This morning we’re continuing in our series “The Call” … focused on seeking to capture or
recapture the dynamic of God’s Call to our lives. I believe…
The Call of God seeks to penetrate our independence and isolation.
This morning I want to begin with the question: Who is your god / God?
That’s a question that we may initially begin to answer quickly… but then may find
ourselves realizing it’s more dynamic than simply providing a statement… the answer is
reflected in what governs and guides us….
And God knows, quite literally, that there is a lot of competition.
After humankind was tempted into a state of life apart from God… the human condition
devolved into one now ruled by gods and kings.
Every group of people began to fashion their ideas of gods… often born of fears and a
desire to appease and control. Often they began to worship idols that represented the
various creatures of earth. Soon the masses of earth were bowing to the very elements
that they had been given stewardship of…. even sacrificing themselves and their
children to these gods fashioned in fear. And soon the leaders of many developing
nations began to claim to be gods themselves… and ruthlessly subjecting the masses into
their service.
As one nation would overcome another… the conquered people who survived would be
subjected to both the gods and king who now ruled the land.
That is where the Call of God comes to claim us…. In the midst of a world of gods and
kings.
That is the world in which God first penetrated the life of Abraham. The Call of God comes as
the call of a king… only not just another king… but the return of the true King… the living
God.
He has come to reclaim us from the one we surrendered ourselves to. We are now told that
behind the oppressive powers on earth is a spiritual entity who sought to rule over
humankind… he is referred to as the ‘prince of this world’… a king whose only reign is one
of deception, destruction, and ultimately death… a work merely being manifest in the
various gods and kings of this world. It is into this reality that the true and living God was
returning with the restoration of truth, life and hope.
That is still the choice before humankind. It is a choice of kingdoms… a choice in whose
sovereignty we come under.
The greatest deception we live under… may be that of thinking that we are
merely free people who don’t serve anyone… we may even believe that if we
choose to acknowledge any god… they are lucky to have us join their religion.
Yet we remain fascinated by evil and where it comes from… and sometimes wonder why it
prevails among us who have progressed so much outwardly.
The truth is that there has always been a Creator… and for a longer time than we
know… some form of competitor… and corrupter.
If we could see clearly… we are at best more like prisoners of war… who willingly chose
our captor.
(Ilust – Narnia – Edmund… warned of the white witch… but so drawn by her sweets… only
later to realize what he’s done. But then comes the announcement… Aslan the true king is
returning to the land… he’s on the move.)
When the king returns it is the greatest public announcement the world has ever known.
It is an opportunity to join up in allegiance.
Allegiance is what we discover in the response of Abraham … the first one to enter the
Call of God… and then further made known in Christ. It is an allegiance to the one true king
and God…. It’s this allegiance that calls each of us out of our independence and
isolation.
The most unique dynamic of all… is that what is being sought is RELATIONSHIP.
At the core of all the ideas of spiritual beings behind the physical world… was that of
control and appeasement…. precocious gods whose petty fighting and insecurities
merely used men and were playing game with them… or something of impersonal
alignment with forces nearly wholly disinterested in the real lives of men and women.
It’s into this world of gods and kings that Abraham is engaged by the true and
living God… who comes seeking him to be His… and to create a relationship
that restores blessing. It is clear that this is the God who knows him… who has
been watching him… who has been with him… and who holds history in His
hands … and in His hands alone.
He is the sovereign who comes to restore the very dignity of His image into the unique life
form He created… the King who invites humankind back to the table of his court to reign with
Him… and ultimately, the servant King who would give His life to make it possible.
The fundamental response to the recognition of God is one of allegiance… an
intimate allegiance.
• For Abraham would later be described as “a friend of God.” (Isaiah 41:8; James 2:23)
• Jesus would finally tell his disciples, “I no longer call you servants but friends.” (John
15:10-15)
So it is that… The Call of God begins with intimate allegiance.
How is such allegiance expressed?
I want to touch upon three ways that define and declare our allegiance. They are
part of what defines us as people… and also as a Westside Vineyard community.
1. Intimate Allegiance involves WORSHIP
• Worship has come to be associated with nice songs… lifted feelings… but what lies
within the act of worship is far more dynamic…
• When Abraham declared his allegiance to God as the one true sovereign he was making a
declaration that would set his entire life apart from all other kings and gods on earth.
Worship is a defiant declaration
What we bow to is what we are submitting to… what we worship is what we are
ascribing to be central and sovereign.
In any way that our worship is declaring the reign and rule of the true God and
the Lordship of His Son… and welcome their mercy to save and restore us… we
are defying all the powers that seek to rule this world. It is a declaration of trust
… of a trusting allegiance.
When God sets apart His people… He begins with a call to bow to no other…
Exodus 20:1-5 (NLT)
Then God gave the people all these instructions: “I am the Lord your God, who
rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. “You must not have any
other god but me. “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind … You must not
bow down to them or worship them…”
It was out of this decisive choice that…
• Mordecai refused to bow to the king.
• Daniel and his three friends refused to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s image (Dan. 3).
• And the culmination of Jesus’ in his preparatory 40 days in the wilderness…refusing to
bow to Satan when offered power and provision.
Every act of worship is both a refusal of one sovereign claim… and a submission to
another.
This becomes even clearer when we consider the first response of Abraham was that of
declaring his tithe… When he gave a tithe… he was declaring that this was the God he
would trust and honor as his sovereign protector and provider.
The reality is that we are all under a king… some source which we recognize as sovereign
ruler…protector… provision. At times this may be our parents, government… employers.
Most often the king of today is ourselves.
Reference only - [Genesis 14:20 – Abraham is subjecting himself to a king – priest who he understood to represent
- “…And blessed be God Most High, who has helped you conquer your enemies." Then Abram gave Melchizedek a
tenth of all the goods he had recovered. (Genesis 14:20 -NLT)]
There are various reasons for giving our resources for God’s use… generosity, gratitude,
or simply communal responsibility… but as modern Americans we can miss the most
significant and fundamental dynamic that lies beneath our giving. In Old Testament times
the tithe was the king’s portion. After a king conquered and subjugated the people, the
people would render to him a tithe (a tenth of the produce of their land). Abraham was
declaring that God was now his king… his sovereign.
This is reflected again in Jacob…
Genesis 28:20-22
“Then Jacob made a vow, saying, ‘If God will be with me and will watch over
…. then the Lord will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will
be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.’”
No commands had yet been given by God… this wasn’t simply following the laws of the Old
Testament … but rather a fundamental declaration of allegiance… one’s recognition of who
was heir king… the sovereign ruler…protector.. provider.
This is why when we bring our tithes and offerings… we’ve come to understand it is a
part of our worship…. in terms of a declaration… our offering is the most defiant
spiritual declaration that we make… fitting as the culmination of our worship.
What is at hand is not merely one’s mouth or money… but how they express a
fundamental declaration of trust. If we really understand what is at hand… every
time we sing… every time we give… we are subversively refusing to bow to
other gods.
If worship has become just a religious duty… may we be awakened that it is a
spiritual declaration.
It is out of such a declaration of trust… that God’s presence naturally dwells.
Worship invites the dwelling of God’s presence
Ps. 22:3 (NIV) “You are … enthroned upon the praises of Israel.”
Psalms 22:3 (AMP)
”
You …dwell in the place where …praises... are offered.”
“Yashab” (Sit down, remain, settle, dwell, abide)
The pneumas of God - This is a theological term that means the manifest presence of
God. It means His presence comes and fills a place (Atmosphere filled with His Presence,
warmth, thickness in air, peace, etc.) That’s what we need to experience on a regular basis!
Heb. 10:21-22 “And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw
near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean
from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”
That’s what experiencing God’s presence does! It sprinkles our hearts clean from an evil
conscience! It softens us again to Him, lost, broken, hurting, etc.
That’s why it’s so vital!
A central Vineyard belief is this: Worship accomplishes a work in our hearts that
nothing else can.
Worship becomes defining of who we are
It’s been said we become what we worship... what we give our hearts and focus to.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said:
"The gods we worship write their names on our faces, be sure of that. And a
man will worship something - have no doubt about that, either. That which
dominates will determine his life and character. Therefore, it behooves us to be
careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping we are becoming."
Dallas Willard states….
A popular saying is "Take time to smell the roses." What does this mean? To enjoy the rose it
is necessary to focus on it and bring the rose as fully before our senses and mind as possible.
To smell a rose you must get close, and you must linger. When we do so, we delight in it. We
love it.
This is to be done in such a way that love for and delight in God will be elicited and established
as the pervasive orientation of the whole self. It will fill the mind of the willing soul and progress
toward an easy and delightful governance of the entire personality.
(From The Divine Conspiracy, pp. 321-326 edited)
As the Westside Vineyard we give a high priority to worshipping God with all of
our hearts … to becoming increasingly centered and satisfied in God; that all we
do might rise in response to His deep love.
Finally… not to be missed…
Worship is deserved
“Worship” comes from the old English word “worthship”…that refers to ascribing worth… it
declares the proper worth of it’s recipient.
Psalms 96:5-8
”
… the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. Splendor and majesty
are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary…. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due
his name…”.
It’s about recognizing that all that is good.. all majestry and strength and glory… flow from
Him… and the joy of sharing in that goodness…comes from declaring it.
It’s about drawing around all He is.
It’s about returning something to it’s rightful source… “the glory due His name.”
John Wimber…
“He gives us everything… worship is simply what He gets back.”
How vital it is to remember that worship is about Him.
We live in a unique time… so centered in ourselves… so consumeristic… that even the
worship of God can be reduced to what we like and feel.
Now I believe that worship is intended to be a blessing to us… but only as the byproduct.
We are called to worship… not only when we feel like it… God is always worthy...God is the
same yesterday, today and forever. At it’s essence, worship is not about us… how it makes us
feel… but it is about HIM.
2. Intimate Allegiance involves the WORD of God
Perhaps you can imagine one of those scenes where a group of knights bow down before their
true king… and after bowing.. as they rise… we hear those fisrt words, “My Lord, your wish is
our command”… speak and we will obey.
So it is that our allegiance turns to hear what God is calling for.
Ex of Scripture
One of the great tragedies of how many of us have come to approach God’s words… or the
Bible… is that we see it as the restriction of freedom… the burden of a weight.
But ours is a story of a liberating Word.
In a world of false gods and kings… who have laid their oppression upon
humankind… exploiting us for their ends… being reclaimed by the true and
benevolent God is a work of liberation.
For Israel… the Word of God is defining and dignifying. It is that which restores their true
humanity. Far from repressing life… it is LIFE GVING.
Any reflection upon the 10 Commandments can reveal this. In the restriction lies
restoration.
There is a simple and profound truth that is often missed in our independent culture… and that
is the simple fact that the expectations of another upon is what expresses their belief in us.
Rabbi Loy -
"In a life in which there is no demand there is no meaning. If no demand is put
on you, then you are in a sense excluded… from life itself. If someone expects,
demands something of you, it means he takes you seriously." - Rabbi Loy (The
Young Unicorns, by Madeleine L’Engle, p. 155)
What liberates the human soul is not freedom from expectations… but entering
into the right expectations… those we were designed for.
This becomes even more passionately clear when Jesus comes as the “Living Word.”
When the Messiah… savior… enters the scene… his contentions arise towards the religious
leaders. Why? Because they had allowed the Word to alienate rather than liberate.
Jesus was first understood as a rabbinic authority… one who offered an interpretation of the
Torah… of how to truly walk out the life God intended.
He came as the “Living Word”… the interpretive Word… not to change the law but to fulfill
it’s intentions.
Matthew 11:28-30 (AMP)
”Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened…Take My
yoke upon you and learn of Me… and you will find relief for your souls. For My yoke is
wholesome and My burden is light.”
When Jesus called disciples from among the uneducated drop outs … he was bringing the
true life giving power to redeem and restore human life in the way righteousness… or “right
living.”
John 10:10 (MSG)
“I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.”
So as the Westside Vineyard,
• We honor the Scriptures as God’s Living Word to govern and guide our faith and
practice.
• We want to understand them properly in terms of their original culture, context, and
language… to properly grasp God’s timeless and living call today.
• We understand the Bible through Christ… as the interpretive fulfillment of the Story
of God we are a part of. The Bible reveals the grand story… the God Story… that finds
it’s fulfillment in Christ.
• We understand the Scriptures not merely as representing truth which seeks our
agreement… but as the Divine Story which we are summoned to enter… the
announcing of a Kingdom being inaugurated that calls us to join it’s King in His reign of
mercy and restoration.
The Word of God… then is life giving… and also immovable.
It is like the night a battleship was out at sea… sees another light in the darkness…and
begins to send warnings to change course… finally declares that it is a battleship and the
other must change course. To which it receives the return message, “I am a lighthouse.
Suggest you change course immediately.” How easily we can become like battleships
engaged with the immovable Lighthouse established to govern our lives.
As Cecil B. deMille observed of the principles contained in his monumental movie, "The Ten
Commandments," It is impossible for us to break the law. We can only break ourselves
against the law."
It is that which we understand will not change. The question is never can we get it to conform
to our desires… but will we bring ourselves to conform to it?
Which leads to the last part and point….
3. Intimate Allegiance leads us into the WORKS AND WALK of God.
Ultimately… allegiance leads to imitation… representation… those who embody the heart
of the One whose image they bear.
There is a natural part of this process… The more time we spend with Him the more that we
will look and be like Him. Intimate allegiance in worship and word… will naturally lead to a life
of works and walk with God.
But there is also an intentional process. Following one’s patterns mean reshaping our own
patterns and perspectives. This is the process of discipleship… it’s a process we share in
together.
All formation involves intent, discipline, and community. All the gatherings and
groups that flow as part of the life of the Westside Vineyard…. can serve our
development as disciples.
Closing: I want to conclude by simply asking us again: Who is your god / God?
The answer to that question cannot be made by anyone else… it lies within your choice.
What I believe the Lord wants us to understand… is that the answer lies in intimate
allegiance… involving worship, Word, and walk.
Maybe it’s become too much a religious professions.. duty… may we capture afresh
that intimate allegiance that truly defines our lives.
The reality is that we are all under a king…
The choice is not ‘if’ but ‘who’…. and it is the most defining and definitive choice that
lies within each of us.
