Your Choice! - Choosing to Live as Worship

Image Credit: Gwen Meharg (CC)

When I write enough of these posts, or if you read enough of them, you will definitely notice a trend about how important I think choices are.   I suspect many people who know God have discovered for themselves that free will, or choice, is an important part of the definition of Love.  That is, how God seems to define love.  It makes sense.  Only a villain tries to force someone to love them. Most human beings know that true love only comes from a person who has had the freedom to make the choice to love.  Love that is forced is not love at all,  it is something else.  This definition of love comes out of the character of God who is love.  Love that is patient, kind and does not envy, is not boasting or proud, always honouring others and putting others first (c.f. 1 Cor 13 in the Bible).  Love is not selfish or angry, it does not keep a tally and it is not evil.  Love is our choice it is not forced upon us.  We have to choose love because often it is contrary to what we are feeling.

Jesus with His disciples (washing their feet)

If you call yourself a disciple of Jesus then you must learn to follow the way of love (1 Cor 14:1).  I think there are many great sermons and preaching points made around these verses.  The Bible is like that.  It is a spiritual book and as such it speaks to the heart and the mind offering practical, philosophical and spiritual advice to the reader.  As a Christian of many years, I am surprised how long I seemed to miss much of the point of the Bible.  For example, I find that many Christians struggle to give a quick run down of the Gospel (a.k.a. Good News).  Some cannot tell me what exactly the Gospel is.  Many that brave an attempt to answer usually give a response along the lines that the Gospel is, "Jesus died for their sins and that now they are forgiven and have eternal life."  I think that is a good start.  However, it does not come close to the message of the Gospel that Jesus was talking about.  Jesus says in Luke 4:43, "I must proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God....  that is why I was sent."  Here we see the important part of the Gospel that is often being left out - the Kingdom of God.

I am going to write a lot on another post about the Kingdom of God because it is the central theme of the Gospel that has been often overlooked.  For now, I want to point out that the Kingdom of God is the central theme of the Gospel message and the ministry of Jesus.  If you have been fortunate enough to read a few books on the Gospel, or study theology then you would have already taken note of the Kingdom of God theme in Jesus message and throughout the Bible itself.  Most theologians will demonstrate that the sermon on the Mount is Jesus telling us how to live in the Kingdom.  His parables are about the Kingdom.  And His miracles demonstrate the power of the Kingdom.  If the function of a disciple is to become like their Rabbi - which it is, then I must become like Jesus.  The Jews who were chosen to be disciples by a Rabbi would be expected to be like their Rabbi in the sense that they would become like their Rabbi in every way.  A disciple would learn to walk, talk, sleep and eat just like their Rabbi.  If the central theme of Jesus' message is the Kingdom of God then it should be His disciples central theme also.  If the Kingdom of God was the reason Jesus is sent then it is the reason His disciples of Jesus are sent.  I think you get the idea - to be considered Jesus disciples we had better understand how Jesus lived and what was important to Him.  The Kingdom of God was Jesus primary importance.

Photo credit: Wikipedia

While I will discuss the theology of the Kingdom of God on another post this post is more to do with what do we do about the Kingdom of God.  Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God being at hand (Mark 1:15).  Other translations say that it is near.  Jesus says to the Pharisees that the Kingdom of God is in the midst of them (Luke 17:21).  Jesus also says He is showing the Kingdom; some translations say bringing (Luke 8:1).  Matthew 13:52 seems to demonstrate that Jesus expected His disciples to be bringers of the goodness that is the Kingdom of God.  So, what I am trying to say is, if you are a disciple of Jesus then your mission is be like (exactly the same) Jesus and continue the mission of Jesus - Gods Kingdom come, Gods will be done, on Heaven as it is on Earth (Matt 6:10).

It is our duty as disciples to be continuing the movement inaugurated by Jesus ministry; to become just like our Rabbi.  OK then how do we do that?  That leads us back to the beginning of this post. It is through your choices.  We must choose to follow the way of Love - Jesus' way.  That is why I talked so long about being a disciple and the Kingdom of God.  I need to understand that it is my duty, as  a disciple, to spread the Gospel of the Kingdom of God (Acts 8:12).   The Gospel is spread by sowing love.  We plant love like a seed.  That seed grows into a love tree; it bears the fruit of love (love, joy, peace, goodness, kindness etc...).  Of course, the fruit contains the seed that when planted in the right soil produces a love tree (if you have read the Bible a lot you would recognise all the sowing, seeds, tree references here make sense).  That's the role of Jesus disciples, to plant seeds of love like He did.  But many disciples choose differently.

This means we have to constantly choose a way that is different to what is natural to us.  You can see why Paul talks about needing to have the mind transformed (Rom 12:2; Eph 4:23); our natural choice making is in error. It is in error when we keep choosing to not love others.  That error actually separates us from God and anything that separates us from God is sin.  I wonder why this was not taught to me when I first became a Christian.  Joyce Meyer says some good things about it in her book, "The Battle of the Mind" or sermon by the same title.  I have come to realise that this is a key for spiritual maturity.  Our mind must be transformed to the way of love and it is our choice to let it.  I do not think we understand how much the programming of our minds has corrupted us.  That is,  how the way we learned to think has caused us to have separation form God.  I am going to write a post on this because it is important also.  Right now, the important realisation is my choices affect how I walk with God.

I had the honour and privileged to spend nearly two years learning from a Christian Maori Kaumatua (a Maori elder) in New Zealand.  One of the lessons I gained from this was that worship is living for God.  I did know this before I spent time with the Kaumatua but I did not understand the importance of it.  The Kaumatua informed me, through stories, that in the spiritual realm the war for a Kingdom is won or lost on worship.  For example, say in India, the people worship Shiva, this worship gives Shiva the right to be the 'principality and power' (Eph 6:12) in India.  If the worship of another deity becomes stronger the Shiva will be replaced by the one worshiped. Interesting!  In the example of people worshiping Shiva, most people think of an Indian temple with an idol of Shiva having people doing ceremonies.  That is the classic picture of worship.  The Christian in the church singing songs, praying and listening to a sermon is another version of this classic picture.  That is part of worship; but it was not what the Kaumatua was meaning.

The Indian Govt as example of promoting Kingdom of God principles.
(Swachh Bharat means "Clean India")

True worship is a life lived in total dedication towards your God.  Everything you do is worshiping something.   As Christians, we read in the Bible that we must worship God with all our heart, mind, strength and body.  That means, with all we are.  You can immediately see how this ties imaking choices.  If I pollute the Earth, is that doing on Earth as it is in Heaven?  Is it "Thy Kingnto the Jewish discipleship model discussed above.  This type of worship involves us constantly dom come"?  I doubt it.  Then consider who you might be worshiping when you simply put your rubbish on the ground. Western people cannot believe that everything is connected to this level.  It is odd because even science teaches cause and effect which is an echo of the spiritual truth of you reap what you sow.  When we car-pool that is being good stewards of our technology.  Rubbish bins and recycling are practical physical ways of being responsible with our technology and therefore, I believe, represent being of the Kingdom of God.  So, the small things count as worship.  What we worship is the principality and power of our land.  Our choice!

Any wonder why Jesus is the model that we follow.  Love each other, love the planet, love the animals, be good stewards of what is given to us.  Follow the way of Love.