Oh, girls – this is good. God’s Word is so rich!!

Remember how I said that my “study foci” were lining up amazingly well? Well, this one just about knocked my socks off.

So, as I mentioned, I’ve been pulled to the Gospels, particularly the Sermon on the Mount. I keep reading Matthew 5 over and over again, turning some things over in my mind. As I mentioned before, that term “blessed” shows up time and time again in the Psalms, and the beattitudes line right up with those beautiful Old Testament chapters.

After some time in Matthew 5, I flipped to Revelation 1. I’ve also felt compelled to really study Revelation, and have started reading through it along with John MacArthur’s 2 volume commentary. Yesterday as I read Revelation 1:3 -

“Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near”

- I noted that that word “blessed” is the same greek word used in Matthew 5. Interesting.

Well, today John MacArthur was talking to me about that ;), noting that the book of Revelation is bracketed by promises of blessing – first in 1:3, and echoed in 22:7

“Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book.”

In addition, he listed five other promises of blessing in Revelation.

•14:13 – blessed are those who die in the Lord
•16:15 – blessed is the one who stays awake (because He will come like a thief)
•19:9 – blessed are those invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb
•20:6 – blessed and holy is the one who has part in the first resurrection
•22:14 – blessed are those who wash their robes so they may have the right to the tree of life and enter by the gates into the city

I had to come inside from my outdoor quiet retreat with my coffee to consult with an online concordance… so far Psalms, The Sermon on the Mount, and Revelation were all echoing one another. Anything else?

WOW! ♪♪♪Open my eyes, that I may see glimpses of truth Thou hast for me!!♪♪♪

Ok, how long was it going to take me to think back to the Abrahamic covenant, the Land Nation and Leader promises that we’ve discussed… I don’t know, 100 times? …all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. Through the promised Seed, through Jesus, all peoples on earth would be ‘blessed.’

Why wouldn’t Jacob let Jesus go after wrestling with Him? He wanted His blessing.

The Psalms echo with the idea of those who are blessed, and after comparing those passages with Matthew 5 we summarized:

True blessing begins in a right relationship with God as our only Savior and Lord, continues as we deal rightly with our sin and thirst for His righteousness, deepens as the Word sinks into our hearts and lives, and pours out of us in genuine love for those around us.

The rest of the New Testament has plenty to say about those who are blessed, as well (this is just a smattering of the many references):

•Matthew 11:6 – “And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.”

•Matthew 25:34 – “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

•Luke 11:28 – But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”

•John 13:17 -“If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

•John 20:29 – Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”

•Galatians 3:9 – The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ” ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.

•James 1:25 – But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.

•1 Peter 4:14 – If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

From Genesis through Revelation, the Scriptures echo with the blessing of God poured out on mankind through an opportunity to know Him, walk with Him, hear from Him, live like Him. An invitation to be one of the blessed ones.

God’s Word is rich. His grace is deep. The blessing is amazing – and undeserved.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
Ephesians 1:3

Know what I’m loving this week? This is a bit of a departure from my typical “things I love” posts… we’re not talking about a housework gadget or coffee or birthday cake… this is one of the things I love most of all.

I love it when God speaks.

I’m not talking an auditory voice (although, I’m positive He does that, too!) – I love it when God clearly shows me something in His Word.

If you haven’t noticed from the random bunny trails I take within the “studies” on here, I tend to have quite a few topics and study-focuses (foci?) spinning in my head at once. I have been spending a lot of time in the Proverbs this summer and specifically reflecting on how the Proverbs speak to parenting. I hope to come back to this down the road, but buckle up… we’re taking a detour.

Back when we were going through the Psalms, I had a lightbulb moment (or at least a partial lightbulb moment) when I did a word study on “blessed” in the Psalms. After compiling the verses in the Psalms about those who were blessed, it was ringing a bell – Jesus’ definition of those who were “blessed” in the ‘beattitudes’ lined up amazingly well with how the Psalms described the “blessed.” It gave me a deep hunger to study more closely the words of Jesus.

I had the privilege of walking a dear friend through the book of John after she came to know the Lord in high school. As we discussed how the Old Testament and New Testament tie together, I loved that she exclaimed, “Jesus is like the decoder ring to the Old Testament!!” This is such a great analogy! I think it also works a bit in the reverse – the teachings of Jesus make much more sense to us with the background of the Old Testament in our minds!

I think we often miss out on the vivid pictures He paints and the Truths that He teaches because we are unfamiliar with the Old Testament that He draws from so frequently – His listeners would have known the law well, if not had it memorized, so it makes sense that He would allude to it frequently. And sadly, it usually flies right over our head.

So, we read those words of life, shrug our shoulders when they don’t make sense to us, and take a blind stab at what it means based on how we feel about it. I’m speaking about myself here, too – that’s why I have felt burdened to start studying the words of Jesus, keeping them in context with the entire scope of Scripture, longing to hear more of what He is telling us as His followers.

As we continue through this bunny trail, I will tell you more of the spinning ‘foci’ in my mind that are lining up as I study Jesus’ teachings. I’m sorry if it bugs any of you that I keep switching subjects, but I’m loving that God is redirecting. His Word is so rich – sweeter than honey from the comb – and it is a delight to study it with you. I hope and pray you hang on for the ride, that God would bless you as you consider His Truths, and that the Holy Spirit would use them to change and transform you into the image of Jesus Christ.

Open our eyes to your Truth, Lord – how we need your decoder ring!

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Every once in a while, a golden moment happens at our house. The children play together peacefully! AG helps her brother find toys and doesn’t tattle on him or get annoyed with him or take everything away from him. LB doesn’t smack his sister on the head, or hit her arms, or knock her down. No one is screaming or smacking or stealing toys or whining.

Right now, AG is sitting on the floor reading a book. LB is peacefully playing with a bucket of toys a few feet away. If only I could somehow capture this peace and make it last…

These moments are not common, although thankfully they have been more frequent in the past few days than they have been for a while! As a mother, they make my heart sing – I see my kids loving each other and enjoying one another, and it thrills me.

It always brings to mind for me Psalm 133, a very short (only 3 verses long!) but sweet psalm about unity:

How good and pleasant it is
when brothers live together in unity!
It is like precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
down upon the collar of his robes.
It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the LORD bestows his blessing,
even life forevermore.

As the anointing of Aaron provided a rich spiritual blessing for the nation, and the water flowing down Mt. Hermon filled the Jordan river and provided a rich physical blessing, unity is good and pleasant blessing.

Sadly, Christians far too often act like my small children. We get possessive of “our” ministries or “our” posessions. We tattle on one another rather than seeking a solution for another’s good. We whine and cry and throw a fit (sometimes figuratively, sometimes not) when we don’t like the music choice at church or we feel like our “needs” and wants are being overlooked. How this must grieve the heart of the Father.

And how it must please Him when we work together as we should – the body of Christ working for His glory, not our own.

How good and pleasant it is.

Thank you for joining me on this journey of studying what is true praise and worship. I pray that it has been uplifting and challenging to you – God’s Word is so rich! Today I wanted to wrap up this series with some summary take-away points.

• What is “praise?” Praise is shining a light on who our God is and saying, “Look at our God – there is no one like Him!”

• God is worthy of all praise because of who He is, what He has done, and what He will do.

• True praise is not centered on us and how we feel – true praise springs from knowing who God is and lifting Him up, shining a light on Him, exclaiming publicly, “How great is our God!”

• The Psalms call for all different expressions of praise. Shouting, singing, playing instruments are the most obvious. The Psalms also include as praise: telling of His wonders, praises, salvation; Giving thanks to Him publicly; Declaring His righteousness to the younger generations; Shouting for joy; and Confession of sin and thanking Him for His forgiveness.

• Even in our rejoicing, we should be trembling before Him! True praise and worship must be rooted in Truth, and to behold God for Who He is must compel us to fear Him, even as we praise Him with all that we are.

• What is “worship?” Worship is recognizing and responding to Who God really is. Worship is closely tied to the fear of God and submission to God’s authority as our Maker and Master.

• “Praise and Worship” is not a particular style of music. It is not a genre. True praise and worship are external expressions of internal attitudes toward God.

• It is quite possible to perform external acts of “praise and worship” and be spiritually way out of line. Just as we see in Psalm 50, we might be falling into ritual and failing to bring God the sacrifice of true thanksgiving. Worse yet, we might be blasphemously giving lip service while living in flagrant sin.

After studying this more in-depth for the last couple of weeks, I feel more burdened than ever for our churches today. I am bothered that typically when we discuss praise and worship, we get stuck on styles of music. We equate praise and worship issues with contemporary vs. traditional, praise band vs. organ, powerpoint slides vs. hymnal.

The reality is, Psalms gives us a clear precedent for praise and worship being in a multitude of different expressions! The root issues really are – is it grounded in Truth? Is what we are saying about God true? Are our hearts sincere? Are we lifting God up and shining a light on Him, or are we glorifying ourselves in the name of “praise and worship” services?

I’m sure that people from all kinds of different denominational backgrounds will read this, people of all ages with generational preferences, people with different cultural backgrounds. We might all express praise and worship differently. And you know what? That’s fine! True praise and worship can be expressed while singing the “old hymns” to a pipe organ in a cathedral, while dancing to homemade sheet metal instruments in a mud hut in a third world country, while clapping and singing with a worship band at a concert.

It’s high time we stop fighting over style and start closely examining our hearts. You can bring an insincere and blasphemous “praise” offering to God to the tune of an organ, and you can be following a ritual and going through the motions while you dance to your hip praise band. No matter how we express it, the core issue is the same: is it true? Is it sincere? Does it lift up our God and give Him the honor He is due? It’s not about us!

Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.
Hebrews 12:28-29