A nice ride?!

People on a plane and people on a pew have a lot in common. All are on a journey. Most are well-behaved and presentable. Some doze, and others gaze out the window. Most, if not all, are satisfied with a predictable experience.

For many, the mark of a good flight and the mark of a good worship assembly are the same. "Nice," we like to say. "It was a nice flight/It was a nice worship service." We exit the same way we enter, and we're happy to return next time.

A few, however, are not content with nice. They long for something more. The boy who just passed me did. I heard him before I saw him. I was already in my seat when he asked, "Will they really let me meet the pilot?" He was either lucky or shrewd because he made the request just as he entered the plane. The question floated into the cockpit, causing the pilot to lean out. "Someone looking for me?" he asked. The boy's hand shot up like he was answering his second grade teacher’s question. "Well, come on in." With a nod from his mom, the youngster entered the cockpit's world of controls and gauges and emerged minutes later with eyes wide. "Wow!" he exclaimed. "I'm so glad to be on this plane!"

He wanted to see the pilot. If asked to describe the flight, he wouldn't say "nice." He'd likely produce the plastic wings the pilot gave him and say, "I saw the man up front.”

Do you see why I say that people on a plane and people on a pew have a lot in common? Enter a church sanctuary and look at the faces. A few are giggly, a couple are cranky, but by and large we are content. Content to be there. Content to sit and look straight ahead and leave when the service is over. Content to enjoy an assembly with no surprises or turbulence. Content with a "nice" service.

"Seek and you will find," Jesus promised. And since a nice service is what we seek, a nice service is usually what we find. A few, however, seek more. A few come with the childlike enthusiasm of the boy. And those few leave as he did, wide-eyed with the wonder of having stood in the presence of the pilot himself.

(Max Lucado, "Just Like Jesus", excerpts from pages 77-79, posted in the "Weekly Worship Word" by Ron Man on May 6, 2008)

Empty-handed worship?

Today I exchanged emails with a friend from my home church who was commenting on my recent newsletter. I wrote about a worship exercize we'd done in a School of Worship recently to teach the students not to come to God with empty hands, but to bring Him an offering of honor and praise. I've copied my response to her here.

Hello Kathy,
Thanks for your note and I also appreciated hearing your thoughts about empty-handed worship. Yeah, as I kept studying the old testament model for worship it occured to me that no one came empty-handed. They were instructed by God Himself to choose the best of what He'd given them and offer it back to Him. This was to teach them/us a lesson, not just a vain exercize, as we've both discovered. And yes, I agree that there is a big difference between having something in our open hands and actually giving it, offering it to God.

Two weeks ago I overheard a couple of students talking during an interactive project I'd given them. They'd been instructed to examine an old testament battle and answer 4 questions:

1) What did the enemy want?
2) How did the people respond? (did they seek God, etc.)
3) What did God say or direct them to do?
4) How was God glorified?

After answering the questions for an objective, old testament situation they were to apply the questions to their outreach team. Basically the project was for them to discern how the enemy was trying to put obstacles in their path so they'd be less effective or even neutralized as a team in their mission.

As a group they'd identified a number of different ways the enemy was trying to hinder them, but they skipped quickly over the second question and went on to the third by trying to reason out what God wanted them to do about it and how He might be glorified. Get the point here: they reasoned cognitively what they thought God would want them to do. They didn't ask or seek God about it, nor did they hear from God what to do about it.

At the very end I overheard this conversation:

"So, should we close in prayer now?" asked one student.
"Well, God was with us the whole discussion, wasn't He?" remarked another.
"Okay, then, 'amen'" said the team leader.
And several echoed "amen".

Do you see what I got so upset about?
Talking about things in God's presence isn't the same as talking with God about it and waiting for His response. Just as if I talk to another friend in your hearing about something you should know isn't the same as talking with you about it myself directly. What would you feel? Affronted at the very least that I assumed to know what you would want, even though I seemingly ignored you in the conversation!

Here again, I believe the enemy of our souls subtly deceives us into an ungodly reliance upon ourselves - our minds and our reasoning powers. When this occured in the Old Testament (e.g. David bringing the ark into Jerusalem, Act One), there were deadly consequences; a terrifying episode of how strongly God needed to remind His people to put their trust in Him, not in themselves. 2 Sam.6:7

When the class returned to discuss what they'd learned I gave them a stern reminder about the principles of seeking God and learning to discern enemy activity by the power of the Holy Spirit and hearing God's voice. It is something we need reminding of daily.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely upon your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path"

Prov. 3:5,6