Worship 8 When Worship Changes the World

[HKHaugan]

In this series on worship our aim is to see worship as a flaming arrow shot into the midst of all the distracting issues and problems we face in our families, schools, churches, communities and nation. Worship ignites an internal explosion, a confrontation and restoration of who and what is really important for us as disciples of Jesus. Distractions are whatever or whoever diverts our attention and action from the personal presence of the Lord. He and He alone can give direction as to how these are to be handled. It is He alone who can enter any situation through the people He calls in their midst. He starts where His disciples are in their personal locale. The world is us right where we live. When change begins in us it spreads into the world around us. True change begins with faith in Him. That's the way He has chosen to work out His will. How do we know that?

We have already referred to Jesus' mission in Galilee. It started when He was tempted to take part in all the world's issues. Imagine what it must have been like to be offered control of all the kingdoms of the world. No more poverty, no more hunger, no more disease, no more broken relationships, no more devastating storms and rough seas, no more dictators and cruel leaders, no more war and conflict, all of this when you are at the weakest physical point of your life. Yet, when the devil offered control over these very things we all want Jesus fired the arrows of Scripture at him, “Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only (Deut.6:13 in Mat.4:10).”

Jesus never looked for a cause. He was the cause. He never looked for a way to live. He was the way. He never searched for truth. He was the truth. He never looked for life. He was the life. He never looked for love. He was love. He never sought to be a leader. He was already a leader. When you look at success as the world defines it He was a failure. If you look at success in the Spirit He was success. He never looked for happiness and self esteem. He personified them. Given all of this the popular 'One Solitary Life' written by Dr. James Allen in 1926 helps us reorient ourselves:

He was born in an obscure village
The child of a peasant woman
He grew up in another obscure village
Where he worked in a carpenter shop
Until he was thirty

He never wrote a book
He never held an office
He never went to college
He never visited a big city
He never travelled more than two hundred miles
From the place where he was born
He did none of the things
Usually associated with greatness
He had no credentials but himself

He was only thirty three

His friends ran away
One of them denied him
He was turned over to his enemies
And went through the mockery of a trial
He was nailed to a cross between two thieves
While dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing
The only property he had on earth

When he was dead
He was laid in a borrowed grave
Through the pity of a friend

Nineteen centuries have come and gone
And today Jesus is the central figure of the human race
And the leader of mankind's progress
All the armies that have ever marched
All the navies that have ever sailed
All the parliaments that have ever sat
All the kings that ever reigned put together
Have not affected the life of mankind on earth
As powerfully as that one solitary life.

For Jesus personal worship, small group worship and celebration worship were His practice. He then is our example. Jesus and His Word are the Holy Spirit's flaming arrows shot into the midst of personal, social and political concerns that so easily distract us from His presence in the here and now, the spiritual reality we live in every day. The further away from our personal witness we stray the more the world draws us into its madness and the further away from God's will we find ourselves. It's imperative for us to see that the primary atmosphere in which we live is first spiritual and then material. Only a 'Holy Spirit-uality' can ignite His fire in us. The Holy Spirit is the One who brings Jesus into our consciousness, our every next conscious moment. 'Jesus-consciousness' is the work of the Holy Spirit.
The Resurrection of Jesus was not just an event that took place 2000 years ago. He is present right here, right now right where we are. God the Son has been, is and always will be. His presence exposes the radical difference between the secular world and the Kingdom of God. They are two entirely different spiritual realms. The One God who created all existence is the One God who became flesh, lived among us, was killed for His daring to challenge secularity with spirituality, then rose from the dead to be at one with us. Here is the beginning of real worship. He is here.

His presence calls for our immediate consciousness of Him to fulfill His will for us in the moment of our shift from the world to Him. That's what the Cross is all about. That shift of mind, heart and spirit from the secular world to Him is exercising the meaning of the Cross in our every next moment. Without the Cross there is no Resurrection and walking with the Cross in mind is our cross through which we not only experience our future resurrection but its present reality when we trust Him with every next moment. Belief, trust and faith are the substance of our cross. When that attitudinal arrow is launched into every conscious moment the Resurrection life happens and the Lord God gets the glory.

Taking up our cross is how we shoot an arrow of the Holy Spirit's fire into the sin that nourishes our self-centeredness. The Cross exposes sin's 'me-first' attitude. Sin is subtle in its tempting allure to approach everything with an immediate answer. The way we can tell sin is involved is we are not immediately letting the Scripture take the front seat. We probably are not praying about it either. Then too the spirit of fear enters the picture. We don't want to look bad or feel incompetent. We hate being put on the spot.

Sin works on the mind where its thought patterns seek to arrive at conclusions that can be justified apart from the Word of God. The temptation is rationalizing that I can handle anything and be my own person apart from God. Once that starts, the heart picks up on it and trusts emotions more than truth which leads to faith in self acting out whatever the mind thinks solves a momentary need. When this process goes to work in us we are open to whatever spirit of division the devil wants to inject. Then we find ourselves worked up about every social and political issue that comes along.

When political and social issues become more important than looking for God's will right where we are, it's at that boiling point the Cross holds us accountable to being humble before God and letting Him be the Lord of every issue which releases us to be a witness to and for Jesus. Our witness deals with the reality of where we live not where we don't live. If it's the Lord's will for us to go beyond that witness He will prompt us in the way it should be done. If we trust Him He will raise up witnesses for Him where the need presents itself. Each one of us may be the one He calls on to fill the vacancies in the political, economic and social vacuum. But it all starts with worship. Not my will by His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. This is why we rely on personal worship, group sharing and gathered worship to put our mind, heart and spirit in the kind of balance that serves Him and not the impetuosity of the moment, which could very well be the devil getting us off track.

Here's a piece of worship wisdom that fits these thoughts: “The Spirit of God uses the Word of God to make the child of God more like the Son of God.” (Rick Warren, “The Daniel Plan” Published by Zondervan, 2013)