Category Archives: Honesty

Fooling Each Other: Authentic Worship, Part 3

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Since I lead part of the worship service most weeks, someone will occasionally comment on something I say during the service or maybe on a prayer that I led during the service. During our conversation, they might comment on the difficulty they have praying or maintaining a consistent prayer life. I respond by telling them that I can relate to their situation. My prayer life is one of the most difficult aspects of my relationship with God.

At this point, maybe with a confused look on their face, they tell me that I don’t seem to have any trouble praying. They are right. For some reason, by God’s grace, I am able to focus and pray during most of those times while leading. I am not pretending or trying to sound spiritual when I pray in the service. However, I tell them that it is not representative of my personal prayer life. These times are almost always a struggle to focus and stay on track. I pray for someone or something and it brings to my mind something else. Then, before I know it, my mind has jumped, in a matter of seconds, to a series of other thoughts or activities that are totally unrelated. Before I know it, prayer has stopped and my focus is somewhere else completely.

It is terrible. I am a scatterbrained person at times. I have trouble focusing. I am very easily distracted. Any sound, flicker of light, or thought can totally trip me up and my concentration is gone. Prayer is a discipline. It is something very valuable in our relationship with God. Therefore, I continue in it, and continually try to grow in this area. I have known prayer warriors in my life. I am not one of them. But I long to be and will continue to pursue prayer, in spite of fumbling through it.

So, why do I tell this to you or anyone who brings up the topic? Transparency. I don’t want them to think I am someone other than who I really am. Do I really like being known as a person who struggles with prayer? No, but this is another part of pursuing worship that is authentic. Not only do we need transparency before God, but we need transparency with each other. We need to view ourselves correctly, we need to be honest with each other, and we need to actively encourage one another. These are all a part of pursuing authentic worship.

First, we need to view ourselves correctly. In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus tells a parable of a Pharisee and a tax collector. While the Pharisee exalts and praises himself, both to God and anyone who is listening, the tax collector pleads for mercy from God. Jesus makes it clear that the tax collector went home justified, not the Pharisee. Boasting in ourselves or in our righteousness never fools God (see Fooling God: Authentic Worship, Part 2). Even if it does fool others, or even ourselves, it does nothing to build up the church. In fact, it tears down the church and hinders the worship of the congregation.

We need to remember that we are sinners. Apart from the grace and mercy of our God, demonstrated by the cross of Jesus Christ, and the salvation provided through His blood, we have no hope. End of story. We can boast in the cross of Christ alone (Galatians 6:14). Our righteousness is the righteousness of Christ. Our glory is in the glory of God. We have been freed from the prison of sin, guilt, and the grave by the love of our God, through Christ alone. Proclaiming the gospel, rejoicing in the work of Christ in us, and remembering where we have come from – this is authentic worship and glorifies God.

Second, we need to be honest with each other. As the church, we are called to bear each other’s burdens and come alongside each other (Galatians 6:2; Ephesians 4:1-3; Philippians 2:1-11; Colossians 3:12-13). How can we share each other’s burdens if we don’t know what they are? By clamming up and keeping to ourselves, we detract from the body of Christ. We cut ourselves off from work that God wants to do in our lives. We also hinder others from using their gifts to minister to us. Also, other believers often need to know that they are not the only one who struggles with something. By sharing, we help them to find hope and draw near to God and find strength in Him. We, in turn, also find out we are not alone in our struggle.

In addition, honesty is required when we have been offended or wounded by someone in the church. If you have an unresolved issue with someone, avoiding it will not make it go away. It only allows the hurt to fester and gnaw at us. It can cause us to withdraw or leave. Worse, if we share that hurt with others, it now becomes gossip. Now, it not only tears us down, it tears down others in the church. It hinders the work of the gospel and does not glorify God. We need to be diligent to stop gossip before it even starts. Seeking to resolve these issues appropriately builds the body of Christ and encourages us to draw near to God together.

Honesty is an essential part of the pursuit of authentic worship within the church. This leads to the third point, which is actively encouraging each other within the church. We need to be diligent to continue meeting together in order to encourage each other in the faith (Hebrews 10:24-25). As we meet together, it is important to remind ourselves of the gospel and the work that has been done for us. We need to encourage each other that Christ is working in our lives to transform us to be more like Him. We need to remember the promise of His glorious return.

We can’t be in the mindset of just showing up at church and then going home. When we come together as the church, we need to come as active participants. Engaging in worship is not just me connecting with God. We are called to teach and admonish each other and to sing and address one another with songs (Colossians 3:16-17; Ephesians 5:19-21). Corporate worship is not for the sole purpose of me connecting with God. I am called to encourage those around me through singing the truth of the gospel. If I am only focused on myself, then I am neglecting an important aspect of authentic worship, which is my call to encourage others to worship God. Yes, we sing to God and worship Him alone. However, we also speak and sing to each other in order to encourage and spur one another on to pursue God.

Authentic worship is about transparency and humility. It is about viewing ourselves as we truly stand before God. It is about being open and honest with each other. And it is about encouraging each other in our pursuit of God. Authentic worship requires us to humble ourselves before God and each other. No self-promotion. No hiding and withdrawing. No attempts to fool each other. No harbored bitterness. No gossip and backbiting. It requires us to share in each other’s lives and bear one another’s burdens. It requires repentance and forgiveness and a willingness to love and serve others. If we don’t, we rob ourselves and we rob others in the church. Let us draw near to God and worship Him together.

Together for His glory…

Fooling God: Authentic Worship, Part 2

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And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men.” Isaiah 29:13

Years ago, I had an employee who was not very motivated. I would have to check up on him constantly. On one particular day, after he left for the day, I went out to see what kind of progress he had made on a project. It quickly became apparent that he had done nothing for most of the afternoon.

The next morning, I asked him for his project list. He disappeared into the warehouse and returned a few minutes later. I took a look at the list and there were several items checked off, as if he had already done the work. He said it was not complete, but he had gotten a good start on it. I knew he had not done any of it. I asked him to verify whether the checked items were completed and he told me that these were done.

Then, I informed him that I already knew he had not completed anything on the list. The expression on his face quickly changed and he launched into string of excuses. He thought he had fooled me, but now he was trying to cover his tracks because I had found him out.

How often does this represent our approach to our relationship with God? The verse above is a part of a larger section, Isaiah 29:13-16, where God is addressing His people. It speaks of a people who honor God with their mouths, but their hearts are far away from Him. Verse 15 reveals the attitude that they think they can hide their evil deeds in the darkness: “Who sees us. Who knows us?”

God’s rebuke is clear in verse 16. “You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, ‘He did not make me’; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, ‘He has no understanding’?”

When we approach God with the attitude that we can profess praise or worship with our lips, or do acts of service for Him, and yet have hearts that do not really seek after Him, we are mocking God. In fact, God says that we are turning things upside down. We are acting as if He did not make us or that He does not know everything about us. We are treating Him as merely human and exalting ourselves to His status as God.

As Christians, we come to church on Sundays and worship God. We might go to a small group and attend other activities of fellowship or service. We may even have frequent times of Bible reading and prayer, if we are really spiritual. However, if those activities are merely done as lip service to God, or to check off our spiritual “To Do” list, do we not think that God sees right through that? Or if we pursue activities which contradict His Word and will, do we actually think these escape His attention?

There is a real danger here. If we continually live our lives in this way, it is possible that we are not even believers. When God says that their hearts are far from Him, it echoes Jesus words to those who claimed to know Him, but did not: “Depart from me. I never knew you.”

No one is perfect. Even after salvation comes to a person, the sanctification process is a lifelong journey that only ends when we enter His presence at our death or at His coming. However, a truly redeemed person should have an inner desire to follow Christ in all things, because God has placed His Spirit within us to fill and transform our lives. Outward acts of religiosity cannot create this or even begin to fool God.

“O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.” Psalm 139:1-4

Another area where we try to fool God is by hiding our thoughts, feelings, and emotions from Him. In Scripture, God shows us the brutal honesty of many who seek after the Him. They do not hide their thoughts and feelings from God, as if it were even possible. If they are blessed, they openly praise Him. If they are angry with God, they say it. If they are afraid, they tell Him. If they don’t understand, they cry out for wisdom and release.

God does not fear our response to Him. He is not challenged by it. He calls us to come boldly to Him (Hebrews 4:16; 10:19-23). He is the One Who has all wisdom. He is the One Who has all power. He knows our thoughts. We need to express these before Him. We need to commune with God, expressing the depths of our hearts.

Authentic worship does not hide from God. It does not hide behind empty outward acts, while our hearts our engaged in pursuing ungodly pursuits. It does not hide behind closed lips and buried feelings and fears. Hiding from God does not hide us from God. It only robs us of the joy and peace and transformation found in His presence.

Authentic worship comes honestly before God, with all of our joys, fears, questions, and failures. It does not hide. It is open and transparent before the One Who sees and hears everything. He knows everything about us, from beginning to end. This same God of wisdom and power and holiness bids us to come to Him and receive mercy and grace in our time of need. Our time of need is every second of our lives. He is all in all. In Him is everything we need. May we pursue Him with all that is within us.

Together for His glory…