Setting our Heart on Pilgrimage

"What joy for those whose strength comes from the Lord, who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem." Psalm 84:5, NLT

Psalm 84 really is a beautiful picture of worship. Verse 5 talks about a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, which would have been very familiar to a Jew who would usually take at least a yearly journey during Passover. I can imagine them singing this psalm on their long journey, especially when the going got tough. "How lovely is your dwelling place O Lord Almighty. I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the Lord..." (84:1-2). The beautiful picture of the end of their journey was always in the forefront of the psalmist's mind.

The picture of worshipping on a journey is very different than how we see worship today. Our culture's picture of worship has us standing in one place. Often a distraction will come, hit us in the face and we stop worshipping. In fact, that's the way many of us live our lives. Life happens while we just kind of float along enjoying our surroundings. Then circumstances will hit us in the face. We get blindsided by a circumstance an endue sitting down in the valley for a good cry. Hopefully, we get back up again.

Psalm 84 gives us a different picture. In Psalm 84 the pilgrim passes through the valley of weeping with hope for what is to come. People with a pilgrim's heart know that whatever our circumstances, whatever we pass through, it has a greater purpose.

The Apostle Paul showed us his pilgrim's heart when he wrote, "I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one ting: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us" (Philippians 3:12-14).

How can we have a pilgrim's heart like Paul? It starts with our PERSPECTIVE. It's hard to have perspective when your circumstances are overwhelming you. It's hard to see past the present pain to the hope of what lies ahead. This is why worship is so important. God is so good and faithful that when we worship Him, even from a place of desperation and pain, he changes our perspective. Tommy Tenney in his book God's Eye View writes... "Worship is the process of stretching your arms to the heavens in the universal sign of surrender and desperation. It is the way earthbound creatures rivet the attention of their heavenly Creator. When you worship, it is as if you look at your heavenly Father and say, 'I don't like the way things look down here, Daddy. Would you lift me up? I want to see things from your point of view.'"

I believe that is why Psalm 84 is so centered around worship. Without the perspective that worship brings us we will have little hope of making it out of the valley of weeping. 

The second key to having a pilgrim's heart is to find our strength in the Lord. Psalm 84 says "What joy for those whose strength comes from the Lord" (84:5) and promises that they will continue to grow stronger (84:7). Even when we are at our weakest that we can lay hold of that promise. In 2 Corinthians 12:9 God tells Paul, "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness." Stop trying to make the journey in your own strength, with your own intelligence an your own conjured up joyfulness. Be humble and honest with God about your weakness. You'll find his grace in that place of humility and honesty.

The third key is to understand that the trials and sorrow in our journey can become the stepping stones to greater intimacy with God. And this is after all the reason for our journey. To know Him more. To live in His presence. There is something about our human nature that easily forgets or takes for granted the joy and glory of being in God's presence. Paraphrasing C.S. Lewis, God uses pain as a megaphone to get our attention. We hear God in our pain. We are purified in our pain as we learn to submit to God and die to our own selfish desires. And we come to know him in a deeper way. The more we know him the more the circumstances in our life lose their power to stun and immobilize us. Another quote from Tenney says, "There is a place in God, a secure path in the Living way, where you cannot be touched no matter how much Satan tries to reach and claw at you. It is a level of intimacy with divinity that would be fatal to anyone but God's children and the angels who serve him." 

For me, the greater depth of intimacy with God that has come out of my suffering has been like the refreshing springs that Psalm 84 talks about. ""What joy for those whose strength comes from the Lord, who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. When they walk through the Valley of Weeping it will become a place of refreshing springs. he autumn rains will clothe it with blessings." (84:5-6).  I wouldn't have the refreshing springs without the valley of weeping.  When I read this psalm I imagine myself on a journey. I see myself passing through the valley of weeping, my tears speckling the dusty trail. But I press on and soon the specks of tears become puddles, then pools and then rivers as God sees me from heaven, hears me cry out to him in desperate worship and his heart is torn for his child. His tears rain down and join with mine creating rivers of renewal and intimacy with him.

You see our hope is not just the future hope of dwelling in his glory for eternity. We have a present hope of knowing him now in the midst of our journey. We can have his perspective through worship, we can know his strength in our weakness and in our suffering and pain we can come to deeper place of intimacy with our loving Father and Creator.

Goodness

 “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake?  If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" Matthew 7:7-11, NRSV

This is a passage I have heard for my entire life.  It and others like it promise that if we will ask for anything, even the impossible, God will do it.  As a charismatic Christian who believes that God not only has the power to perform miracles, but uses us to accomplish the supernatural, I have often heard the teaching that what we confess is what God will give.  In other words ‘name it and claim it’.  I’ve also admired the faith of people like Smith Wigglesworth and Marie Woodworth-Etter who seemed to be able to ask God for amazing miracles and receive them without fail.  Over and over the message I’ve received is that if I have enough faith God will provide the miracle.

The problem is that this has not typified my experience with asking.  Even the good things I’ve asked for have not always been given; the job in ministry, the money to be able to provide for another’s need or healing for someone who was suffering with illness. So many times I’ve asked with good intentions, proclaiming great faith and trusting God to meet the need.  And I think that is the problem.  My asking and my trust are in God to meet my own agenda. The problem is that when things do not go as I planned I can become disappointed or even disillusioned.  It is in these moments that doubt and questions about God’s goodness arise. 

While there are passages where Jesus tells us that faith is the key to unlocking a miracle, Matthew 7:6-11 does not.  Rather, in it God speaks to me of perseverance and even this characteristic is not based on my ability or great faith but on His goodness. That is the question that has been posed to my heart as I have meditated on this passage.  Will I believe that God is good even when I don’t receive my desired outcome?  Will I persevere in my asking not based on the fact that he’s giving me what I want but based on the fact that I know he is good? Will I trust that in his goodness he is fathering me and giving me what he knows I need?

These questions also challenge my understanding of what goodness actually is.  While a child may want her parents to give her chocolate and ice cream for breakfast, a good parent knows that healthy food is what the child needs.  While a child may not want to be disciplined, a good parent recognizes that discipline is the loving choice to make. Too often I, in my immaturity, seem to think that because God is not giving me what I think he should that he is not giving me anything at all.  In reality, by giving me oatmeal instead of ice cream he is giving me the best possible gift and demonstrating his love and goodness in my life. When I truly trust God’s goodness I will be able to preserver through undesirable circumstances because my perseverance is based on his unchanging character.  He is not good because he gives me what I want; he is good because that is who he is.

I believe that God desires us to ask for the things we want.  Ask him for the chocolate and ice cream.  Ask him for the ministry opportunity, the monetary provision and the healing.  However, recognize that underneath those requests should be the greater desire to receive from him a pure heart and a renewed mind.  If that is what I am ultimately seeking then I can trust his goodness to use any and all circumstances to do that work in my life. Ask, seek and knock not trusting in God to meet my agenda but trusting in His goodness to give me what is the ultimate good; to know God and become more like Jesus.  As the Psalmist writes, “when I awake I shall be satisfied, beholding your likeness” (Psalm 17:15, New Revised Standard Version). That is a request he has promised to answer with a resounding “Yes!” 

Life Outside the Walls

At our church (Church on Fire) the most important ministry happens outside of the walls of the worship service.  It is in our small groups (which we call Missional Life Groups) that our people receive the connection and discipleship that true Christian community offers.  Not only that, but these communities foster and display the kind of love and unity Jesus said would testify to the world about Him.  However, just hanging out together or studying the Bible together does not necessarily result in an experience of community. We must be purposeful to create an atmosphere of love, acceptance, unity and freedom if we are to cultivate a transformational community. We are still finding out what does and doesn’t work, but here are some important lessons I’ve learned so far.

1.     Diversity creates rich community.  Not only diversity of gifts, culture and personality, but also diversity of activity together.  We worship, pray, and study together; we also play, eat, serve, laugh, cry, exercise, rest and goof off together.  In this way we have become a part of one another’s lives in a meaningful way.

2.     My relationship with my friend’s kids is important.  I remember growing up with a few extra “aunts” and “uncles” who not only loved my parents but who truly loved me.  I now get to be that for the kids in our Life Group.  As the kids have connected with the adults in our group we have seen them come out of their shells and truly begin participating with community life.

3.     People get to connect at their own pace. In our western culture of isolation people are often hungry for and suspicious of relationships at the same time.  This is especially true if they have had a hurtful experience in church.  Giving them time to observe how we love them and one another creates a safe place for them to open their heart to us.

4.     I won’t play the numbers game.  We all want as many people as possible to experience the transformative power of Christian community. However, we are only gathering a group of people faking community if we don’t learn to love those who are in front of us well.  Don’t sacrifice growing in love for numerical growth.    

5.     I can’t take being missional for granted.  The community isn’t just there for each other.  We are there to show the world what the love of God can do. I must constantly remind myself and the group of Jesus’ desire for the world to see Him through our community.

Finally, I have noticed that it is not any one thing we do that creates a sense of community.  It is the cumulative effect of life together that nurtures an atmosphere of transformation and healing for those who join us.  I have seen this atmosphere bring breakthrough in a way that years of church programs and Christian counseling could not.  It is my personal conviction that the priority of ministry for me as a pastor is not in crafting a charismatic sermon or worship service.  It is to equip and encourage leaders of small nurturing communities so that people can truly connect with each other, grow as disciples of Jesus, and live out the mission of the Kingdom in the world.

My Thoughts on Evangelism

The way we fulfill the great commission is to live the great commandment... Love God.  Love Others.

We try to convince people to follow a Jesus they don't know...  Our first responsibility is to show people what Jesus is like.

If we can learn to authentically and radically love people we will not need to convince them of anything - they will be drawn to Jesus as he is - unencumbered by our own agendas, motivations and egos.

When did Jesus ever confront sin except in the Pharisees? Do you think he got invited to parties because he was so good at convincing people they were sinners? The only time he even came close to addressing sin was with the woman at the well - whom he had already shown radical, unabashed love to... even then it was less of a confrontation and more "thanks for being honest."

Whether they admit it or not people know they are sinners.  They know they are broken. They know they are unfulfilled.  They may suppress their knowledge of God (Romans 1:18) but somewhere inside they know he is there and that they are incapable of having a relationship with him.

That being said we can't ignore sin.  Those who are truly seeking to reconcile with God need to admit that for their entire lives they have been trying to live autonomous from God.  Each of us have looked the all-powerful, all-knowing, perfect God whose very essence is love in the face and said, "No, I want to do it my way."  That is the offense of sin.  It is unthinkable that we, his creation, would rebel against one so holy and loving.

But there is also an offense with grace.  We like our self-sufficency. We like our independence. We may in our natural selves want to be autonomous from God but in reality we are completely dependent on him. We can choose to be offended with the truth that we are dependent or we can embrace it and receive the grace that reconciles us to our Father.

Autonomy does not equal freedom.  Dependance equals freedom. Only when we are dependent on him do we really know what freedom is.  People want to be free.  People want to be loved. More then they want to be autonomous.

Show them what dependence is. Show them what freedom is.  Show them what love is.