Foundational Principle #6

Worship is 100% About God and 0% About Us

 I will extol you, my God and King,
    and bless your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless you
    and praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
    and his greatness is unsearchable. – Psalm 145:1-3 ESV

King David wrote the words of Psalm 145. As king, no earthy person had rule over him. He was the supreme commander, the top dog, a man of unmatched authority. Yet he begins this psalm with the phrase “I will extol you, my God my King.” David was recognizing and proclaiming, there was a greater king than himself. He is addressing God has his king. It is a phenomenal concept – the king was putting himself under submission to another King.

If King David submitted himself to God and understood the necessity to worship something of greater significance than himself, we must do the same thing.

Yet I am amazed at how often we gather on Sunday mornings and seem to think our meeting together is about us. We complain about the music or the service. We become critical of other people and we rarely like the pastors message. We have somehow come to the conclusion, worship is about us; our feelings, our opinions and our comfort.

David tells us God is the ultimate authority as he submits to the kingship of God. He says he will “Bless His name forever,” not just when it’s convenient. He states how “every day” he will engage in this activity and finally declares God’s greatness is “unsearchable.” The Hebrew word here is hard for us to translate fully but it basically means “beyond the realm of our understanding.”

My attitude surrounding worship is God – period. It isn’t about how I feel that day or even what problems I am facing. Those are legitimate issues, but isn’t worship. Worship is 100% God. I am putting myself into His care and I am submitting to His will because His greatness is beyond my ability to understand.

Our modern music used in our services often twist worship around to us and we sing about how God has done great things for me. The songs might mention the value God finds in each of us or how He gets us through the storms of life. Those are valid concepts, but they aren’t worship.

The pattern of Worship is what King David tells us in Psalm 145. Submit to Him as king or Lord of your life. Submit to Him and make it a point to do every day. Praise Him during the good days and the not-so-good ones. His greatness is beyond us – and that’s ok! Worship 100% and 0% about us.

Blessings My Friend

-jm

Foundational Principle #5

Most Problems With Bible Interpretation: We Don’t Take the Scriptures Literary Enough

 The birds of the air, and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas. – Psalm 8:8 NKJV

He is known as the “Father of Modern Oceanography.” You can see the results of his work if you look at a glob and notice the arrows in the worlds oceans. These are ocean currents and Matthew Maury mapped them after extensive observations. He was able to chart currents to determine the most effective route for maritime travel. His inspiration was this verse of Psalm 8:8 as he became convinced there were “paths” in the seas because as a Bible-believing Christian, he took this verse literally.

There are a number of times when a verse or concept found within Scripture was far ahead of the then-modern accepted truths. Ancient cultures had little idea of the Earth being a sphere suspended in empty space. It was often thought the Earth was a flat surface supported on pillars or possibly a large animal. But in Job 26:7, probably the oldest book of the Bible, the text plain indicates “He hangs the Earth on nothing.” The Hebrew here is emphatic – “nothing whatsoever.”

Isaiah 40:22 declares the Earth is a sphere stating “It is He who sits above the circle of the Earth…” Ancient Hebrew doesn’t have a word with the explicit meaning of sphere.

But some might say, “Doesn’t the Bible say the sun orbits the Earth?” They might point to Psalm 19:6 which says “Its (the sun) rising is from one end of heaven and its circuit to the other end.” However, modern astronomy teaches our sun does in fact move in space as our galaxy is in an orbit and the galaxy cluster we are in orbits. So, yes, our sun does infact move across the heavens.

When you reach a challenging verse and you struggle with it, remember, most of the time, the best understanding of the text is to accept it as written. You might not understand it all and may be unable to fully explain it, but usually, the straight forward literal reading of the text is the correct one.

Of course there are times within Scripture when it is not meant to be taken literally. The parables of Jesus teach a true concept, but they are stories, not descriptions of actual events. The story the Prophet Nathan tells King David in 2 Samuel 12 about the man with a single lamb, was used to confront David, not to tell him or us of an actual event.

Trust the Bible to mean what it says. Whether it’s the six days of creation, the exodus of Israel from Egypt, the conquest of Canaan, admonitions about Godly living the miracles of Jesus or anything else of Scripture, remember the best interpretation of the text is probably found in the simple reading of the text.

Don’t be afraid to take the Bible literally.

Blessings My Friend

-jm

 

Foundational Principle #4

The Text Is Never Wrong

The entirety of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever – Psalm 119:160 NKJV

 You don’t need to ask too many people and you will soon find the following idea. Many folks indicate they appreciate the Bible as a whole, but don’t think consider all of the Scriptures relevant or even true. They may point to the opening account of creation, describing it as a myth.  They will claim recent scientific discoveries disprove events as described within Scripture. Yet at the same time, still show a magnanimous respect for parts of the Bible, including many of the words of Jesus, and claim those are really the most important verses. Those other stories – especially those stories of the Old Testament – just aren’t vital to being a Christian.

But is this a correct premise? Has modern science disproved the Scriptures? The answer to both questions is an emphatic “No!” There are numerous books, articles, blogs and television programs which address these questions. It is not my intent to respond to those arguments as there are plenty of well-qualified apologetic teachers who can address those issues. My point is one’s mental commitment to the Scriptures.

From this verse in Psalm 119, the Bible makes a claim for its truth. When the psalmist says “The entirety of Your word is truth,” the claim is being made the whole Bible is valid. One section of Scripture is not more inspired, truthful or reliable than another.

If you enter into Bible study with the same commitment as the psalmist, then your foundation is built. You can read a text of Scripture and know for certain — this is truth. Just because it isn’t printed in red ink doesn’t make it less inspired, truthful, or reliable. There are plenty of verses in the Bible you may .find difficult or unclear. You might even say incomprehensible, but all your objections are putting your intellect above the Word. The Bible is still true even if you don’t understand it.

I have developed an interest in mechanical things and particular automotive repair. I perform most vehicle maintenance on our cars. But there are some things I just don’t understand how they work. An automatic transmission is one of those things. The transmission of our cars might be one of the most complex things we own.  Few people completely understand its functions. But the lack of understanding doesn’t keep us from using them. We trust them to work – we don’t know how they work – but we expect our car to move forward when we move the shift lever into “D.”  As the vehicle gains speed, we rarely notice as it shifts gears by itself.

Trust God’s Word. Even if you don’t understand it, even if it makes little sense to you, even if it seems archaic, trust it. Don’t ignore the Old Testament prophets or the Book of Revelation. Go into your personal time of Bible study with the attitude, “The text is never wrong.” God wants us to know His Word and over time, with this foundation of commitment, you will begin to understand His Word.

It may take a long time as there are passages I still wrestle through, but that’s ok! Go into the task knowing the text is never wrong just as the psalmist claims, “The entirety of Your word is truth.”

Blessings my friend!

-jm

Foundational Principle #3

Bible Study is NEVER a waste of time.

I will worship toward Your holy temple, And praise Your name For Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word above all Your name. – Psalm 138:2 NKJV

 How important is the Bible to you?  How important do you think it is to understand it?  Is reading and studying the Bible a worthwhile endeavor for you?  Is it worth your time?

I ask these questions because of a disturbing thing I have recently observed.

Too many people attending our churches spend almost zero time in the Bible.  Some might read a 300 word on line devotional, but even those people are the minority.  What’s worse is that many of these same people either grew up in a church or even attended a Christian college or university.  They attend church (mostly) and enjoy worshiping on Sunday mornings.  Yet they spend very little time in the Word.

My guess is most of those afore-mention church attendees would be highly offended if a pastor or church leader used curse words, especially if they were uttered from the platform.  This verse of Psalm 138 is just one of many verses that tell us how important His Word is.  It takes a higher position than even His own name.

One of the reasons why Biblical illiteracy has occurred is the lack of church leaders pushing, encouraging and teaching their attendees about the importance of daily Bible reading/study.  Shockingly, I have read a church leader discouraging the practice of the spiritual discipline of Bible reading.

Recently I was reading from Christian blog site I often peruse and I found an article with a catchy title that I assumed as satirical.  Sadly, it wasn’t.  Here is just one of the quotes from the piece;

Christians are wasting precious time excessively “studying the Bible” in groups and feeling quite content that if they’re practicing the “spiritual disciplines” at home that they’ve done their duty and can call it a day.  The modern-day church places a ridiculous amount of emphasis on studying the Bible.

What’s worse is the author is a pastor.  He leads a very large church in a large city.  At first I was mad at reading the article but quickly I became sad.  There are literally thousands of people sitting under this man who are being taught that Bible study isn’t important.  He further said;

It’s obvious, from historical observation alone, that one can be a sold-out, fully devout, willing to die a martyr’s death follower of Jesus and spend next to no time practicing the spiritual discipline of Bible study.

I would highly disagree with his statement.  I don’t see how someone could be a “sold out…follower of Jesus” and not spend serious time in His Word.

This is Paul’s admonition to Timothy about what pastors are supposed to do with those they are leading;

Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;  and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

– 2 Timothy 4:2-4 NKJV

Bible study is NEVER a waste of time.  EVER.  If you desire to be a follower of Jesus, if you want to have a “walk worthy of the LORD, fully pleasing Him” (Colossians 1:10), you must be in His Word.  It is through His Word that we able to hear His voice.  It is through His Word we are able to understand the world around us from a spiritual perspective.  It is through His Word we are able to know who we are and who God has called us to be.

The modern church has quite a few problems, but spending too much time studying the Bible isn’t one of them.