FOUNDATIONS OF WORSHIP PART 3

  Have you ever noticed that some people regularly come to church for the Word but miss the worship? Worship proves the heart. Worship brings revelation of Jesus and, His Word and gives prophecy to believers. It builds relationship and brings us into His presence.

Image by ChatGPT

When believers constantly miss out on worship, they can reduce their relationship with God to simply knowing about Him through knowing His Word. They may know the Scriptures but fail to acknowledge Him as sovereign God. They may know about Him without truly loving Him. They may know about Jesus without building faith in knowing that Jesus is God. We must know Him deep inside of us.

In previous blogs we found that worship is about service, obedience, reverence and submission. It is the surrendering of our hearts, minds, souls and bodies to Him. Even in serving as a housemaid, you must be subject to an authority. Worship involves submitting ourselves to the authority of God. We must worship Him because of who He is, and not simply when we have a feeling. 

In Foundations of Worship Part 2,  we examined the difference between worship and praise. Today, we will look at what it means to worship in truth. Worship in spirit will be covered in another blog because it requires a little more explanation.

WHAT IS TRUTH?

Truth is factual and proven. It is not simply what we feel, what we prefer, or what we want it to be. 

In John 14:6 Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”  Therefore, when we talk about worshipping in truth, we are not merely talking about having correct information. We are talking about worshipping according to the truth of who God is and who Jesus is.

We worship acknowledging this truth that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus's existence is proven from non-Biblical sources and there were eye witness accounts of His life, death, and resurrection. Throughout the New Testament, the Apostles testify of what they saw and experienced as they exercised the power of God and what they witnessed while Jesus ministered, how He died and resurrected. But they also clarified issues concerning the true doctrine of Jesus.

This is important. How can we worship God according to a false teaching about Jesus? If the Jesus we are worshipping is not the Jesus revealed in Scripture, then we may actually  worship a false Jesus.

Paul warned the church about those who preached “another Jesus” and “a different gospel” (2 Corinthians 11:4). This shows us that what we believe must be intentional and specific. It must be truthful and honest.

Christians worship with the knowledge that Jesus is the true and living God. Jesus is called “Faithful and True” in Revelation 19:11. When we worship Him, it is to submit ourselves and obey the One we accept as the only true and living God.

Worship is a choice. We have to choose to worship Jesus as our Saviour, our Lord and our Master because all worship belongs to Him.

GOD'S TRUTH OR “MY TRUTH”?

Nowadays, the culture is to personalise truth. We hear people say, “This is my truth.” But there can only be one truth. They are actually basing the statement on experience.

Experience is different from truth. Our experiences can be influenced by ourselves, our emotions, our desires, our circumstances and even by other people. Experience is therefore subjective. It is not absolute. But the Word of God stands the same. God is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

God's Word is absolute. This does not mean that our experiences are meaningless. It means that our experiences must be tested against God's truth. “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God…” 1 John 4:1

Truth can withstand interrogation. If something is true, it does not have to be protected from examination. God's truth does not become less true because we question it. If the Word of God were to change, then the stars would fall out of the sky. Why? Because it's His word that He spoke that put it there.

And let me give you a little joke: God's Word is like vodka—it is absolute! It cuts through and leaves no residue. 😂

TRUTH BRINGS US INTO ALIGNMENT WITH JESUS

Through worship we build our faith. Our faith walk is designed to pull us into alignment with Him and His purposes. Worship accomplishes this. But we also become repentant.

Our repentance produces fruit. And our lives increasingly come into alignment with His Word and His purposes. This is why worship cannot simply be about singing.

Worship is a response to truth. We worship because He is worthy. We offer true worship in love for a Father who loves His children and sent His only son to die as a sacrifice for us to pay the price of our sin. We worship because He is God and we have the victory over satan and death because of Jesus's perfect work on the cross.

We worship because He is true. We worship in truth because our human minds cannot create a Jesus according to our own feelings, experiences, desires or imagination that can die on a cross for us. We cannot comprehend it fully. So, we worship the Jesus revealed in the Word of God.

In the next part, we will continue to look at worship in truth. But first ask yourself some really deep questions:

Who do I worship?

How do I worship?

Why do I worship?

EULOGY PART 2 - CULTURAL AND ETHICAL DIMENSIONS

created by ChatGPT

  So far, we have learnt a little about the origins of the eulogy. I hope that it was not morbid, but that you learnt something from it or, at the very least, that it gave you a new perspective on what a eulogy is and what it is intended to achieve.

In Part One, I wrote about certain Gnostic traditions concerning Jesus. If I were a Gnostic writing a eulogy about Jesus, I might say that He turned a sculpture into a living bird and spoke when He was born.

In death, however, we should be ethical.

Jesus said to His mother at the wedding in Cana:

“Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” John 2:4

The implication is significant. Jesus was indicating that His public ministry and the signs associated with it had not yet begun. Contradicting what a person said or demonstrated about themselves in life, particularly after their death, without evidence or proof, is wrong.

WHEN “SPEAKING WELL” BECOMES DISHONOUR

By speaking only good of a person's life, we can actually dishonour the dead.

I will use another clear and well-known person as an example: the historical figure behind the legend of Santa Claus—Saint Nicholas of Myra.

Saint Nicholas was a devoted Christian who lived during the third and fourth centuries, approximately 270–343 AD, in Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. He served as a Christian bishop and became famous for his secret gift-giving and his defence of his faith.

The Christian practice associated with his gift-giving connects with the teaching in Matthew 6:3:

“Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.”

Today, many people want to focus on Saint Nicholas's good deeds. But in doing so, we can lose the meaning of his life—the principle by which he lived and the essence of the man himself. What is even worse is that we use his life to pull others away from the Christian beliefs that inspired his works by replacing Jesus Christ with Santa Claus.

We actually dishonour him by turning him into Santa Claus and, worst yet, by capitalising on his story when the man himself practised piety and secret generosity. He did not want his story to be used in such ways.

There is a lesson here.

When we reduce a person's life to the parts that are convenient, entertaining or profitable, we can distort the very life we claim to be honouring.

THE ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITY OF THE EULOGIST

There is another ethical dimension to the eulogy.

The person being discussed cannot defend themselves.

I believe there is a deeper purpose for the eulogy. Jesus paid for this person's life, and there will be a judgement for each of us when we die. A eulogy reminds us that we all have to answer to someone. We are witnesses to this person's life, and in giving a eulogy, we are, in a sense, testifying about them like in a court case.

There is a spiritual side to death. That means the person delivering the eulogy has a spiritual responsibility.

You should not use someone's funeral to settle old scores, expose embarrassing secrets, make yourself the centre of attention or manipulate the audience. God is not pleased with any of that. Manipulating the role of the eulogist for any of these objectives is witchcraft. A practice of deception. 

The deceased should remain the centre. But Jesus is the ultimate goal of the eulogy and the funeral.

But there is another interesting tension here:

A eulogy is about the dead, but it is written for the living.

That tension is what makes this form of writing and memory so interesting.

CULTURE, MEMORY AND ORAL TRADITION

There is also a cultural aspect to the eulogy.

Human beings have always been concerned with memory. Memory forms part of our oral traditions, and the eulogy helps us pass on the oral tradition of the deceased.

But ethics and culture can, and do, come into conflict. The transformation of the life of Saint Nicholas into the cultural figure of Santa Claus demonstrates this.

Coincidentally, it also raises another issue: the way the cultural story of Santa Claus can overshadow the true meaning of the Christmas celebration.

Here again we see a conflict between culture and ethics.

What happens when the story we pass down becomes more important than the truth behind the story? What happens when memory is shaped by culture until the person being remembered is almost unrecognisable? These are ethical questions.

DEATH, MEMORY AND LEGACY

We die physically, but our relationships with other people do not simply disappear at the moment of death.

The impact and lasting memory of a person can continue for at least one other person—and sometimes for generations.

People continue to exist in memory:

• through stories;
• through photographs;
• through children;
• through institutions they built;
• through lessons they taught;
• through values they transmitted;
• through people whose lives they changed;
• through continued behaviours and traditions.

The eulogy participates in that process. It says:

• This person existed.
• This person affected us.
• This person's story belongs to our collective memory.

THE EULOGY AS A CASE STUDY

In this way, there is also a scientific aspect to a eulogy.

The life of a person can become a case study of their practices, words, beliefs, environment, way of thinking, family and community. We can examine what they did, what they said, what they believed, how they responded to their circumstances and how their circumstances influenced them.

Their life becomes evidence from which others can learn.

This brings us back to the Greek meaning of the word eulogia—“good words.” That meaning is beautiful. It isn't merely about saying nice things.

We make good of our words by giving value and meaning to the person's life.

It is about using words to preserve something of a life that has ended physically.

WHY MEMORY MATTERS

Human survival depends, in part, on learning the lessons of those who have died.

Because of the comforts and innovations we have today, we can easily forget that we are created beings on Earth and that human existence itself can face extinction.

Every generation inherits knowledge from the generations that came before it.

• We learn from their successes.
• We learn from their failures.
• We learn from their mistakes.
• We learn from their beliefs.
• We learn from their choices.
• We learn from the consequences of their actions.

The dead therefore have something to teach the living.

Our desire to remember life gives hope to those who remain: that, in the greater context of existence, when death comes, something of our life may continue through others.

Our words, our actions, our values, our children, our teachings, our institutions and our traditions can all become part of what survives us.

Perhaps this is one of the deeper purposes of the eulogy. It does not bring the dead back to life. It helps the living understand the life that was lived. And perhaps, if we are willing to listen, it can teach us how to live the life that remains better.

Jesus paid for us with His life and blood. Our life and death belongs to Him. Even in death our life is about Him. That is why the eulogy must serve a Jesus purpose that is to draw others to Christ. Our life must prove His word is true and the eulogy ultimately explains that. We have to see how God's word is is real in this person's life. Not with judgement but with the love of Christ.