A Pure Offering

So this is my last blog, I would be remiss if I did not use this as an opportunity to offer some final thoughts on worship.  When we talk about worship  particularly in a corporate music based setting, its easy to get lost in the stuff of preferences, style, relevance etc and forget that it is an offering. Worship is an offering, a response to who God is, what He has done and what He is doing, and What He will do.  It is not something that is manipulated out of us.  It is not something that music makes us do.  It is a response that only we can give.

If we look at the law, God required offerings from his people.  Many of these took the forms of animal sacrifices.  God’s requirement for these types of offering was that they be pure, without blemish or defect.

In the last book of the Old Testament, the book of Malachi, God condemns the priests for the sacrifices that they offer to the LORD:

“A son honors his father, and a servant his master.  If I am a father, where is the honor due me?  If I am a master, where is the respect due me?’ says the LORD Almighty, ‘It is you oh priests who show contempt for my name. ‘But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’  ‘You place defiled food on my altar.’ But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’ ‘By saying that the LORD’s table is contemptible.  When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong?  When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong?’ Try offering them to your governor!  Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you? says the LORD Almighty.” Malachi 1:6-8

I read this passage last Sunday morning, sitting in my jeep, outside of Grace, nervous about the day’s events, wondering “What will people think?”  It felt like the Lord was giving me a gut check.    He was warning me not to offer Him something that was defiled.

What defiles our worship?

-The real objects of our worship:  There are many religious idols that bear a Christian label. For leaders the approval of the congregation can be the real object of their worship.  This can be a struggle for me.  Will people respond to the music? if they don’t what does that say about me?  What will people think if I do a song this way or that way? When I am thinking that way, I am not focusing on Jesus as the object of my worship and I am sinning.  Other objects can be: the worship leader, the style of music, the style of preaching  or the feeling you get from the “Sunday experience”. If the Object of our worship is not Christ and Him alone our worship will be defiled.

-The character of the worshipper:  You can’t lift your hands to God on Sunday and then use them to hurt your spouse.  You can’t praise God with your lips and in the next sentence slander your brother or sister and expect that to be a worthy offering to the Lord. He is not after our outward demonstration of excitement as much as he is after the purity of our hearts.

-The sincerity of our worship:   It is so easy to go into autopilot in our service to God. In regards to music worship, the songs we sing, we’ve sung a thousand times but because it is so familiar it’s easy to sing without engaging our heart and mind.

-The consistency of our worship: If we only tell our family, friends, spouse, that we love them when other people are around, what kind of love is that?  We may mean it, but is it the culture, pulse, rhythm of our life?  What we do in public should be an outpouring of what is happening in private.  If that is not the case in our relationship with God than our worship will be defiled.

Why does defiled worship dishonor God? It shows Him disrespect. Like the Prophet Malachi, we know good and well that we would offer world renowned leaders our very best. Yet we give the God who created those leaders less than our best, it is disrespectful.  What makes it sinful is the fact that This Sovereign all Powerful Ruler offers a pure transcendent Offering for us; His Son Jesus Christ.

The Old Testament points to, pictures, and foreshadows Jesus Christ. The Reason God commanded Israel to offer sacrifices without spot or blemish was because the sacrifice He would offer would be without spot or blemish.

This pure sacrifice was given for God’s enemies to make them His Family. That is what we are.  The Church is God’s enemies rescued by the blood of Jesus to become His Family and share Him with others.

In light of such a sacrifice HOW CAN WE OFFER LESS THAN OUR BEST?  HOW CAN WE OFFER THAT WHICH COSTS US NOTHING?

I say this because as Grace begins its search for a new worship pastor, it is crucial for the people of God to grasp the responsibility they have in entering into worship.  It is what you bring, not how much you like the songs.  It is what you bring, not what someone makes you feel.

It is what you bring, that you have and are able to give ONLY because of His offering for you.

As the church enters into this new season my challenge to you is to check your heart and ask yourselves the tough questions.

What are you worshipping both publicly and privately?

What kind of worshipper are you? Are you sincere? Are you pure?  Are you authentic? Is what you do on Sunday an overflow of what you’ve been doing Monday through Saturday?

If so, Praise God! Continue to embrace Him with all you have.

If that is not the case you need to repent.  Turn away from offering defiled offerings to God and be rendered speechless by His Offering for you.

Jesus Christ died as a sacrifice for our sins.  He rose from the dead and conquered death.  May that truth never grow cold in our hearts.  May it never fail to drive us to our knees and offer heartfelt praise and adoration. May we respond to God for who He is, what He’s done, What He’s doing, and What He will do in Spirit and Truth.

It has been an honor serving as your worship pastor these past several years.  I love you and pray that God continues to lead Grace to places where He will be most glorified.

 

Grace and Peace in the name of Jesus Christ!

Ben

The Gospel

Ben’s Letter

Dear Church Family,

I want to start by saying how much I love the bride of Christ.  She is beautiful in all her diversity.   Over the past 3 and a  half years I have had the privilege of being a part of Grace’s expression as the bride.  There have been seasons of joy, challenge, and struggles.  Through all of these things God has refined me both in my successes and in my shortcomings.  He has also granted me insight and acceptance into the way He has wired me.  Here are some things I’ve learned:

1. At the core of my being, I am a Pastor. This means I am called to preach His Word and provide spiritual direction.
2. I am “hands-on” in the way that I do ministry;  I am not content to supervise.  There is both beauty and warmth in joining my brothers and sisters in putting our hands in the dirt and helping people wrestle through the darkness into the light of Christ.
3. I have a deep burden for lost and broken people:  I am drawn to those both in and outside the church that society would cast away; the addicts, the lost, the broken.

There is no greater joy for me than seeing those who are down-and-out be resurrected into a new creation.

Discovering these things, I‘ve had to ask my Master, “What does it mean to follow You?” To be transparent, I’ve wrestled with this for nearly two years.  Through a conglomeration of various events and relational dynamics at Grace Community, I see how God is growing Grace, growing me, and shifting my fit and match with my staffing role.  Therefore, after much prayer, consultation with Godly counselors, and with the support and blessing of Heidi, I’ve come to the conclusion that my season at Grace as your worship pastor is drawing to a close, and a new season is just on the horizon.  Where and what this is exactly, I don’t yet know; but what I do know is that my Jesus has said “Go,” and- my choice is to follow.

With the support of the elders, my plan is to work through the summer, bringing stability and sustainability to the various teams I currently shepherd. It is my hope that you will join me in these coming months to pray and seek God’s wisdom regarding the next chapter in Grace’s worship ministry.  For those of you who are not currently using your gifting I want to encourage you to get involved in the mission of Grace.  If you are interested in being a part of the worship team, the creative arts team, our college ministry, come talk to me.  I want to help you find the right fit so that the presence of Jesus Christ will be manifested in this community of believers.

Please know that Heidi and I love you deeply, and this decision has not been made lightly.  We left our lives on the east coast to be a part of God’s mission here in the Northwest. We have weathered financial storms together where your generous giving extended my time of ministry here. For that Heidi and I can’t begin to express our gratitude.   But now there is a fork in the road and we must go in a different direction.  We are all called by God to follow Him; we are all His Family, related by the blood of His precious Son, our Savior, and Lord Jesus Christ.  So this is not a severing of relationship, rather a change of seasons.  We believe God desires something new in our lives in expanding His Kingdom through us. He also is preparing something new in Grace’s life as He expands His Kingdom through you, in you and among you.

It is my prayer that as we all transition in the coming weeks and months, that we will grieve, process, and look forward to our future. May we then anticipate joyfully what God has in store for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

Love and Grace,
Ben

All Powerful

Psalm 115:3 “God is in the Heavens He does all He pleases”

At the Gathering, I’ve been teaching about the nature of God.  That He exists as a community within Himself and invites us into that community, That He is all knowing and is aware of our deepest longings and darkest secrets.  This past week I taught on the fact that He is All Powerful, meaning He is in complete control and will have His Way in all things. This lesson was particularly meaningful to me because over the past few weeks I’ve come to realize that I struggle with this truth.   I believe in God, that He is in control. However in my actions, particularly when something threatens my security or sense of control, I don’t live like I believe that He is all powerful.

I’m reminded of Abraham and Sarah.  Sarah was barren and God promises her husband Abraham a child.  Rather than believe that God would open her womb Sarah tries to do God’s work for Him by getting Abraham to marry Hagar and get a son that way.

How often do we do that?  How often do I do that?  We plan and strategize, we create contingency plans and assess all the risks before making decisions.  Now I’m not saying that planning and strategizing is wrong.  It certainly isn’t wrong to seek guidance and counsel and count costs (that’s biblical) but when we don’t do these things with a posture of faith and surrender to God  our plans can become idols as we look to them alone for our security.  We don’t do this always out of pride but out of fear.  At least that was my motive.  But then I read this verse in proverbs…

Proverbs 16:9- “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes His steps”

I had stopped living as if I believed that God would establish my steps. When I lost my sense of control or life got discouraging, I reacted like I was on my own to figure things out. It felt like God was standing by waiting for me to get it.  I got anxious, fearful that I would blow it That His Work in me will somehow be thwarted by something I couldn’t figure out.  But when I read the proverbs and I read Romans I see that God uses EVERYTHING in my life to accomplish his purpose.  Because I am a new creation in Christ He takes every tragedy, mistake, heartache and uses it for His Glory and My good.

This in no way pushes me toward passivity in my life, quite the contrary.  It gives me a sense of boldness to step out with Confidence that my Dad is the King and He rules every place that I put my feet. So even in the face of uncertainty I hold on to Him all the more and let Him lead.   I will make plans, I will attempt  things for His Glory but with an open hand surrendering the outcome to Him.

How are you living?  Do you believe that God has you in the palm of His Hand?  Or are you trying to do things in your own strength?  Remember, Our Dad is the King lets no longer live in fear but walk in the confidence that we are His children and He will catch us when we fall.

Invisible God

Invisible God

What would you do if God physically showed up in your life?  Maybe you’re driving your car and take that extra glance in your rear view mirror and…there’s God in your back seat!  What would you do?  Maybe you are in your living room watching TV and… there’s God suddenly in your lazyboy!  Would your life be different?  Maybe you are at church on Sunday morning and all of sudden God shows up on stage with smoke and light and fire.  Would your worship be different?

Sometimes I get jealous of the Israelites in Moses’ time.  When God showed Himself it was visible.  People knew where God was.  He led them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.  When the cloud rested on the tabernacle the Israelites would stay put, when it moved they’d follow the cloud.  They had visible direction from God.

And still they forgot, still they complained, still they doubted, still they blew it.  Though God was visible, the Israelites were blinded to His presence by their appetites, fatigue, fears and sin. God delivered them out of Egypt and they would forget and question.  God parts the red sea and they complain about water.  God provides manna from heaven and they complain about not having meat.  I catch myself thinking “if I could just see God I know I would be different.”  But I’m guilty of the same thing.
As your worship leader I will confess that sometimes my worship gets buried under the layers of duty, anxiety, fear and the desire to please others.  These concerns make it easy for me to forget that God is present. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has struggled with this

When we forget the presence of God its easy to feel forsaken or that life is all up to us.  But the Truth is He is present.  In fact He is Omnipresent which is a fancy way of saying He is everywhere all the time. More so, if we are followers of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit dwells INSIDE of us.  We are His Temple, His dwelling place.  This realization should affect how we live, how we treat others, how we make decisions, how we worship.

So back to my question, what would you do if God physically showed up in your life?  How would you live? How would you treat others?  How would you worship?  I’d challenge you to maybe write down some of these things and then ask yourself the tough question: Since God is present  all the time, what is keeping me from living this way now?  It could be that you’ve allowed other things to bury your worship making God seem invisible.  Examine your heart, forsake sin and surrender your fears and anxieties to God.  May we live in the reality of His Presence!

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