It's Not A Religion, It's A Relationship

If there's one thing God cannot stand it's religion. God is God and His Son walked our walk and took our place so that we could freely enter His presence. Jesus did it so that we would no longer need any other intercessor but Him. He flung the gate wide open for those willing to approach. I just can't downgrade that at all. It was such a huge and hurtful price to pay but Jesus loved us. He hated the idols, and the unfaithful hearts were just too much for His heart to bear, and the sin was all too opposite of His holy nature but He loved us enough. Where sin resided His grace over abounded. He denied His own nature to come after us. Jesus with one glance could look past our mess and just see who our Father made us to be. Because He loved and continues to love us for us His message is so clear: Will we let His perfect love really transform us and break every wall? Trespass all obstacles we've set up? Will we dare let our Savior get close enough? You see it doesn't matter if you can't look at Him because He's looking right at you loving you at this moment knowing that when you let Him have His way in you you'll begin to love who He created you to be also. It's about setting aside who we think He is and just giving Him that chance to show us and reveal Himself to us, regardless of whether He comes the way we were expecting Him to or not. We've just got to let His Holy Spirit show up in our lives the way He desires to. 

As I read the Book of Amos a week back one thing really just stood out to me. God was addressing His people with pain that turned into anger because of the way they were living, because of the sin that was all too undeniable to ignore. One day they bowed down and worshipped other man-made gods and idols and the next day they were in the temple praising the living God in their fancy robes. God couldn't stand watching how they played both cards generation after generation and how they participated in such a masquerade. It was just a strong feeling of I love you so much, but why don't you truly love me back? If we pay close enough attention is this not happening today? I was this person at one point in my teenage years, showing up to church forcefully and putting on a pretty face only waiting for that last prayer in the afternoon to storm off and get back to what I called "reality". My idols weren't wood or painted plastic the way some are today but they had names: unfaithfulness, shame, and insecurity to say the least. Clapping my hands one morning and then singing anything but christian music the rest of the day. One day His love was just so big and so in my face, shining through that it woke me up to not just sort of live for Him but to live in the day to day to know His heart. If He was willing to inundate my life that night in such a powerful manner then I knew right then and there that I wanted this every single day of my life. 

God said to His people:

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(Amos 5:21-23) 

“I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. 

Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, 

I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, 

I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! 

I will not listen to the music of your harps.

(Amos 6:5) 

You sing trivial songs to the sound of the harp and fancy 

yourselves to be great musicians like David. 

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God wasn't saying that He didn't love music or fellowship but He was saying that He hated the fact that these things were being done out of religion, not because of true love for God, out of tradition and man-made regulation. Their lips were praising because they had to but there hearts were piled up sky high with idols. The music delighted the ear but the person playing the music, which is what God truly cared about, was so far from knowing God. Religion comes in all colors, sometimes it's so obvious and other times it's very neatly tucked away. The fact that God can just see right through us is why I think we feel the need to hide and why man-kind has always felt the need to hide. I think it's hard for us to fathom how holiness can look straight at us, touch us, and love on us. We don't need to hide anymore. This is to worship in truth. Let your heart be true so that He can begin to work. He loves you and I more than any song we could ever sing. In fact, he loves our music simply because we're the ones who are singing it. Without our hearts being in His hand it's just noise. You see, God offered us His Innocent Son so that through His amazing sacrifice we could have direct access to the Father once again. Since before time existed and we were in the heart of God He wanted to bring us into existence to be in relation with Him, to simply be with us and that was worship. To this day mankind has strayed. What causes us to hide from our creator, our Father, our friend? Sin. After sin crept in and we gave the enemy a foothold in our lives out came religion to invent rules so that we could earn enough merit to maybe have eternal life. maybe. Religion puts a price tag on us that Jesus already paid. God hates religion because it is only through His Son Jesus that we have access to Him. Access that isn't just offered after death, but every day of our lives. 

Religion in all it's splendor and glorious tradition didn't humble itself to die on a cross for us, it does not have life to give. Jesus bled until His very last breathe with you and I on His mind. The same eyes that saw our unformed body came to give us His body in exchange so that we could have the option to live forever by His side. Even after all that, He's not forcing us to be with Him...Jesus died to give us the choice.  Every day we have the opportunity to accept the grace of Jesus so that we can boldly approach the thrown of God. Job cried out for this when he was sick wishing and praying that if only there was someone who could plead his case before God for him. Jesus came to give us this. We don't need any other mediators (people, saints, idols). We just need Jesus. We just need His presence. I thank God that we've been given that option every day, to walk in His presence through the Holy Spirit. I thank God for such a love. I invite you to invite the Holy Spirit into your life, not just because you should or because He's just great company, but because your life will just never be the same after He invades every detail of it. I challenge you if you're a part of a worship team to think about this when you find yourself there leading, playing, or maybe in the crowd. Talk to God and let Him know that you desire Him to show up the way He wants to. As you drive He wants to talk to you just like a friend. When you're at work or at school He delights to be with you if you'll let Him. God wants to be with you and I. Beautiful, and honorable thought.

Preparing The Banquet

(Matthew 22:2-3) “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come." Picture this, you live in a small village where everybody knows everybody. The king of the village is preparing an elegant wedding banquet where the saying "bigger is better" falls short. In his kingdom the whole community goes all out whenever it's time to celebrate. As he finalizes all the preparations, he sends out his advisers to invite all the towns people to come celebrate with his family the joyful occasion. To his surprise, many neglect to show up and the reception continues but lacks familiar faces. The prince becomes discouraged but knows that no matter the number of those who come to support him he is going on to celebrate with his family and true friends. The wedding goes on and the couple is married. Those who did not attend missed out on the lovely ceremony. Why did they not come? Some would say that maybe they thought they had nothing to wear to such a glorious celebration or that maybe they did not want to be looked down upon because they were commoners. The reasons we do not know, but the one thing for certain is that they refused to attend.

When we lead worship, it is our mission to invite the congregation or people to come worship with us, just as the King's servants did. It is our heart's job to lure people into the Lord's presence so they can (Psalm 34:8) "Taste and see that the LORD is good" Just like those who refused to attend the King's banquet, we will come across people who flat out do not want to raise their hands or embrace a new song, but we have to present them with the invite and then let them make the decision. We cannot be discouraged by those who do not attend our spiritual celebration. Do we give up? Of course not. We just simply have to keep going and pray that they will join us, even if they come late. Better late than never. God has prepared a spiritual banquet for us to come and taste and it is our privilege to help those around us find their way to the table. If we sing, it doesn't matter how beautiful the voice is or how in tune the instruments are, this will all fall short if we do not invite the people to come and taste the meal with us. It's almost like the congregation knows who's real and who isn't. It's funny because we know when we're wanted and when we're not. When someone invites you to a party all it takes is one look at the person's face and his/her tone to know if the invite is legit or out of pity. The same goes in worship. If the people don't feel realness in your words, voice, and tone, they just won't take the invitation. We are all in search of a genuine corporate worship. The plaguing question is, will people find it when you sing, play, dance, or paint? Will God see a humbled heart? We must really think about this before we extend our invites to people because they just want to feel welcomed. Take what's in your heart and just wear it on your sleeve. You will run the risk of getting hurt but Jesus did the same. The Father sends the invitation for us to come to celebrate the wedding of the church to Christ but sadly many do not come. Our goal is to dwell in God's presence and reach out and bring those who are thirsty who need to be satisfied. As worshipers what else could we most desire than to spend time with the Lord in His presence? To feel the joy and the sheer pleasure in convincing others to do the same. Through our lives others will see how good the Lord is, so it is important to reflect Christ in all that we say and do. (1 Peter 4:8) "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." Let us prepare the banquet for the world to feast on. Once we get them to come to the table then we must let them eat and celebrate. During our worship we must lead them but then let them taste and see for themselves that the Lord is good and that there is joy in those who take refuge in Him. There, they will no longer hunger or thirst. As worshipers (we have all been called to worship), we have to be willing to share with others what the Lord has shared with us so that we may all say this: (Psalm 27:4) "One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple." Continue to send out your invitations because (1 Corinthians 2:9) "That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him."