Question of the Week: What is the formal definition of worship?

The definition of worship is literally “to bow down.” It is any expression that recognizes who someone is or attributing worth to them. Worshipping God biblically isn’t limited to music or singing. Any recognition of Him as worth your time, talent, or treasure is a form of worship. Worship is also often misunderstood to mean “praise.” Praise is recognizing what someone has done, rather than who they are. A more appropriate synonym would be “glorify.” Glory, or weight, refers to someone’s worth. So when the Christian life is described as one that involves constant worship and glorifying God, it is describing even our heavenly state as doing anything and everything we do as demonstrating just how amazing He is.

And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
Colossians 3:17 (NKJV)

A Reason For Hope is a ministry of Calvary Christian Fellowship of Tucson

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Question of the Week: Does God Give Believers Up To Their Sin?

This question is in reference to a passage discussing non-believers. While it is true that God allows His people to sin, the passage being quoted to describe the deeper implications of that would not be appropriate to apply to believers.

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting;
Romans 1:28 (NKJV)

If the act of God “giving up” a believer to their sin is possible in this sense, then they would have been mentioned. The problem is that the verse itself specifically mentions this kind of giving over as a direct consequence of people not liking to retain God in their knowledge. A willful rejection of God does not sound like the behavior of a believer.

How then does God allow believers to sin if it isn’t in this sense? In matters of discipline, we have examples of God allowing His children to see the full consequences of their sin with the intention of ultimately saving them from a worse state down the road. (1 Corinthians 5:4-5) In matters of salvation, we are told that acknowledging the sins we commit are a prerequisite for being forgiven for them. (1 John 1:8-10) And in matters of sanctification, we are told that our struggle against sin is a daily one. (Galatians 2:17-20) In order for there to be a struggle, there needs to be a legitimate adversary. The assumptions that God permanently separates Himself from Christians who fall into even the most grievous sins, that Christians don’t sin after coming to Christ, and that our salvation before God is dependent on our ceasing from sin are not biblical ideas. Our salvation is dependent on the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross for the sins we struggle with daily. The fact that there is a struggle proves the Spirit had fundamentally altered our natures from what they were. We can’t allow the legalistic and pride-based assumptions to corrupt our understanding of our relationship with God. The best case scenario is that you deceive yourself into never dealing with your sin because of your unwillingness to acknowledge it as God brings it to your attention. The worst case scenario is that you give up on having a relationship with God that was never properly defined to begin with.

A Reason For Hope is a ministry of Calvary Christian Fellowship of Tucson

Listen: Monday – Friday 5-6pm, on 106.3FM Reach Radio

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Question of the Week: What Will Heaven Look Like?

If you’re looking for a religious text that gives us extensive and sensory-based descriptions of what Heaven in like, the Bible is not for you. When it comes to what we know about Heaven itself, we can count on one hand the number of passages that give us anything as far as a description of what “seeing” Heaven is like. It is for this reason that people who overemphasize its appearance and what it felt like pertaining to the senses should be met with harsh skepticism. This has not and never has been God’s focus whenever Heaven is brought up. In order to have an accurate understanding of what makes Heaven paradise, we should allow scripture to be and remain our authority on the matter.

Fact #1: The Reliable Eyewitnesses of Heaven Couldn’t Describe It

Every Christian’s final authority on what the Afterlife is like should be from the ones who have actually been there. Starting with Jesus of Nazareth and continuing with the eyewitnesses of His Resurrection that spoke with His authority, the Apostle Paul was given credibility by the Apostle Peter (2 Peter 3:15-16) and treated his writings as if they had the same reliability as his own. In one of his letters, Paul described a vision he was given of paradise and said that it would be a crime to put it into human language. To ask what Heaven is like is to ask something so incredible that our very language couldn’t properly express it. Therefore, attempting to do so is either a losing game on our part, or a deception on someone else’s.

It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord: I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
2 Corinthians 12:1-4 (NKJV)

Fact #2: Scripture Itself Isn’t Explicit About What Heaven Is Like

All accounts of Heaven in the Bible are limited to one area of focus. The Throne of God. Ezekiel 1, Isaiah 6, Revelation 4-5, and Revelation 20-21 give us some details, but not enough to come to a complete understanding of everything that is in store for us there. Attempts are made by using the Tabernacle as a model, but its focus is on the same material given in Ezekiel and Isaiah. People point to the streets of gold in Revelation, but fall short when they leave out the fact that this will be part of the new Creation and that this gold is like transparent glass. City gates composed of a single pearl, foundations of a city the size of our moon filled with precious stones, and the like are all things we simply couldn’t compare anything else to in this life. And that’s the point. We can’t compare it to anything. Therefore, we can only go off of what we already know.

But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
Revelation 21:22 (NKJV)

Fact #3: Jesus Himself Described Heaven As “Knowing Him”

What makes Heaven paradise is the fact that Jesus is there. What makes Heaven beautiful is the fact that Jesus is there. What will prevent Heaven from ever getting boring is the fact that Jesus is there. Anything else we attempt to add or take away from what we’re told is settling for less than the best part. Heaven’s greatest feature is something we can already enjoy today. The more you abide in a relationship with Jesus, you’re getting a taste of what will be fully known and enjoyed by us forever. That is why Heaven is so often referred to as Eternal Life. He isn’t offering us a new living arrangement or preserving us for a particular length of time. We’re restored to Eden and are able to enjoy fellowship with Him again. Living forever is one thing. Living with Life’s true meaning and fullness is what will make living forever worthwhile.

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
John 17:3 (NKJV)

A Reason For Hope is a ministry of Calvary Christian Fellowship of Tucson

Listen: Monday – Friday 5-6pm, on 106.3FM Reach Radio

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Question of the Week: How do we have a relationship with God if we can’t see or hear Him?

This kind of objection had more teeth before the age of the internet. Before we regularly interacted with people in very personal and meaningful ways despite never having physically seen or heard from each other in person, the idea of the “Hiddenness of God” was a stumbling block to some people. The problem with leveling this kind of objection today is that we are all too familiar with exactly how a relationship with Him is possible this way. There are benefits and hindrances to having the kind of relationship with God that doesn’t exclusively depend on sight and hearing. All of which are acknowledged in scripture.

whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory
1 Peter 1:18 (NKJV)

Benefit: The Relationship is Based on His Character

The foundation of all meaningful relationships begin with trust. Trust is something properly determined by proven character over time. God has established this through the promises He’s made and kept. The more He has demonstrated Himself worthy of our trust in history, the more reasons we have to trust His character as a whole. Over and over again in scripture, and in every category, trusting what God has promised was and remains the standard by which the saints experienced a fulfilling and personal relationship with God despite having never seen Him. You don’t need to see someone to know whether or not they’re trustworthy. You just need examples of them demonstrating how worthy they are of your trust. We have this through the historical, poetic, and prophetic observations made throughout scripture.

“And now, O Lord God, You are God, and Your words are true, and You have promised this goodness to Your servant.
2 Samuel 7:28 (NKJV)

And those who know Your name will put their trust in You;
For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.
Psalm 9:10 (NKJV)

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, And whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.
Jeremiah 17:7-8 (NKJV)

Benefit: The Relationship isn’t Coerced through His Majesty

If God were to physically interact with us the way He did in Exodus 19 by physically appearing to Israel, there would be two problems creating in having a genuine relationship with Him. Most people would see His sheer power and submit to His authority out of fear. This isn’t what God wants. He is the source of all power and good things. The lifelong process of sanctification is the miraculous work the Holy Spirit does in our hearts to see Him as the better option above our idols and impulses. If all of this was brought to the surface before a work was done in our hearts to see Him as better, then the moment God’s majesty wasn’t in view we’d just go back to our counterfeits. A physical appearance wouldn’t solve the real issue between us and God. It would just force a surface level acknowledgment of reality and no more. A heart that sees God as wonderful without actually seeing how wonderful He really is, they’ll continue to do so the moment they see their beliefs proven true. This is the fine line between a relationship and being intimidated into service. God wants us to know Him before we enjoy Him to the fullest.

Therefore David blessed the Lord before all the assembly; and David said: “Blessed are You, Lord God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, The power and the glory, The victory and the majesty; For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, And You are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, And You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; In Your hand it is to make great And to give strength to all.
1 Chronicles 29:10-12 (NKJV)

Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.
Revelation 1:12-18 (NKJV)

Hindrance: We don’t enjoy God the way we were created to

Jesus Himself longed for the fellowship He had with the Father for all eternity. As a man and as God, He rightly identified even a superficial separation from the Father as a problem to be fixed. He even told His disciples that they should rejoice that He was returning to the Father. The reason being that to be with the Father is a far better place to be than on this earth. We think the opposite, ironically, for the same reason. We don’t see a physical separation from our loved ones as a good thing even if they’re with someone far better than anyone they could know on this earth. This is the point that is made. Where we are now is less than ideal when it comes to our relationship with God. Scripture doesn’t dismiss that. The key is to use that longing as further incentive to look forward to and prepare yourself for Heaven while there’s still time.

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
John 17:3-5 (NKJV)

You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because ^[h]I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I.
John 14:28 (NKJV)

Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
Romans 8:23-25 (NKJV)

A Reason For Hope is a ministry of Calvary Christian Fellowship of Tucson

Listen: Monday – Friday 5-6pm, on 106.3FM Reach Radio

Email your questions:

questionsforhope@gmail.comFollow on CCF Facebook: facebook.com/ccftucson
Watch our Frequently Asked Questions on YouTube.