Willow's North Shore regional. I am just getting to know Matt but each opportunity I have to spend time with him I am struck with his passion for God and his giftedness.
Below are some of the thoughts & challenges that Matt shared. I thought like me, many of you would benefit.
A side note, Matt is going to be leading a Conversation at Wonder if you are interested in talking to him more.
There is a philosophy of Biblical Interpretation called "First Mention", which more or less means that we should pay special attention to the first time that we see an important word or concept mentioned in the Bible. Often times this first mention gives us some insight into how to understand how that word is used later on in the Bible.
So what about the word "worship" - any guesses as to the first time that it is mentioned in the Bible? It comes in the story of Abraham. Some context... Abraham had been given some radical promises from God. God said that Abraham and his wife Sarah would have a son, and God would make this son into a great nation. There would be hope, land, and a blessing through this son, and even though Abraham and Sarah were well beyond normal child bearing years, God came through with his promise.
Funny how He always does that. Funny how easy it is to forget.
This son, Isaac, was special to Abraham. Think about all he represented - this promised son from God that will be the recipient of so many blessings. Not to mention it was his only son! And so we pick the story up in Genesis 22.
"Some time later, God tested Abraham."
- - on a side note, does the fact that God tests feel as scary to you as it does to me?
"He said to him, ‘Abraham!' ‘Here I am.' He replied. Then God said, ‘Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.'"
- - Notice how many descriptors that God gives when referring to Isaac. His only son, whom you love. God knew all that Isaac meant to Abraham, and he wanted Abraham to know it. In fact, this is the first time the word "love" is mentioned in the Bible as well. Amazing.
"Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, ‘Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.'"
- - There it is - the first use of the word "worship" in the Bible. I don't think that Abraham planned on going to the top of that mountain to sing a chorus of "Shout to the Lord". In fact, I don't think they sang at all. Worship, for Abraham, meant sacrifice. It meant laying down the thing that was the very most important to him and giving it to God. It meant giving up Isaac. It meant surrendering all that Isaac represented.
Abraham obeyed God, and at the last second God provided an alternate sacrifice to take Isaac's place. God kept his promise and blessed Abraham through Isaac, and fulfilled everything that He said.
But only after Abraham surrendered Isaac.
The core of worship is sacrifice and surrender. We express that through things like songs, but worship is not singing songs.
And God calls us to worship today.
Which brings us to the scary question - What is your Isaac? What is the most important thing to you? What is God calling you to lay down before him? What plans, dreams, resources, habits and gifts need to be consecrated before God?
Are you brave enough to ask God to name your Isaac? Are you brave enough to lay it down when it is time?
O God, I know that this is a dangerous prayer, but I ask you to show me my Isaac. What is this gift from You that isn't yet fully surrendered? I know that for you to use something in perfect fullness, it must be completely given to you - and I want to do that. I'm going to be honest and say that the thought of bringing my Isaac to the mountain in Moriah is very, very scary to me because I love my Isaac. It came from You, and it represents so many wonderful things. But I want You more than I want things. I want to follow You, and I want You alone to get the glory. Lead me. Help me lead others.
For more on this, check out Kay Arthur's book "Living a Life of True Worship".