What Are You Afraid Of?

As I have witnessed our church growing in its Worship of our Lord over the last several months, I've reflected on how this has occurred, and especially on why this isn't the way it's always been. Let me explain...

A pretty traditional, and conservative church, our church has always been a place of service, mission, and evangelism. Many, many 100's have come to Christ over the last couple of decades through the Lord's work in and through the people in our church. But, sometimes I've just wondered what might happen if our folks ever really, really turned themselves loose to Worship. I guess I've wondered this because I wasn't sure what would happen if I ever did that either!

Well, over the last several months, I have witnessed more and more freedom in our worship services on Sunday mornings. Oh, we've clapped for things for years. And, we've had no shortage of "amens" during sermons. Sitting under the preaching of one of the best communicators in our country will do that for you. But, for the last several months, even over the last year, our congregation has become more free with worshipping as God leads, and less and less concerned with what others around us might think. For instance...

It has become common place for our people to stand spontaneously during some songs (whether congregational or "special music"). This is in response to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, and in alignment with the Word. Our pastor taught us late last year that according to his research and findings, when people worshipped in the Bible, they nearly always either knelt down, or stood. Now, he taught this as he asked us to begin standing during the sharing (not the passing out, but the partaking of) the elements during the Lord's Supper. But, since it's basically pretty hard to kneel down in an auditorium with pews, it seems as though our people have begun to take to heart that when they feel led to truly worship, they stand. Oh, not everyone...in fact, you can even detect differences in the "early" and "late" services on a Sunday morning. But, that's not what's important. What's really neat, at least to me, is to see an ever increasing freedom in our church to make worship a thing of individual preference, freedom, and response. And, I've got to tell you...when individuals respond to the presence of God in a place, it's an amazing thing to behold! I won't even go into the week someone ran in the aisle and shouted "Glory!" except to say I've not heard one negative word about that occurrence...only how AMAZING it was to be there to experience it!

Anyway, back to the title...What do you think of when you try to really imagine the PRESENCE of God? I've been contemplating this because I've been curious about my own new-found freedom to worship. And, it finally hit me. Once I accepted how MUCH God loves me and how I can't make that change no matter how many terrible things I've done, I finally quit letting fear win the day. Now, this applies to many areas of my life, but in the area of worship, here's what I'm trying to say...

Most of my life, when I imagined, or even thought about being the in the presence of God, I immediately felt fear. Yes, fear...the thought of being in the presence of the One from whom I can hide nothing used to bring very scary, fearful thoughts to me. I guess it was simply because I knew I was hiding things within me that I didn't want to share with anyone. And, foolishly, I guess I thought if I didn't acknowledge His presence, I wouldn't have to deal with what He would reveal in me. Because, as our Worship Pastor shared in last night's prayer service, when God makes His presence known to us, He reveals things within us...whether we want Him to or not...whether we like it or not...Why does this happen?

Because He is HOLY! He is a HOLY and Righteous God, and He can only be where Holiness is. That's why He turned away from His Son on the Cross! Jesus was hanging there BEARING OUR SIN! God could not BE there with that sin! But, He could allow the once and for all Payment of that sin to occur, and then GO GET HIS SON! That's why we celebrate a RISEN Lord!

Anyway, He is a Holy God, and when He comes into our presence, He exposes things within us. But, "If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us ALL unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9). In other words, when we simply admit, in His presence, to His face if you will, that we have sinned (failed, fallen, come short...pick a term), and we are sincere in our regret, sorrow, brokeness, and contriteness before Him, He does what? Scolds us? Reprimands us? Disciplines us? Mocks us? Attacks us? No, no, no....NO!

HE LOVES US! He forgives! He forgets! He forgives what we confess, and then...perhaps most incredible of all...He ALSO forgives what we DON'T confess. If we do our best to confess what we know we've done wrong, or what we think we've done wrong...God forgives ALL we've done wrong. What else did you think it means when John says, "...cleanses us from all unrighteousness?"

When we come into God's presence (or, when we accept that He was there waiting for us all along - another topic for another day), and we confess our sins with a goal of being cleansed of ALL unrighteousness, He "prepares" us for Worship. He prepares us to be in His presence. We cannot become worthy of being in His presence, but He - through His Son first, and His Grace repeatedly - prepares us to be in His presence. Then, we can WORSHIP! Without fear of condemnation (because we've been cleansed), without fear of being "found out" (we confessed what we could bring to mind, and He made the rest go away), and maybe most of all...

WITHOUT REGARD TO WHAT ANYONE AROUND US IS DOING! You see, when you experience God's love, and God's cleansing, and then really...and I mean REALLY... allow yourself to recognize His presence, you WILL worship, my friend. You may sing, or dance, or cry, or raise hands, or you may simply experience the most peace you've ever known. But, you WILL worship, because you will know the beauty, wonder, and majesty of His presence...and you will do it without fear.

So, remember: God loves you, and nothing you can do will EVER change that! So, go to Him, confess what you can draw from your mind's memory banks that has not been confessed, and trust Him to take care of that (since He already provided the payment, the Way, His Son, Jesus) AND all your other failings as well. Then, forget that the rest of us are out here, and simply freely praise, worship, love, and honor Him for who He is. King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Alpha and Omega, From Everlasting to Everlasting, forevermore, The Great Physician, The Great Healer, the Great Provider, Redeemer, Creator, and Lord of All. To God Be the Glory! Amen!