to reach people. The Spirit filled body of Christ is diverse, and if we are filled with the Spirit, we will recognize Christ in all of His fullness.
I have even seen believers become worshippers of the written word to the point of restricting the presence and power of God in our hearts and corporate gatherings. I had a friend who was ministering in India and the people were treating the Bible as an idol. To illustrate, while he was preaching, he threw the Bible down and stood up on it. That did not go over real well, but the point is that the Bible is surely God's inspired word, but the real word is the person of Christ. The written word is important, but the goal is to bring us into a personal relationship with the 'Living Word'.
The Pharisees were a picture of legalism. When we put a premium on style, outward appearance and legal form, then we have departed from the Spirit of liberty.
Paul, in opposing the legalist trying to bring external form over believers, states, "we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh." (Philippians 3:3) If anyone had a right to boast in lineage, dedication to ritual, and adherence to being a true Jew who adhered to temple worship, it was Paul. At the same time, Paul fought the legal restrictions trying to produce an external form of ritual and location, he was not advocating lawlessness.
The body of Christ is not a free-for-all, with every man doing what is right in his own eyes. Paul in teaching about when we are assembled together as a body in regard to spiritual gifts to "let all things be done properly and in an orderly manner." (I Corinthians 14:40) He does not lay forth a particular style, but he does set the parameters that we should not have chaos. Our personal lives should have order and our corporate gatherings need spiritual power, but cannot be without order. I am not speaking of a lack of corporate participation, but at the same time I am not talking about a free for all where anything goes. The churches, which are sanctified people not sanctified buildings that Paul planted eventually developed elders or pastors, which were spiritual overseers, who were mature facilitators of orderly corporate worship. We looked at legalism. Now let’s look at lawlessness in regards to worship.
I am going to define lawlessness in this lesson as mysticism. Legalists exalt form over substance while mystics tend to exalt subjective experience over truth.
In using the term mysticism, I am in no way discouraging the experiencing of visions, dreams, prophecy, angelic visitations and many other encounters that the Bible clearly demonstrates are to be activity for the Spirit-filled believer (Acts 2:16-21, Read all of the book of Acts). In looking at worship and lawlessness I am addressing the issue of allowing these many times subjective experiences to determine our doctrinal positions.
In Zechariah 2:9 we see a stone with seven eyes and then in Isaiah 11:2, in speaking about Christ he then lists the seven-fold anointing. The Holy Spirit gives us fresh insight, new dimensions of understanding and depths of wisdom. The Holy Spirit enlightens our hearts, opens the eyes of our understanding and leads us into all truth, which is found in Christ. However, exalting subjective experience over the word of truth is a pathway to the spirit of error.
We can never promote experiencing the presence of God as a replacement to sound doctrine, but as an aid and support to soundness of truth since Christ is both the wisdom and power of God.
The Samaritans set up their own prescribed way to worship, which totally contradicted the pattern God established through His word. There are guidelines for true worship. The question is, "Who determines them?" The options are that individuals determine them for themselves, church traditions determine them, or the word of God determines the prescribed guidelines for worship. If individuals determine the boundaries for themselves, then it would be left to each person's subjective opinion. It is easy to see that the end result would be chaos, which is what Paul had to confront in Corinthians. Therefore, we can conclude that there are some basic guidelines in regard to corporate worship to keep us from a free-for-all.
As I have previously said that we all have traditions, which are simply established norms. Different parts of the diverse body of Christ have established long years of church traditions in regard to corporate worship. 1 am not going to oppose such styles, as long as they do not become fences or veils that keep us from the Spirit of God. Worship is about entering into the presence of the Father through the one sacrifice of Christ by the descending power of the Spirit.
If church traditions keep us from the Father, Son and Spirit, then it is time to replace those traditions, or at the least put them in their proper place, which is subservient to the Triune God, not the other way around.
A number of people would have us believe that we need to emphasize the Jewish aspects of Jesus if we really want to have a correct image of Him. At the same time, there are others who say that we need to see the African Jesus or the South American Jesus. In Acts 10, we see that while in a trance the Spirit gave Peter an open vision demonstrating that the gospel is for all people and all nations no matter the ethnic background. It is interesting that it was actually during a time of prayer that the prophetic anointing opened up Peter's heart and as a result a new field of souls was harvested. The Spirit transforms souls so that they can be used to reach more souls for the kingdom of God. Peter was not in a church building, but he was on a friend's house or outdoor porch and then he was invited into another home where all the people came to Christ.
I will agree that, to understand Christ's writings, we need to understand the context in which they were spoken. The context is Hebraic or Jewish, but we do not relate to the Jesus that walked the earth, but the resurrected Christ at the right hand of the Father.
I have no problem with Messianic Christians, which are Jews that believe in Jesus however, I do have a problem with trying to make Gentiles into Jews.
This is the same fight the authors of the New Testament had if you read Romans, Acts, Galatians and other parts of the New Testament. I see a valid place for and support Israel since our Messiah will return to the Mount of Olives in the same way that He left, that’s in Acts 1:9-11. Then in Romans chapters 9 thru 11 it clearly declares that once the fullness of the Gentiles has arrived, the focused attention will be upon the Jewish people and nation of Israel, the final culmination of redemptive history before Christ returns. Jesus is going to rule the nations from Jerusalem during the millennial reign of Christ.
To not give the Jew his rightful place is anti-Semitic, but to over emphasize that place is antichrist.
We are beginning to see the 'One New Man' (Ephesians 3:3-6) assembled together, which is Jews and Gentiles joined together under the one covenant of Christ the Messiah. The church is a kingdom of priests 'called out' of all nations therefore, our worship of Christ is not subject to the invalid arguments of race. It really doesn't matter what color Jesus was and it doesn't matter what color you are. If you are focused around race, whether Jewish or any other race, you have been taken captive by idolatry. At the same time, if you have a cultural identity, it is okay to keep it and be who the Father has made you to be.
All ethnic groups are going to come and worship before the Father in this age and the age to come since He loves diversity.
However, we are to relate to the risen Jesus who broke the power of death and ascended to the right hand of the Father with all authority in heaven and earth. It was Paul who said in II Corinthian 5:16 that we are to no longer relate to Jesus after the flesh. He came in the flesh, but was resurrected with a new body, the first fruits of those who will be raised from the dead, and we are to relate with the resurrected Christ.
The only boundary that we have for corporate worship is the word of God. Yet, if you study through the New Testament, you will soon discover that the same God who is so specific about things that matter to Him and that are important for us has provided few details about the logistics of Christian assemblies or the style of gathering together as the royal priesthood. That silence suggests that we have freedom to develop the means by which we act as a united body of disciples, as long as we perform the functions of God's chosen ones in ways that comply with His general guidelines of behavior and the functioning body of priests.
We can never move beyond the word of God and exalt our subjective experiences above what the word teaches.
The word of God is to be our guide, but we should not allow it to restrict us into ritualistic legalism, which will hinder our creative expression. We have the liberty of the Spirit to be creative in our individual and corporate worship, as long as we are not violating the principles of God.
If the Bible does not forbid activity, then we have the freedom to be ourselves.
Like I said in the last lesson the New Testament does not mention the using of instruments, but it does not forbid the using of instruments either. Each culture, each body of believers and each individual has the liberty to express their uniqueness in how they worship the Father, expressing a heart of love, thanksgiving and good works.
Our covenant with Christ is the central focus of true worship. However, as we experience a living reality of His presence we will experience prophecy, visions, dreams and visitations of the Holy Spirit. However, power without wisdom can lead to mysticism and a departure from the foundation of our faith. We must be grounded in the wisdom of covenant to understand true worship.
In Matthew 7:13 Jesus said, "the way is broad that leads to destruction...and the way is narrow that leads to life." The harlot system of Babylon is a broad way where anything goes, especially if you can make a profit, but the end result is destruction.
The role of the prophetic ministry historically in the Old Testament and in the New Testament for today has been a call to lead people away from the pathway of destruction to the narrow path of life or the life of covenant. It is an oversimplification, but prophets in the Old and New Testaments deal with motives of the heart, and the end result is to bring forth a heart wholly dedicated to worshiping the Father.
Reading on in Matthew 7, Jesus then goes on to talk about false prophets who appear to be harmless, but they have a problem with their hearts. Jesus said that they are inwardly ravenous, producing bad fruit and spreading bad seed. It was the manifestation of Jesus the prophet, which gave the woman at the well a true understanding of worship; however, false prophets will lead us to false ideas of worship. False prophets lead us away from the simplicity of our foundation in Christ. You can see this especially in the occult and false religions, but l have also seen this happen to those within the church.
In Revelation chapter two, Jesus told the church in Pergamum that there were those among them who held to the teaching of Balaam. Balaam had a prophetic gift, but it was adulterated for profit. His motives became adulterated and when that takes place the fruit is ungodly counsel. He told King Balak that through the seduction of women he could cause men to break covenant with God through sexual immorality and therefore weaken the nation of Israel. One of the teachings of Balaam is the false teaching that grace is a license to sin. It is an attitude that we can mix with the sin of the world and not be contaminated. In addition, it is using your gift to manipulate others for profit instead of serving with your gift.
A false prophet, like any false ministry, will always have ulterior motives.
It has been my experience that prophets go AWOL when they start promoting mystical visions as doctrine. The result is leading people away from a simple devotion to Christ. It can manifest itself in two ways: either as a total disregard for any standards and structure, or they begin to become legalistic and domineering.
The ultimate goal of prophetic ministry is to bring believers into a deeper walk with Christ by equipping the body with the motivation of the Spirit to fulfill the Father's heart. The prophetic gift, like any other Ephesians four gifting, is to impart an aspect of Christ into the life of the believer. Christ the prophet is a foundational gift, which is supposed to lay a deep understanding of covenant relationship in the believer's heart. This must be foundational to the gifts of the Spirit in operation in our lives. The result will be a heart of worship dedicated and submitted to the Lordship of Christ so that when we operate in the gifts, we have pure motives.
The essence of wisdom understands intimacy and spiritual union, which is the result of covenant. Proverbs 9:10 states that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and the word "fear" simply means reverence. To have wisdom, we must have the reverence to put God first in our lives. The narrow way of wisdom leads to life because wisdom reverences covenant.
The only two traditions or rituals we are commanded to keep in the New Testament, if you want to call them that, is water baptism and the keeping of the covenant meal which we call communion.
Water baptism resembles the marriage ceremony while communion is a display of our continued commitment to our covenant partner's death, resurrection, ascension and return to this earth, but also to the community of covenant keepers. It is the understanding that worship is both vertical in reverencing Christ, but also horizontal in serving others; it's the cruciform life of Christ living in us. Read through Proverbs 9 as wisdom is personified. It says that wisdom has "mixed her wine: She has also set her table..." She then says to, "Come, eat of my food, and drink of the wine I have mixed. Forsake your folly and live and proceed in the way of understanding." The narrow way of life is abiding in Christ, our covenant partner, and communing with a heart of humility with His body.
In looking at the tabernacle of Moses, we can see that it was the center of worship for the Israelites. Moses was told to make it according to the pattern or blueprint that he was shown. One point I want to make about the tabernacle is that it was built by the enabling and equipping of the Holy Spirit upon men.
God did not just come down and build the tabernacle, but He partnered with frail humanity. He blessed the work of man’s hands to build his dwelling place.
It says of the main man who constructed the tabernacle that he was filled "with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding and in knowledge and in all craftsmanship." (Exodus 35:31) In the same way, God is using the gift of the prophet, which is an anointed servant to build into the church a foundational wisdom of how to live a life governed by the Spirit.
God was showing us His wisdom, that He does not just want us to have a visitation, but He wants the intimacy and spiritual union of habitation. The tabernacle, unlike the Temple of Solomon, was always on the move with the cloud by day and fire by night, which symbolizes our lives being governed by the Spirit. The Tabernacle of Moses along with David's Tabernacle points to this present age, which is the kingdom of God manifested in and through the church. However, the Temple of Solomon points to the outward manifestation of the millennial kingdom introduced at the return of Christ, which will be both visible and a more permanent aspect of the kingdom of God centered in Israel.
Habitation in our own hearts and corporately is produced through the humility of wisdom.
Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River which is the lowest river on the face of the earth, literally 1,200 feet below sea level. If we want to have the Spirit upon our lives, then we have to learn to walk in the humility of total surrender. The Spirit of wisdom descends down from above and it is "pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy." (James 3:17)
You know when we think of prophets, we normally think of powerful manifestations of prophecy, visions, dreams and the word of knowledge. Powerful manifestations are part of the prophets calling, but an important virtue we many times overlook is the Spirit of wisdom manifested through the prophetic gift, which is foundational in building the church.
God sent Elijah to bring the nation of Israel, who had apostatized to false worship, back to the covenant. The central problem Elijah faced was a people who had departed from an understanding of covenant to the false worship of idolatry. If you look at all of the Old Testament prophets, you see a clarion call to repentance and a return to the God of covenant. Elijah understood the covenant and any true prophet will understand the covenant of Christ and minister out the heart of the Spirit of Christ.
The purpose of the spiritual manifestations through the prophetic ministry is to bring you into a deeper respect for the work of Christ and produce a deeper worship of the Father in your heart.
If a prophet's gift is not producing this fruit, then you have a right to question the gift and motivation. The word of God says do not despise prophesying (I Thessalonians 5:20-22), but it also says we need to test every prophecy, vision or dream. The reason we test prophetic experiences is because within a prophecy, vision or dream is the power to reproduce after its kind. It is the spirit behind the words that gives them life or death. Look at Acts 16:16-18 and you will see that the words of this fortune-teller were correct, but the spirit behind the words was demonic.
It has been my experience that prophets, which do not have consistent fellowship in the context of a community of believers, can go off into error. The prophetic gift, if not tempered with much humility, will lead to abuse. A true prophet will be one who understands the humility of submitting to one another in the fear of the Lord. A prophet who does not mingle with the sheep in humility will become a predator who feeds on the sheep.
The problem with ministers falling into sin is not necessarily a lack of authoritarian accountability, but a lack of transparent fellowship with other believers. The prophetic gift is best nurtured, cultivated and matured in community. I have known those with prophetic gifts submitted to a presbytery without transparent fellowship end up in a ditch. Accountability to a presbytery is good, but it is not a cure to keeping people from high altitude disintegration.
Prophets experience highs and if they do not understand the humility of transparent fellowship found in community then they will always depart from the pathway of life.
Humility of heart helps you to recognize your own frailties keeping you from the sin of pride, which is the pathway to deception. In the life of a community where humility is practiced, there is room to learn, make mistakes, be corrected and grow in your gifting.
False prophets operate by a false wisdom, loving the preeminence and having influence over others. They turn hearts towards themselves instead of turning them to a pure devotion and dependence on Christ.
False prophets and for that matter any false ministry, turns people to themselves so that they can use them for their own purpose.
Instead of walking in the humility of wisdom, they are operating in the mystery of lawlessness. Spiritual wolves are with the sheep for one purpose to consume them. Spiritual wolves are not present with the sheep to help them even though that is what they may publicly present about themselves. If we adulterate our gift for money or power, then we become false inwardly and hurt the sheep we are called to benefit.
False worship is putting other things in the place of God.
Matthew 6:33 tells us to "seek first the kingdom". It does not say second or third, but it tells us to put God first. When Paul the apostle came to the city of Athens, he was examining their objects of worship, finding many altars they bowed down to and worshiped many gods (Acts 17:22-31). He told them that they should not think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. Paul declared to these people that gods made with the hands and thoughts of man are no gods at all. We may look at this example and say these were backward people compared to our modern mindsets, however our modern world has much in common with the Greeks.
What are some of the things that the modern world worships?
Money, The Human Body, Sports, Sex, Nature, Relationships, Possessions, Occupations. None of these things are necessarily bad in themselves, but when they become the center of our attention they can become idols in our lives. An idol is something we give our time to, give our money to and put our trust in. An idol cannot save us, deliver us, or give us any lasting satisfaction, but takes us away from the One True God.
Worship changes us to be like the person or thing that we give our complete attention to.
There is a principle that when we behold without complete attention, we will be changed to be like that which we behold (II Corinthians 3:18). An example of this would be teenagers who worship a rock star and pretty soon they look, sing and act like the one they worship. This is what being conformed to the world means. It means our lives are controlled by an ungodly culture. Is there any distinction between you and the world? If not, then you are being conformed to its image. We are encouraged in II Corinthians 10:5b to bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. It is important for us to do this if we are to worship God in spirit and in truth. If we will give our hearts completely to God and worship Him, then the Spirit of the Lord will change us to be like Christ (II Corinthians 3:18).
True worship will bring spiritual and moral growth to our lives, because true worship is giving our whole heart to God.
We are to be those who worship God in the spirit and put no confidence in the flesh. God is a jealous God and loving Father who knows that idols cannot satisfy the deep longing of our hearts. Worshiping the Father in Spirit brings life and lasting fruit. If we will yield ourselves to the Spirit of the Lord and humbly submit to Him, then we will be changed more and more into the likeness of Christ. The more we humbly bow in complete surrender to the Lord, the more we will sense the liberty of the Spirit. In this world there will be many temptations to worship other things, but as New Covenant priests we are called to worship the Lord only.
If you enjoyed this lesson, then please subscribe to my YouTube channel, Foundation Publications, so I can reach more people and you will be notified when I post more videos. Please share this information with your friends on any social media platforms that you may use.
Next Lesson: Lesson 28 - Part I The Sacrifice of Prayer
コメント