The Art of Worship. Fred Bittner
to provide room for everyone to lie on their faces in church! Kneeling and lying prostrate are important positions often incorporated into smaller or personal worship settings.
Let us end this section on praise with Hebrews 13:15–16, which says, “Through Him, then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And to not neglect doing good and sharing; for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” Praise, do good, and share. What an interesting formula for happiness.
Praise shapes our faith, determines our happiness, encourages others, declares our faith, and changes the world. We cannot merely praise and leave out doing good and sharing. Praise is the expression of our faith; doing good and sharing is the result of our faith. They go hand in hand. “For the gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction” (1 Thessalonians 1:5a).
Try These Activities
• Make a list of the attributes of God and pray through them aloud.
• Tell someone who does not know Christ about your relationship with Jesus.
• Make a determined effort to change something you are doing in worship. Break a habit and try something different that has been discussed in this chapter.
Chapter 4: Committing Our Best, Holding Nothing Back
“Conversion is a complete surrender to Jesus. It’s a willingness to do what he wants you to do.” (Billy Sunday)
One of the home improvement networks put on an interesting show idea. Two men are granted five minutes to go through someone’s house to determine what kind of people they are, and discover their interests based on the evidence they uncover in the house. They can go through everything—closets, the refrigerator, photo albums, shelves, and garage to discover the real people of the house. Then, without ever meeting the residents, they completely transform the family’s backyard to reflect their perception of the owner’s values and interests. When they are finished, the family is invited into their own backyard to see the results of the grand transformation.
If someone had access to your house for five minutes and could dig through your stuff, what would they discover about you? Would they know that you are a Christian? Would the evidence reflect a belief in Jesus? This is a powerful question, but it is a perfect introduction to this chapter. Do our lives demonstrate our commitment to Christ?
We would like to think that we are giving our best for the Lord. After all, he gave his best for us. But when we look at the grand scheme of life, it is easy to see that our “all” is spread over a large battlefield of priorities. Each priority tries to dominate the other priorities to capture our time and attention.
In the youthful years, getting through school is a priority. Homework takes up some of our free time. Much of our energy is spent growing, although it is not a conscious thing. As a result, sleeping is a huge part of those years. Throw in time with friends, the phone, and a computer, and days are full.
Then maybe we go to college, and completing an academic major becomes the top priority. If college is away from home, we may experiment with things we would never do while living with our parents. Dating and being social take up the bulk of our free time.
When college is finished the focus is on starting a successful career and moving up the ladder. Marriage, starting a family, buying a first house, and trying to figure out what to do with the rest our lives occupies every fiber of our being. Sleeping is now impossible because the baby has decided that being awake all night is really fun.
As time moves on and the children grow up, sports, dances, and school events become a huge part of life. The difference is that these are not our activities but our kids’ activities. Our job is to get them there and stand by ready to cheer if something exciting happens. We act as bus driver, short-order cook, nurse, housekeeping service, and ATM.
The final fantasy is that, when the kids are gone, we can finally retire. We say, “Then we’ll have the time to do whatever we want.” Wrong! Every retired person seems to have the same complaint: “I have more to do now than when I had a job. How did I fit a job into all of this chaos?”
So where is a relationship with God in all of this? When he asks for our “first fruits,” we wonder how can we possibly afford it. Becoming a “living sacrifice” can be a part-time job when held up to our busy lives. And yet God asks for these things—and more. He gave everything for us, and he expects more than the token attention that we often give him.
The key is not necessarily to stop what we are doing. The real key is to change how we are doing it! Paul said, “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the father” (Colossians 3:17). And again, “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord whom you serve” (Colossians 3:23–24).
We need to stop working for “The Man.” There is no satisfaction when we live that way. We should work to represent Jesus in our jobs and places of business. As Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:14–16).
We need to commit time to the Lord. How can we carve out some time for Jesus each day? Specifically, how can we use our time sitting at the soccer field for Jesus? How can we let our light shine in line at the grocery store? How many times do opportunities to serve pass us by because we aren’t paying attention? And when those opportunities do come along, do we even know what to do?
During my college years, I served as a youth minister in Hayward, California. It was my goal to get the kids involved in ministry, and not to just entertain them with activities. One summer day, we loaded up into cars and went to the city park to pass out tracts and talk to people. Kids spread out two by two throughout the area. I perched myself on the top of a picnic table where I could keep an eye on the safety of the group.
It wasn’t very long before one of the boys came running toward me in a panic. When he reached me he was out of breath and could hardly speak. Between gasps for air he reported that he had met a woman who wanted to know more about Jesus. Passing out a tract was fine, but when it came to leading her to Christ, that was a whole different story. They thought they were prepared, but when she questioned them, they panicked. So the two of us went back to the place where his partner and the woman nervously waited. She was seriously searching and was not just testing the boys’ knowledge. Praise God that this young man was willing to give this woman a tract and that he came and got me. The woman accepted Christ that day and became an active part of our church beginning the following Sunday.
We do not need to know everything. We do need to be willing to represent the Christ we have committed to serve and give him the best of our time. We need to give him the opportunity to use us 24/7, and be willing to give him five minutes to examine our life. Our light needs to shine whether we are talking about Jesus or semi-conductors. The love of Christ must be in control.
God wants to use our talents. The church I am a part of has a ministry called “His Allies.” It is a group of men and women who know how to do the things people need to have done. They do construction, electrical work, gutter cleaning, lawn mowing, snow removal, house painting, or whatever needs to be done. When the group hears of a need, they add it to their list, match it to someone who can do it, and find the materials to get it done. When everything is lined up, they go and take care of the need in the name of Jesus.
Eastside Christian Church, in Fullerton, California, has a powerful compassion ministry. Can you imagine the impact when, on a single day, two thousand people fan out into the community to serve? They commit their talents to serve Jesus. They even have jobs for people who feel like they have no talent at all. Many churches do similar project days, or service days. Again, we don’t