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The Altar and
The Dance
"Come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us give a joyous shout
to the rock of our salvation!"
Psalm 95 begins with
these words of celebration. By the sixth verse, however, a very different mood
is set: "Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us bend our knee before the
Lord, our Maker, for he is our God."
These are two responses Jesus is looking for in our
worship: brokenness and celebration. On the one hand, we should be absolutely
shattered of our pride by the realization of our depravity before the Lord. And
on the other, we should be absolutely overjoyed at the freedom we have found in
His grace. Let us kneel and weep. Let us dance and sing. Both responses are
right.
We really should be broken when we see ourselves in
comparison to the Lord. Do you remember your life before Christ? Some of us had
a definite B.C. time, and it wasn’t pretty. We were full of sin, guilt,
enslavement, a search for meaning and for freedom. We sought temporal sinful
pleasures, but the very things that we thought would bring us freedom became our
masters, for "you are a slave to whatever controls you."
(2 Peter 2:19).
God’s intention is that this kind of radical brokenness
would be the response of unbelievers who come into the assembly. The apostle
Paul describes a scene in which an unbeliever comes to church. If everyone
prophesies, Paul says that the response from this unbeliever will be to fall
down and worship God, exclaiming, "God is really among you!"
(1 Corinthians 14:24,25) Probably the most common
response to Jesus, his teachings, and his miracles, was that the people were
"astonished." We are all overwhelmed when we see the Lord, and we cry out, "Woe
is me! I am undone! I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of
unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty!"
(Isaiah 6:5)
On the other hand, we also come before the Lord with
unbridled joy! Jesus describes the church with an interesting analogy when he
tells the story commonly known as The Prodigal Son. When that prodigal returned
home, his father put a ring and a robe on his son, called his friends, had the
fatted calf killed and held a party. Jesus says that the sound of music and
dancing could be heard from outside.
(Luke 15:22-25)
Now, that’s how the church should be when the lost sons return home and
are redeemed—after all, the angels rejoice over just one soul who repents!
(Luke 15:7) It’s time to join in the dance, and to
learn the art of celebration!
Too many of us come on Sundays dressed in our
carefully-maintained self-conscious pride, and we leave the same way we came in.
As I said a few weeks ago, the Lord has a word for you, my brothers and sisters.
Two words, actually: "Lighten up!"
We are the bride of Christ, attending our own wedding
feast. Our beloved Groom approaches and reaches out his hand, and says, "May I
have this dance?" This week, let’s not turn Him away!
May we gather this coming Lord’s Day with a strange mix of
humility and rejoicing. For Jesus comes to meet us at the altar and at the dance. |
