The seriousness of sacrifice.
Over the past few days I have been working through Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and it’s been awesome. It seems in fact that going through a bit one day at a time is too fast; there is so much to take in!
But I’ll carry on regardless :o)
A Christian lady that I work with is [for some reason that I couldn’t really grasp] is attending a garden party at The Palace; rubbing shoulders with Royalty and all that. However, to attend she must wear a hat. Not already owning the required headwear to match her dress she went along to an outfitter in Pontypool and paid a small fortune for a very elegant sounding chapeaux indeed. If her description is anything to go by I’m sure that she will blend in perfectly to the regal location in which she will find herself.
I jokingly suggested that she could also wear it to church each week; the thought nearly tempted her :o)
Laughing about it afterwards it made me think about the church tradition [which seems so bizarre to me] which meant that women had to wear a hat to church while the men were expected to wearing their ‘Sunday best’. I have no doubt that they must have all looked very smart indeed but I am sure that one of the inadvertent side effects was that it encouraged us to put on a religious front; to look the part rather than play the part. You could play the rouge all week but look the part on Sunday – everyone would be none the wiser!
At that historic hillside Jesus’ revolutionary teaching knows no boundaries as he begins to tear open the comfort of our church existence: "So if you are standing before the altar in the Temple, offering a sacrifice to God, and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there beside the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.” Matt 5:23-25
Jesus is calling us to a level of self awareness that we are rarely comfortable with; by being conscious of how other people react to us. He is not saying that we are responsible for people’s reactions, but we are responsible if something we have said or done unnecessarily offended someone, and we knew about.
Here is the revolution: Obedience is better than sacrifice. Jesus is saying if you know that someone has something against you don’t play at church, it offends God [deeply]. Your ‘sacrifice of praise’ becomes a wail in His ears, an unpleasant screeching. God is far more interested in how we live than how we sound, how we behave [to one another] than how we look. Here, right now, Jesus is challenging us to do something dangerous; to be honest before God. Why is this so eagerly avoided? Because it sometimes means that we are exposed before others; to leave our sacrifice and go apologise for an offence that we did not mean to cause shows people that we are not perfect. However, in doing this we honour God through our obedience rather than mock Him by retaining our mask.
On another occasion Jesus reiterates this in John’s gospel record: “The time is coming and is already here when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for anyone who will worship him that way.” John 4:23 (NLT)
Or, if you prefer, this is how Jesus’ voice sounds in The Message: "It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship.”
This may make you feel uncomfortable, after all what will people think?! But rather than being revealing it is in fact releasing.
I remember one church meeting we had in which this came into play spontaneously during the worship. A few people discretely went to speak to others and soon they were worshipping arm in arm and one friend of mine, realising the significance of this, even had to leave the meeting [but most people were unaware of this] to find the person they had to speak to. They had to explain, of course, why they had suddenly turned up unannounced, but what a releasing act of worship this was!
That is the revolutionary church that God is looking for; this is the sort of church that [we should be creating because it] will shake the very foundations of our city with the presence of God!
Hail the revolution! Here comes God’s rescue!!!!
But I’ll carry on regardless :o)
A Christian lady that I work with is [for some reason that I couldn’t really grasp] is attending a garden party at The Palace; rubbing shoulders with Royalty and all that. However, to attend she must wear a hat. Not already owning the required headwear to match her dress she went along to an outfitter in Pontypool and paid a small fortune for a very elegant sounding chapeaux indeed. If her description is anything to go by I’m sure that she will blend in perfectly to the regal location in which she will find herself.I jokingly suggested that she could also wear it to church each week; the thought nearly tempted her :o)
Laughing about it afterwards it made me think about the church tradition [which seems so bizarre to me] which meant that women had to wear a hat to church while the men were expected to wearing their ‘Sunday best’. I have no doubt that they must have all looked very smart indeed but I am sure that one of the inadvertent side effects was that it encouraged us to put on a religious front; to look the part rather than play the part. You could play the rouge all week but look the part on Sunday – everyone would be none the wiser!At that historic hillside Jesus’ revolutionary teaching knows no boundaries as he begins to tear open the comfort of our church existence: "So if you are standing before the altar in the Temple, offering a sacrifice to God, and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there beside the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.” Matt 5:23-25
Jesus is calling us to a level of self awareness that we are rarely comfortable with; by being conscious of how other people react to us. He is not saying that we are responsible for people’s reactions, but we are responsible if something we have said or done unnecessarily offended someone, and we knew about.
Here is the revolution: Obedience is better than sacrifice. Jesus is saying if you know that someone has something against you don’t play at church, it offends God [deeply]. Your ‘sacrifice of praise’ becomes a wail in His ears, an unpleasant screeching. God is far more interested in how we live than how we sound, how we behave [to one another] than how we look. Here, right now, Jesus is challenging us to do something dangerous; to be honest before God. Why is this so eagerly avoided? Because it sometimes means that we are exposed before others; to leave our sacrifice and go apologise for an offence that we did not mean to cause shows people that we are not perfect. However, in doing this we honour God through our obedience rather than mock Him by retaining our mask.
On another occasion Jesus reiterates this in John’s gospel record: “The time is coming and is already here when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for anyone who will worship him that way.” John 4:23 (NLT)
Or, if you prefer, this is how Jesus’ voice sounds in The Message: "It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship.”
This may make you feel uncomfortable, after all what will people think?! But rather than being revealing it is in fact releasing.
I remember one church meeting we had in which this came into play spontaneously during the worship. A few people discretely went to speak to others and soon they were worshipping arm in arm and one friend of mine, realising the significance of this, even had to leave the meeting [but most people were unaware of this] to find the person they had to speak to. They had to explain, of course, why they had suddenly turned up unannounced, but what a releasing act of worship this was!
That is the revolutionary church that God is looking for; this is the sort of church that [we should be creating because it] will shake the very foundations of our city with the presence of God!
Hail the revolution! Here comes God’s rescue!!!!
posted by Andrew at 6:12 pm
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