Freedom! (Another guest post by Luke Beling)

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."

Galatians 5:1

If I could choose one thought that has caused the greatest transformation in my life, it would be, “God has no desire to change you.” 

The bedrock of my Christian journey was established by ideas such as ‘transforming from glory to glory’ and ‘learning to become the likeness of Jesus’. These ideas made me the hunter of an illusive prey: I’d chase then find it, then lose it, then chase and find it again, only to realize I’d never catch it and be hungry for the rest of my life. 

Now, I’d always heard that God would love me just the same no matter if I changed or not. This is wonderful news. But the invisible clause, either suggested or mentioned, accompanying the news about God’s love, would strike me like brass knuckles to bruise any hope I’d found. “God’s love for you will never change, but it certainly will change you.” Now this sounds very nice, but when condemnation chases you like a pack of wolves, a statement like this makes God sound like a conman.

And God is no conman. The con is this: we have formed a theology based on our experience of daily life instead of the truth of the Bible and the Holy Spirit alive within us. 

Let me give you an example of this:

I’m driving on the interstate and somebody cuts in front of me, almost hitting my car. I react in anger, delivering some choice words with a choice bird. Then, once my emotions have settled, I feel guilty. “Oh God, I’m not like Jesus, help me to be more like Jesus. I still have anger. Help me grow into the likeness of Jesus so I don’t have to react in anger. Amen.” 

Now here is the problem. I look at my reaction of anger and form an entire theology around it. I reason that because I acted in this way, it must mean that I have more growing and transforming to do. Well, let me ask you this: If I use my tennis racket to play racket ball, is my tennis racket still a tennis racket or did it change into a racket ball racket because I used it in this way? 

I’m here to tell you that you’re perfect in every way. You’re not on your way to perfection or perfect in the eyes of God because he only sees the blood of Jesus. No. You’re Adam and Eve perfect because of the sacrifice that Jesus made at the cross. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you and nothing about you has to change, save one thing: the eyes of your understanding. 

At this point, Bible scholars would demand proof. I’m no Bible scholar, but I do have proof for this ridiculously good and wonderful news. 

“Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law.” (Rom 6:14)

Let me start by saying that the law is essentially a method of doing in order to become. Why was the law given? It was given so that God’s people would know what to do so that they might be or become the people He made them to be. The law says do x, y, z and you will be God’s man/woman. The law is God’s standard and requirement for correct living for human lives. 

God’s plan for humanity has never changed. He has always had righteousness, purity, love and sin-free living in mind for us: in both the Old and New Testaments. These are His desires for our lives. That we walk like Him in perfection.  

If God’s desire for our lives is nothing short of righteousness, purity, and love, why did he make us a people free from the law? If we are gradually becoming like God then we need the law so that we can measure our progress and see what needs improving. But if we are already like Him then we need no law. The verbs attached to the law are ‘do’ and ‘don’t’. ‘Do this, don’t do that.’ When the law is taken away, so are the do’s and don’ts. But the requirements of the law remain in tact. God still has righteousness and sin-free living in mind for us. But He has completely removed the ‘do’s’ and the ‘don’t’s’. So if He requires sin-free living but He’s taken away the do’s and don’ts there can only be one logical conclusion. Jesus didn’t have to do anything to be perfect. Jesus was and is perfect by simply being Himself. This is the same plan God has for our lives. We no longer have to do and not do to be or become perfect. We simply have to be ourselves and by being ourselves we meet the requirements of the law. The idea of law communicates a life of gradual change, only to end once that high standard is reached perfectly. People who live with no law are people who need no change. Before the fall, Adam and Eve had no law because they needed no change. 

To further evidence this point, let us look at some other things that exist with no law.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Gal 5:22-23)

The reason why the fruits of the Spirit have no law is because they meet God’s standard. All they have to do is simply ‘be’, and by only ‘being’ they meet His requirements. They don’t have to transform or change. They just have to be. 

The Spirit, Father, and Son are one. Jesus is the fruit of the Spirit. Because of His death, resurrection, and ascension, we have become one with Christ. (Eph 2 & 5) Therefore our truest identities and names are the same as the fruit of the Spirit. I can confidently say that you are love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against you there is no law. There is no law because you are perfect, whole and holy, right now. I don’t base this truth on your sin-record or your struggles with this or that. If we were to interpret the Bible through our human experience then we’d have a lot of problems. Rather we speak the truth to our experience. 

The only transformation we need is to have our eyes renewed with the light of God: to see as He sees. And the beauty of this transformation is that we cannot see something that doesn’t already exist. You are perfect, whole, and completely transformed into the very likeness of Jesus and because of this your life exists in freedom and without law. 

A Drink For Some Thirsty Words - "Worship"

"Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. I cling to you; your right hand upholds me."

Psalm 63:3-8

There are some churchy words that have grown very dry and withered to me after years of hearing them uttered over and over again, while remaining at a shallow understanding as to what they actually mean. They are good words. Really good words. But they need to be doused in the River of Life and shone in the heavenly brilliance from which they derive their true definitions if I'm ever going to have a chance of understanding them the way that I long to.

There are a great many of these words, but the ones that I want to bring attention to over the next few weeks (unless I get bored of this and wish to write on something else) are: worship, repentance, obedience, reverence, fear, holiness, sanctification, power and glory. Do you see what I mean now? Does anyone feel like they just entered into a cold, dark, medieval cathedral that smells a little like a cave? No? Maybe it's just me that feels like those words carry such abstract meanings that sometimes when they're mentioned, the first picture to come into my mind is one of a stern-looking god who appears almost identical to Gandalf the Wizard or old Father Time. Thank you Jesus for revealing the true identity of our Father as one who is completely relatable, who sees no distance between us and Him and who is full of joy and love and warmth toward us. And it's in light of that truth that we can make some sense of these words. Also, just so you know what you're about to read, I'm not going to get into etymology (as if I'm even qualified to do that) or the original greek and hebrew (except for a little bit on some points). I'm mostly basing my definitions on my own experience and thought processes and some beautiful teachings that I've heard from others that the Holy Spirit has borne witness to in my spirit, and on the belief that love, as defined in 1 Corinthians 13 and displayed on the cross, is the truest, deepest expression of God - Father, Son and Spirit.

So, for today, let's begin with "worship". My earliest recollections and associations with the word "worship" come from the traditional baptist church where I spent the first 18 years of my life. Seriously. I was there for Sunday morning service, Sunday evening service, Tuesday morning prayer breakfast, Wednesday evening youth group and choir, and usually another evening or two during the week if there was a special event taking place. But I was one of those weird kids who absolutely LOVED it, even through high school. I loved the people, I loved the churchy way of life, the pot lucks and playing sports out on the lawn, and I even loved the buzz of the loud organ and the musty smell of the old, country building (before we moved into a new building).

But the thing that I didn't particularly like was this thing called worship. My understanding of worship was the order it was listed in the Sunday morning bulletin: Call to Worship, Announcements, Offertory Hymn, Offertory Prayer, Prayer Requests, Responsive Reading, Hymn of Praise and Thanksgiving, Special Music, Sermon, Invitation, Benediction. And that there was the "worship service". This was apparently the thing that we would forever be doing in Heaven...

Then why did I find myself crossing each thing off the list as it was completed and anticipating the lunch with good friends and family that would take place afterward? Or eagerly dreaming about coming back in the evening to play football and basketball with the youth group? I don't believe it had anything to do with immaturity, because how many grown men were in that room with me keeping an ever watchful eye on the clock as they looked forward to getting out of their suits and into their sweats and settling down for a long afternoon of NFL with their families? And how many of the women were thinking about the delicious meal that they were going to lovingly prepare for friends and family?

No, it wasn't immaturity, but the innate desire for joy and enjoyment that we inherit from the Father in whose image we were created. The joy that we craved was lacking from this event that we called worship and it was unnatural. I'm not bashing any church that uses that particular kind of order and structure. I only have my own experience to offer and I certainly don't represent every human being on the planet. Maybe there are many who experience incredibly elating joy in the Lord in a more rigid atmosphere. For myself though, it made me feel like God was in a land really far away. We were singing and talking about someone who was up in the sky needing to be appeased rather than someone who is already delighted, holds every cell of my body together and lovingly made His dwelling in my heart long before I even thought of asking Him to do so. He felt cold and distant instead of warm and near.

Over the years I discovered new forms and styles of "acceptable" worship that I liked better, but I still couldn't imagine any of them being something that I would enjoy doing for all eternity or even for an hour everyday. I could enjoy it for longer than the rigid style, but I couldn't sustain that joy for longer than an hour or two, once a week. In high school I had one of those funny Christian t-shirts that said "24/7 worshipper", but I didn't own it for very long and eventually gave it away out of guilt because I was convinced that wasn't my identity.

So if worship isn't something we do to appease God (because He lacks nothing and therefore needs nothing), and if He already delights in us (when He revealed His soul's delight in Jesus, He was revealing His soul's delight in us, because we're in Jesus), and if the worship God desires from us is not to come from obligation or ritual or payment of our respects to Him, and if worship is something more than singing four fun songs on Sunday, then what the heck is it?

If you're ready, here's the Sarah Tiu definition: Absolutely effortless joy and enjoyment in being overwhelmed and astonished by the sheer goodness of God.

And if that's what worship is, then it's impossible to fake it or work it up or force it. Rather it is a fruit of hearing the Gospel and a fruit of hearing the marvelous things that the Spirit teaches us. It is a most natural response to the kisses of our Father. It is the gasp that takes our breath away when we've just been shown something too beautiful for words. We do not worship to try and get His presence to come, we worship because His presence is already with us and so we just can't help but to respond with praises and dancing and shouts. Worship is not something that we will have to do for all eternity, but is something that we can't resist doing now and forever because the adoration of our God who is Love gushes forth like a river from our bellies that we couldn't stop if we wanted to! Worship is a celebration. And it isn't something that is confined to a space or a time. The more that we hear and understand the goodness and love of God toward us and for us, the more this kind of worship becomes a constant force in our lives throughout each moment and event. It happens when I see my kid dancing or when my husband kisses me or when I'm with close friends enjoying good conversation and a bottle of wine. Everything, in fact, begins to remind us of the goodness of God. We see His face in our bosses and co-workers, in strangers and in creation itself. We begin to recognize the splash of His love in everyone and everything and worship becomes the most natural part of our existence. It becomes the enjoyment of life and love as sons and daughters of God, the very purpose for which we were created.

And it arouses all types of responses, from song and dance to laughter and tears. From loud celebratory shouts, to quiet contemplation. From bubbling poetry and art in all of its creative forms to awe-struck silence. From jumping and bouncing to lying flat on the ground as though dead. And many times, for me, it manifests in pure contentment with the occasional uncontrollable burst of bliss.

This really is what I think Jesus meant when he spoke with the woman at the well. She asks him about worship regulations and where is the proper place to "go" to worship. He responds in John 4:23 like this: "A time will come, however, indeed it is already here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father is seeking just such people as these as His worshippers." To worship the Father in spirit is to worship Him with the Spirit's understanding, not mere human understanding. In verse 22, Jesus tells her that the Samaritans have been worshipping what they do not know or comprehend. But a day is coming, and now is, that they will understand and that understanding will cause them to worship. Check out 1 Corinthians 2:10-12, "Yet to us God has unveiled and revealed them (His mysteries) by and through His Spirit, for the Spirit searches diligently, exploring and examining everything, even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God. For what person perceives what passes through a man's thoughts except the man's own spirit within him? Just so, no one discerns the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have not received the spirit that belongs to the world, but the Holy Spirit Who is from God, given to us that we might realize and comprehend and appreciate the gifts of divine favor and blessing so freely and lavishly bestowed on us by God."

So enjoying understanding the astounding things that the Spirit makes known to us is worshipping in spirit. And worshipping in truth? Well Jesus said that he himself is the truth. He is the complete embodiment and character of truth. Understanding that Jesus is the full revelation of the Father, the truest possible revelation of the Father and His character and nature, means that we finally have a grasp on who it is that we are worshipping. And knowing Him causes us to truly marvel. How many times in the gospels is it recorded that Jesus was teaching and the people were "astounded" or "marveled" at the things that He said? Already, they were beginning to worship in spirit and in truth without even trying!

We cannot be guilted or manipulated into this kind of worship, rather we are drawn into it every time we are aware of the love of the Father, Son and Spirit. So if we want to see this worship arising in the midst of our churches and in the midst of our own lives, then we must speak of this great love and nothing else. It's what we crave.

If worship has become a dry word for you, the way it had for me, I hope that this helps to broaden your perspective of what it means, to simply allow yourself to be astounded at His goodness and to enjoy it. I have the privilege of leading Sunday morning worship at my church on occasion, and my prayer on those mornings is that I would just enjoy the party of Papa God's love and that I would bring the party to the people. Because that's the simplicity of the Gospel. It's a declaration and celebration of what is done and of what is true. It is a revelation that the wedding supper of the lamb has begun and an invitation to start enjoying the party. It isn't mourning over sin or the worthlessness of humanity and rarely, if ever, is it serious. A former pastor of mine always liked to remind us that "serious" isn't a fruit of the Spirit, but joy is. So if we worship in spirit, we definitely don't have to be serious. Let the crazies come out!