Above My Highest Joy

It might sound crazy to think or say, but God wants me to be so dependent upon him that if I go a day or two without him, I will feel completely useless. I think this is the conclusion I have come to when it comes to some particular verses I've been contemplating lately: Psalm 137:5-6:

"If I forget you, O Jerusalem,

let my right hand forget its skill!

Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,

if I do not remember you,

if I do not set Jerusalem

above my highest joy!"

Here's some context. This psalm was written as a response to God's people, Israel, after being deported and exiled into Babylonian captivity (586-539 B.C. if you were curious). The Babylonian conquest was a discipline delivered by God in response to his people's lack of trust and proper worship of him in the decades prior. So the psalmist is pretty much mourning over this period, and is repenting of "forgetting God." You see, at the time (before the Christ) Jerusalem and her temple were considered the center of Jewish worship. To truly worship God, one must be in his presence at the temple. Therefore, the writer of the psalm is associating communion and worship of God directly with Jerusalem, and rightfully so.

It's Old Testament, but the principle completely applies to Christians today. When Jesus died and rose from the grave, he did away with the former way of worship. 

"The hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father..." (John 4:21).

"The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth..." (John 4:23).

The point Jesus was making in this passage is that the worship of God will no longer be done in one location, but can be done wherever a believer is present. Whoever has been born again, the spirit of Christ dwells in them, so communion and fellowship with God is constant. We have become the holy Temple, the dwelling place of the living God (Romans 8:11)!

So if I understand the above verses as the psalmist understood them, I might say something like, "If I forget to worship(!), if I forget to spend time with you(!), if I forget to acknowledge you everyday(!), then render me useless! Without you, I am unskilled and ineffective. Nothing I have to say is worth anything!"

My efforts then, in my own strength, are just chasing after wind. I must not forget my Lord, because he is actually the one who does any good in and through me anyway (Philippians 2:13). I have to make him my priority (above my highest joy!), or I will be useless for kingdom work. I must come to my "Jerusalem" and live by his grace, for it is full, sufficient, and effective.

We do what we are

Let's just humbly admit it: the Bible can be confusing. Some of the chapters and some of the verses  (even some of the books) can be difficult to understand for anyone on whatever reading level. Take the book of James for example. This letter, written by the half-brother of Jesus, is one of the more difficult books of the Bible to not only read and understand, but even more so to preach. In fact, Martin Luther, the leader of the Protestant Reformation, had incredibly ill feelings toward the content of the letter, even to the point that he didn't consider it to be Scripture! In his Preface of the New Testament, Luther said of James, "St. James' epistle is really an epistle of straw…for it has nothing of the nature of the gospel about it."

I can understand Luther's frustration, and I'm sure I share that with many people. When reading a verse like James 2:17 ("Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead"), one can scratch their head thinking, "I thought we were saved by grace alone, not works. You know, so no one can boast..."

So what's up with verses like this in James where it seems to be insinuating that we must have works in order to be saved? I think what James is trying to say is that our initial faith is not based on works, but our works are based on our faith.

What James is really challenging his readers with is the thought that if you are really and truly saved, your actions will show it. If your identity is truly in Christ, your outward self will reflect and mimic that inward identity. Of course, none of us are perfect when it comes to emulating the person of Jesus, but the point is that our "works" will continually look more and more like him.

One of the major misunderstandings with these verses comes from the world we live in. The whole notion of "you are what you do" has completely confused us. We are led to believe that to be defined as something or someone, we have to go out and do it, then we will be something the world can define. That's what the world says, but that's not what holy Scripture teaches. 

Collectively, the Bible teaches that our outward actions paint a picture of our inward nature. Simply put, our actions do not lead to our identity, but rather our identity leads to our actions. As James writes in the very next verse (18), "Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works."

Here's one way of saying it: "We are saved by faith alone, but saving faith is never alone."

Our outward actions, therefore, reflect our inner faith, and are a manifestation of the inward state of the heart. So instead of saying, "we are what we do," which is a works based identity, we would do much better to say:

We do what we are.

The Greatest Story Ever Told

Last night I shared a few of these thoughts with the students of our youth group. Blogged it to share with others...

Everyone wants to be a part of something great. And yes, I know when using the word “everyone” some might think this to be one of those all-encompassing statements (which most of the time I am annoyed with myself). I get it, but I think this is a safe usage.

In the book of Ecclesiastes, the Bible says God “has put eternity into man’s heart” (3:11). There are many possible applications for this verse, but I think the true meaning it alludes to is the fact that every single person has some sort of sense that life continues beyond what is seen or known in this present existence. If all of us are completely honest with ourselves, we would say that we want to be a part of something bigger than us.

So, if you want to deceive yourself into not believing that, this blog is probably not for you (but thanks for reading anyway). For those who say, “Yeah, that’s me,” stay with me for a minute...

No matter who you are, this applies to you. If you are a guy, most likely a war movie or an epic battle scene will rev you up and cause you to want go out and just be manly. It triggers testosterone and ignites a passion for greatness, and makes you want to do something like this.

If you are a girl, something a little different probably sparks your interests: a beautiful love story. Ladies, we all know that most of you dream and fantasize about having a story in the likes of Noah and Ally, like Landon and Jamie, Edward and Bella...you get it. You want "the best kind of love."

We want to be a part of a great story. The truth is, though, the greatest, biggest, and most epic story imaginable is going on right now. It’s happening in the very world in which each of us lives. Around us, amongst us. Yet most are hardly aware or even familiar with its existence. It’s the story of God, and its been playing out since the beginning of time. For the masculine, its an epic battle against the powers of darkness and the Kingdom of light (Ephesians 6:12), and nothing is more valiant and honorable. For the feminine, its a romance that puts all others to shame, and nothing is more poetic and heart-heartwarming (John 15:13).

We are at war, and we are in it because of love. Because of his great love for us, the God of all creation, the Almighty God who spoke this universe into existence, sent his only Son to die for us. There was nothing about this Son that made him deserving to die on a Roman cross, but it was God’s reckless and scandalous love that sent him there. From that moment, we have been at war, and there is much more at stake than mere matters of life and death.

The reality of all of this is that you are living in this story whether you realize it or not, or whether you like it or not. The choice you have to make, the question you must answer, is what part of this story will you play? What role are you going to fill? Will you join the cause of the Hero in this drama, or will you sit back indifferent, lost in the mix.

God doesn’t want that. He wants you to join his cause. He wants you to “buckle your chinstrap” and get in the game. He wants you to experience and share in the love that has changed the outlook of eternity forever (redundant? I know). Yes, the Gospel of Jesus Christ sets you free from something (slavery in sin), but it also sets you free to something, and that is to act, to fulfill your assignments and duties.

So if you are ready, if you want to be a part of the greatest story ever told, don’t wait. There is too much at stake to waste one more day. This is your time...