Worship 20 A Lift for the Heart

[HKHaugan]

It's one thing to believe, it is another to trust and still another to act. This is why Paul tells Timothy to get immersed in Scripture because it is not only good for teaching (it prepares the mind) but also for rebuking and correcting, which deals with the key target, the sin-conditioned heart. When the heart is redirected by the Word it follows that our spirit can be trained for righteousness (acting in faith) by the Holy Spirit.

A while back I was watching one of those doctor programs on TV. This one centered on a young resident physician, a brilliant medical school graduate going through his residency in a general hospital. He was first in his class, full of energy and expectation, thoroughly believing in what he wanted to be. He was on top of his education and impressed those who had trained him and given him glowing recommendations. Now he was learning how to put it all into practice. Day after day he made his rounds with other residents diagnosing, conferring and dealing with the individual needs and personalities of his patients.

One day he was late for his rounds and the chief resident in charge of training looked for him. A nurse mentioned seeing him headed for the stairs. He found him there on the landing between floors sitting down against the wall, head in his hands. The chief resident asked him what was wrong and the young resident said, “I know I've done everything right but what nobody told me was, I had to deal with people (emphasis on 'people').” He had all the learning down right but what he found was the inability of his heart to handle the reality of what was in his patients. They were people. His heart was threatened by what he couldn't really grasp or control, the inner workings of the persons he was there to treat. His heart was blocked and his spirit frozen. There was more to medicine than belief that knowledge of the body was sufficient. He had to face his own heart and his own spirit as well as the hearts and spirits of others.

This is precisely where Paul helps us when he tells Timothy that all Scripture is “God-breathed” and can be the foundation for training not only the mind but the heart and spirit as well (2Tim.3:16). When God breathes He is breathing His Spirit into Scriptures' words as you read it and follow it. The Lord is exposing the self-centeredness in the heart to be confessed and repented of and restoring its focus. To put it in 'computer-ese,' the Lord is rebooting the mind, heart and spirit---our belief, trust and faith---to function as His disciples in the secular world of people.

So how does all that work for us? This is being written on the second day in Lent which is the season we reflect on what is really in our heart's need for reopening and refocusing. Lent is a time we get honest with ourselves and face the roots of our human condition, sin and its fear and pride working on our aloneness. It's not about the big fears, the big issues of the world or any really big thing that we need to deal with. It's about the little things that niggle away at us from day to day. Our momentary desires and temptations, the wandering mind, the things we wished we hadn't done and the things we left in the closet undone. Yesterday's wishes and today's agenda. It's about the shoulda's and the coulda's and the woulda's. If there are 'biggies' then those too, but it's usually the constant little things that besiege us and lead us to think we can be in control of.

But Lent is not a time to beat up on ourselves. Rather it is a time to relearn the substance and location of worship which is to practice right where we are what we receive from the Spirit's redirection after we have been honest with the Lord and ourselves. It's about our attitude, who and what we are really serving, which is our worship, and how to change it from being self-centered to Lord-centered and outer-directed to serving Him.

For the Lord Jesus this is the high road. His approach is always positive. In the commentary part of His Sermon on the Mount He says, “Ask and it will be given; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you (Mt.7:7-8).” He goes on to say that our Heavenly Father wants to give us the gifts necessary to live life to the full, so ask Him. This is when faith kicks in and we step out to do for others what we would like to happen to us (vs.9-12). The emphasis here is on the needs of others, not on getting back because we have done something good but simply doing it regardless of whether or not we get a return. God loves them. That's reason enough.

The point here is that personal worship is a daily attitude of asking, seeking and knocking. It's practicing with the mind, heart and spirit that everyone we meet is an image of God whether or not they believe in Him. It's our job to discern where people are and love them, that is obey God toward them so that they can be led to the Lord, see Him and hopefully receive Him. That may take time, effort and spiritual discernment but it starts with our perceiving them immediately as God's images we have been given the privilege of sharing with.

Personal worship is also realizing and acting on the gifts of the Spirit. Spiritual gifts equip us with the perception and ability to discern, practice and set the stage for the Spirit to work on the hearts of those we are relating to while at the same time building in us the kind of character that matches our belief. It's up to us to practice obedience. Then we observe the work of the Spirit as a result. Remember, service is worship and worship is service (Mt.4:10).

There are over a thousand heart and heart related words in Scripture. 177 in Proverbs and Psalms (NIV) alone. The heart is where all the qualities of God are containable but also easily corruptible by sin. The heart is the target both of God and the devil. The prophets are frequent in their observation of its vulnerability and self-deception (Jer.17:9) and Jesus speaks directly to it (Mk.7:20-23). The devil attacks it with his demons and spirits. It's capacity for tenderness and compassion has endless potential but can only be realized in relationship to the One who made it and Who alone can fulfill it, fill it full.

Temptation is a heart issue. Temptation is why Jesus endured the wilderness for 40 days and nights and then faced the temptations to His heart that the devil thought he could capture by offering what he believed Jesus would most desire. Desire is a heart issue. If you think about the heart of Jesus you need to ask what could possibly tempt Him to give in. Remember He has limited Himself to living in a human body. What would Jesus most desire? We know God is love so wouldn't it be to have instant control and eradicate the sin that plagues the world with evil, disease and suffering? After 40 days of hunger and thirst, wouldn't it be easy to just say OK when the devil says he can grant that desire if Jesus would fall down and worship him?

But worship is a heart issue. Jesus loved His Father and us all too much to let human desire overtake Him. He knew who was tempting Him. So Jesus worshipfully says, “Away from me Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only (Mt.4:10).” It is Jesus who has a heart for our heart which is what His Cross brought into the world. The Cross showed the power of the Word through the Holy Spirit in Jesus. The Resurrection showed the power of the Holy Spirit that can bring us that same experience when we submit our momentary heart desires to Scripture. No one is without heart vulnerability, heart weakness and heart need for the Holy Spirit. Given Lent we can practice the essence of worship, realizing the presence of Jesus in our heart, the gift of His Word and the work of the Holy Spirit in giving us new birth and praising Him, thanking Him and seeing every next moment as a 'serving-Him-moment.' Is there a better way to worship?