Who's the King?

Today's message at Rock Harbor was one of the best on worship.  It affirmed what I've learned [academically], but it also spoke to my heart.  Over the last year, I've been torn down over and over again by God on worship.  What was my theology on it and how do I practice it?  It's safe to say that before I went down this journey, I always viewed worship as a secondary thought to theological heavy weights such as love, advocacy, relational wholeness, and service.  The Holy Spirit has really guided me to believe and understand that these issues are are not separate from worshiping Him.

The whole idea of worship sounds all too familiar - some Matt Redman and Tim Hughes songs before and after service and voila!  Worship set.  Throw in a good prayer here and there and it's good bread that surrounds the meat [message] of Sunday service.  And with lo-carb diets in fad, worship is really just fluff, unneeded in the world of the theologically sound.  That's obviously an extreme and not too many followers truly believe that, but there is some truth to that view.  But God is looking for worshipers:

Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship your Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.  You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.  But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship Him.  God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.  John 4:21-24

This passage blew any preconceived notion for me on worship.  It had a context now.  God seeks worshipers who will worship Him in spirit and truth.  Todd Proctor, lead pastor at RH, gave a great example today of worship.  He likened it to a U2 concert, where people are there waiting in anticipation of the group.  And when they come on stage, the arena is electric.  Fans go wild and figuratively, they begin their worship.  The band hasn't played a note.  Bono has not sung a word.  And yet, U2's presence is felt.  So large that people scream and yell.  Isn't it sad then, that many today go to worship service with the attitude of "prove it to me again God?"  Or, put the mood music on so I can really worship.  God is not seeking those kinds of worshipers.  The anticipation to come before God, to feel His presence, doesn't make us scream or shout.  It makes us come and want to dump our problems on to Him.  And although He is the healer and He wants that from us, we have placed worship for people like Bono, because let's face it, Bono is really cool.  Bono challenges the way we live.  And Bono is, well, Bono.

So the question bares itself in who we prostrate ourselves in worship to?  Many times, the King who is expectant of our worship receives our troubles, our self doubts, and our wants and desires.  That's all good, but then, He is no longer our King.  The King is inevitably, ourselves.  It is what is going on for us that matters.  It is what we need that matters.  It is no longer about God and the mere presence of Him that makes us fall face down in wonder and awe.  His presence only gives us permission to tell Him how important we are.  It's tough for us to look beyond ourselves because the enemy has made it hard to focus on anything else.  The fall of Adam was all about us [as people] and how we can be God.

God not only deserves our worship, He seeks it.  He doesn't need it as He so poignantly describes in Isaiah 50.  He doesn't need our worship, but He delights in it.  He was meant to be Israel's one and only King, but we rejected that idea.  We saw other nations having Kings and we felt that for us to be a nation, we too had to have a monarch rule over us.  Revelations gave us an idea of what worship ought to be like:

Day and night, they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."  Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to Him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him for ever, and ever.  They lay their crowns before the throne and say: "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory, honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."  Revelations 4:9-11

He is our King, who sits on the throne who is worshiped for ever, and ever.  He is worthy.  We must get off the throne and allow God to sit on the throne, His rightful place in our lives.

Plan A. Or Was that Plan B?

Understanding our created beings may not sound all that enticing and fun.  But for me, it really has been a great way to connect with God.  In reading and learning about worship, I found that there is much more than meets the eye.  Or in my case, there is much more than meets the heart.  I was talking to the wife about this a month or so ago and it really excited and saddened me at the same time.  God speaks to Moses:

You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.  Not therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples.  Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.  These are the words you shall speak to the Israelites.  Exodus 19:4-6

When I first read that, I was excited.  That was the plan God wanted for us.  To be a "priestly kingdom and a holy nation".  In The Adventure of Worship, Gerrit Gustafson wrote that in Unger's Bible dictionary, it reads: "In precise terminology of the law, a priest [kohen] is one who may draw near to the divine presence."  And, in the New Testament, "there is a word that carries the same meaning: prroserchomai.  In Hebrews 10:1, it is translated as 'those who draw near to worship'."  And that's what God wanted for us.  To be a kingdom of people who drew near to worshiping the Lord.  He showed His grace of the Israelites by taking them out of captivity of Egypt and gave us an offer.  If we were to obey His voice and covenant, we would be His treasured possession out of all the people.  How exciting is that!  To be His treasured possessions. 

God told Moses to consecrate the people for two days and get them ready for Him.  By the third day, Moses was to set limits around the mountain because they were not to go up on it or touch the edge.  On the third day, God was to reveal Himself to the people of Israel [Exodus 19:9-15].  And come He did:

On the third day there was thunder and lightning as well as a thick cloud on the mountain, and a blast of trumpet so loud that all the people who were in the camp trembled. Exodus 19:16

God gave the people the 10 commandments on the third day.  But here is how the people of Israel responded to the thunder, lightning, and trumpets:

When the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance, and said to Moses, 'You speak to us and we will listen, but do not let God speak to us or we will die.  Exodus 20:18-19

God wanted them to be priests, one who draws near for worship.  But now, they are afraid and wanted an intermediary between themselves and God.  I think one of the main things here is that because of their fear of the unknown [who God is], they wanted someone else to represent them.  They wanted Moses to be their "priest".  Moses responds to the people by telling them not to be fearful, God came to test them to put the fear of Him upon them so they would not sin.  Moses then drew near to God on his own to where God was.  The ordination that was suppose to happen between God and His people never took place.  They wanted Moses to go in place of them.  And God honored their decision - to not be part of His priestly kingdom.  So in Exodus 28, God assigns Aaron and his descendants to be the priests that will represent the people of Israel.  They shall be distinguished by their clothes and they alone will be called "priests".

So, we opted out of God's plan A.  And because God doesn't want people kicking and screaming into His plans for us, He created the priestly line.  It's sad that we would opt out of His plans out of fear, but so often I do that with God.  I don't trust that it will be OK if I follow His path, so I make my own.  And God shows that He honors my decision, but I will do that outside of the relationship with Him.  Plan A was an ordination and intimacy with God.  Place B was separation and having Aaron and his line be our path to God.  It wasn't until Jesus came that we no longer needed a priest - that we can come to God as our rightful and created role of "priests".  I am a priest.  And I draw near to God for worship.