God of Worship

This one is important. Particularly in an age in which we are told that your preference is the most important consideration in anything. 

As Moses was going through his final instructions in Deuteronomy, he came to the topic of worship. He told the people of Israel what God expected of them as a worshiping people and how, exactly, to offer their proper worship. He told them about feast days and festivals, about bringing sacrifices, about how to offer those sacrifices once they had come. He talked about the presence of the Lord and the altar. 

And then, he said, "You don't get to decide what worship is. God decides what worship is." 

Read that again: you don't get to decide what worship is. God decides what worship is. 

The people were already thinking in their hearts about how they might worship once they reached the Promised Land. They were thinking about how they were going to offer their sacrifices and how to act like priests in their own lives. They were thinking of the proper things to do, and thinking at the same time of "new" ways to do those proper things. Ways that might fit more easily into their lifestyle or that might put them more in charge of their own acts of worship. The people were dreaming of the time when they were more settled than they were in the wilderness, and they were starting to plan what their new lives of faith would look like on the other side of the Jordan. 

And they weren't thinking bad things. They thought they were being earnest. They thought they were being honest and acting with integrity. Their hearts were in the right place - they legitimately wanted just to worship and to offer sacrifices to God and to be thankful to Him. They wanted to celebrate everything that He meant to them and the love that they had for Him. Their motives were pure. 

But you can't just slaughter a lamb in your backyard and call it worship. 

You don't get to decide what worship is. God decides what worship is. 

So the things the people were thinking of doing, the things they were planning - even though they were earnest - were wrong. They may have looked like worship on the outside, but they were not actually worship at all. They were not pleasing to God. God would not see worship if He looked and saw these things. That's what Moses says. 

I said this is important, and it is. We are living in a time that says that worship is whatever you say it is. So you "worship" by going fishing on a Sunday morning and rejoicing in God's beautiful creation. You "worship" by giving your body additional rest and sleeping through times when you could be serving. You "worship" by singing the songs you like to sing, even if they aren't Christian songs, because you're making a joyful noise, right? And on and on and on we go, justifying so many of the things that we do as "worship" because we do, earnestly, love God and want to praise, honor, and glorify Him. 

We have all but pushed out what used to qualify as worship in our world. We have all but pushed out liturgy and solemnity and silence and prayer, all of the things that have been hallmarks of the church for thousands of years. And we have said that in its place, we have put our "worship" - "worship" that fits more easily into our lifestyles or puts us more in charge of our own presence at the altar. And we have called it good.

But is it good?

The truth is, as Deuteronomy tells us plainly, we don't get to decide what worship is. God decides what worship is. 

Is your worship....worship?

God of the Present Generation

Yesterday, we saw how God acts not just for those who are outside of the faith, but for those who are inside of it; the plagues were just as much for the Israelites in Goshen as they were for the Egyptians. Today's lesson is similar, but equally important, and it is this: 

God doesn't act so that your children will see it; He acts so that you will see. 

On the edge of the Promised Land, as Moses was giving his final words to the Israelites, he reminds them of everything that they have seen as God led them through the wilderness. And he says plainly, "God didn't do all of this for your children to see; He did it for you." 

This is important because if you remember, by the time Israel got to the edge of the Promised Land, they were a generation of children. They were the next generation after those who left Egypt. Earlier on, Israel had sent spies into the Promised Land, and they weren't convinced their God was big enough to give it to them, so they came back shaking in fear and terrified everyone else. God then sent them back into the wilderness to wander until that entire generation had died, promising that He would show their children all of the things they were now going to miss. 

These were the children Moses was talking to. They were the ones for whom God was acting, in direct consequence to their parents' generation who had acted out of faithlessness. That means that the paradigm for this generation, the understanding that they had of God, is that He works through the children to teach the parents something. That's why Moses has to say what he says - no, it's not through the children, it's not for the children, it's not on account of the children; God is with you. Now. 

Imagine the dramatic shift this had to have been for this generation of Israel. They had spent their entire lives carrying the weight of knowing they were the ones holding the promise for their parents, the promise that their parents were never going to see. They had this solid understanding of the role of children in fulfilling the word of God. And by the time they get to the edge of the Promised Land, many of them have their own children. It's so easy for them to just pass their promise off, believing that God will use their children much in the same way that He has used them. 

But the times, they are a'changing. The times are different now. This is not their parents' Israel; it is their Israel. God is with them, just as He has always been, and Moses has to tell them that the promise they've been carrying is no longer because they are children of their parents, but because they are children of God. 

Do you often fall into the trap of believing that you are carrying God's promise for someone else? That everything you're going through is for someone else's glory, not your own? That you aren't the one who is going to enter the Promised Land, even though you stand on the edge of it? 

Maybe you need to hear these words today: God hasn't brought you this far just to give your promise away. He's brought you this far to bring you into it. It's not for the children. God is with you. 

Now.  

Signs of the Living God

You may remember that when God's people were slaves in Egypt, He had quite an elaborate plan to free them. It consisted of repeatedly insisting, through Moses, that Egypt let His people go and when their hearts remained hard, performing miraculous signs and wonders (read: plagues) to let the Egyptian people know that He meant business. 

But the signs were not just for Egypt. 

The people of Israel, caught in slavery, trapped in a foreign land, needed to know that God was for real just as much as Egypt did. The people of God, who probably didn't believe much after 400 years of slavery that God still cared about them, let alone that He was still with them, needed to know how near God was...and how willing to use His power for their good. The people for whom the Promised Land was but a distant echo of a long-ago whisper needed to see God just as much as the people who didn't believe in Him at all and weren't inclined to go along with His plan. 

Egypt scoffed at the plan; the Israelites struggled to believe it was still the plan at all. 

If you need proof of how much Israel needed to see these things, it's right there in Deuteronomy. When Moses is giving his final speech in front of the people and reminding them of everywhere they've been and everything they've been through, he starts not with the parting of the Red Sea, but with the plagues that came upon Egypt. Plagues, we must also remember, that did not come upon Goshen, where the people of Israel were living in captivity. 

We often think that because we are the people of God, He doesn't do signs and wonders for us any more. Why would He have to? We already believe. We already know the story, know the truth, know the love. We already know the Cross and the manger and the incredible story of God walking the dusty streets of Jerusalem for us. We already know what it means to be His people, what it requires of us and what it adds to our lives. We already know God can turn water into blood...or even wine. Why would He need to show us?

He shows us because we need reminding sometimes. Because we need to see it just as much as the world does. Because when we're looking around, we need more than just to know that God will fight for us; we need to see Him do it. We need to see Him act in His mighty power and incredible grace at the same time. We need to see His favor poured out on our lives in a real, tangible way. We need to see Him draw lines between Egypt and Goshen. We need to see all of this. 

Thankfully, He shows us. 

What if that thing God is doing in your life right now isn't just to show the world who He is? What if it's also to remind you of everything you thought you already knew?  

God on the Edge

One of the best parts of Israel's wilderness journey is right at the end of it. No, not when they were finally entering the Promised Land, but just before that - when they were starting to divide up the land God hadn't given them yet. 

It's the wildest scene: all Israel is gathered and Moses is giving his final speech. The whole community knows that Moses is not going with them across the Jordan, but that doesn't stop him from telling them what land they are going to inherit and to start dividing it among the tribes of Israel. Dan will have this land, and Reuben, this one. Judah will live here, while Levi will scatter among the peoples, just as God promised. 

Just. as. God. promised. 

Not delivered. 

They hadn't taken a single inch of the promise yet. They hadn't laid hold to a single acre of holy ground. But here they were, casting lots and making plans and drawing lines on a map that they couldn't even trace yet. They were that certain that God's promise was coming true. They were that certain that God was good. 

When was the last time you were that confident? 

God does this all the time, though we are often not bold enough to lay hold to it. As soon as we start thinking about all the things that are starting to come true in our lives, the things we can see and almost taste, there's this little bit of "worldly wisdom" that tells us not to count our chickens before they hatch. Well, it's worldly, but it's not really wisdom. 

Because God has always been a chickens kind of God. 

God has always been clear about the promise that is coming and the fullness that it entails. God has always been honest about the milk and honey flowing in the land. God has always been straightforward about what it looks like when you get to where He's leading you. 

And it's glorious. 

What would your life look like if you started to lay claim to the promise of God in your life right now, even if you're still on the far side of the Jordan? What would change if you trusted everything that He said? How would your heart be different if you started counting chickens instead of staring at eggs?  

God of Good Gifts

On the edge of the Promised Land, God started instructing His people about the gift they were going to receive. He set out the parameters of who would inherit what land and where, and He made some rules about what happens to that land in the years to come. 

Several rules come out about the land: first of all, if a man only has daughters, his daughters get his portion of the land, but they can only marry their cousins so that the land stays in their family. Second, if you sell your land because you need the money, you always have the option of buying it back. And finally, in the year of Jubilee, your land comes back to you anyway. 

All of this was meant to ensure that no one who received God's portion ever lost it. So that what was holy and blessed would stay with the one it was meant to bless. 

For the glory of God. 

Sometimes, we diminish our gifts. We pretend that they aren't that big of a deal. Sometimes, we try to give them away. Sometimes, we try to pretend that our gifts are different, that they are more like someone else's gifts that seem more desirable to us...or to those around us. We do all kinds of things with the gifts that God has given us, except, it seems, to hold onto them. To cling to them. To love and cherish them. 

We might even sell them if we think it might benefit us in the short term.

But God reminds us that He gave us those gifts for a reason. Those gifts are part of His holy plan for us. They aren't meant to ever go out of our hands. They aren't meant to ever leave us. We aren't meant to leverage them for our benefit; we are meant to cling to them and enjoy them and let them flourish in our lives. Those gifts are ours.

For the glory of God. 

And that's why they keep coming back to us. I don't know about you, but in my life, the truth has been that I can never escape my gifts. I can never get away from them. I can refuse for a season to use them, selling out what should be my spot to someone else who seems to have a knack for it or a good idea, but my gifts always circle back to me. The things that God has given me and has put on my heart just keep coming back as opportunities and open doors, and I just can't ignore them or avoid them for very long. 

Then again, why would I want to?