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John 4:24

Worship in Truth!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
February 10, 2025

Jesus told the woman at the well that worship in “spirit” was essential. But he also said it was to be “in truth.” What does it mean to worship “in truth.” I think there are several components to the answer to that question that come to my mind. There are probably many more. But first, it means that when we approach God and draw near to Him, we must do it honestly and wholeheartedly. In Matthew 15, Jesus spoke about the wrong kind of worshippers whom he said, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. … They worship me in vain.” It’s easy to pretend to worship as we look around at others with us or evaluate everything that is going on rather than honestly opening our lives to Him. That surely can’t be worship “in truth.”

Second, to worship “in truth,” we must do it on the basis of the biblical revelation. In the passage I quoted above, when Jesus told about those whose worship was “in vain,” he went on to explain further that vain worship involved substituting rules taught by man (Matthew 15:8f). Jesus said in John 17:17 that God’s Word “is truth.” So, if we are to worship in “truth,” it must be in accord with Scripture. During the spiritual revival of the Reformation, the altars in many churches were replaced with pulpits. It was to reestablish the prominence of God’s Word in “worship.” The Pulpit became the symbol of the centrality of the Bible. John Calvin carried this idea to physical extremes. The pulpits were placed so that every line of the architecture would carry the gaze of the worshiper to the Book that alone contains the way of salvation and the principles for a God-honoring life. A physical pulpit was not in Jesus’ mind, but the centrality of the Scriptures certainly was, as is clear from His words, “God’s Word is Truth.” Thus, if we are to worship in truth, the Scriptures must be central to our experience.

I would also offer a third observation. To worship in truth is to worship God “Christocentrically.” He made it clear that no one can “come to the Father” except through Him (John 14:6). If worship is man’s attempt to draw near to God, to be “true,” it must come through Jesus. I remember the Tabernacle of the Old Testament, where all worship took place. From its construction, the approach to God is illustrated. The altar, which is the sacrifice for sin, is the first step. Thus, the cross, the sacrifice that paid for all our sins, is the first step in approaching God. Then comes the laver, which is a picture of cleansing. The incense represents our prayers. Behind it all stretches out the great veil dividing the Holy place from the Holy of Holies. This was the veil that was torn in half when Jesus died on the cross. This is where the blood of the sacrifice made atonement for our sins and opens the way for all to enter to receive the great mercy of God revealed through Christ by his death on the cross for our sins. There is no other way to draw near to God. There is no other way to worship God in “truth.” John tells us that Jesus said, “I am the truth…” John 14:6

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Isaiah 62:2

A New Name!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
February 9, 2025

In Colorado, there is a town named “No Name.” I was wondering what it might be like to live without a name. For a believer, we not only have a name, we have a new name! Everything belongs to God. I belong to God. You belong to God. My three grandsons belong to God. One of them had something he wanted to say to me. That’s what he said. “I’ve got something to say to you, Papa.” He had the most serious look on his face, I said “what is it Zeke?” with as straight a face as I could manage. He said, “Just because something has somebody’s name on it doesn’t mean it belongs to them.” I don’t know where he came up with that idea, but I suspect he’s been taking things that belong to his big brother and has been arguing that he has the right to do that. I tried to teach him that when you see something with someone’s name on it, you can be pretty sure that it does belong to them. I advised him to leave those things alone. You and I, all of us, have God’s name on us. Through our faith in Christ, we get a new name! It’s our new identity. We’ve been born again into a new family, adopted, and changed our name. We now belong to Christ. That’s exactly what “Christian” really means.

As those who belong to God, we’ve moved into a new home. The Psalmist puts it in various terms, but I like it when he sings about God being our “dwelling place.” We read in Psalm 91:9-11, “Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place—the Most High, who is my refuge—no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.” Belonging to God guarantees His protection. Since I have God’s name on me, no one else better mess around with me. God has a whole army of angels, The Heavenly Host, who are ready to go to war for me!

Max Lucado expresses this truth beautifully. He writes, “It would be enough if God just cleansed your name, but he does more. He gives you his name. It would be enough if God just set you free, but he does more. He takes you home … God adopted you simply because he wanted to. You were in his goodwill and pleasure. Knowing full well the trouble you would be and the price he would pay, he signed his name next to yours, changed your name to his, and took you home. Your Abba adopted you and became your father.” Isaiah wrote, “And you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will give.” Isaiah 62:2

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Isaiah 43:1-2

God says, “You’re Mine!”

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
February 8, 2025

When I did my search on “belong” in the bible, I found that we belong to God, to Christ, to the Church, and to each other. Today, I looked more closely at what it means to belong to God. In the culture we live in, we will shout, “I don’t belong to anyone.” As a song in the 60’s said, “You don’t own me, I’m not just one of your toys.” Of course, there’s some significant truth in this idea: we don’t “belong” to anyone in the sense of ownership. All men are created equal and have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I read that somewhere. But we do belong to God, even in the sense of ownership. The Psalmist sang about it a lot. You might be familiar with Psalm 100. We used to sing it a lot at our Church 30 years ago. It says, “Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.”

This is a theme throughout the Bible. Ezekiel 18:4 says, “Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine…” Paul acknowledges the truth of God’s ownership of his life also. In Acts 27, he says, “For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship…” To understand what it means to belong to God is to get a grasp on Paul’s quote in this passage.

In that quote from Paul, you might remember that he’s the only calm passenger on a ship that is on its way to Rome. It encountered a terrible storm, and the crew and the officers struggled with how to save the ship and tried all they could to keep from losing it. Then they gave up with the thought of saving the ship and desperately only wanted to save their own lives. Paul, cool and collected, put them all at peace and explained that they would all be safe and that they should just trust in his God. He knew he “belonged” to God and that God had a purpose and a plan for His life. He was safe and secure no matter what storms of life may assault him because he knew that he belonged to God as a precious possession. God would not let anything happen to him. Isaiah 43:1-2 explains the true significance of what it means for us to belong to God. It reads, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.” I think Paul understood what it meant to belong to God. God says, “Anyone who harms you harms my most precious possession.” Zechariah 2:8

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1 Corinthians 3:21

Jesus says, “You’re Mine!”

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
February 7, 2025

Robert Ingersoll, an atheistic philosopher of a previous generation, said that believers were like “a songless bird in a cage.” I’m afraid that many unbelieving people today still have that same impression of Christians. But I’d argue that if the truth be known, that phrase would much better describe a non-believer. The story would be that God made us all. We belong to God. God commissioned us to have dominion over the entire world and to enjoy life to its fullest. But we traded that dominion and freedom when we ate of the apple from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We thus became slaves to sin. It was then that we were enslaved in the cage of sin. Jesus put it this way: “Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” (John 8:34). We sold ourselves. But Christ bought us back. He paid the penalty (price) for our sin and redeemed us. The word “redeem” in the Greek text means to “buy back.”

Dr. A. J. Gordon was the pastor of a church in Boston many years ago. One day, he met a little boy out in front of the church. The boy was carrying a rusty bird cage in his hands, and several little birds were fluttering around at the bottom of the cage as if they knew they were going to be destroyed. Dr. Gordon said, “Son, where did you get those birds?” The boy answered, “I trapped them out in the field.” “What are you going to do with them?” the preacher asked. “I’m going to take them home, play with them, and have some fun with them.” “What will you do with them when you get through playing with them?” Dr. Gordon asked. “Oh,” said the boy, “I guess I’ll just feed them to an old cat we have around the house.” Then Dr. Gordon asked the boy how much he would take for the birds, and the boy answered, “Mister, you don’t want these birds. They’re just little old field birds who can’t sing very well.”

Dr. Gordon said, “I’ll give you two dollars for the cage and the birds.” “All right,” said the boy, “It’s a deal, but you’re making a bad bargain.” The exchange was made, and the boy went whistling down the street, happy because he had two dollars in his pocket. Dr. Gordon took the cage out behind his church and opened the door of the cage and the birds flew out and went soaring away into the blue, singing as they went. The next Sunday Dr. Gordon took the empty bird cage to the pulpit to use it in illustrating his sermon. Then he said, “That little boy said that the birds could not sing very well, but when I released them from the cage, they went singing away into the blue, and it seems that they were singing, “Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed.” So it is with the believer in Jesus. We’ve been purchased, and we belong to him. He can do whatever he wishes with us. What does he do? He opens the cage and sets us free! Paul told the Corinthians, “And you belong to Christ…” 1 Corinthians 3:21

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Ephesians 2:19-20

The Church says, “You’re Mine!”

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
February 6, 2025

We belong to God. We belong to Christ by redemption, and we belong to the Church, which is the family of God. 1st Timothy 3:15 says, “The family of God is the church of the living God. It is the pillar and foundation of the truth.” Paul tells the Ephesian believers that they are not Jewish, they are not gentiles, they are not strangers to one another any longer, but they are “citizens together with God’s holy people.” He then says to them, “You belong to God’s family.” (Ephesians 2:19-20). Interestingly, the New Testament language regarding entrance into God’s family uses two key phrases. We are born into God’s family by faith. Jesus told Nicodemus that he had to be “born again” to enter into God’s family. It also speaks to us about being adopted. We are not part of God’s family until we come to faith in God’s Son, Jesus, at which time we become brothers and sisters in one big happy family of God’s redeemed children.

It’s not enough for a Christian to believe. Every believer must also be a “belonger.” It is through belonging in a family that we grow up. We learn to relate to one another, forgive one another, understand one another, serve one another, and care for one another. It requires good, healthy nourishment for us to grow up spiritually strong and mature in God’s family. God’s Word is our food. Jeremiah says, “Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name…” That means he’s in God’s family. Job said, “I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.” Jesus also said that His food was to do the will of the Father (John 4). God’s Word, the Bible, is often referred to as food. God’s Word is bread (Matt. 4:4), milk (1 Pet. 2:2), meat (Heb. 5:12–14; 1 Cor. 3:1–2), and honey (Ps. 119:103). As we meditate on God’s Word, the truth is “digested” inwardly, and we receive strength ( Josh. 1:6–9). When we are babes, we receive the Word from others who have “digested” it for us (1 Thess. 2:7–8), but as we grow spiritually, we learn to feed ourselves and enjoy the full diet of the Word. We can enjoy the “meat” as well as the “milk.”

I wanted my sons to eat right. I try hard to get my grandsons to eat healthy food, drink their milk, and eat their vegetables and meat. But too often, they only want Mountain Dew and candy! (So do I!) But God, being the good father that He is (Perfect!), wants what’s best for us. As members of God’s family, He wants us to grow up and learn how to live with each other in the way that pleases Him and brings the most happiness in life. Remember what Paul said, “You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family.” Ephesians 2:19

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Ephesians 2:19-22

I Say, “You’re Mine!”

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
February 5, 2025

The Bible makes our belonging clear. We belong to God. He made us! We belong to Jesus; he redeemed us and bought us back! We belong to the Family of God, the Church. This also means we belong to each other. That truth must affect the way we live together. That’s why Paul exhorts the Ephesians to “tell each other the truth because we all belong to each other in the same body.” You belong to me. I need you! I belong to you. You need me!

I remember that during the night of the first Passover, each family was to take one lamb into their house and then they were to share it at a meal together, one lamb per family. When John the Baptist appeared on the scene at the opening of a brand new era, he pointed at Jesus and explained that Jesus was the one lamb, the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. The Passover sacrificial lamb was all pointing directly toward the one “lamb of God.” There’s a great communal truth found in the Passover lamb. Out of Egypt, that is, out of the world, God called a people for His very own. They were to become a new family, a new nation, a new kingdom of priests. They were no longer slaves but set free! They now “belonged” to each other in a very special way as they shared the “one lamb” for the entire family. I’d argue that Christians belong to each other more than they belong to their nation. They belong to each other more than they belong to a sports team. They belong to each other more than they belong to their race. They belong to each other more than they belong to the human race as a whole. There is a kingdom within a kingdom, so to speak. We are a new people in an old world. We are a new family called out of a kingdom in slavery to sin. We are a new “construction” in which each part is totally dependent on the other parts. You see, there is only one lamb for the whole family, the Lord Christ Jesus. In Ephesians 2:19-22, we read, “You are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto! He really wasn’t the “Lone” Ranger at all, was he?  At best, he was the “Almost Lone Ranger.” But even then, in every episode, he was helping out others and serving the cause of justice. I’m sure he knew that a campfire is a lonely place if you have no one to share it with. God made us to depend on each other, and to need each other. From the very beginning, he said, “It’s not good for man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). David Jeremiah wrote, “Loneliness is a warning light on an inner gauge that confirms we’re running short on a primary fuel we require to run efficiently.” We need each other in the same way we need food, water, air, and shelter. I read a Calvin and Hobbs cartoon recently where Calvin was telling Hobbs that he doesn’t like people. He just wants to be alone. Hobbs looks out at a beautiful view of the mountain and woods and says, “Yeah, but it’s so much nicer to look at this with somebody.” Calvin concedes.

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Romans 8:16-17

We are Co-heirs of God’s Riches

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
February 4, 2025

In the book of Galatians, Paul explains that since we belong to God, Jesus, the Church, and each other, we will share things. We are all in God’s will as His children. Paul writes, “You belong to Christ, so you are Abraham’s descendants. You will inherit all of God’s blessings (Galatians 3:9). When we were born as children of this world, we were born as slaves, slaves to our fleshly desires, and slaves to sin. But once we’re born again into the family of God, we’re set free from sin and are adopted into a very wealthy family. This is what Paul is referring to when he contrasts Abraham’s two sons, Ishmael and Isaac, the slave and the heir (see Gal. 4:21–31). We are no longer slaves but heirs together in God’s family.

We inherit many kinds of wealth as God’s children, His heirs. We inherit “The riches of His Grace” in Ephesians 2:7. There is nothing more fulfilling than to receive our full share of God’s grace. We used to be “children of wrath,” which was a reference to God’s judgment. God’s throne of judgment has become to us a “throne of God’s Grace” where we find God’s love that meets our every need (Hebrews 4:16). Ephesians 2:4 also speaks to us of “the riches of God’s mercy.” We get that, too! There is a difference between grace and mercy. God, in his mercy, does not give us what we do deserve, and God, in his grace, gives us what we don’t deserve. “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed” (Lam. 3:22). God’s children experience “goodness and mercy” each day of their lives (Ps. 23:6). Riches like grace and mercy seem a little lofty to us, especially when it comes to making the rent and paying our bills, so God also has made us heirs to “the riches of His Glory.” We read in Philippians 4:19, “But my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” God does not satisfy our “greeds,” but he does supply our needs (Matt. 6:19–34).

Some other riches that we inherit are; “The riches of his wisdom” (Romans 11:330. It is there for us when we make decisions in life. Another one that’s available to us as God’s children and heirs is “the riches of his goodness” (Rom. 2:4). All the “good things” of life come to us from God (James 1:17). We can always trust Him, regardless of the circumstances we currently face, to give us exactly what we need, exactly when we need it. Yes, as God’s children, we are truly the wealthiest of all people. Finally, Paul says, “The Spirit bears witness that we are children of God… and if children, then heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.” Romans 8:16-17

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Romans 12:4-5

We Need Each Other!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
February 3, 2025

I remember the last time I was in Dallas, the central expressway, running through the city from north to south, had the inside lane marked as HOV lanes. That stands for High Occupancy Vehicle. You have to have two or more people in the car to use that lane. It was designated as such in order to encourage carpooling. But there were hardly any cars in those lanes while the other lanes were backed up at times with that miserable start and stop congestion. I’ve recently read a news article where someone was arrested for driving with a mannequin in the passenger seat in that lane. We want the benefits of community without the inconveniences associated with it. We hate to wait for others. We hate to have to depend on others. Independence is probably one of the greatest values in our American culture. Unfortunately, it’s also true of us in the Church.

When we study the foundation of the early church in the book of Acts, we find that the first believers in Jerusalem devoted themselves to four things. (See Acts 2:42-47). The first thing is probably first for a reason. They were devoted to “The Apostles’ teaching.” The Apostles continued Jesus’ teaching and told stories about Jesus’ life, explained Jesus’ life and death and resurrection, and encouraged and exhorted all believers to live sacrificial lives in community with others. They were now members of a new family and needed to live in harmony with other believers. They needed to learn patience with others, learn how to forgive others, and learn how to overlook others’ faults and weaknesses, and they needed to learn how to love each other. You cannot do that unless you are in a community with others. All the fruits of the Spirit are relationship concepts: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Gentleness, Faithfulness, and Self-control.

It just dawned on me that their time in the “Word” (The Apostles’ Teaching) was always a community event. There were no personal bible studies for 1500 years after Jesus’ death! It wasn’t until the printing press was invented that individuals had personal access to the Apostles’ teachings. Until then, it was done in the community. The letters were hand-copied and distributed around the area to other churches. We even read where the letter to one church was read to members of other churches. Further, the literacy rate was very low in the first century. Slaves, over half the world’s population, could not read. Women were not taught to read, and the luxury of devoting time to such activity was reserved for the rich or those, like Paul & the other Apostles, who were supported by the giving of others. We need each other! We may need moments alone for reflection and meditation on God’s truth, but unless we put what we learn to practice in the community, we haven’t learned a thing or grown an inch. Paul says, “Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body and belong to each other.” Romans 12:4-5

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