The Crucible
Eddie Taylor and I had a marathon breakfast meeting this morning that was a wonderful time of cross pollinating. You know the kind of discussions where one person plays off the last words of the other. It was wonderful! As we talked, I began sharing about my new granddaughter (what else?) and how I have marveled at the transformation of my daughter from single college girl, to wife and now mother. Those kinds of transformations where we move from getting little sleep because of college exams, to getting little sleep because of business deadlines, to getting little sleep nursing a growing, demanding little dependent! The dependent might save you a little at income tax time, but you certainly pay for it the rest of the year. When you back away from it, you have to wonder, how do people change in such a radical way so quickly? I think it's a study in grace. It has to be the grace of God. Family, while a God idea, is a crucible. A crucible is defined as, "a severe, searching test or trial". Obviously, in metallurgy it speaks of the melting of metal into a different shape for a different use. Now that's family! While that may seem negative, it is the place champions are made. It is the address of losing one's life in order to find it. If you are struggling with your marriage or family right now...how do I say this delicately....suck it up! The heat you are feeling today has the potential of either destroying you or fashioning you into greatness. The greatness will only come by allowing and even welcoming the fire. Then comes the discovery life as we never knew it could exist. Ask Him for great grace and proceed.

Good Friday?

As a kid I used to struggle every Good Friday. Everyone seemed to be so happy about it. In the South it was always the most beautiful time of year. Actually, for about two weeks, we live in the most beautiful place in the world. The azaleas and dogwoods are in full bloom and new neon green leaves are popping out of every tree and plant. If it weren't for all the runny noses and bloodshot eyes from all the pollen, it would be just about perfect. Good Friday was also the day that my Mother insisted that her garden be planted! I couldn't figure that out. What in the world did Good Friday have to do with planting a garden? However, my Mama put us all to work. Days prior she usually hired someone to plow the one acre field directly behind our house with a tractor. They would set the rows just right, ready for the seeds and plants. This was a big garden with corn, tomatoes, potatoes beans and peas of all varieties and all kinds of other veggies. She would take us all out there for planting day. It was such a chore for me but Mama was probably never happier than on this day. She loved dirt! She did until the day she died. Even when she moved to more of a "city" location, she still would dig up a little bit of her lawn and plant stuff.

Why did I struggle with Good Friday? Because when I became old enough to understand the story of Easter, it struck me. Good Friday? This is the day they nailed Jesus to the cross and he died there! What's so good about Good Friday, I thought? That's the day the world killed Jesus when only a few days before they hailed him as King and shouted, Hosanna, Hosanna, blessed he is who comes in the name of the Lord"! What's so good about it? Let me tell you what's so good about Good Friday. This is a celebration of the day when all of Heaven's visions would be set into motion. This is the day that all the types and shadows would end. This is the day when all the arguments would cease and Jesus, the Lamb of God would step from the background to become the center of history of all mankind. Let me tell you why Good Friday is Good Friday. It's because Sunday is Coming!

Worshipping Worship

About ten years ago, my wife, Teresa, said to me, “I have a concern for the church world. I am concerned that we will see a day when we will worship worship instead of the Lord”. Since that day, I have watched as that very scenario has apparently unfolded.

Recently, a friend called from another State who is a part of a large church of several thousand. He said, “ I was at church today and the worship team was so wonderful that I was so caught up in the power of the music, the blend of the voices, and the powerful experience of the acoustics in the room that I suddenly realized, if we’re not careful, we’ll start worshipping worship.” I believe the Lord is trying to get us to see and avoid a snare that is very subtle. Most of us have been afraid to approach the subject in fear of being misunderstood or labeled as not “understanding spiritual worship at the deeper level”. With that in mind, please allow me to venture in where angels fear to tread.

Most pastors have had the frustrating experience of listening as a sweet couple or individual sat in their office explaining that they were leaving the church in search for a church where the level of worship met their needs. The obvious is often overlooked. As the beautiful worship chorus declares, “I’m coming back to the heart of worship, and it’s all about you…I’m sorry Lord for the thing I’ve made it…it’s all about you, Jesus.” Worship, while bringing personal edification to the worshiper, is not primarily for the worshiper but for the ONE being worshipped.

Personal worship is a time of intimacy with the Lord where we abandon ourselves in His presence, the bridal chamber, and we express ourselves in ways that only the Bridegroom can appreciate. In these special intimate times of worship, adoration, meditation and revelation, there is no awareness of anyone else because this is the time of intercourse where we are impacted by the presence of Jesus for spiritual reproduction.

Corporate worship, the worship of the Body of Christ, is not the same as that intimate time of personal worship. Here, in the presence of other believers, we must be aware of their presence. This thought is confirmed by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Church at Corinth. Paul says in First Corinthians 14:18, “ I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all;19 yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach others also.
Notice Paul’s words, “yet in the church”. There is a clear distinction between what we do in private in our personal worship than what we do in the corporate gathering of the local church. For example, we may pray in tongues in our private time but in the church, tongues must be accompanied by the interpretation so that the entire Body might be edified.

This distinction between activity of the individual and the corporate gathering should be examined and our practices in church critiqued in the light of Biblical standard. When we are in church services among Spirit-filled people where we all walk in the same experience and belief about worship of the Spirit, there must still be this preferring our brother as well as a conscious effort to make sure that all we do in the corporate service contributes to corporate edification more than personal edification. Again, Paul writes in First Corinthians 14: 26 “How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.” LET ALL THINGS BE DONE FOR EDIFICATION. I can hear the screams of some even as I write this, but I believe the screams come primarily from those who see the corporate church service as the place where they have their “tanks filled” by the experience of Sunday worship and have a weak or shallow personal devotional life.

Corporate worship should be a time where the Body of Christ ministers to the Head, Christ Jesus. Yes, worship should be powerful and Spirit led. It should be spontaneous and with participation of individuals who are led of the Lord in bringing forth Scripture, songs, hymns, prayers and the release of spiritual gifts for the glorification of God and the edification of the corporate body. The picture is one of an orchestra making beautiful music as a large number of people are so in tune that no one stands out and all are blended with a common purpose. Individuals will rise to the surface on occasion to deliver a “solo” of the Lord’s direction but quickly blend back into the group for the edification of all.

Worship leaders and worship teams must be especially careful not to interfere in this delicate act we call worship. Worship leaders should assist the group in worship, but not seek to “take the group” to worship. The worship team must be just ahead in order to lead but not too far ahead as to become professional worshippers that the church learns to watch and enjoy. This takes the focus off of the Lord God and places it on one or a few gifted people. A number of years ago, I noticed that the worship team, gifted musical artists , were enjoying their worship so much that they were far ahead of the Church at the same point in the service. The worship team had their eyes closed and they were moving in a level of spontaneous musical flow that was bringing obvious fulfillment to them. I turned and looked at the congregation and they had, for the most part, stopped worshipping and were watching and apparently enjoying the moment. The problem was that the worship team was certainly worshipping God but their level of worship had hindered the journey of the church.

An obvious question is asked at this point. “Shouldn’t a worship team always be challenging the church to rise to a new level of worship?” Good question! Here is the great challenge. Yes, the worship leader/team should be moving ahead in the never ending experience of discovery in worship of the Father. However, there is a razor fine line of leadership that when crossed leaves one out front but no longer leading. A good leader must know when and how far he can lead the group under his or her care.

I am not writing this as a definitive word on worship. Worship is a powerful dynamic that is a very important part of my life. I love the powerful worship times in the church where the Presence of the Lord flows through the congregation like a river. It is here where the gifts of the Spirit reveal the heart and directive words of the Father. It is here where spiritual warfare is waged. It is here where the soil is prepared for the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. In fact, this is precisely my point. For these things to occur, there must be an arrival into spiritual worship by the majority of the church and not a select few gifted artisans. May the Lord continue to teach us how we can become more complete worshippers in Spirit and in Truth.

Deceiving Yourself

I have often said that "man is the only living being that has the ability to deceive himself". We all go to such lengths to convince ourselves that we are right. In doing so we hedge ourselves off from the very circumstances and people who hold the key to our progress. If we don't deal with our weaknesses as well as continuing to strengthen our strong points, we will become imbalanced and eventually have some kind of fall. A major part of dealing with areas of weakness is understanding that we very well may be blind to those areas. Since we are masters at self deception that means that we learned early how to avoid or look the other way from our weaknesses and emphasize our stronger characteristics. It's a basic human instinct to "isolate and insulate". We remove ourselves from tough situations and honest people. We surround ourselves with that which is pleasant and people who always agree with us. History screams the reality of this kind of erroneous life building, from Hitler to the very one you are thinking of as you read this.

How then do we avoid the pitfalls that our own weakness can build? First, it takes brutal honesty with yourself. Winkey Pratney once wrote that we at least need to listen to our enemies, because they may be the only ones who tell us the truth. Granted, our enemies may be wrong and out for our harm. However, a good prayer to pray is, Lord, let me hear whatever shred of truth lies within the words of my enemy. If there is truth there, let me hear it. We need never fear truth. Once we mine the truth from the criticism, like the Father does with our sin, cast the criticism far from you while retaining the truth. There is only death in morbid self examination. There is no relief from being overly critical, only condemnation and immobilization. Then, take the truth from the criticism and bring it into the light of Scripture and with the help of the Holy Spirit, and allow them to change you accordingly. This kind of courageous self accountability will lead you to higer ground. After each such encounter, you will find yourself a new person. You will be "arriving" in an ongoing way and building on victory after victory. It is also important to build around you people of a love relationship who "truly love you". They love you enough to pat you on the back and say "well done". Boy, we all need that! They also love you enough to get you alone and say, "you need to take that to Jesus, I think you missed it there". As much as I hate to even write this, my greatest measures of growth have come from the "wounds of a friend".

May the Lord grant us the strong courage to do that which is possibily the greatest act of heroism, face our own weaknesses.

I salute you fellow soldier as we challenge those enemies not only "out there", but also those "in here".