Category: All Articles

New Year’s Resolutions Anyone? – Part II

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Church, Holiday

–Winter 2003

New Year’s Resolutions Anyone?

Part II

In last year’s winter issue I shared my list of New Year’s Resolutions and pledged to write an article on each one.  Though each resolve was given personal attention, they never found their way into the article I promised.  So with pen in hand and a little mud on my face, here is my insight on three of those resolutions.

Resolution #1

To Gain an Understanding of Corporate Worship

I’ve spent the past year combing through books, articles and listening to tapes about worship.  I’ve talked it over with the scholars and traced it in the lives of simple saints.  Some I talked with had all the answers on worship, while others didn’t seem to have a clue.  But every time I reached for my pen to write, I became frustrated with either the breadth of the subject or the narrowness of my own experience, and laid my pen aside deferring to the greater mind and the larger soul.

I also hesitated to write for the timid reason that there are certain subjects within the church that people have real strong feelings about and will fight over at the drop of a hat (with some willing to drop the hat).  Worship is one of those subjects.  Worship wars have divided denominations and split churches.  In an endeavor to keep the peace, some churches have offered a menu of services with varying worship styles.  This, of course, hasn’t aided true worship in the least, but has pandered to self-centered seekers wanting to “do church” in a way that is entertaining and exciting, or kept entrenched a style traditionally safe but totally missing the mark.

My readership is mostly conservative and mostly within the Methodist holiness tradition.  This group, for the most part, hasn’t bowed the knee at the altar of “Christian consumerism,” though I have witnessed some alarming extremes.  Everything from services so dead they felt like a “funeral for the Almighty” to services so free spirited and casual that they were nothing more than chatty conversations of God talk, similar to a pep rally where we all shouted “hurrah for Jesus!” on cue.

In between these extremes are those who are truly serious about worship but are not always sure of how to go about it.  They remind me of the puzzled partygoer who asked, “Are we having fun yet?”  They try hard to worship but feel like asking, “Are we worshiping yet?”  I did witness services where I felt like the congregation was truly worshiping and the pastor knew how to lead them in worship, but for the most part I agree with Tozer that worship has become the missing jewel of the church.

What’s Wrong?

Without going into great detail, let me offer you my findings.

  1.  We don’t see worship as the main enterprise of the church.

The church seems to have gone through stages of what it thinks is the most important thing for it to be doing.  At times the church has emphasized separation.  Other times it was evangelistic outreach, foreign missions, or just biblical instruction.  Each one or a mixture of the four, taking their turn being the hallmark of what church is really about.  When in all reality each of these must be a product of worship or they will become another gimmick to motivate the saints, or a slick PR front to sell the church.

  1. We lack a balance between a God that is majestic and transcendent and one that is imminent and lovingly near us.

Most holiness churches have unduly stressed feeling and experiencing God to the neglect of worshiping and glorifying God for the pure joy of magnifying the one whom alone is worthy.  Jesus taught us to worship in spirit and in truth.  Worship must have both heart and head.  Worship must engage emotions and thought.  Truth without emotion produces dead orthodoxy and a church full of artificial admirers.  On the other hand, emotion without truth produces empty frenzy and cultivates shallow people who refuse the discipline of rigorous thought.  Strong affections for God rooted in truth are the bone and marrow of biblical worship.  Many in a sincere attempt to feel God near have lost this balance and have opened the door to a fleshly humanism and called it worship.

  1. We have forgotten that only those who are spiritually alive can worship.

When Jesus said, “we must worship the Father in spirit…” He meant that true worship could only come from spirits made alive and sensitive by the quickening power of the Holy Spirit of God.  John Piper says it like this; “The fuel of worship is a true vision of the greatness and glory of God, but the fire that makes the fuel burn white hot is the quickening of the Holy Spirit.”

  1. We have allowed worship to become something we do for our spiritual benefit rather than something we give to God.

This twist in focus has turned church into a performance event where we are the recipients.  We want the songs to bless us, the prayers to comfort us, and the sermon to help us feel better about our condition.  True worship is not self-centered, but God-centered.  Robert Coleman says it like this; “Worship is the adoring response of the creature to the infinite majesty of God.  While it presupposes submission to Him, to worship, in the highest sense, is not supplication for needs, or even thanksgiving for blessings, but the occupation of the soul with God Himself.”

  1. We have made worship a Sunday morning event rather than a lifestyle.

Worship has to do with real life.  It is not a mythical interlude in a week of reality.  We cannot honor God with our lips on Sunday while our hearts are far from Him during the week.

Tinkering or Transformation?

The holiness movement is going through a transition.  There is a lot of tinkering with things and some will be for our help while others will be for our harm.  But when it comes to worship, we need a transformation by the Spirit of God.  Pastors need to be leading the way, teaching their people how to worship God in spirit and in truth.  In order to do this, they must find a biblical paradigm for worship.

As I have sought to develop a biblical view of worship, I have developed for myself five basic facets that must be involved.

  1. The first facet is dispositional.  I mean by this that worship is an attitude of the heart and soul.  There is nothing casual about worship, nor can be done by simply parroting phrases.  It blends our heart and soul and mind like nothing else that we will ever do.  To me this disposition rests on four character traits.

Reverence.  We cannot worship unless there is a reverence and esteem for Almighty God.  We must see Him as majestic and transcendent, the One before who even angels veil their faces.

Love.  We must truly love Him with all of our hearts.  You cannot worship a God you do not truly love.

Humility.  The humble soul is the one who understands that He is the Creator and I am the creature, and I can do nothing without Him.  That sense of humility frees us from self-aggrandizement and enables us to lift Him up.

Gratitude.  Romans chapter 1 tells us it was the sin of ingratitude that prevented man from worshiping God even when they knew Him as God.  Gratitude paves the way for real worship.

  1. The second facet is gestural.  Biblical worship involves some kind of outward act.  The very word in Hebrew means to bow down.  So, worship is bowing, lifting hands, praying, singing, reciting, preaching, etc.  It is absolutely impossible to sit like a monument and worship the Almighty.
  1. The third facet is vocal.  We may worship in silence but not all of worship is silent.  Worship involves appropriate vocal expression of praise and affirmation.  Worship by its very nature requires a personal and/or a congregational response.  The biblical pattern runs the scale of everything from a quiet amen to the jubilant shout of hallelujah!  Vocal expressions, though, should never be a mindless parroting of worship language.  Worship must never be divorced from the mind and the will.  This doesn’t mean worship cannot be spontaneous or even at times rapturous, but it does mean that it will never be a mindless, out of control, experience.
  1. The fourth aspect is liturgical.  I was taught to be suspicious of anything that involved liturgy, only to my surprise to discover that every church follows a liturgy, either a good one or a bad one, written or unwritten.  They all have form.  A biblical view of worship always entails order and form.
  1. The fifth facet is spiritual.  Let me quote from John Piper again.  “The fuel of worship is the truth of God, the furnace of worship is the spirit of man, and the heat of worship is the vital affections of reverence, contrition, trust, gratitude and joy.  But the fire of worship is the Holy Spirit, and until the Holy Spirit quickens our spirit with the flame of life, our spirit is so dead and unresponsive it does not even quality as a spirit.  True worship can only come from spirits made alive and sensitive by the quickening power of the Holy Spirit of God.”

I’ve not written this article as a critic or counselor.  It is simply an article that allows you to look over my shoulder into the private journaling of my journey toward better worship.  Fortunately God accepts our imperfect worship while we are learning how to offer that which is more acceptable.  He is worthy of our very best!

If you are interested in further help, email me at president@gbs.edu and I will send you a list of my study resources.

The Word Became Flesh

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Holiday

–December of 2002

The Word Became Flesh

At the close of the First World War, Prince Edward of Britain visited a hospital that was caring for thirty-six of Britain’s greatest war heroes.  The Prince was taken first to a ward of twenty-four men.  Before leaving, he asked, “Are there are no others?”  The nurse responded in the affirmative, but she has questioned whether or not the Prince wanted to see those who were more seriously wounded.  Demanding to see them all, he was taken to another room of eleven men.  The Prince was stunned at the awful condition of these noble defenders of the Crown.  He was moved to tears as he offered each man his deepest appreciation for his noble service.

Again upon leaving the room, the Prince remarked that if he had counted right, there was still one more.  The nurse remonstrated rather strongly about seeing the last one since that veteran was in isolation and his condition was so critical.  The Prince demanded a visit.  The nurse protested that the situation of the man mighty truly be unbearable to the royal visitor.  Edward would not be dissuaded and was soon standing by the bedside of the dying hero.  He was not prepared, however, for what he saw.  The brave soldier had taken the worst of a fiery explosion.  Much of his body had been either blown or burned away.  His face was disfigured beyond recognition.  The stench of death lay heavy in the room.  The Prince shuddered as a wave of horror swept over his soul from what he saw.  After a moment to regain himself, the Prince leaned over the bed, and calling the soldier’s name, told him who he was.  The old warrior’s eyes twitched, and the stub of an arm on the right side of his body jumped in an effort to salute.  Prince Edward stooped down and in the most tender tones poured out the deepest thanks on behalf of his country.  Then stooping lower, he kissed the disfigured brow of the dying solder.  This was a condescending moment for the noble Prince of the English throne.

There is One who has stooped far lower to plant the kiss of redemption upon the wretched brow of lost humanity.  No human story, however noble, compares with our Savior’s condescension.  The King of Glory came down!  The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.  The Lord of eternal glory and splendor wrapped Himself in the fading garment of our humanity and pitched his fleshly tent on a bed of straw, in a lowly stable, under a brilliant star.

Why did he come?  He came to save!  How would he save?  By identifying completely with our humanity, yet remaining the sinless Son of God.  By taking our sin upon Himself and dying—the just for the unjust.

Why become flesh?  God had created man but he had never been a man.  He had watched men toil, but He had never blistered his own hands with a carpenter’s tool.  He had never felt the onslaught of the tempter, or had his soul pierced with the sorrows of life.  He had seen men sink into the hopeless depths of the grave, but He had never felt the cold grip of death or spread His omnipotent shoulders on the bottom of a sepulcher.  Only through His incarnation could he take our place and be crucified.  Only through assuming a human body could he suffer the sting of death, break the bars of the grave and make it possible for us all to shout, “O death where is thy sting?  O grave where is thy victory?”

Why did Christ come down in human flesh?  He came down that His mysterious incarnation might reunite us to God; that His atoning death might purchase our justification and become the spring of our eternal life; that His resurrection would be the pledge of our glory, and His ascension the triumph of our souls!

“What’s In It For Me?”

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Ministry, Theology

–October of 2002

“What’s In It For Me?”

Over the years I have interviewed a number of people for ministry positions.  Some as potential pastors and missionaries, others for a position here at the college.  I’ve made it a practice to listen very carefully for some form of the question, “What’s in it for me?”  I have found this to be a pivotal question that often reveals the kind of person who gives themselves only if there is an equal return to them.  They aren’t prepared to invest themselves in the lives of others for the sheer joy of making a difference.  They lack the servant spirit.

What this question reveals is becoming increasingly important as our American culture becomes more and more obsessed with materialism.  The quest for the larger house, the faster car, the more expensive wardrobe has become the pre-occupation of not only the general population but many in Christian ministry.  Given the fact of our economic prosperity, the pressure of contemporary culture, and the natural pull of a sinful heart, it’s too easy for a person today to become a creature obsessed with security and comfort, and incapable of throwing himself into a higher cause.

This dilemma is as old as sin itself.  Adam and Eve thought there was something more for them.  Lot’s lust for real estate in the Jordan Valley cost him more than he ever wanted to pay.  Paul addressed this problem from his jail cell in Rome.  He warned the Philippian Christians about those who preach Christ “out of envy and strife” (Phil. 1:15).  The word translated “strife” does not literally mean strife.  It’s the Greek word erithea and basically means a payment made to advance a person’s own interest.  Paul was describing those who preach the gospel for their own gain.  He told the Philippian church that the antidote to this self seeking was to have the mind of Christ — the attitude of soul that does nothing out of selfish ambition but finds joy in the opportunity to pour out one’s life for others.

Does the gospel offer deliverance from this self-serving focus?  It did for Timothy.  Paul told the Philippians that Timothy would “naturally care for your state” in contrast to those who seek their own interest.  It did for Paul.  Paul’s word to the Corinthian church was “for I am not in this job for what I can get out of it, but for what benefits I can bring to the many, that they may be saved” (Barclay’s translation).

Can grace so “re-orient” our hearts until the primary focus of our life is no longer our own but that of others?  Can we be truly cleansed from the question “what’s in it for me?”  The Bible makes it clear that we can.  As a matter of fact, it’s at the very heart of the gospel’s power to make us like Christ.

Selling the Gospel Short

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Church, Culture, Theology

–Summer of 2002

Selling the Gospel Short

Twenty years ago Francis Schaefer wrote about the Great Evangelical Disaster.  Recently Dr. Dennis Kinlaw addressed what could be called the Great Evangelical Reductionism.  The first sold the gospel out; the latter sells it short.  Both can bring about the same pitiful end.

At the turn of the 20th Century, the church was caught in the cross hairs of liberal theology.  Most of the large Protestant denominations were knocked down like a row of tenpins as liberal theology swept in like a flood.  The National Council of Churches reigned as the ecclesiastical power and liberal theologians held prominent positions as professors in the great seminaries.  The Bible was betrayed and the heart of the gospel was completely destroyed.  Within 30 years the sell-out was complete.  The gospel that was preached in most large protestant denominations was no gospel at all.

By mid century a despised marginal group of Bible believers known as evangelicals began to make their way to the forefront in America.  By the 1980’s the focus of power had clearly shifted from the mainstream denominations and liberal theologians to the more conservative evangelicals.  Today evangelicals have their own national association, speak on hundreds of radio and television programs, and control the theological positions of a large number of seminaries and Christian universities.  Evangelicals operate book enterprises that gross billions every year.  The president attends their annual prayer breakfast and prominent evangelical leaders weekend at the White House and council the president on religious matters.

Yet as the evangelical movement has grown in numbers and influence, the moral influence of the church has gotten weaken.  How could this be?  How could a church that has become more conservative theologically become less effected by that theology?

Dr. Dennis Kinlaw, in his book We Live as Christ, puts his finger on the problem.  He states, “I believe that part of the reason for the state of affairs is the way in which the evangelical church is presenting the gospel here in America.  We have engaged in a kind of reductionism of what we say Christ can do for us.  We have largely preached the gospel of Christ as a way to find freedom from the consequences of our sin rather than freedom from the sin that causes the consequences.”

The evangelical church in America has given the impression that the essence of the Christian message is forgiveness of sins and the assurance of Heaven.  They have failed to emphasis that the goal of the gospel is conformity to Christ.  This has produced an insidious easy believism that makes no moral demands and insists on no behavioral requirements.  It has separated faith from faithfulness and offered a brand of commitment with no cross.  Sadly the holiness movement has begun to parrot the same line.

Dr. John Oswalt speaks to this issue in his book Called to be Holy.  He says, “The Christian gospel is not primarily about having one’s sins forgiven and spending a blissful eternity with God after somehow getting through this life with one’s faith reasonably intact.  The purpose of the gospel is the same that God has had from Genesis 4 onward:  The transformation of human behavior in this world with a consequent possibility of living with God through all eternity.”

The New Testament gospel is inseparably linked to repentance, surrender, a supernatural eagerness to obey, and an inner hunger for moral goodness.  Anything less is not true biblical conversion and denies the message of the gospel.  But the gospel offers more.  The gospel offers freedom from the tyranny of sin and self.

The gospel does offer freedom from sin’s penalty and a home in heaven.  But it also offers freedom from sin’s tyranny and a life of holiness.  This is good news, indeed!

The Face of Revival

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Church, Theology

–Summer of 2002

The Face of Revival

In a recent conversation with a student, I was asked this question.  “What does revival look like?”  The question grew out of the student’s frustration on the fact that she had heard messages on revival, messages that spoke of our need for revival, and the results of revival, but had never really given her something solid so that she could recognize the beginnings of revival.

As I began to think about that question, it dawned on me that many of us might miss the beginning of revival because we are looking for the wrong thing.  Too often we dress revival up in the clothes of supernatural phenomenon or other forms of Divine visitation, when really revival will first come to us dressed in sackcloth and ashes.  When God gave Solomon the process to find personal and national revival, it began with a call to humility.  “If my people which are called by my name will humble themselves…”

What Does Humility Look Like?

Andrew Murray in his classic work on humility, states, “Humility is the place of entire dependence on God and is by its very nature the first duty and the highest virtue of man.  It is simply man’s acknowledging the truth of his position as man in yielding to God His place as God.”  Another church father said it like this, “Humility is the frame of mind a man possesses who is fully aware of his nothingness apart from God and of his sinfulness that would eternally separate him from God were not God willing to rescue him.”  Humility does not imply a slavishness or servility.  Nor is it inconsistent with a right estimation of one’s self, gifts and calling of God.  Nor with a proper self assertion when called for.  True humility is, indeed, the frame of mind that a man possesses whereby he understands his total dependence upon God for all that he is and does.

Are We People of Humility?

Being clothed with humility, as Saint Peter admonishes, is a concept that most of us haven’t considered.  We do not think of humility as a dominant characteristic of today’s successful person.  Most church members and even many church leaders are not known for their humility, but for their self reliance, self sufficiency, and self confidence.  Those seem to be traits that fit well within the sociological and political scheme of things.  So we value them rather than valuing what the Bible calls humility.  It might even be said that many in the church have an aversion to humility.  Some erroneously see it as a weakness.  One of those traits if possessed too much might even hinder a man getting along in life.

Is Humility Important to Revival?

The answer is quite easy.  There can be no revival without first a spirit of humility gripping the church.  It is out of a spirit of humility that all the other attributes of revival flow.

Will God Humble Us?

 When we set our hearts to seeking God for revival, we are actually asking God to humble us.  The evidence that He is answering our prayer for revival can be seen in the way that He chooses to humble His church.

In his book, Changed into His Image, Jim Berg lists four ways that God may choose to humble us.

First, He will send a problem we can’t handle to expose our helplessness.  Do you remember the story of Naaman in II Kings?  A high-ranking Syrian official who needed healing from his leprosy could not accept the humility of meeting only with the second man and then being told to wash in the muddy Jordan River.  But Naaman was confronted with a problem that would not go away until he humbled himself and did what God commanded.

The second way God humbles us is to give us a command we won’t obey so as to expose our self-centeredness.   Do you remember the Prophet named Jonah?  God commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh, and Jonah simply wouldn’t go.  The end result being, Jonah got a real glimpse of his self-centered and selfish heart.

The third way is for God to arrange an outcome we can’t control to expose our sinfulness.  Do you remember when King David took Bathsheba into his bedchamber for an evening of pleasure, only to send her back home thinking no one would ever know?  When word came back from Bathsheba that she was pregnant, David knew he had a problem on his hands that he couldn’t control.  He tried to desperately corral it and deal with it, but it was beyond his control, and God intended it to be that way.  David needed to see his own sinfulness.

The fourth way is that He will show us a God we can’t comprehend to expose our finiteness.  Job was no doubt a good man.  God Himself testified to such.  But Job needed a lesson in humility so that he could understand that God Himself is beyond our human understanding.

When you and I begin to pray for revival and when we begin to look about for signs of that revival, we should not be shocked if the first face we see is not pleasant but one that humbles all of us.