Category: Worship (Page 2 of 4)

Holy Spirit, You Are Welcome Here

May 2, 2016 / Allan Babcock

O Preacher What a fitting, beautiful, God-present way to begin Sunday Worship!

For if we don’t humbly and hungrily pray for the presence of the Holy Spirit, what have we in our gatherings? Yes, we have the written Word of God. But it is the Spirit who enlivens the Word to our hearts. And, yes, we have each other. But it is the Spirit who kindles love and binds hearts. If we don’t meet with the presence of the living God—our Father through our risen Lord—our meeting becomes little more than a memorial or a classroom. Yes, we sing songs that proclaim the gospel of our faith. But if we are merely making a proclamation without the presence of the One we proclaim, we are speaking into the wind.

How beautiful, how sanctifying, the “holy hush” after all the music and singing has stopped! How we need to stand like that on holy ground in his holy presence and be filled with the Holy Spirit! How precious those quiet moments when the world fades and all we sense is him!

If your church lacks his presence like this, perhaps the video and these words have created a thirst . . . and somehow the Spirit will come for his glory and the joy of his reborn people. I pray it might be so . . .

He Will Hold Me Fast

April 27, 2016 / Allan Babcock

P.Allan When faith is weak, when strength has ebbed, when temptation has won, when all hope seems gone, when death is near, here is a song to proclaim. It will deepen our assurance and build up our faith and give us confidence that no one can snatch us out of our Good Shepherd’s hand (John 20:28).

The singers and musicians are the Norton Hall Band. I found this video on Justin Taylor’s blog. Taylor is executive vice president of book publishing and book publisher for Crossway and blogs at Between Two Worlds. You can follow him on Twitter.

What Do I Love When I Love God?

April 7, 2016 / Allan Babcock

P.Allan “God, who needs nothing, loves into existence wholly superfluous creatures in order that He may love and perfect them. He creates the universe, already foreseeing – or should we say “seeing”? there are no tenses in God – the buzzing cloud of flies about the cross, the flayed back pressed against the uneven stake, the nails driven through the mesial nerves, the repeated incipient suffocation as the body droops, the repeated torture of back and arms as it is time after time, for breath’s sake, hitched up. If I may dare the biological image, God is a “host” who deliberately creates His own parasites; causes us to be that we may exploit and “take advantage of” Him. Herein is love. This is the diagram of Love Himself, the inventor of all loves.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

Lewis’ words shut my mouth in silent wonder at the God of whom he writes. I must read them again to drink in their fullness. Yet, they are only a man’s words. Remarkable to be sure. But the author is merely one of us “superfluous creatures”. How great, then, is God! How unparalleled his love!

“This is love: not that we loved God,
but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
(1 John 4;10)

“In God there is no hunger that needs to be filled, only plenteousness that desires to give.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

God is so far “other” than we, it’s beyond us to comprehend him fully. We see him in Jesus, the God-Man. Yet in power and wisdom and eternality and holiness and love, yes, in love, he is so “other” than we. What is a being without hunger needing fulfillment? What is One so profuse that his longing is to give and give again and still not be less than he is?

Jesus taught the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength (Mark 12:30). Why, when he doesn’t need my love? Were I to love him fully, would such meager love be worthy?

How can I love such a God? Yes, by believing and obeying and praising him. But I am like the little boy with a few fish and loaves facing 5000 hungry souls. Could my gift fill even a tiny place in a God who has no need to be filled?

And what is this God before whom all comparisons crumble? Augustine, early church theologian, asked the question (Confessions, 397-398 A. D.) . . . .

But what do I love when I love my God? . . .

Not material beauty or beauty of a temporal order.

Not the brilliance of earthly light;

not the sweet melody of harmony and song;

not the fragrance of flowers, perfumes and spices;

not manna or honey;

not limbs such as the body delights to embrace.

It is not these that I love when I love my God.

And yet, when I love him, it is true that I love a light of a certain kind,
a voice, a perfume, a food, an embrace;

but they are of the kind that I love in my inner self,

when my soul is bathed in light that is not bound by space;

when it listens to sound that never dies away;

when it breathes a fragrance that is not borne away on the wind;

when it tastes food that is never consumed by the eating;

when it clings to an embrace
from which it is not severed by fulfillment of desire.

This is what I love when I love my God.

How great (for him a paltry word) he is!
With my hands lifted and my mouth open,
Sing with the video and with me and worship our infinite, unfathomable God!

All Creatures of Our God and King

April 5, 2016 / Allan Babcock

O Preacher In an effort to keep the old theology-rich hymns alive, I pass along this video.

It comes from Denny Burk, Professor of Biblical Studies at Boyce College, the undergraduate school of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. This is the Norton Hall Band. They have a new album out that can be downloaded from iTunes.

First time I listened, I looked at those young people. I don’t know any of them. Don’t know their struggles or dreams. Don’t know the depth of their devotion or how they’ll serve Jesus in years ahead or what serving may cost them. But as I looked I was reminded that the gospel is held in the good hands of the next generation. As mine passes, the Lord has another he’s raising up to herald his name. Not just at Boyce College or Southern Seminary, but all over the country, all around the world.These young men and women will pay a price to follow Jesus in this darkening world. But they will give themselves to the greatest mission a human can.

Lord Jesus, strengthen and sustain them. Give them hearts of joyous devotion to you. Fill them with the power of the Holy Spirit. Preserve them safe from the work of the evil one. Cause your gospel to flourish through them. As they delight themselves in you, please give them the desires of their hearts. And may they be the means of a greater and greater multitude singing praises to you, our God and King.

I invite you to join me in joyful worship. Turn up the volume. Lift your hands. For the next few moments, forget about everything you have to do, and just stop. Make wherever you are a sanctuary. And sing the praises of our God and King.

The Meaning of History

March 21, 2016 / Allan Babcock

P.Allan Monday of Holy Week dawns. Holy Week: from Sunday when Jesus “triumphantly” entered Jerusalem through Good Friday when Jesus was crucified, climaxing Sunday when he rose from the dead.

The events of Holy Week happened in “the real world”. Our world. Here where we live. That’s such an elementary truth I often forget it. This isn’t a once-upon-a-time-story. It is historical events recorded in writing. Jesus entered a real city–Jerusalem–about 30 A.D. He was nailed to a cross of wood from a real tree at a real crossroads just outside the city. All the week’s events belong to authentic human history. They’re not part of a hidden, spiritual revelation mysteriously whispered to one man in a desert.

They happened here.

Jesus came for all to see. Breathed our air. Walked on our dirt. Touched our people. Was buried in our tomb. Rose again in the grayness of our pre-dawn.

Which brings me to the most-amazing thing I’m thinking about today: all human history–including the history of Holy Week –has meaning. It’s not just a pointless succession of events. Of course, given the state of the world, one could be excused for assuming that. Take politics, for example. Another presidential election cycle. “Unprecedented” say the pundits. No. We’ve had our share of “crazies” before. Or take the Middle East. Chaotically violent for as long as I can remember. One war. Then another war. Then another. Peace summits. Peace meetings. Nothing much changes. Follow the news, read history and you know why Solomon (or whoever wrote Ecclesiastes) brooded,

“The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:
‘Meaningless! Meaningless!’ says the Teacher. ‘Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless'” (Ecclesiastes 1:1,2).

Was he right? Is there no reason for life? Does history have no purpose? Was Holy Week nothing more than a collection of random events that ended with another Jew crucified, then rumored to have risen?

In his book, The Bible and the Future, Anthony Hoekema, a professor of systematic theology at Calvin Theological Seminary until his death in 1988, argued that history has meaning. He explained that the Christian (biblical) view of history has five main features . . .

First, history is a working out of God’s purposes. God works, not in some ethereal realm removed from this time-space world, but in history. And he works to work out his purposes. That means that the political and moral state of America at the moment is somehow the working out of God’s purposes. It means that all the events of Holy Week from the triumphal entry to the tomb, and all the hostile debates with Jewish leaders in between, were also the working out of God’s purposes.

Second, God is the Lord of history. This means God not only works in history to work out his purposes but in the same way he uses “bad” things for “good” to those who love him (Romans 8:28). It means that God reigns over and governs history. God’s kingdom rules over all (Psalm 103:19). Hoekema writes, “God overrules even the evil deeds of men so as to make them serve his purpose. No more breathtaking example of that exists than Jesus’ crucifixion on Good Friday. The apostles prayed . . .

“Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles
and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy
servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power
and will had decided beforehand should happen” (Acts 4:27,28).

Third, Christ is the center of history. History books are thick. In fact, a complete history of the world would require, not a big book, but a library. Think of all the dates and people and events you had to learn in just one history class! Add to that all the other history classes. Imagine every significant event that’s occurred from the beginning until now. And the radical Christian claim is that Christ is the center of history. Oscar Cullmann, a 20th century Lutheran theologian, wrote that in this central event “not only is all that goes before fulfilled but also all that is future is decided.” Thus each event of Holy Week–even Jesus washing the disciples’ feet in an unknown upper room–was a main scene in the center of history.

Fourth, the new age has already been ushered in. The Bible sees two ages: the present age from creation until Christ’s return and the age to come from Christ’s return on into eternity. In Colossians 1:13, Paul writes,

“He (Christ) has delivered us from the domain of darkness
(i.e., this present evil age–Galatians 1:4) and transferred us
to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption,
the forgiveness of sins.”

Already, we who have trusted our lives to Jesus Christ have started to enjoy a taste of the eternal kingdom in the age to come! This is because Jesus in his person inaugurated the new age. Jesus said . . .

” . . . the kingdom of God is in the midst of you” (Luke 17:21).

When Jesus died, he opened the way to the age to come. And when he rose again, it rose on earth in him.

Fifth, all history is moving toward a goal: the new heavens and the new earth. God is taking this creation somewhere—to the new creation. As Karl Lowith, a 20th century German philosopher, wrote, “The ultimate meaning of a transcendent purpose is focused in an expected future. Such an expectation was most alive among the Hebrew prophets; it did not exist among the Greek philosophers.” Jesus’ resurrection was eventually followed by his ascension. And at his ascension two men in white robes stood by the apostles and said . . .

“Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?
This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven,
will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
(Acts 1:11).

This prompted Paul to write . . .

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time
are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us.
. . . For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly,
but because of him who subjected it,
in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption
and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”
(Romans 8:18,20,21).

A flaming consequence of this Christian view of history: HOPE! Political progressives preach it. Presidential candidates promise a better future. Yet even high school history students know that all human “progress” is marred with corruption, disappointment and death. Our phones connect the Internet and deliver tons of information about ancient Greece or the latest hit movie. But innocent civilians are still dying in Middle East wars. We Jesus followers, however, “look forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness” (2 Peter 3:10). Our hope is righteous and amazing beyond imagination (Ephesians 3:20,21).

Holy Week isn’t a commemoration of random events. Holy Week has deep, transforming, eternal meaning. Because of that, God is doing his saving work in the world today leading toward the fulfillment of his beyond-imagination purpose. And when we see that purpose climaxed, we will bow and worship . . .

The Lord of history.
The One in whom all history reaches its climax.
The Holy One before whom we stand in awe!

I Surrender

February 17, 2016 / Allan Babcock

P.Allan I remember growing up in church often singing this hymn. Because of the words, simple though they are, it was always a sacred few moments.

Many of our songs rightly give praise to our Lord. Many of our songs joyfully celebrate who he is and what he’s done. Many of our hymns properly proclaim sound doctrine, truth to stand on and live by. Few of our songs plumb the depths of our soul as this one does. The plain-word line is almost daring to sing: “I surrender all . . . “

Here’s what I suggest. Turn off your phone. Take a moment to be still before the Lord. Click on the song. Close your eyes and ignore the words on the screen. Imagine yourself before Jesus. Either sing along or, better, listen and let the words flow through you to Him.

Jesus, come meet with us.
Keep us in these moments from asking You to give to us.
Give us grace to give ourselves to You.
May these next moments be holy in Your presence
as we offer to You the little we are.
Make our lives a sanctified living sacrifice to You.
Amen.

He Is In the Song

February 12, 2016 / Allan Babcock

P.Allan Wait! Before you listen to the video, please listen to this. I’m taking a musical interlude from Acts, because my soul is dry.

As you may know, almost two years ago now illness drove me to retire from pastoring. With our worship team, I had often led the church to sing in the presence of the Lord. Those are carefully chosen words. I viewed the music part of our worship as entering into the Lord’s presence with singing.

“Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise”
(Psalm 95:2).

God the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the risen Son, was actually among us as we sang. And many times we felt him there.

“For where two or three are gathered in my name,
there am I among them”
(Jesus, Matthew 18:20).

We tried never to sing as if we were having a spiritual sing-along. Nor as if we were only making a doctrinal proclamation together. We always knew, of course, that our Lord was in heaven; but we believed that by the Spirit he was also in the sanctuary of our gathering. So we sang songs of worship and praise about him and to him, but always with the sense that we were coming before him.

Often, after our last song, a “holy hush” settled over us, and we became still, awed by his presence. We waited. Sometimes one or more of us would spontaneously pray. Other times we simply remained silent “on holy ground.” How often I felt like the disciples with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration! It was good; I wanted to stay!

My illness has mostly kept me from corporate worship the last several months. I miss it. Not just Christians singing together, but singing together entering into the Lord’s presence, aware of his nearness, awed by his closeness. Without it, my soul has been shriveling. I hasten to add that God is in the preached Word, of course. Nothing can replace that. But he is also in the song.

I love most hymns for their theological richness. This old guy can even get into many contemporary Christian songs. (I just can’t bounce up and down!) But with both, I need those simple worship choruses that free me from many words to focus more on Jesus. I miss that. My soul needs that.

So late yesterday I came across the video above, a beautiful hymn we used to sing in corporate worship. I didn’t sing along with it yesterday. Just sat with tears streaming down my face. And was caught up in the holy, refreshing, beautiful, encouraging presence of the Lord. He was in the song. I invite you to find him there too.

Open Heaven

January 8, 2016 / Allan Babcock

My precious daughter, Meridith, occasionally sends me worship songs she thinks I’ll enjoy. This is one she just sent. It’s so timely for my last and upcoming blog post, I thought you might be blessed by it too. Thank you, honey!

Thank Who

November 25, 2015 / Allan Babcock

I’ve always wondered who most people thank on Thanksgiving. Christian Smith’s research (Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers) shows we’ve pretty much made God a moral–therapeutic deity, who sits in his heavenly firehouse ’til we sound the alarm. So, unless he put out a holocaust for us last year, whom will we thank tomorrow?

Perhaps in some homes where parents want to instill a gratitude attitude in their children, everyone in turn will say thanks to someone else at the table. “I want to thank Mom for feeding us all year.” “I want to thank Dad for working hard so we can have what we have.”

That’s a far cry from the apostle’s admonition . . .

” . . . be filled with the Spirit . . .
giving thanks always and for everything
to God the Father
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . ”
(Ephesians 5:19a,20)

Thank who? God the Father. Practically from cover to cover, the Scriptures make God the “who” of giving thanks.

But the unregenerate heart balks. In fact, the apostle makes refusal to thank God a step downward to depravity.

“For although they knew God,
they did not honor him as God OR GIVE THANKS TO HIM,
but they became futile in their thinking,
and their foolish hearts were darkened”(Romans 1:21).

Therefore, we need the regenerating work of the Lord Jesus Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to awaken us to the reality of the “giving-ness” of God and to enable us to respond with heartfelt thanks.

Of course, this “thank you” to God shouldn’t be reserved for one American holiday. ” . . . giving thanks ALWAYS and FOR EVERYTHING”, Paul urges us in Ephesians 5:20 (above). Earlier he wrote similarly to the Thessalonians . . .

” . . . give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”
(1 Thessalonians 5:18).

“In all circumstances.” “For everything.” The latter phrase might mean for every good thing. But the former makes it uncomfortably clear that no matter the circumstances, God wants us to thank him. Does that mean I should thank God for every circumstance, as in “Thank you, God, for this illness”? If “for everything” means literally what it says, it does. That’s lunacy, unless we believe Romans 8:28 (which is not always easy to believe!). But, even if God isn’t telling me to thank him for my illness, he is telling me to give him thanks in all circumstances. “Thank you, Father, for Jesus, through whom you have reconciled me to yourself and thank you, Father, for the Spirit who indwells me with your holy, transforming presence.”

Question. Does God “will” us to thank him because his ego needs massaging? (“Hey, look. I’ve given you lots of good things and I’m not feeling real appreciated. So, how ’bout a great big THANK YOU, GOD!”) Or does he want us to say thanks to teach us good Christian manners? (“It’s not polite to not say thank you to me!”) No, he wants us to thank him, because he deserves our thanks. But, perhaps even more, he wants us to thank him because it does our heart good. There comes a sense of fullness–of fulfillment–that makes the joy of receiving from God complete when we thank him.

This isn’t a commercial brought to us by God for a happy American Thanksgiving. As we always hear, we should give thanks all year. True. But perhaps we can in some way make tomorrow a particular, even memorable, thanks-giving to God our Father through our Lord Jesus Christ. Because . . .

“Every good gift and every perfect present
comes from heaven;
it comes down from God,
the Creator of the heavenly lights,
who does not change or cause darkness by turning.”
(James 1:17, TEV)

Okay, everybody sitting round the table. Before stuffing mouths with turkey stuffing, let’s give one big shout-out to God . . .

THANK YOU, GOD!

Oh, we can do better than that! One more time—bigger!

THANK YOU, GOD!

Taxes and the Two Kingdoms

November 4, 2015 / Allan Babcock

Is it lawful to pay taxes? Of course; it’s unlawful not to. Jesus was once asked that question; but he answered differently. Here’s Mark’s report of how it all started . . .

And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians to trap him in his talk . And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not. Should we pay them, or should we not?” But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied (Mark 12:13-16).

Commentary on the text. “They” who did the sending were members of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish
Supreme Court. “Pharisees” were a sect within Judaism that had begun with deep devotion to God and his law, but over time became self-righteous legalists. To them, oral tradition about God’s laws was as weighty as the laws themselves. “Herodians” were primarily a political group in Judaism that supported the rule of the Herods.

Since 3:6 the Pharisees and Herodians had been plotting how to kill Jesus. Here they’re looking to maneuver Jesus into an anti-law answer that will give them grounds to arrest him. (Arrest is possible, because Israel was a theocracy where “church” and state were one.

First, they flattered Jesus, hoping to establish false-friendly feelings. Jesus was no fool. Neither was the gathering crowd in the temple courtyard. Mostly saw through their flimsy approach.

Second came the “gotcha” question. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar” was a “hot button” issue. Taxes were no small thing. Since Rome “annexed” Israel, Jews were forced to pay a 10% grain tax, a 20% wine and fruit tax, a 1% of-all-other-earnings tax and a one-denarius poll tax. That was especially egregious because Caesar’s image glared from one side of the coin and his titles “High Priest” and “Son of God” emblazoned the other.

They smugly assumed Jesus was snared. Answer “Pay taxes” and a riot would erupt. “Don’t pay taxes” and the Court would be sure the Romans heard the treason Jesus was spreading.

But Jesus knew—and let them know he did. When he asked for a denaius, a few sweat drops must have formed in their foreheads. And when he asked, “Whose portrait is this?” and they answered, “Caesar’s”, their stomachs must have shuddered.

Jesus’ Answer. “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” And they were amazed at him (12:17). The denarius was Caesar’s; his image marked it as his property. However unjust the tax, his government had a right to it.

The crowd was amazed; Jesus was a verbal Houdini. More stunning than his escape tactics was Jesus’ affirmation of two kingdoms (governments) in the world. The government of man (Caesar’s) and the government of God. Jesus’ well-versed-in-Scripture audiences would have recognized that. And each government had its due. That leads us to a few final questions . . .

What Is God’s? The Roman coin obviously belonged to Caesar. What belonged to God? His audience would have thought sacrifices, obedience, worship, tithes, thanks, praise and worship. Pay Caesar his taxes, but give God your devotion!

Now let us be the audience. What is God’s? As followers of Jesus, what is God’s that we’re to give him?
We could correctly repeat the Jews’ answers. But that might be like thoughtlessly mimicking the answer we know the Teacher wants to hear.

How casually we repeat familiar Christian terms! How unmindfully we mouth weighty biblical words! We’re losing the ability to think deeply, so our lips speak religious jargon. We don’t even want to think deeply about biblical things. We want sermons that give us simple steps and lessons that quickly distill doctrines debated for centuries in the church.

Maybe Jesus knew his audience would immediately and rightly identify what was God’s to be given him. Or maybe he wanted them—and us—to think deeply and definitely about what is God’s to be given him. Here are four Scriptures to guide us.

The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters (Psalm 24:1,2).

The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all (Psalm 103:19).

But now, this is what the LORD says– he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine (Isaiah 43:1).

You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body (1 Corinthians 6:19b,20).

One Final Thought. The last two Scriptures above and Jesus’ question, “Whose image is on the coin?”, lead us to this: Whose image is on us?

foto of denarius - Hand holding a single coin - JPG