Lichinga, Mozambique
Friday, May 14, 2010
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Teaching on Worship at the YWAM DTS
One
of the really cool things that can happen in a healthy environment on
the mission field is what I would call CROSS-POLLINATION, when different
missions organizations and churches can work together in unity and
share resources. We have just such a relationship with the other
missions agencies here in Lichinga, Mozambique. One of the organizations
that we work closely with here is YWAM, or Youth With A Mission.
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Denis,
the DTS, or Discipleship Training School leader with YWAM, invited me
to come and teach the DTS students on the subject of worship. I was
thrilled that he had asked and agreed to come and teach. Today I taught
from 9:00am to 12:30pm on subjects surrounding worship such as: sitting
at Jesus’ feet vs. being busy in ministry, the throne room of God, our
response to the love of God, lifestyle worship and worship as a weapon.
The 15 or so students were very attentive, taking notes through the
whole class. Some students were moved so much that they asked if I could
come back and teach more on the subject. I feel honored that my limited
understanding on the subject of worship could bless them so much. It
seems as though I am now in a season of teaching in Bible Schools, as I
am also currently teaching through the gospel of Mark at our Great
Harvest School of Ministry on the IRIS base. I am loving it. I
especially love teaching students that are hungry for more of God and
His Word.
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Christian Young
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NOTES ON WORSHIP
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Sitting at Jesus’ Feet vs. Being Busy in Ministry
In
the story of Mary and Martha In Luke 10:38-42 we find that Jesus
commends Mary for choosing to sit at His feet, gleaning all she could
from the Savior while Martha was busy serving. Jesus wasn’t saying that
serving wasn’t important but that all of our serving should come as a
result of being in the presence of God. We can do things FOR God or we
can do things WITH God. God tells the church of Sardis in Revelation 3:1
that they have a reputation of being alive but are dead. There is the
illustration of when you go to cut the head off of a chicken to kill it;
when you cut the head off of the chicken, the body of the chicken
continues to flap around, with a lot of movement, yet the chicken is in
fact, dead. The church today needs to beware of the danger of being busy
about the work of God, with a lot of movement and a lot of programs,
yet being detached from the Head of the Body of Christ, who is Christ
Himself. Worship is about sitting at the feet of Jesus in adoration of
Him.
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The Throne Room of God
Something I do a lot of times in
my own personal times of worship is to read passages about the throne
room of God from Revelation and imagine the throne room as I worship. In
Revelation 4:3 it talks about there being a rainbow around the throne
of God, as well as mentions different precious stones. What causes this
rainbow? We know that rainbows are caused from pure, white light being
refracted through something, let’s say a diamond or precious stone. As
the pure white light shines through the diamond, it refracts a beautiful
rainbow of colors. 2 Corinthians 4:6-7 says that we have this treasure
in earthen vessels. I believe that each of us Christ followers can be
like a diamond or precious stone in the hand of the Father, and as He
shines His pure, white light into us, we refract His glory in worship
through expressions of worship, each differently in the unique way in
which He designed us, like different precious stones do as well. And
around the throne of God, our worship is like the colors of the rainbow.
It also mentions later in Revelation that there are people from every
tribe, tongue and nation around the throne of God. Imagine the different
colors of the rainbow as God’s pure, white light shines into every
tribe, tongue and nation around the throne of God in heaven, and how
each group refracts God’s glory differently in its’ own unique
expressions of worship.
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Our Response to the Love of God
We
know that we love God because He first loved us. Worship is our response
to God’s unconditional love for us. The key is to worship God, or
express our love to God, in every circumstance in life. It is easy to
sing songs of praise and worship to God when things are all going well
in our life. But what about when things aren’t going so well? Or what
about when we face difficulties? Do we respond in worship? We can take
Job’s example from Job 1:20 when his response to the most difficult of
situations was to worship the Lord. As we worship God in the beauty of
His holiness, and in His wonderful presence, all of our difficult
situations seem to fade away into the background, and even disappear. In
His presence, everything changes.
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Lifestyle Worship
In
Romans 12:1-2 we find out that we can present ourselves to the Lord as
living sacrifices unto Him, and that our lives actually are worship to
God as we remain completely surrendered to Him on the altar. In the Old
Testament, the Levites were given precise instructions on how to kill
the animal that was to be sacrificed to God. And as the smoke of the
sacrifice rose to the heavens, God was pleased by the aroma. The problem
with living sacrifices is that they often want to crawl back off of the
altar. Even as living sacrifices, we need to reckon ourselves as
crucified with Christ and remain on the altar of God. As we do this, our
lives become a sweet aroma as worship before God. We can worship God as
we just live life; when we go to work, or are doing chores around the
house. Worship isn’t just about singing songs to God at church. Worship
is about living a life fully surrendered to God.
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Worship as a
WeaponWe need to understand that the Lord inhabits the praises of His
people. One thing that the enemy, Satan, and the other fallen angels or
demons cannot stand is the the worship of God’s people. At the sound of
God’s saints worshipping the Lord, the enemy must flee. Why? Because
Satan fell from heaven because He wanted to be exalted above the throne
of God, in worship. When Christ-followers worship God, Satan is defeated
as his desire is to receive the focus and attention. We can see
evidence of the power of praise and worship in 2 Chronicles 20 where God
has His people, Israel, place the worshippers on the front lines of the
battle. As they played their instruments and sang songs to YHWH, their
enemies were defeated without even lifting a sword. There is power in
praise and worship. When we are under attack from the enemy, Satan, we
should worship God as it is a key weapon in our fight against the evil
one.
Tchekelanje, Mozambique
