He Can Rewrite Your Life Story

As we conclude our look at the Pharisee and the Prostitute in Luke 7, listen to the wonderful words of Jesus to the the woman in verse 50: “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” This woman enters the room experiencing scorn, rejection, and ridicule. When she entered the room, the future of her life story looked much like the previous chapters...abuse, brokenness, and loneliness.

But an amazing thing happens during the minutes she spends in the Pharisees house as she kneels at the feet of Jesus. Jesus re-wrote the ending to her story... “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” She may have entered the room in humiliation; she is leaving in peace. She entered the room broken and lost; she is leaving saved.

Hebrews 12:2 encourages us: “Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith.” When we look at the story of our lives, Jesus is the Author. And when He has the editorial rights to our lives, He is a master at re-writing the script of our lives. Just look at a few examples in the Gospels:

John 5 tells about a man who had been lame for over 30 years. Everyone knows how his story will end. He will die an invalid, begging for a meager existence to survive. Men who are lame for three decades don't start walking...unless the Author of our faith shows up! One command from the Author and this man's life story was rewritten for ever!

Luke 7 also tells the story of a funeral procession where a widow had lost her son. Everyone knows where this story is headed. The final chapter of funeral processions end up in graveyards...unless the Author of our faith shows up! Jesus touches the casket, and the boy comes back to life. The mother and the son's life story was completely rewritten!

Remember the thief on the cross. He has committed a crime worthy of death. He is paraded through Jerusalem as a horrible criminal. He is nailed to a cross. This story will end in shame and humiliation...unless the Author of our faith shows up! One promise of eternal life and the thief's story is rewritten for eternity.

As we conclude this week's study of the Gospel, the Good News is this...Jesus wants to rewrite the story of your life. Whether broken relationships, financial turmoil, physical infirmity, or spiritual gloom, the Author is ready to take pen in hand and rewrite the script of your life! Will you let him?

Your Reaction Reveals Your Attitude

Yesterday, we looked at the attitudinal difference between the Pharisee and the prostitute. Today, we are going to look at the Pharisee's reaction to the entrance of the woman into the story in contrast to Jesus' reaction.

The Pharisee is self-rightous, condemning the woman.  But Jesus immediately begins to defend the woman. Luke 7:39 says, “The Pharisee who invited Jesus says, “If this man [Jesus] were a prophet he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”

The Pharisee reduced the woman's entire life to one label...a sinner. There is no attempt to try to see why the woman had become a prostitute. He completely avoids her sexual scars and relational pains. When Jesus looked at her, He saw a little girl that probably dreamed of being a princess when she grew up. He saw a young teenager nervously going out on her first date. He saw the abuse she had experienced, the hurts she had endured, and the scorn she had been shown. Sure Jesus could see who she was, but more importantly, He saw what she could become.

As the Pharisee condemned the woman, Jesus immediately turned to her defense. For the first time in a a long time, the woman a male who was defending her, and more importantly, someone who valued her.

Yesterday we looked at the difference between a religious Pharisee and a redeemed sinner. Today let's look at the difference between a religious Pharisee and Jesus.  People steeped in religion are always writing people off...Jesus is always writing people in. Pharisees focus on the past. Jesus focuses on the future.

This Pharisee said, “A prophet would know what kind of woman she is.” He was wrong! A prophet wouldn’t just know what kind of woman she is. A prophet would know what kind of woman she could become!

Regardless of our past, regardless of our failures, Jesus always focuses on what we can become! That's the gospel!

Are You A Pharisee Or A Redeemed Sinner?

In the story in Luke 7:36-38, we are told about an amazing story that shows the difference between a religious Pharisee and a redeemed prostitute. “Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisees’ house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.” Then Luke tells us in verse 39: “The Pharisee who invited Jesus says, “If this man [Jesus] were a prophet he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.” 


Two extremely opposite people. One pompously religious, the other emotionally grateful. The reality is one of these two extremes represent most of us. How do you tell whether you are a religious pharisee or a redeemed sinner? By how you act in the presence of Jesus. The religious Pharisee thinks they are doing Jesus a favor by being in His presence. They act like their attendance at church ought to be recognized as a sacrifice. Anything they do for the kingdom of God ought to be rewarded. The redeemed sinner enters into the presence of Jesus with broken gratitude, humble appreciation, and gracious thanksgiving. The Pharisee comes to church with the mindset "Do something to bless me". The redeemed sinner comes to church with a heart filled with gratitude and worship, ready to bow at the feet of Jesus, weep in His presence, and offer thanks for His grace.

Jesus then told an enlightening story to the Pharisee in verses 40-47: “Simon, I have something to tell you.”  “Tell me, teacher,” he said.  “Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,[d] and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.” “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”


Could it be, that for many Christians, the reason why church is so boring to them is because they have forgotten how much they have been forgiven? Jesus gives us the way to tell whether we are a Pharisee or a redeemed sinner...how do you react to His presence?

A Heavenly Re-Write

Hebrews 10:17 says, “Their sins and lawless acts, I will remember no more.”  God doesn’t just forgive our sins, unlike us, He forgets them. He destroys the evidence against us.

The essence of our faith is this: God is in the editing business and He wants complete editorial control of our lives. When we accept Jesus as our Savior, God, in essence, does a video edit of our lives. He removes all the sins, the mess-ups, the poor choices. And if you give editorial control to Him, there is no telling what kind of story He can write through you. He wants to rewrite the script of your life.

Luke 7 tells an amazing story about forgiveness that we are going to focus on this week. Luke 7:36-38 says, “Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisees’ house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.”

Mark Batterson makes a couple of amusing points about this story. First of all, I guarantee this woman wasn’t on the invitation list. She crashed this party. Secondly, this was a really awkward moment? You’ve got your straight-laced, religious, church-going Pharisees. Then you throw in a prostitute who starts crying and kissing Jesus’ feet and breaking perfume bottles.

I have a feeling this was a totally lame party before this woman showed up. The words Pharisee party is an oxymoron if there ever was one! Kind of like jumbo shrimp, found missing, Microsoft Works (spoken like a true Apple guy), or handsome pastor. Pharisees didn’t know how to have fun. They didn’t believe in fun. They probably had laws against laughter. How fun can a party at a Pharisee’s house be?

An into this lame party, walks this redeemed former prostitute. That’ll spice things up. And things go from boring to awkward in two seconds. She starts crying and kissing his feet. She breaks open a bottle of perfume that scents the entire house. What a scenario!

Why is she there? Jesus redeemed and restored her life. He re-wrote her story. She no longer was destined to live a life of sexual abuse and relational nightmares. He edited her past and re-scripted her future. And people who have had their life-story re-written are extremely grateful. In fact, do you know how you can tell the difference between religious pharisees and redeemed prostitutes? By how they act in the presence of Jesus. But more on that tomorrow!

Atonement, Forgiveness, And Us

Leviticus 16:29-31 states: "This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work—whether native-born or an alien living among you-because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the LORD, you will be clean from all your sins. It is a sabbath of rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance." The Day of Atonement was a Sabbath of rest, but it wasn’t just any Sabbath. It was the Sabbath of Sabbaths. It is a shadow of the move that would occur from religion to Christianity through Jesus. Religion is what you can do for God, Christianity is about what God has done for you. Because of what God has done for us through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, we are cleansed. He is our day of atonement...perpetually. Our sins are forgiven, not because of anything we have done, but because the sacrifice has been made and the scapegoat has carried our sins into the wilderness, never to be remembered again!

And don't miss the last part of those verses. The day of atonement was a day of rest, and not only for the need to atone for our own sins. Now we have the ability to deny ourselves. When our own natural desires are pushing us to be fulfilled illegitimately (which is the root source of sin), we are not longer dependent upon our resources to control them (we can't do it anyway). We can now put our efforts to rest...we have His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). His righteousness, His atonement, now empowers us!

Verse 34 concludes: "This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites." And it was done, as the LORD commanded Moses." Because of this one day a year, their sins were atoned (amends have been made) for the entire year. That is a great deal. But Jesus took it so much further. He was sacrificed once and for all, for all sin, for all of us, for all time. Our sins have been made right, they have been forgiven, and they have been released into the desert of God's grace. Now that's good news! That's the Gospel!

Our Sins...His Righteousness

In Leviticus 16, we are told of a rather strange event that would occur every year on the day of atonement. The high priest would take one goat and sacrifice it for his own sins. He would then lay hands on another goat and he would confess the sins of Israel as he laid his hands on the goat. The goat would then be led out into the wilderness far away from the temple and set free. The first goat symbolized the sacrifice for sin which brought forgiveness of sin, but it is an incomplete understanding of forgiveness. The second goat gave the Israelites a picture of what God was doing with their sins. He was removing them.

I wonder if sometimes, all we ever experience is the forgiveness of our sins. We never understand that our sins are removed. And not only are they removed, but we are empowered to live free from their bondage.

The second goat, the scapegoat was taken into the wilderness by someone who knew the wilderness. They knew the most remote places to take the goat so that it would never find its way back. Once removed, the sins of the people were removed.


2 Corinthians 5:21 says: “God made Him who had no sin to become sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of Christ.” There is a transfer that occurs. Jesus took our sins and paid our spiritual debt. But that is only one-half of the transfer. He also says, "I'll give you my righteousness, and we'll call it even." What an amazing concept. He takes our sin, we get His righteousness. Now follow this closely. Just as the transferal of our sins caused something to take place in His life (He had to die on the cross because of our sins), His righteous ought to cause something to take place in our lives (we are now empowered to live...right or righteously!

Before you begin to give the argument...everyone sins. I agree! The Scripture clearly says "All have sinned..."(Romans 3:23). And before you argue, "No one is perfect". I agree! But let me add this...to excuse our sins on our sinful nature is to deny His righteous being transferred to us. It is amazing to me that so many who want to claim the transferal of our sins to Him want to deny the transferal of His righteousness to us.

Does that mean I am sinless? Of course not. But it does mean I do not have to sin. It is my choice. Imperfection is not an excuse to live imperfectly. We are empowered to live righteously!

I am not denying that His grace covers our sins...past, present and future. But to fully appreciate His willingness to receive my sins, and I must also understand what He gives me...His righteousness.

Have I sinned in the past? Sure. Will I sin in the future? Probably. But if I do, it will not be because His righteousness is not available? It will not be because I am imperfect. It will be because of my choice. Let me put it another way. I read a definition of the word “values” today in a career planning lesson I was teaching to high school seniors. The lesson had nothing to do with spirituality or our relationship with God. The lesson defined “values” as “something that means enough to us that it changes our behavior”.

If the occupational world understands that truth, surely we who follow Jesus can at least agree that if we value our forgiveness, it ought to change our behavior! Not because of our righteousness, but because we have been empowered with His righteousness!

Experiencing Forgiveness and Respecting The Holiness of God

Can you imagine having to follow the requirement? Bring two goats into the Holy of Holies, sacrifice one and place your hands on the head of the other and then drive it into the wilderness? Talk about a strange tradition. But this was the beginning of one of the most sacred and anticipated days in the nation of Israel...the day of atonement.

But it is important that we understand why? Aaron’s two sons, Nadab and Abihu, were killed because the Bible says that they brought alien fire into the presence of the Lord. While we don't know exactly what this alien fire was, one thing is certain, they did not respect the holiness of God. God struck them down because of their irreverence. Whether we like it or not, whether we want to do it or not, we must respect the holiness of God. Sin always occurs when we lose our respect for the holiness of God.

The irreverence of Nadab and Abihu led to the creation of this holy day, known on the Jewish calendar as Yom Kippur. Leviticus 16:3-6 says, “When Aaron enters the sanctuary area, he must follow these instructions fully. He must bring a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. He must put on his linen tunic and the linen undergarments worn next to his body. He must tie the linen sash around his waist and put the linen turban on his head. These are sacred garments, so he must bathe himself in water before he puts them on. This is interesting, the high priest always wore the more ritual garments, but not on the Day of Atonement. On the Day of Atonement, he was stripped down to linen garments and it represented humility before God. Aaron must take from the community of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. “Aaron will present his own bull as a sin offering to purify himself and his family..."


Notice first of all that Aaron was to offer the bull as a sin offering for himself.  We must find forgiveness and victory over our own sin issues before we can help anyone else with their sin issues. So many Christians spend their entire lives dealing with their own issues, never getting victory over their sin, that they can never help others. Former Chaplain of the U.S. Senate, Peter Marshall, once wrote about many Christians, “We are too Christian really to enjoy sinning, and too fond of sinning really to enjoy Christianity.” The problem with living that way is that when you want it both ways, you don't get either way. It makes us miserable.

The Gospel of Leviticus teaches us that we can find forgiveness of sin but we are also empowered to be free from sin.

Good News!

In its original context, the word gospel meant good news. Let's say that a couple gets pregnant with their first child. When they make the announcement to family and friends, that would be a gospel moment. It is the moment when good news is shared.

A “lame duck” President met with his successor in the Oval Office. Near the end of the orientation, he presented the incoming leader three numbered envelopes, with specific instructions to open them, in order, when great difficulties arose. After the new President completed his honeymoon period with the media and the public, the nation experienced an economic downturn. He opened the first envelope. Inside was a card that read: “Blame me.” So he did, criticizing the former administration. After a while, social upheaval brought about a critical domestic crisis. The President opened the second envelope. Inside was a card that read: “Blame my party.” He did so, in an overt display of partisan politics. About a year later, foreign policy resulted in serious problems and the President opened the third envelope. Inside, the card read: “Prepare three envelopes.”

It’s been said, “He who smiles in a crisis has found someone to blame”. Some enterprising business came up with an idea for offering a unique service. The company was called Rent-A-Scapegoat. They advertised that they would gladly come to any business and accept blame for whatever happened, admitting to nearly anything.  This week, we are going to be looking at the original scapegoat found in Leviticus 16. In this amazing Old Testament illustration of the grace, mercy, and empowerment of God in our lives, we will discover that God has provided forgiveness and removal of our sins. And it is really good news!

Being A Part Of The Process

I have a couple of friends that are not Christians. I have prayed for them for years. I have talked to them about their spiritual condition. But at this point, they have not chosen to surrender their lives to Christ. And because of their choices, there are a couple of struggles that I experience. The first is the feeling that I have failed to reach them. The second is the temptation to continually pressure them to choose to accept Christ.

However, I am coming to realize that there comes a time when a person crosses the line between consideration of Christian and rejection of Christianity. And the responsibility of that rejection does not rest on me. It rests on my friends.

This is a really important point. Sometimes, we preachers, in an attempt to encourage our church to witness, lay a pretty heavy guilt trip on our people. We imply that some people will spend eternity separated from God and it will be our fault! Now, let me make this clear. While it is essential that we share our faith with others, (that's why I've spent three weeks on the subject), I think it is important that we remember this: If a person spends eternity without Christ it is because they intentionally rejected his offer of salvation and chose instead to live for themselves.

While they may blame a host of people for their rejection, the truth is, they made a decision and they are responsible for it. When we share our faith with others, we must remember that they are responsible for their decision.

Why is that important? We don't share our faith to absolve ourselves of feelings of guilt. There is very little true motivation in that. We share our faith because Christ has radically changed our lives, and we can't keep it to ourselves. The goal in sharing is not to "close the deal", but to be a part of the process of the Holy Spirit's working in the life of an individual. Or as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3:6-8: "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor."


The process is someone will plant, someone will water...but only God makes things grow! I don't know about you, but I want to be a part of the process.

How Persuasive Should We Be?

When we share our story, we know that the person needs really needs Jesus. And we want them to accept Him right now. We don't want them to go another minute without Him in their lives.

However, part of our respecting the individual and showing gentleness to them (1 Peter 3:15) is allowing them time to really think about this life-altering decision. When an individual has lived 15, 30, or even 40 or more years without Christ, we shouldn't become upset when they don't make an instant decision to accept Jesus the moment we share our story. I once read that some studies are showing that on average, an unsaved person will attend a church for over a year before they really make a decision to follow Christ.

It is important that we remember that it is not our responsibility to persuade people to make a decision. The Holy Spirit will do His work in their lives and draw them to God's amazing love. We don't have to push anyone into making the decision. The Holy Spirit will woo (how's that for a really old-fashioned word) them. The Spirit is an accomplished persuader, having successfully persuaded millions of people throughout the course of history to put their trust and faith in Jesus Christ. The Spirit is much better at drawing people to Christ than I am. Again, my responsibility is to tell the story...the Spirit's responsibility is to draw all men to God.

I like the example Rick Warren uses: "What if you went to a restaurant and the waiter stood at your table demanding that you order steak. 'You must have steak, and you must have it right now. Today is the appointed day of steak! If you don't have steak today, you might never get another chance to have steak again!" Would you trust a waiter who tried to pressure you into having steak? Of course not. You want time to look at the menu and make your own choice."

Each of us, individually, makes the choice to accept or reject the good news of the Gospel. Recognizing that we are not responsible to persuade people concerning the choice ought to relieve the pressure and fear that so many of us feel about witnessing. If we share the story...we are successful. It is up to the individual to decide what they will do with the story. Let's respect their right to make their decision and be gentle with them as we encourage them to make that decision.

The Empowering Truth

A Christian comedian used to do a routine about a guy witnessing to another fellow. He approaches the man and says, "Have you heard the good news?" The man says, "No. What's the good news?" The guy stutters and stammers for a minute and says, "The good news is ... uh...The good news is...." Finally blurts out, "You're going to hell!" The man pauses and says, "Then what's the bad news?"

There is certainly truth in the fact that "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). It is also true that "the wages of sin is death...." (Romans 6:23). But while both of those Scriptures are true, we need to be sure that when we share our story with others that we do not stop with just truth. We need to be certain that we give them the empowering truth.

Steve May describes empowering truth this way: "Suppose I had a cure for baldness. It's painfully obvious that I don't, but let's pretend for a minute that I do. If I were to approach a bald-headed man, and say to him, 'Do you know what your problem is? You're bald!' Would that help him? No. I could even go into great detail about it: 'You're bald, because you have no hair! Your hair has all fallen out. You may try to fool others when you cover your baldness with a hat, but you're not fooling God. He sees your true head.' Everything I have said so far is the truth, but it's not the empowering truth. If that was the extent of my message, no one would get cured of baldness. The empowering truth in this scenario would be to say, 'Sir, I have good news for you. You don't have to be bald-headed any more. If you sprinkle this powder on your head, you will grow hair. I once was bald, but now I comb. It's worked for me, it's worked for thousands of others, and it will work for you, too. I'm holding in my hand the cure. All you have to do is reach out and take it, and your life will never be the same'."

That's what empowering truth does for us. It doesn't just tell us that "the wages of sin is death..."; it also tells us that  "...the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." We are not telling them the obvious..."you're a sinner". We are showing them the empowering truth that there is a way to experience freedom from sins...past, present, and future.

I once heard a maxim that I think is very true. For every minute we spend talking about sin, we should spend five minutes talking about grace. We used to sing it this way, "Grace, grace, God's grace. Grace that is greater than all our sins." Now, that's empowering truth!

Overflowing With Hope

Peter tells us to “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." (1 Peter 3:15) For years I have heard the importance of being prepared to give and answer.  But Peter says that we should be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. The implication is that we are going to so be so overflowing with hope that people will actually ASK us the reason.

Can I ask you a pointed question? When was the last time someone asked you about the hope you have? I will honestly answer that question...I'm not sure anyone has ever asked me to give the reason for the hope that I have. I don't know about you, but I want my life to so overflow with hope that people actually ask me to give the reason why I am so hopeful! I think that is a major key to effective evangelism...we have God's great love, joy, and hope overflowing in our lives so amazingly that people actually ask us for the reason!

So as we enter this week of posts concerning the key elements of evangelism, I think the hope that we have in Christ has to rank as a top priority for us. We must be a hope-filled people who offer a hope-filled message.

Paul said in Colossian 1:27: "...God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."The reason for our hope? Christ in you!"

Gentleness and Respect

First Peter 3:15 says, "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect..."

In the past two sermons, we have been exploring the importance of being outward-focused, about sharing our story. The first week, I talked about evangelism being what we do. The Great Commission is not an option. It is a requirement. The kingdom of God will be ever-increasing and ever-expanding. We have been given a tremendous opportunity to participate in that growth. However, if we refuse to participate in the Great Commission, we will spiritually die personally and our fellowship of believers will die corporately.  Any family that does not experience new births will cease to exist, whether it is a biological family or our spiritual family.

The next week, I talked about raising the bar on evangelism by making sure that we have experienced what we are sharing. People are not interested in our theories about happiness, spiritual healing, and relationships with God. They want to know that what we are sharing, we have experienced.

Today, we are going to talk about what I consider one of the most crucial elements in sharing our story. It is found where Peter says, “Do this with gentleness and respect."

When we share our faith with someone, whether it is a total stranger, your children, your spouse, your neighbor, your co-worker, or anyone else, we're to approach the task with gentleness and respect. This is a command from God's word. It is just as binding as all the other commandments, including "Do not lie" and "Do not steal." We break God's law when we treat people condescendingly. We also break his heart, because He does not want us to represent Him with condemnation and a judgmental attitude.

This week, we are going to  look at three ways you can show gentleness and respect when you talk to others about Jesus.

You Can't

I read this blog today from Perry Noble, pastor of New Spring Church in South Carolina. Since we had our children's program last Sunday and I didn't speak, I thought I would share it with you today. It is about a 45 second read, but it contains so very true maxims for leadership that all of us in leadership need to remember. Hope you enjoy it. It is entitled "You Can't".

We will be resuming our posts on The Outward Focused Life next week.

Coming Back To The Heart Of Worship

1 Kings 14:25-27 says, “In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. He carried off the treasures of the temple of the Lord and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made. So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace.”

Rehoboam made shield of brass (copper/bronze) to replace the gold ones (worth in today's value about $180,000 each), and gave them to his commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance of the royal palace. Shields of brass for shields of gold. The last recorded event in the pitiful reign of Rehoboam. At today’s prices, those shield would cost about $33.00 each.

From $180,000. to $33.00.
From gold to brass.
From magnificent to ordinary.
From splendid to mundane.
From extraordinary to routine.
From glorious to boring.

As I said in our last post, when you don’t have the real thing you have to fake it. These shield become a tremendous metaphor to our Heart of Worship campaign.

First consider the gold when it comes to worship. Both set a standard of value. In nearly every society, a nation’s accumulation of gold universally sets the recognition of standard for their wealth. Hallelujah is recognized universally - pronounced the same in every major language. Both are symbols of excellence, purity, & blessing.  Both are difficult to destroy. Heat gold, it just gets purer, finer. Praise becomes more refined when impure motives are driven out by the heat of tribulation. And finally, both are in heaven! Streets are paved with the purest gold, and heaven is filled with praise.

Now, let’s consider the symbolism of the shield. Shields are protection in the battle. Solomon’s shields were testimonies of God’s blessing. Imagine seeing these shields for hundreds of yards - shining testimonies of God’s blessing upon Solomon & his kingdom. The shields were stolen. The theft was symbolic of the nation, the people’s national heart. Blessings, the glory, the splendor had departed (robbed!) Our spiritual defenses are compromised when we become focused on man-made traditions (our glory) and the enemy steals authentic praise from us (it makes us vulnerable).

Finally, let's consider the substitute shields. As pathetic as the loss of the shields were, Rehoboam’s response was even worse. No clandestine recovery operation; no attempt to recover them; no desire to get them back. Just make some brass ones. He was content with $33.00 shields when they had lost $180,000 shields.

Sure, the brass shields would shine if you put on enough elbow grease (works of the flesh) and would shine like gold from a distance. But eventually, they tarnished. Haven’t we made similar substitutes? I’ve often substituted the brass of form & order for the gold of spontaneous worship & adoration. Seeking my own agenda (or idea of worship, traditions) I made worship into something tarnished, so impure, that even at a distance it no longer looked like the real thing. And when I did so, I lost favor with God.

We have two choices. We can be like Rehoboam. We can let the last words recorded in our lives history be that we polished the brass, we kept up appearances, we faked it as long as we could. Or we can go down a different path. We can choose to go down the road that the pastor at Soul Survivor church in Watford, England, did in the late 1990’s. He knew there was a dynamic missing in their church, so he did a pretty brave thing.  He decided to get rid of the sound system and band for a season, and they gathered together with just their voices. His point was that they had lost their way in worship, and the way to get back to the heart would be to strip everything away.

Reminding his church family to be producers in worship, not just consumers, the pastor asked, “When you come through the doors on a Sunday, what are you bringing as your offering to God?”

The question initially led to some embarrassing silence, but eventually people broke into a cappella songs and heartfelt prayers, encountering God in a fresh way. Before long, they reintroduced the musicians and sound system, as they had gained a new perspective that worship is all about Jesus, and that He commands a response in the depths of our souls no matter what the circumstances or setting of our lives.

One of the members of that congregation was a young man named Matt Redman’s, one of the most prolific contemporary Christian worship songwriters in the world today. Matt has written several songs we sing, like “Blessed be your Name” After the experience at his church, Matt wrote these words:

When the music fades 

And all is stripped away 

And I simply come 

Longing just to bring 

Something that's of worth 

That will bless your heart 

I'll bring You more than a song 

For a song in itself 

Is not what You have required 

You search much deeper within 

Through the ways things appear 

You're looking into my heart 

I'm coming back to the heart of worship 

And it's all about You 

All about You, Jesus 

I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it 

Lord, help me to return to the heart of worship...because it really is all about You.