Immersion Worship

My wife and I have been listening to a podcast series on marriage called ‘Lord of the Rings’, and we listened to part 5 this morning on the way to work. It was all about the woman’s role in the partnership of marriage and what guidance the Bible offers.

Part of the message dealt specifically with Ephesians 5:22-25, a verse that is often marked as controversial…

“Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the wife as
Christ is the head of the church,
His body, of which He is the Savior.
Now, as the church submits to Christ,
So also wives should submit to their
husbands in everything.

Husbands, live your wives, just as Christ
loved the church and gave Himself
up for her.”

The way this verse was explained was eye opening, and probably the best message I’ve ever heard on this verse. Go and download the podcast and take a listen if you’re interested.

What it really got me thinking about was how thankful I am that I married a Godly woman; someone who loves God and loves me, doesn’t gossip about me to her friends, doesn’t knock me down in front of others, stands by me with the decisions we make, even if they were wrong, never tells me that I’m stupid (even though I often am) and never plays the “I told you so” card.

And this thought led me to another thought. The verse in Ephesians 5 talks analogizes women to the church; the bride of Christ. It strikes me that the church can often be the exact opposite of what God’s requirement for His bride is. Gossip can be prevalent. The tendancy to knock down and discourage others can run rampant. Submission to God can be completely absent. And so as I think about how The Summit, our new church, has started life, it encourages me to pray that we become the church God intends for us to be - one that submits to God in everything.

This verse really is a bit of a wake up call to the entire body of Christ, not just the local church. And I’ve never seen it in that light before. Now I’m glad that I do.

God is big. Yeah, I’m stating the obvious, I know. But God is big. Huge. Massive in fact. Infinite. But last night (or rather early this morning when I was awake at 3:00am), I got to thinking what infinite really means.

Yesterday evening, my pastor hosted a vision casting dinner for the new church at the new facility. Some new people were there, and I hope they caught even a glimmer of the vision that I caught. The part that really grabbed my attention was my pastor’s description of how he and his wife are all-in on this, in every aspect - financially all in, spiritually all in, emotionally all in. And after I had recruited a new guitar player last night, this just coupled everything together and I left steaming with excitement.

Yet, with all this “all in”-ness going on, I couldn’t help but feel like it’s not enough. I guess it goes back to my earlier post of falling short of God’s glory. You see, He went all in with no guarantee of a return for His investment. Part of the beauty that exists in a redeemed relationship with God is the remaining existence of free will. When God went all all in for us, and sent his one and only Son to die because we messed up, there was no guarantee that we would choose Him. Because we have free will, we can choose to turn away. God knew that, and yet God still went all in. Doesn’t that just speak of a God who’s very essence is love? The Bible even says it - “God is love”.

The way I see it, if God can go all in just for me, then going all in for Him is the very least I can do.

I’m a blessed man. On Saturday, I met with the first few people who have committed themselves to being a part of Summit’s worship team; a couple of vocalists and a drummer. If there’s one word to describe the meeting, it’s ‘unity’. Really, I’m so excited that I get to work the ministry with these people. We all share a passion to praise God and make His name famous, and that common goal is already tying the team together. I’m so thankful for each of them. They’re awesome.

And speaking of things that are awesome, Sunday’s worship was off the hook. It’s been a little while since I felt such a strong leading of the Holy Spirit, just wanting us to sing our praise, but we could have gone all night on Sunday. It goes without saying that anything that God shows up to is amazing, but when He shows up like He did on Sunday, then things are really a-ma-zing.

Romans 3:23 - “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”

Recently I have experienced some new revelation regarding this verse. Like most revelations, it came at an unexpected time. In fact, I was listening to my brother-in-law speaking about our lives as “scratch & dent” items, and he used Romans 3:23 as he illustrated his point. It was a little later during the drive home that I began to understand that I can not possibly understand what this means. Or, more accurately, I can not possibly understand just how far short of God’s glory I fall.

I love that Paul switches from the past tense to the present tense in the same sentence with this verse. He uses past tense with the word ’sinned’ to indicate that, as a believer, my sin up to now is in the past. Yet he uses the word ‘fall’ in the present tense, confirming that even if I led a sinless life from now on, I would still fall short of God’s glory.

It’s not that I just fall short of God’s glory. More accurately, I simply miss it by miles. God’s glory is so enormous and awesome and infinite that if you could measure how far we fall short of it, you could liken it to the distance between the earth and the sun as being a mere grain of sand, and then multiply it by infinity. It’s too great for us to understand. Our human brains aren’t capable of conceiving of such a distance. The only thing that we are able to comprehend, albeit in a limited way, is that we don’t just simply fall short of the glory of God; in fact we don’t come anywhere near it.

When I really think about it, it makes sense. God is an infinite God, while I have only about 100 years, give or take, on the earth. God is everywhere, all of the time, while I can only be in one place at one time, and even then I’m often late. God knows everything, while I have trouble remembering my dad’s birthday. God’s strength is limitless, while I struggle to bench press 50lbs. God loves everyone without condition, while I hold grudges against those that offend me. God is perfect, while I mess up all the time.

Even with a short list like that, it’s not hard to see just a fraction of what Paul was talking about.

I can’t back it up with scripture, but I’d like to imagine that even David - someone who knew God well, and whom God said had a heart that was after His own - became frustrated with how far from God we can be. I wonder if he felt the same frustration that I do when I realize that there is so much about God that I don’t know. I wonder if he felt the same yearning that I do to seek after God and seek after His heart for no reason other than I want a closer relationship with God. I wonder if David felt the same disappointment in Himself that I do when I realize that I’ve let God down again with my sin. I wonder if David felt the same awe that I do when I realize that God still loves me. And I wonder if God will one day look at me, in spite of all the sin and crud that has cluttered up my life, and say that I, too, am a man after His own heart.

As much as I yearn for a deeper relationship with God - to hear Him clearer, to feel Him closer, to know Him better - it still baffles me that He wants the same thing. In terms of physics, I am but a mere molecule when it comes to the size of the universe. I am tiny and insignificant and negligible when it comes to the mass of creation. In terms of the spirit, I am full of sin, filthy with the things I’ve said and done and thought that go against God’s Word. And yet despite all of this, God still wants to hang out with me. It’s almost amusing that whether I mean to or not, it’s always me that prevents Him from doing just that.

Its one thing for me to want to hear Him clearer, but it’s totally incredible that He wants to hear me talk to Him. I long to feel Him closer to me, but it floors me that He wants to have that closeness with me. I want to know Him more and more each day, but it’s amazing that He wanted to know me so completely that He created me such that He knows me better than I know myself. And despite of knowing all of this, I don’t think I will ever understand why God, in all his infinite power and wisdom and awesomeness, wants anything to do with me whatsoever.

I may constantly fall short of God’s glory, but I am so thankful for the hope that Paul spoke about in 2 Corinthians 3:18; that through His grace and mercy, He transforms us in to His likeness with ever increasing glory. What an awesome God we serve!

I’ve been reflecting on the political events of the past couple of days. The United States has just experienced an incredible shift in it’s political landscape. The House and the Senate have gone from being controlled by traditionally conservative personalities to being controlled by traditionally liberal personalities, and this could be indicative of the way the next presendtial elections go. That’s a scary thought for some.

Not me.

Romans 13:1 tells us that there is no authority except that which God has put in place. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

It’s quite a humbling though, isn’t it, that even though there are people in power who we’d love to give a piece of our mind to, each of those have been placed there by God. It’s all part of His master plan.

I once heard a radio commentator remark “what a person believes really shouldn’t matter because religion and politics don’t mix.” Now I realize what a ridiculous statement that is. If all authority has been put in place by God, then He is the author of politics.

However, does that mean we shouldn’t pray and seek God over whom we should vote for? Not at all. If God established the rulers, that means he also establishes the way they rule and operate. To ignore the democratic system of government would dishonour that.

I don’t yet have the right to vote in America, but that doesn’t mean I consider this any less my home. By the next election, I will have that right. And at the next election I will remember that in that, and indeed every, election, the future of this great nation hangs in the balance. My pray would be that my faith in God, who loves me without end and who leads me into all truth, would help me and indeed all of us to make the right decision. So I will pray about it, then get out there a vote. May I be a part of God’s Will being done in this country, may we all realize that all authority comes from God, our ultimate King, and may God bless America.

Until next time,

James

My wife and I have begun listening to a 6 part podcast series called “Lord of the Rings”; a series on marriage and every majoy aspect of it from a Biblical perspective.

We regard ourselves as being pretty good at being married, but there is always remove for improvement. Of the three sessions I’ve heard so far, there has been much to think about, talk about, and work on. I thoroughly recommend it. You can get it here.

Since finishing the demo of You Are Holy, I’ve been thinking about what I’d like to work on next, and I’ve been thinking a lot about one particular song I wrote a couple of years ago based on Psalm 139, especially one line in the song that says “You even see me in the dark”.

Psalm 139 is one of my favourite chapters in the Bible because it demonstrates quite evocatively how God loves us.

I love war movies, especially the movie “Where Eagles Dare”. There’s one particular shoot-out scene where Richard Burton, before moving to a new location to continue shooting, turns to Clint Eastwood and says “Cover me!” Clint Eastwood then shoots furiously to “protect” his partner as he moved.

Today, the phrase “I’ll cover you” has become “I’ve got your back”, which means that we need have no fear of anyone attacking us from behind or surprising us. “I’ve got your back”, means that our wife, husband, partner, teammate, etc. will stick up for you, back you up, support you, and protect you. And as much as those people love us, God loves us even more and, because of that love, we are surrounded by God’s protection. He’s got our backs.

And it’s not like we don’t know this but why?

We know that God is Omnipresent and Omniscient, so why do we try to hide?

We know that God can do all things, so why do we say we can’t?

We know that God is the light, so why do we choose to walk in darkness?

We know that God has forgiven us, so why can’t we forgive ourselves?

We know that God will protect us, so why do we fear?

God’s love and protection is mentioned all through the Bible. God had the Israelite’s backs as they fled Egypt. God had Gideon’s back at the battle against the Midianites. God had Shadrach’s, Meshach’s, & Abednego’s backs in the furnace. God had Daniel’s back in the lion’s den. God had David’s back against Goliath. And He’s got our backs, too.