One Body, One Spirit, One Gospel

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. - Ephesians 4:1-6

            A tribal village in sub-Saharan desert, in 100 plus degree heat, with no electricity or running water, and no real cultural similarities seems like an odd place to meet family, but I did. Many would think there are too many differences in culture and lifestyle for anyone from middle class America to have anything substantial in common with someone from West Africa. We eat different foods, we work very different jobs, we live in different kinds of homes, we live in relationship differently, we speak different languages, etc. Yet despite all of the differences, there was one similarity that tore down all dividing cultural walls. A similarity of such magnitude it made all of the differences seem insignificant – our God.

            The gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news of the God that isn’t in the business of saving a multitude of different, individuals, but the God out to save a people. A single, unified people and body bound up in the “one hope… one Lord, one faith, one baptism, on God and Father of all…” That means while the Jesus believing men and women of West Africa could have been different from me in every single regard from the outside, our spirits testified together that we had one Father. (Rom. 8:16) Jesus’ blood runs thicker than culture, language, skin color, and geography. It crosses all border and boundaries in this world and in our hearts, and plants the flag of God’s glory, declaring all that it covers to be united under the rule and reign of The King. He made us a people not defined or determined by geographic location, race, or ethnicity but by our faith. We are now the people of God. Not only does it unify our citizenship under one God, it unifies our purpose as well.

            Before the gospel took hold of our lives we were given to living for a plethora of purposes. We had hobbies and activities we engaged in for our personal enjoyment. We worked and had families and friends to help satisfy our financial and relational needs and desires. We had a lot of goals that served a lot of different purposes. Then Jesus changed all of that. His Spirit came in and didn’t remove all of these ambitions, but instead He redeemed them. He took all of them and gave them a single, unified purpose – the glory of God. We can now work, live in relationship, watch movies, read books, and even water ski for the same reason. (1 Cor. 10:31) Our unity doesn’t remove our unique value, making us all robots performing the same tasks and duties. Our unity takes all of the parts of our lives that make us different, down to our desires, and redeems them for the mission of God’s glory.  

            Every Sunday is a Spirit led expression of the gospel of unity. We meet together as the people of God to affirm that our real home isn’t here on earth but our citizenship is in another kingdom. (Phil. 3:20) We gather to announce that our purpose and mission in this world is no longer a map of crisscrossing paths but a convergence on the glory of God. Sundays are an assembling of the kingdom that doesn’t place value in socio-economic standing, race, or ethnicity (Gal. 3:28) because the people of The King come from every tribe, language, people and nation. (Rev. 5:9) Sunday’s are a declaration of unity. So come Sunday and with one spirit cry out as one body the praises and glories of our one King that all may see, “…the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

The War of Worship

For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 

Galatians 5:17

            Sin is a grave and deadly force. It can fall on you like a sweeping wave of undaunted resistance. Pushing away all thoughts of life, hope and love. Like a mighty and villainous army it takes no prisoners and destroys everything in its path. Sin can also be more crafty and secretive in its approach. Instead of an outright attack on your soul, it approaches slowly from the shadows and in guerilla warfare fashion takes small victories at a time. Each time it advances closer to the overthrow and destruction of the kingdom of our heart. (1 Pet. 2:11) Sin wants the throne. It wants to use our bodies and minds to do its bidding for the kingdom of darkness. (Rom. 6:12) But we mustn’t let it. We must wage war against our sin. The rightful King must reign.

            While we may not recognize it, there is a battle raging all around us and in us. It is a battle in which the victor will claim the worship of your soul. We were created to be worshippers of an infinite God who can and will satisfy all desires for worship through His infinite attributes. Our sin broke this conduit of worship and instead left our soul searching for something to worship. Finite objects, people, relationships, roles, etc. have all tried to fill the void in our souls for worship but all have left us wanting. So our heart continued to search and latch on to anything that might satisfy. Each object of our worship fought for the right and authority to be the ruler of our heart. Then one day the Spirit of God came with the power and might of the gospel of Jesus and won the throne of our heart. He has claimed the right of our worship. Jesus has won, but our sin is still fighting.

            In guerilla warfare-like action our sin is trying to usurp the throne. Every day we face battles of temptation to worship other kings. This is our flesh, the remnants of sin in our hearts, fighting the reign of God. The flesh and the Spirit are vehemently opposed to each other. (Gal. 5:17) They have opposite desires. Every time we worship something other than God we are abdicating the throne to a lesser king. This fleshly king rules in evil tyranny, placing your heart, body, and mind into its self-destructive slavery. In Christ we can oppose this sinful militia and tyrant. God’s Spirit brings freedom, grace and life, and His words give us the weapons of truth and faith to go to battle (Rom. 8:13). We must put our sin to death (Col. 3:5) and let reign of the Good King continue.

            Every Sunday we gather together with the people of God to wage war on our flesh. As we lift high the name and banner of Jesus Christ, we declare to our flesh who we worship and bow down to as King. We go to war in worship through singing His praises and declaring His truths. Our confession of sin shines light on the areas in our hearts where we have let our flesh and our sin reign so we can see where we need to go to battle. The preaching of God’s word fills our arsenal with weapons for the continued battle. (Eph. 6:17; Ps. 119:11) The sacrament of communion reminds us of the sacrifice and love of our King and the greater feast and joy we will have under His rule (Rev. 19:9), and worshipping with our brothers and sisters brings unity and encouragement as we fight the war side by side. Sunday’s are a weekly military campaign for the King. It’s a gathering of His forces for the purpose of strengthening and encouraging the troops, and a refreshing of supplies for the coming week’s battles. So come Sunday and gather for war with the people of God. By the power of the Spirit take up your weapons of praise and truth, and refresh your heart with His love and grace. Then go to war against your sin and flesh with joy because while we may not know this battle’s outcome, we know who has won the war!

Saved to Sing

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, - Ephesians 5:18-20 

Why do we sing and use music in corporate worship? While the question may seem obvious at first, I think it is more difficult for us to pinpoint the exact reason why we sing in corporate worship. It is fairly normal in most church settings to sing and play music in America and in the global church, so we can assume that it isn’t just a product of our culture. At the same time singing and music aren’t required in any way to worship. Paul is very clear in 1 Corinthians 10, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Why then do we sing?

            The mouth and tongue are very powerful weapons in the life of a believer. They can be used for strengthening, building up, and exalting or they can be used for weakening, tearing down, and destroying. James says, “And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell… It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.” (James 3:6, 8) Paul picks up on this same thought in chapter 5 of Ephesians. This muscle in our mouth should not be used for – filthiness, foolish talk, crude joking, deceit, empty words, shameful topics, or getting drunk. Instead Paul tells us that along with our hearts, our mouths and tongues have been changed. They have been restored for a much higher purpose. They have been redeemed to sing.

            In verse 18 of Ephesians 5 we Paul tells the church at Ephesus to be filled with the Spirit, and this filling with the Spirit of God evokes a response in us that doesn’t fill our mouths with excess amounts of wine but psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. We sing because we have been filled with The Spirit. It is the natural response to our soul being made alive in God. Before Christ our mouths and tongues were only used for evil, but in Jesus it can now be redeemed for the praise of the Creator. We sing because it is the gift God has given us to use as the acclamation of God’s work to save us through the gospel. We sing because we’re saved!

Singing is mentioned over 400 times in God’s word and 50 of those times are direct commands to us to sing. There is an entire book of the Bible filled with poems and songs that are meant to be sung. When God created Eve, Adam sang a song. (Gen. 2:23) When God delivered the Israelites from the Egyptians through the Red Sea, Moses responded with a song. (Ex. 15) When Jesus comes again, we will join with our brothers and sisters from around the world and sing. (Rev. 5:9-10) Bob Kauflin pretty much sums it up when he says, “[God] makes it pretty obvious what He wants us to do in Ps. 47:6: Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!”

Now we do need to clarify that not all music and singing are worship, and I am not talking about those who are tone-deaf. Music doesn’t necessarily reveal God’s presence, bring us closer to God, sanctify or morally change us, preach propositional truth, or save us. Only the Holy Spirit working in and applying the finished work of Christ to our hearts can do those things. However, in music and song we can use the words, songs, truths, and ideas that He inspired in His word and by His power to declare and proclaim as one, the praises of our God. Music and song bring unity to the body of Christ as we sing together the same truths every week. The rhythm, melody, and words of songs also help us remember the truths we proclaim in amazing ways. We see this especially in times of great joy or great sorrow when the only words we can seem to find or relate with are found in your favorite songs.

This Sunday we will gather again with the people of God, to declare and proclaim the praises of God. We will praise through the avenues of serving, preaching, giving, communion, and song. We will sing the truths of scripture about God’s greatness, our sin, Christ’s love and forgiveness and God’s mission. We will sing about the gospel, and we will sing with our family. With one voice we will affirm and confess together what makes us the church. With our hearts full of God’s love and grace, our mouths will be full of His praises and our tongue will be quick to thank Him. Come this Lord’s Day with singing for you haven’t been filled with wine but with the Spirit. We have been made new and our tongues have been redeemed – so sing!

Word Fueled Worship

The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; - Psalm 19:7-8

            Worship is not first about music, a style or even ritual. Worship is not first about a time on Sunday mornings or the building in which you meet. Worship is firstly and mainly about truth. It is about living out, acting on, obeying, declaring, assenting to, and/or believing in some kind of truth. What we fail to recognize oftentimes, is that God has made us in the depths of who we are to be worshippers. All that we do in our life is an act of worship. From brushing your teeth, to eating your lunch, to sleeping – everything that we do and even think in this life are an act of worship built and designed by your soul for what it believes to be best or most satisfying for your soul. We act and worship all that we do because we believe there is something right, good and ultimately true for ourselves in our obedience. Shouldn’t then the words from God, the greatest truth, be fueling all of our worship?

             When we think of worship on Sunday mornings or even throughout the week, music and even at times prayer seem to dominate the picture. While neither music nor prayer are bad things in any regard, if they aren’t founded in and guided by the truth of the Word, what are the songs about and who are the prayers to? We separate out the sermon on Sunday from our worship time when it should be the time that fuels and directs the whole of our worship time. Our worship is not some abstract thing of music and ritualized words with our “heads bowed and eyes closed.” It is an affirmation, profession, exclamation, and exhortation of the truths of God and the gospel, given and declared in His word.

            David the psalmist, does an excellent job in Psalm 19 of reminding us of the importance and the beauty of the Word of God. It is interesting how truth and beauty tend to work together in worship. As we consider the magnitude and wonder of the stars and planets or the immensity of the Rocky Mountains or the beauty of a sunset there is something that stirs in us. The magnificent and majestic tear us away from the reality of ourselves and reminds of the truth that there is something greater and better than us. God’s word holds for us this beauty and this truth but to an infinite degree. In its pages we don’t just find immense oceans and vast galaxies, we find the one who made them. We don’t just find words of wisdom or soul stirring songs, we find the one who spoke them and sang them. We find the Creator and the one who sings over us (Zeph. 3:17). We find God.

            David declares in verse 7 of the Psalm 19 that, “the law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul.” Before the gospel was spoken to our soul, we were dead. There was no life in our spirit. All the things we gave ourselves to – our job, our family, our pursuits – all of them were fueled by a soul dead to the truths and realities of real life. But God, the one who spoke creation into being and breathed life into man, breathed life into our soul by the Spirit, and His word did it perfectly. There is not one blemish or mistake in what His word accomplished. It came and gave us life and it continues to revive today – “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matt. 4:4)

            Second, the psalmist tells us, “…the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.” As we read God’s word we don’t have to second guess it. We don’t have to wonder about the motives behind what was written. We don’t have read the promises that God makes and wonder if He is going to follow through. All that God says is sure. It is the most faithful promise we will ever have made to us. God’s word is the check you can take to the bank 100% of the time and it will never bounce. In God’s word we can find the surety and security we have always wanted because what God determines, God accomplishes – “…I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.” (Is. 46:10)

            David continues, “…the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart.” God is righteous and good in all He does and says and this should make our heart rejoice. If such a righteous and holy God has determined good for us as His children then there is nothing in this world and my life that has not happened without His good and guiding hand. Our God is a God who can take the most evil and heinous of acts and redeem them for our good and His glory. How good is it to know, the God and Creator of all things is ruling and reigning over all that happens! – “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Rom. 8:28)

            Lastly, “…the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.” Currently truth in our culture seems like a carnival of mirrors. If you look at truth in a certain mirror it looks short and fat but if you turn and look at it over in a different mirror it looks long and skinny. No matter where you turn truth is being distorted and twisted and sometimes it is difficult for us to see what is actually true. The word of God is like pure and cleansing water for the eyes of our heart. It washes away the dirt and clarifies all that is true. God’s word shows us the lies and distortions of the world and our sin and frees us from their grasp on our hearts. - “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (Jn. 8:32)

            Jesus told the woman at the well, “…the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.” For those that love Christ you have been given His Spirit and He has made you alive to worship Him, and by His power through His word He has given you the truth to fuel this life of worship. So come this week ready to meet with your brothers and sisters to worship. Come with the fuel of God’s word in your heart and mind that His Spirit might fan it into a burning inferno in your soul of worship for Him – for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him.   

The Overflow of Worship

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” (Isaiah 6:8 ESV)

            We have now come to a major turning point for the life of the prophet Isaiah. In 7 short verses Isaiah has been shown the awe invoking majesty and holiness of God on the throne, the utter depravity of his own soul, and the cleansing forgiveness and mercy of God our Savior. Can you even begin to imagine what Isaiah must be thinking or feeling at this moment? He stood, just moments before, condemned in his sin to a justly deserved death, but now, due to nothing he has done, he stands forgiven, cleansed, and redeemed. However, the beauty of the gospel is that the story doesn’t stop here though many of us act like it does.

            As we think about the gospel, we oftentimes have the wrong end goal in mind. We tend to present and see the gospel as a tool to obtain the gifts of forgiveness, justification, adoption, etc. the gospel brings but we miss the ultimate reason the gospel is defined as “good news.” While all of the gifts may be good things by themselves, if they are the end goal they have fallen very short of the ultimate good of the gospel – God. John Piper in his book God is the Gospel says it this way –

“If the hearers of the gospel do not see the glory of Christ, the image of God, in all the events and gifts of the gospel, they do not see what finally makes the gospel good news…Until the gospel events of Good Friday and Easter and the gospel promises of justification and eternal life lead you to behold and embrace God himself as your highest joy, you have not embraced the gospel of God. You have embraced some of his gifts. You have rejoiced over some of his rewards. You have marveled at some of his miracles. But you have not yet been awakened to why the gifts, the rewards, and the miracles have come. They have come for one great reason: that you might behold forever the glory of God in Christ, and by beholding become the kind of person who delights in God above all things, and by delighting display his supreme beauty and worth with ever-increasing brightness and bliss forever.”

            When we make the gifts and reward the goal we end up making them gods instead of allowing them to point us to God. Forgiveness, eternal life, and justification are all great things, but what makes them great? Our forgiveness is great because it is forgiveness for our great sins against an infinitely holy God. We want eternal life, but is it so we can spend it by ourselves or whoever we want, or so that we can spend it with God? Justification becomes vastly more glorious when we see that our guilt has been removed before such a righteous judge. This is good news. This is the gospel! How amazing and awesome is our God! Who wouldn’t want to know this God?

            It is easy to understand why mission seems so foreign to us when we see salvation as a selfish grasp at gifts for ourselves, but when the reality of the true good of the gospel sinks in, the power it unleashes is unstoppable. When we are able to truly see the glory of God in Jesus Christ there is a passion and joy that is awakened that can’t be explained or quenched. God’s glory revealed to us in the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ on our behalf stirs in us a delight in Him, and this delight isn’t one that can be held in, it wants to go out. Mission is the overflow of our worship.

            Isaiah’s response to God’s question in verse 8 isn’t an obligatory acceptance of the inevitable; it is a joyful exclamation of worship and fulfillment to his desire. Isaiah has finally seen the wonder and beauty of His God and it is overflowing in him. Infinite amounts of grace, love, goodness, and glory are begin poured into Isaiah’s heart as God reveals Himself and atones for Isaiah’s sin. Where will Isaiah direct this overflow? It is too good to go to waste. God is ready and presents the answer to him – go!

            This same infinite love and grace and has been poured into our souls. We have been given the good news of God. He is not far from us but has come near in Jesus and by His blood. We are always carrying in ourselves the infinite glory of God. We have not come to the end of Him. His glory, His grace, His love, and His forgiveness are as eternal and vast as He is. It is always overflowing from us and our delight in Him should be ever increasing. So what do you do with this passion and joy in the good news of our God? Go!

            Today you woke up with realities of eternal life, true love and ultimate forgiveness residing in your heart and soul, but the greatest news is that all of those come from an infinitely good and powerful God that through His Spirit resides with you as well. You now go to work, eat lunch, raise your kids, study for school, etc. along with the Spirit of the Living God. In you and with you resides the power of God, the gospel. The good news that we have an infinitely holy God, who knows our terrible and awful sin, but has chosen to save us and bring us back to Himself by the death of His own Son is now overflowing in you. So go this week and every week on knowing that you have not just been given a gospel of salvation from your sins but a salvation to God. Then let that good news spill from you wherever you go. And come Sunday to be reminded again of this great gospel - the good news that God has come in Jesus to bring us back to Himself. Go!