ELEMENTS OF WORSHIP

Hezekiah organized the groups of priests and Levites for their respective tasks, handing out job descriptions for conducting the services of worship: making the various offerings, and making sure that thanks and praise took place wherever and whenever God was worshiped. (2 Chronicles 31:2)

All my life, worship services have held some variation of the same elements: music, whether hymns or praise songs, congregation, solo, choir or orchestra. Prayer. Sermons. Announcements. Offering. Lord's Supper. Baptism.

2 Chronicles 30-31 describe a Passover celebration under King Hezekiah.  They feasted (two weeks of celebration).  They repented of their sins and smashed idols. They participated in the sacrament of Passover. I expect that priests taught about the Passover, the law, about God. Prayer, confession, repentance. Oh, the slaughter of the animals in the offerings.

Worship services today have become a lot cleaner, you could say.

I read the verses above, liking the idea of "job descriptions" for the Levites.  (Good old Hezekiah must have had a gift for administration along the way,)

But what really tickled my fancy was the instruction, "making sure thanks and praise take place wherever and whenever God was worshipped."

Aren't thanks and praise, thanking God for what He has done, and praising Him for who He is, at the heart of worship?

I asked my FB friends for non-dictionary definitions of worship.  This is what they said:

• love
• praise
• our expression of his worth
• adoration
• service
• entering God's presence
• responding to the worthiness of God
• all of you responding to all God is
• centering all your being on God
• expressions of a God focused heart

I love the definitions, their depth and breadth. Several fall under the "praise and thanks" category. Others fall into worship being the guiding rule of our lives: Loving God with all our hearts, strength, souls, minds. It's our living sacrifice. 

Perhaps the takeaway is that worship should be an attitude, a habit of our lives. It's not confined to certain places or times. 

And looking to God with thanks and praise is always a good place to start. 

LOVE YOUR ENEMIES (2 Chronicles 28)

So the soldiers turned over both the captives and the plunder to the leaders and the people. Personally designated men gathered the captives together, dressed the ones who were naked using clothing from the store of plunder, put shoes on their feet, gave them all a square meal, provided first aid to the injured, put the weak ones on donkeys, and then escorted them to Jericho, the City of Palms, restoring them to their families. (2 Chronicles 28:14-15, MSG)

Wow. Israel did something right for once.  They attacked Judah, and won--and then treated the captives with dignity and set about healing the wounds of war.

I'm no military historian (frankly, I have battle scenes deathly boring in a movie). But I can think of prime examples where the conquering soldiers raped, pillaged, and looted the conquered country. The Vikings. Genghis Khan and the Mongols. Probably even America's own soldiers during Sherman's March. To mention a few.

What they didn't do was to clothe them, feed them, doctor them, and drive them home.

So kudos to the soldiers who paid attention Israel for listening to the prophet who said "These are God's people, too. Treat them right or suffer God's wrath" and turned administration of the captives and plunder over to civilians.

Kudos to the leaders and people who chose representatives for determining a fair settlement on the captives.

Kudos to the representatives who used the plunder, not for themselves, but to provide for their captives.

Kudos to the people for giving of their own goods (the donkeys) and traveled with the released captives, making sure of their safe return.

Israel, so often maligned for their evil ways, put feet to God's command to love our enemies. 

Let's learn from their example.

PERFECTION?

I grew up in a church that taught you could lose your salvation and at a time when legalism rather than grace was the mood in most churches. I went so far as to develop a list of "thou shalt nots" that was largely regional and temporal and thought that, as long as I obeyed those rules, I didn't have to fear losing my salvation. God performed major surgery on my heart to show I am not only dead to sin but also alive to Christ, and I should live in freedom.

Add to all of that, an abusive childhood made me think that if only I could be perfect, I would not suffer abuse. False thinking, but it branded itself on my heart.

Needless to say, perfection is word I shy away from.

But in reading about the kings, it seems like so many almost got it right. They began well until at some point late in their reigns, they slipped up.  After they messed up, God sent judgment and military defeat, illness, family troubles, and in some cases, death.

In other words--unless they were perfect, all the years of their lives--they didn't please God.

I have to ask . . . if that is what  God expected of the kings . . . does He expect the same thing of me today?

I've talked before about subjects I'd rather not approach. This is one I'd really rather avoid, because it hits too close to something that has had me worried upside down and inside out this week. My son confronted me about some poor choices that I've made, making me wonder if I've "squandered" my life writing. I've let so  many truly important things slide in the pursuit.

I know that no man (except Jesus Christ) is perfect. I know that conviction is of God, that I will suffer the consequences of my choices, but forgiveness is mine if I but confess.

A friend shared this list with me, which helped me to see the difference between my reaction (I'm so terrible, I should stop writing altogether) to how God would correct me:

The truth was obvious, clear--and it stilled and reassured me.

Perhaps in summary, the best strategy is to follow King Jotham's example: Jotham's strength was rooted in his steady and determined life of obedience to God. 2 Chronicles 26:6  Not perfect, but steady, determined. Perhaps I can hope for that.

P.S. The list isn't original with me. It was sent to me by Leslie Sowell, but I don't believe she wrote it either. So, thank you, anonymous encourager!

JUDAH'S KNIGHTS TEMPLAR (2 Chronicles 23)

Earlier I noticed that one group of priests received the responsibility of guarding the Temple (the other divisions were music and offerings, I believe).  I didn't discuss in my "nibbles," however.

But today it jumped out at me again, so I decided to write about it. The priest Jehoida protected young Joash from the time his grandmother killed his father for seven years. Then he decided to act, to remove Athaliah from the throne, and to crown Joash.

To accomplish this, Jehoida turned to the one group he felt he could trust: his fellow Levites.

Do you remember the nibble where all the people, from infants to grown men, worshipped and went to war, only to find that all the enemy soldiers were dead?

This time, they didn't worship together. Instead, all of the Levit3es acted as soldiers.  Only one  thing mattered on that day: protecting the young king, the living reminder of God's promise that a son of David would always sit on Judah's throne. (Grandma Athaliah had killed all his uncles.)

Imagine this with me: suppose ministers from across the country met for a convention. Only, instead of worshipping together, or preaching, the leader split them into teams and furnished them with all the weapons they need. Of course preachers can also be fighting men, but most of us don't expect our pastors to stand guard at the church while carrying a a revolver.

Neither was their guard purely in defense.  They are told to "kill anyone who tries to break through your ranks." When it came to Athaliah, the death sentence had already been pronounced. They dragged her outside the Temple--to the smells of a corral--and killed her there.

I have often mentioned how God has something different for each of us to do. This is very true, in terms of my life's call.

However, at other times, God calls all of us to do the same thing at the same time. Even if we can't sing, we'll put on our choir robes, Even if we don't know the barrel of a gun from the trigger, we take a weapon in hand and march with the army.

Americans in general are too independent, too committed to free speech and the such, not to have some dissention among the ranks.

Neither do I think we should follow every leader blindly. We need only think of Hitler and Jim Jones to understand that truth.

But if God calls us to unified action, through our leaders, are we ready to listen? To obey?

Hmm. Maybe I should call today's post "God's Gun Store."

A DEGREE IN DOOM (2 Chronicles 22)

I have a couple of degrees and have heard of many others. But this was a school and a degree not recognized by any academic body in the United States.

As a writer, I love the descriptive writing of this description:
After the death of his father, [Ahaziah] attended the sin school of Ahab, and graduated with a degree in doom. 

Ouch.

How unlike his grandfather. God allowed kings like Ahaziah to reign because of David and the jewels along the way, such as Jehoshaphat.  Jehoshaphat named his oldest son as his heir. Jehoram was an evil, evil king (he killed ALL his brothers), and his son, Ahaziah, was even worse.

Any measure of respect shown to Ahaziah resulted from people's respect for his grandfather. Jehoshaphat was famous. One might expect a king to be famous. But no, his fame came about because he was a "sincere seeker after God."

How do I want my diploma to read?

A Masters Degree in Doom from Sin Seminary?
Or a practioner's license as a "sincere seeker" in God's School of life?

INCLUSIVE WORSHIP (2 Chronicles 20)

Everyone in Judah was there--little children, wives, sons--all present and attentive to God. (2 Chronicles 20:11.)

Jehoshaphat and Judah were under attack from neighboring countries, and the king called for a national day of prayer. One might expect men of fighting age to show up. "Everyone was there." The writer felt compelled to clarify whom he meant by "everyone."  Little children, wives, sons--the majority of the people of Judah came to Jerusalem for the occasion.

Two verses later, Jahaziah gave the multitude God's answer: "Attention EVERYONE. . .God's word:
This is God's war, not yours. . ."

It's not surprising that the men brought their families for worship. What is jaw-dropping odd to me is that they brought them to war.

The next morning, they left for the battlefield (after a rousing worship service, complete with choir and orchestra).  It doesn't say only the  men followed the king. Perhaps the same "everyone" came along. After all, the prophet had promised, "You won't have to lift a hand in this battle." and God had commanded, "March out boldly."  What could be bolder than bringing along entire families as if this was a picnic?

Of  course, our 20-20 hindsight tells us that God set the armies to fighting each other instead of Judah and they all died. It took the Judeans three days to clear the loot. Maybe they needed all the hands to carry the extra!

There are times that God calls us to act as a single body. Each body part has a different role to play, but all are needed.  Even the women and children. :)

Not to mention they started with prayer, music, and preaching. Hey, that sounds like church!  We enter to worship together and leave for the battle . . .