The worship team at the Assembly is one of God's gifts to our church. This team of musicians loves the Lord and they love their music. Since 2000, when I was called to this church where I serve, I've watched a talented group of artists meld their gifts and abilities, and they have become a ministry team that helps all of us to open up our hearts and minds to the Presence of the Lord. But, they do some of their best work after the benediction! Yes, it's true. People who hang around the sanctuary for a few moments longer, often hear the team 'cut loose.' The guys exult in their passionate joy of making music for God, turn up the volume, and do some crazy stuff. I'm sure some of the saints wouldn't see some of what they do in those moments as 'decent and in order,' since the songs that sometimes pop out at that time aren't always 'spiritual,' but the joy they feel is obvious and often infectious.
Did you know that "Jesus" and "joy" are words that go together? Many people don't! Church and playfulness; Jesus and joy; just are not common word association links, but they ought to be. Yes, of course, there are times when God calls us to reverent silence, to ponder His majesty or to humble ourselves. But, He also calls us to rejoice. Do you think there is any significance to be drawn from the fact that Jesus' first public miracle was producing wine for a wedding? I do! The common picture of Jesus that has somehow infected the world depicting Him as a long-faced man, walking around with the weight of the world's suffering twisting His face into a mask of grief, just is not the whole picture. There was surely a time when He offered Himself on the Cross and was the Savior, marred with suffering and grief. However, in much of the Gospel, He's a joyful man hanging out with ordinary people, often with those that the 'holy folk' considered riff-raff! The church crowd dismissed Him as a lush and pejoratively as the 'friend of sinners.' (Matthew 11.19) He was a man fun of life, who told stories to teach truth, who loved kids, and who laughed, poking holes in the pretensions of those who thought they were God's special people, so much better than others.
Take a look at this passage - Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” (Matthew 9:14-17, NIV)
"Why don't your disciples do more religious stuff and act seriously like we do? Don't they know this is the way to please God?"
The religious model that prevailed in Jesus' day was one of rigid discipline and seriousness! The Pharisees kept strict laws in their attempt to please God. They separated themselves from the ordinary people, drawing lines between those they considered 'in' and those who were 'out.' John's disciples, likewise, were called to repentance and a life of strict observance of things like fasts. Jesus' followers were a joyful lot. He threw parties for them on more than one occasion, feeding thousands at His own expense. The holiest ritual that the Lord instituted for us was not a fast, but a feast. Mostly we miss that point because when we have Communion since we celebrate it with a tiny wafer and a sip of grape juice. When He celebrated it, it was a feast!
Jesus told those who questioned Him that He wasn't interested in trying to rehabilitate old religious models! His Gospel was like new wine and required new wineskins! If the message of God's Kingdom come was poured into the old religious models built around strict discipline and careful observance of rules, an explosion would result, ruining both the skins and the wine! The good news that God loves people and is calling them to know Him and love Him could not be patched onto a system of rules created to restrain sinful behavior. The Gospel required a new robe of righteousness that was given freely by God to those who trusted and loved Him.
Friend, God calls us to be His children! That is cause for celebration. He tells us that our religion is woefully inadequate to ever please Him, for religion only touches the surface, it never changes the heart. That is why He announced a new way, a way of love, a way of the Spirit - so that we could become holy in our hearts, and then live joyfully as we please Him because we actually delight in His plans and purposes. Have you received the good news of the Kingdom come? Have you invited Christ to be the Lord of your life and rejoiced that the guilt is gone, the alienation from your Father removed; that you are now a beloved child of Heaven?
Jesus told another story about a son who rejected his father's love, left home, and squandered his inheritance. At his lowest point, he hatched a plan to go home and ask for a place among the hired help. As this broken man approached home, he was met with an amazing display. Read the rest of the story. It's our story, Believer! And then, go live joyfully as a child of God today.
“So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long distance away, his father saw him coming.
Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.
His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’
“But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger, and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening in the pen. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began." (Luke 15:19-24, NLT)
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