Prayer in the Theater

As a scuba diver, I have always been amazed at the richness of the colors, the diversity of life, the amazing creatures that God placed beneath the waves. I am also a bit dismayed at the condition we have allowed this piece of our superintendency to fall to, but that's for another time. John Calvin referred to the world as a "theater of God's glory." There is nothing in it that is left to chance. Most often, things work precisely in harmony as God intended, no matter our interference and the impact of our fall on His creation. As a scientist who studies things under the seas, I have seen such things as what is called "social foraging" in which two unrelated species travel together, one following another, one uncovering food for itself and in the process stirring up food for the other. I have also seen what we may consider the violence of predation, one species killing and eating another. There is beauty, and cooperation, there is sand - there is violence and conflict, there is mud; yet all of it is a part of the real world.

We are part of that same real world. We live in it, make our way in it, love in it, plan in it, experience pain in it, experience joy in it. Every part of this "theater of God's glory" carries His fingerprint. And so we live in this material reality, and it impacts us. Prayer also exists in this theater, and is every bit as real. In "Answering God," Peterson says it this way:

"....there is no prayer, real prayer, outside the theater. Dissociated from creation, prayer drifts into silly sentimentalism, or snobbish mysticism, or pious elitism.

....The Word did not become a good idea, or a numinous feeling, or a moral aspiration: the Word became flesh and then went on to change water into wine and wine into blood."

I think about the real grit of the psalms and of the psalmist. When I was young, I encountered the "heroes of the Bible" as just that; glorified men and women who rose above the everyday, seemingly above it all. But they were not. See David as he hides from Absalom his son, who instigated a coup and ran David off into the wilderness, the same wilderness in which David hid from Saul years before, fighting for his life. Consider David as he sinned and repented before God - he was no spotless lamb. He was, however, "a man after God's own heart." He was cold, he was hungry, he was dirty, he was scared. He rejoiced, he danced, he praised, he sang. No mere enlightened gnostic spiritual teacher, David was fully immersed in the physical, he was a "theater-goer." And he prayed like it. Many times he begged, pleaded, bargained, argued, complained, was dismayed and all was not always to his liking - and he said so to God. Yet each time, he seemingly went back to the same place - that God had it under control and David acquiesced to Him. Why? Because David knew who God was. How? Because he talked with God, he listened to God, he knew God's words, and he believed them. He walked with God from his youth, he prayed. David prayed in the context of the material, physical world in which he lived, and that is how we should do it. Prayer is never separate from our story, it is not a compartment of our life. Prayer is not a laundry list, it is a conversation, perhaps about the laundry, but a conversation none the less. Share your life in the theater with the One who created it, and then listen for His answer.

Get Small this Christmas

“They put their minds together to rid themselves of this word so that their words can rule.”

-Eugene H. Peterson

Answering God – The Psalms as Tools for Prayer

One of the nice things about this time of year is that I get to spend some focused time catching up on reading. The quote above comes from some of that reading and relates to Psalm 2, which reads:

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth take their stand and rulers

Gather together against the Lord

And against His Anointed One.

“Let us break their chains,” they say “and throw off their fetters.”

The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.

Ps. 2:1-5 NIV

There are people in our world, and always have been, who would try to live lives apart from God, and to do so, actively plan how to discredit and diminish His words, so that their words rule over us. Removing “In God We Trust” from coins, trying to force public citizens to take down crosses displayed, doing their best to eliminate “Merry Christmas” in favor of “Happy Holidays” are only the latest in these plans. And God Laughs. He laughs because He knows that these “kings of earth” can only see a microcosm, and He is the entire Cosmos and beyond, so beyond there are not words to describe Him.

So God invades our realm, our small piece of His creative expression. In Psalm 2, Messiah is introduced. The word used in Psalm 2 for anointed is “Mashiyach” and simply means “anointed one.” This term is used in scripture repeatedly and is not strictly for Jesus of Nazareth. It is the same word used in 1 Chronicles 16:22 where it says “Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.” The prophets were also “Mashiyach.” I could go on here, but my point is this. God sent anointed after anointed to tell the people about Him and to try to restore broken relationship, to try to get those plotters to see a picture much larger than their own measly power allowed. In Mark, chapter 12, Jesus recounts that very story. The owner of the vineyard sends messenger after messenger, some are beaten, others killed, and then he sends his son, and they kill him too in hopes of getting the inheritance for themselves, "throwing off their fetters" as it were.

At Christmas, we remember that God sent us THE Anointed One, God presents Himself in the flesh. In His doing so, in the way of His doing so, He reduces the power of earthly kings to insignificant rhetoric. Without humbling themselves and accepting a baby, they and their kingdoms will come to nothing. Without acknowledging that their words are no match for His words, that their sphere of influence is far too small and His all encompassing, they will fade into insignificance. And that has been the way of things throughout history. Kings and kingdoms have come and gone, but the Word of the Lord, The Anointed One of Israel, the baby who came thousands of years ago still remains.

Christmas is the story of how God invaded our world, working from within its “smallness” to bring us to His limitless love. If we reduce ourselves, give up the petty control we think we have over things, God will lead us to a world beyond our imagining.

The wolf will live with the lamb,

The leopard will lie down with the goat,

The calf and the lion and the yearling together;

And a little child will lead them.

Isaiah 11:6

Perception is NOT Reality

We live in a world of moral relativism. Truth is only truth if I see it as truth. Some things are not as evil as other things. I was on a website the other day on which people were defending the legalization of marijuana, and the common argument was that marijuana was “not as harmful as alcohol.” Did you ever think of this: the lesser of two evils is still evil! I am tired of hearing “perception is reality.” What a crock! Perception is not reality. Reality is reality, truth is truth, God is God and I am not! What does the last comment in that sentence have to do with the first two parts? When we determine what is true and what is real by our perception of it, we put ourselves in the place of God. We are now the supreme being, everything revolves around us – we are the center of the universe and people should spend their lives pleasing us. Now, I know there are many that do not believe God exists, but this seems to be relatively new. If we look back through world history, some research indicates there are fewer believers today than ever before. This, of course, makes sense. If we can eliminate God, society becomes more permissive, more self-centered than ever before. Not only do we not need God, we don’t want God, because that would displace us from our desired position.

Moral relativism is a consequence of extreme self-esteem. We are always right, what we want is penultimate, our perception of our world is all that matters. Narcissism is rampant in our culture of self-esteem. When self-esteem becomes the be all, end all of how we function, we wrap ourselves in self-love that excludes, by definition, placing the others in the forefront. How many times have you heard the phrase “you can’t love others before you love yourself” or “if you don’t take care of you, no one else will?” This is totally backward. If we all spend our time loving and taking care of ourselves, when do we reach out in relationship and in love and take care of others? It doesn’t happen. Protectionism, entitlement, self determination and “Manifest Destiny” do not work in our world on a political, world level, why should we expect it to be true on an individual level?

We love because God first loved us. That is our example, we have it backwards. God loved us before we even knew who He was. I know someone who said that they never understood what love was until they loved in a situation in which there was no way the object of their love had the ability to love back. What a great lesson! Can we do anything for God to deserve His love? I don’t think so! Yet He loves us anyway. If we spend all of our time loving ourselves or loving others only when we get something out of it, we miss the point of love itself. We give because we love, not because we get. If we act like we love, if we do loving things and expect to get something out of it then it is not love, it is selfishness. If we put ourselves first, we are always asking for more, and resentment builds because we didn’t get what we expect, what we believe we deserve (there’s that entitlement thing), and the relationship breaks down. When people in a true loving relationship submit themselves to each other, give selflessly, there is mutuality in love. People in that sort of relationship get because both give without consideration of self. When we get it right, everyone gets loved. For God so loved….

Change the World

I recently received an e-mail from a friend that I felt the need to respond to and then as I wrote, realized that this message was not just for them. The context was one in which the person was calling for us to "move to a nobler goal - the ascension of humanity to a level of moral and ethical behavior based on love, trust and respect." These are truly noble goals, ones we should aspire to, yet when placed in a context outside of Christ, are impossible. So here follows my response:

"Most importantly, and you need to hear this from my heart, we will NEVER ascend to nobility as a race until we bow the knee to Christ. If I said otherwise to you, I would be hypocritical. If you hear me judging other religions, okay, but that's not what I'm saying here. Human beings have long proven their inability to rise above themselves as a race. I have seen evils done by ALL religions, and that is not the issue, or maybe it is. The issue is personal rather than societal or corporate or an organizational one as many religions (and by this hear organizations, not faith systems) have made it. Unless I bow my knee to Christ, then I have set myself up as my own god. The problem with self-made men, I've heard it said, is that we tend to worship our maker. I make a pretty weak god. Jesus never said come to me and hate everyone else. He did say I am THE way, THE truth and THE life, NO MAN comes to the Father but by me. Jesus never set up an organized religion, yet He held to the truth. The warnings about failing to bow the knee are both 'prescriptive' and 'descriptive.' In other words, they are not just a warning of judgment, they are also a warning of the consequences of our decisions. I have seen the impacts of this regularly. For example, in our local church we have many people in recovery, and I have rarely seen someone truly freed from the power of their addictions without turning to Christ and submitting their lives to Him. They have tried to place many things in that place as their higher power as it says in the 12 step programs, but nothing, not even self denial, has brought them the freedom that Christ does. When we submit ourselves to Christ, we get freedom. That submission does not come from praying a prayer, from joining a church, from submitting to worldly authority (though in its proper context, that too is important), it comes from submitting our lives to Christ. Christians who fail to act in areas of social injustice need growth. Scripture abounds with areas in which God tells us this. I have, however, begun to learn something that is new to me - mercy. One of my spiritual gifts is prophecy (not fore-telling, but 'forth'-telling). I have in the past been very quick to use that as a hammer to stamp out wrongs. I am learning, however, that all this does is attempt to destroy the bad without building anything life-giving. Part of what I am learning now is that social justice is more than undoing the evils - it is much more about showing mercy. The propet Micah says 'Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with your God' He doesn't just end with the 'do justice' part - mercy and humility are crucial to the true righting of wrongs. But I ramble here. Bottom line, the only way for us as arace to rise to true nobility is to fall from the pedestals of ourselves and submit to Jesus Christ. Only in this way will reform ever happen. And it doesn't happen on a national level first, never has, never will. It has to happen on an individual level."

"Over the years you have asked me to pray for you, your family, situations, and I have. But I have always wondered who you wanted me to pray to - Allah, Buddha, my ancestors, or Jesus. I have, or course, prayed to the One God - and I have prayed that you and yours would come to a saving knowledge of Him - I pray that now. Why am I responding to you in this way now, well, I'm not exactly sure, except that yesterday I challenged the church to talk openly about their faith more, not to hide it, to tell people the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and so your e-mail came perhaps as a divine appointment for me."

That was my response. We often hear calls that people, nations, or the world needs to change, to become better. The truth is that this will never happen without Christ. There may be people who read this and disagree, but what evidence do we have to show that people, left to themselves, can do it? This type of change can only come from the One God, working through those fully submitted to Him. That, after all, is the point. Jesus came to free us from ourselves, our sins and our weak attempts to rightly handle things with ourselves on the throne. He restores with justice, with mercy, and with grace. Who of us can do the same without Him?

Humility.... or Upside-Down Pride?

Have you ever heard people talk about "gentling" a horse? When you do that, you take the unharnessed, uncontrolled power of a horse and rein it in (excuse the pun). The horse is now strength under control, which, strangely enough, is how humility is often defined. When a horse is gentled, it does not lose its power, it does not lose its confidence. Imagine a horse, under saddle, thinking "Oh my, I can't do that little jump anymore because it might be misinterpreted as arrogance." or a quarterhorse after a win saying that it was all the jockey, but thanks. Yet this is what we are taught as humans, that if we show confidence, we are arrogant. Arrogance is not thinking more of yourself, it is thinking less of others. I once coached a soccer team that believed, every time out, that they were going to win. Now, they understood that in order to do so, they had to play to their potential and work hard, but they knew they were gifted enough to be successful. This is confidence, not arrogance, and something that is very hard to achieve in high school athletes. Some of the parents, however, came to me worried that the team was arrogant. We never belittled an opponent, never took anyone lightly, we just went out and took care of business.

In the church, I often see a false humility in people that does not honor who God made them to be. False humility does not point to God, but points to our weakness and thus, in my mind, is what I call "upside down pride." I personally have had a hard time taking compliments, but I am getting better at it. You see, if you frame your gifts as God has given them, you should have confidence in yourself and in what you were built for. I, for example, believe that I am an average guitar player, an average vocalist, and I am certainly not a detailed planning person. These seem to be things you need to be a successful worship pastor. I think that this is an accurate assessment of my skills. God, however, dealt with me on this issue several years ago showing me that the soft heart He gave me, the training I had through choirs, musicals, drama, band, even the Corps of Cadets at Texas A & M, were all part and parcel to getting me to the point at which I could not just lead His people in worship, but also pastor. For me, it is not so much the effect of one or two amazing gifts, but the combination of many smaller ones that is my strength. So I have been successful in leading worship and pastoring, and I feel comfortable doing it, like that is what I was made for. Too many people dishonor God by dishonoring their giftedness through false humility. You know; "Well, thanks, but...." and then breaking down why they should not have been complimented, or "it was all Jesus." No it wasn't all Jesus. Yes, we gain our strength through Him, but he gifted us and made us co-heirs with Him. Christ died to restore us to what He intended for us. What has been our response? We have elevated low self esteem and demeaning ourselves to an indicator of being spiritual, and that is wrong. In His book The Supernatural Ways of Royalty, Kris Vallotton tells it this way: If we look at a picture and say things like "What a stupid looking painting" or "the colors are all wrong" and "That thing is not very good," does that make the artist look good? Does running down the painting exalt the author? Of course not, so why do we do it with God's creations - us? The problem is that our culture has made it unacceptable to be confident. To the insecure, confidence always looks like arrogance. We do not glorify God by demeaning ourselves, we glorify Him by acknowledging that He is our strength, that He is the source of our gifts. The problem for many gifted leaders, especially in up-front pastoral positions, is that there are many in the congregation who do not get the simple fact that humility is not weakness, it is strength under control. God hold the reins, but He has not taken away the very strength He gave us to do what He designed us for.

So what does this mean for us as Christians? I believe that we are to walk confidently in the gifts and strength that we were made for. What if Jeremiah, who told God he was too young, or Moses, who told God he wasn't a good speaker, or Abram, who told God he was too old, had stuck with their own limited view of themselves? God's plan would still have been done, since he is in charge, but not through those "giants of the faith." On the flip side, how arrogant was David perceived, even (perhaps especially) by his own brothers? But read 1 Samuel 17 and see how things go. David says to Goliath in verse 46: "This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head." He doesn't ever say that he is too weak, that he is not very good, that someone better should do it, he says "I will kill Him." Then he chooses not to use someone else's weapons for the task, but uses those that God has given him skill with, no matter how unorthodox they seem to others. The rest, as they say, is history. We should do likewise. When we are asked to use the gifts we have been given, we should do so without apology. Acknowledge where our strength comes from, but operate in the strength. If we make ourselves lower than the enemy, we deny the power and authority we have been given as true sons and daughters. When we compare ourselves with others we either find ourselves wanting and feel insufficient or find ourselves superior and look down on the others. When we do what God has put us here to do and we are successful, we glorify the creator. When we allow God to work His strength through us, we may come to realize that our battles are smaller than we thought.

Who, Me? - Amos 3:1-6

As we left off last time, I asked us to look at how we, individually, pursue worship. We have a personal call to a personal relationship and we have an individual responsibility to respond. I want to lead off today's post about Chapter 3 of Amos with a section from The Expositor's Bible Commentary.

" A summons to hear the 'word of the Lord' introduces this oracle. The summons is directed against the 'whole family I brought up out of Egypt' and thus seems to include Judah as well as Israel....."
...."The pronouncement of judgment, addressed primarily to the northern kingdom, warned Judah and Israel that their election by Yahweh in itself was insufficient ground for thinking they were nationally secure; for God demanded personal obedience as well."

When God, through Amos, says to His people "you only have I chosen" Amos uses the word yada which is a word which connotes not a general knowing, but an intimate foreknowledge or purposing. God had set Israel aside for His purpose, to glorify Him, and it was not just on a national level - it was on a personal level as well, just as He "knew" and consecrated Jeremiah, He also knows and consecrates us to His purpose. He did that to the people of Israel, not just the nation. Their punishment was due to their failure to live up to the consecration and privilege in the world. With great privilege comes great responsibility. It was Israel's responsibility to live into their divine purpose. They failed to do so, no matter that God had repeatedly come to their aid and provided ways out of the messes that they had gotten themselves into. The people of Israel were to point the world toward their God - to glorify Him through their praise and their actions. Isaiah 29:13 (echoed in Matthew 15:8 by Jesus) says:

'The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men."

As we saw in the last blog, the people had learned how to dot the i's and cross the t's of worship, but it was empty and not reflected in their lives. There is an individual responsibility to the worship of God. We have to give up our hearts, to become a new life, to agree to walk completely with the Lord. In another book I am reading right now, it speaks of the internal change that has to happen before we become the new birth. We must live out our worship, and not because we are following the rules, but because we have chosen to accept the divine purpose and responsibility that comes with the blessing of being sons and daughters of the King. Many people hesitate to make that choice because they are afraid of what God will ask of them. Well, he will ask you to step into what He had in mind in His 'yada' - His knowledge of us, His purpose, His design. We will find a better fit in this than in anything else we can come up with! The consequences of accepting His promise and then refusing to walk in it will end in disaster for us. There is cause and effect written here. "Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so? Does a bird just randomly stumble into a trap if there is no bait? Does a trap spring if there is nothing there to trip it? (paraphrase vs 3-5) If we agree to walk with God and then fail to do so, there will be consequences, whether from God or just the logical outcome of poor decisions. Here, however, we are dealing strictly with the result of choosing image over relationship. I believe that it cost Israel their status as the chosen nation. (Matt. 22: 1-8, Luke 14:16-24)

We have the same opportunity. When we come to Christ and covenant with Him, we are agreeing to walk in His way, not ours. This may be difficult, even more so when we try to hold on to our old self, listening to the lies of the enemy, keeping us from walking in the blessing. We have to take personal stock of how we see our walk. Do we choose to walk with Him, or are we doing so out of societal norms, or because that's the way we were raised, or we are doing it for our kids? It is of critical importance that we choose covenant, that we choose the walk. We don't get the privilege because we belong to a nation - if that was not true of Israel then, why would it be true of us today? We are called into God's blessing, set apart to be holy people, to live a life that glorifies Him, to walk in relationship with Christ. But we have a personal responsibility to walk in obedience to His purpose, understanding that His intimate knowledge of us, and our obedient relationship with Him on a daily basis will allow us to live out our lives as His chosen people.

Some Things Never Change

I've been gone awhile and haven't been able to update, but here is the next installment on Amos. I have finished the book, and read quite a bit on the general commentaries and the critical commentaries and have learned quite a bit about the historical context. I was struck by the fact that, as they say, the more things change, the more they stay the same. As I began in the last entry, the people of Israel had become very adept at putting on the appearance of worship. But God is not fooled - He saw how they behaved in their everyday lives, oppressing the poor, selling them off, trading them for as little as a pair of sandals. You see, at that time, the poor had little recourse to combat injustice - the wealthy ran the court system, like everything else. Does that sound familiar? One commentary I read said that the line in chapter 2 verse 7:

"They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed"

was an indictment of the wealthy, that they actually coveted even the dust that the poor heaped on their heads as a sign of sorrow. This is the sin of Israel - that the wealthy used the poor to gain increasing wealth, no matter the consequences to those they use all the while "going to church" and pretending holiness. Today, especially in America, there is a great rift between the haves and the have-nots. I was thinking about this the other day in the light of the current economic situation and it rings all too familiar. I look at how people were taking advantage of through predatory lending, how people were used to create great wealth for some while bankrupting others (Bernie Madoff, Joe Nacchio) - with no remorse. Israel is condemned for this among other sins such as not only ignoring the warnings of the prophets, but telling the prophets to be quiet. These people had no desire to hear from God - at the same time they went to worship as prescribed and perhaps believing they were the righteous, though I fail to see how it could be possible that they were sincere in that belief. Read God's consequence in verses 13 to 16 of Chapter 2 - not a pretty sight.

We are in danger in today's church of being in the same place. Take a look at how some people come to church each Sunday as a social convention and then, as they say, "live like hell" the rest of the week. I would even call us to look at the teachings within the church such as "ask and you shall receive," using God as some kind of cosmic slot machine - if you put in the right things, God has to pay off to meet your fortune. This is too common in many of the health and wealth preachings that attract too many. Look at how many older and poor people are targeted by these teachings and send in their money to ministries that promise great blessings from God. Some are desperate and have hopes that giving to the ministry will save them from their financial situations. Woe to those "preachers" who make their fortune on the heads of these people! Will they suffer any less consequence than that described by Amos? Then, if the people who give don't get their reward, it's because they didn't have enough faith. As Pastor Win said several weeks ago, find in scripture where that is the primary order of things. It's more of an escape clause for those selling the "investment Jesus" model. The giving of tithes and offerings is an obedience thing, a commitment thing, a support for the ministry of the Word, and not a means of securing your personal financial security. These are tools to help ministry work. Unfortunately, sometimes the physical ministry overwhelms the spiritual ministry and money, rather than service, becomes the driving force. Surely, in today's world, financial support of ministry is important, but it needs to be held in proper perspective.

God reminds the people of Israel, through His prophet Amos, the history of God's commitment to His chosen people - and then condemns them for their response and corruption of the relationship. The first two chapters call the people on their sins. Chapter three gives them a lesson in cause and effect. That is where we will start next time. In the meantime, take a good look at how you live out your worship on a day to day basis. How do you treat people, especially the "great unwashed?" Do you just throw money at a ministry and not "dirty your hands" with the day to day relationship with the poor, wounded and oppressed, or do you jump in there and serve? We are called to fight social injustice, and not just in the political realm - we are to serve. That is true worship. Are you a worshiper?

From the Frying Pan and into the Fire

I have begun my study of the book of Amos. Briefly - God is not real happy with His people, and sends Amos to tell them about it. As I talked about in the last blog, prophets don't tend to be tolerated well by the people in power. In Israel, the nation was a theocracy, so God's word has implications in the direction of the nation, not just the church, as we see it today. Let me set the stage:

Israel was, by this time, divided into the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah. In Amos' time, they had been relieved of occupation by Damascus (Syria). They had become wealthy. Therein, apparently, lay the problem. The nation was rich and had need of nothing, not even God. They had rid themselves of the Baals, but there was another god in its place – wealth and good fortune. This they kept at all costs. They oppressed their own people, looked on the poor as something to be trod upon, cast away or sold off. Elijah had begun the process of cleaning up the worship of the people, culminated by Elisha (and Jehu), slaughtering the priests of Baal, but they had not cleaned the hearts of the people. Worship became a focus; the people followed the rules of worship, but there hearts were far from God, and He was about to address that. God is about to, through Amos, warn the people about coming to His house with their hands full of offerings while their daily life was one of social injustice. Seems we are in a very similar place in today’s American church.

-Stay Tuned

Wanted or Needed?

Today I attended the graduation ceremony of Denver Seminary. The speaker was Gordon McDonald, noted author and speaker and Interim President of Denver Seminary. The title of his speech was "Wanted: Prophetic Leaders." When I first looked at the program and saw the title my first thought was "Really, do you think prophets are wanted?" It turns out that was the point. The theme was that the church today in America needs prophetic leaders, whether it wants them or not. It made me really think about the state of the church in America today - are we on the cutting edge of spiritual movement, or are we Laodicea, selling lukewarm pablum accepted by churchgoers because they want to be called Christian but only on Sunday and then only to sit for forty-five minutes to an hour listening to pop-psychology or secular self-help supported by a bible verse here and there. Do we really want prophets? The history of religion would not indicate that. We cast them as lunatics or sometimes heretics and fail to hear messages of conscience and correction or even of commendation coming from God.

I once heard it said that when the church began in Palestine it was a movement, when it came to Rome it became an institution, and when it came to America it became a corporation. I think that can be true in many cases. Churches follow secular models of leadership, listen to secular leaders training us in how to run our organizations, worry more about the numbers filling our sanctuaries than we do about the people filling them and so we adopt merchandizing ideals to sell our local churches. Prophetic leaders frequently have a tough time being as successful as others with that last piece. From the earliest times people have not wanted to hear the prophetic voice when it meant that they were required to do something with their faith. Worship is not about us, never has been, never will be - it is about glorifying God. If we cannot carry that outside of the doors of the church building, then all it amounts to is a self-serving feel good hour. Worship should transform, and that is the job of the prophet; transforming people. Prophets press us to put feet to our words. In Mark 7:6, the writer reports Jesus reminding the Pharisees of what is written in Isaiah 29:13:

He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:" 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'

Do we preach what God has spoken to us, or do we fill our pulpits with those who fill our ears with what we want to hear. Are we too rich and comfortable to see that we are truly blind, poor and naked? Do we teach the prophetic Word of God or do we preach a gospel of ease? The place of the church of Christ in the world has nothing to do with prosperity. The United States is not God's nation, favored over others - Jesus himself said that His kingdom was not of this world. The church is not a self-help group, or a place to become fully self-aware. It is a place to worship our creator, to glorify God, to put feet to the message he gives us. If we prosper, that is okay, so long as we use that prosperity as God wants us to. If we live in a free democracy it is so we can help lift the oppression of others living in the same democracy as well as across the globe. If we gain growth from our dealings with God, it comes from Him - there is nothing self focused about it, that is called being discipled. With spiritual maturity comes the responsibility to disciple others - it is not for us to keep. All of the blessings that come from God are there to further His name across the earth, not ours.

The church is indeed in need of prophetic leaders. There is little hope for the church without them, but it is not easy. We need to see with His eyes that the gospel is about aligning our heart with His. As Isaiah said "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." Father God, help us to hear the voice of the prophet and bring our hearts in alignment with Yours.