2/26/17
In the introduction to his first epistle, the Apostle John talks about his revelation of Jesus and then gives this reason for writing this letter, 1 John 1:3. “that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you [here is his purpose- that you] also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.”1 John is extending an invitation to join in the fellowship he and other believers have with God.
Notice the vertical fellowship with the Father and Son. Then notice the horizontal fellowship with one another. The Greek word translated “fellowship” in this verse is “koinonia.” It is a significant New Testament word. It means partnership, participation, interaction, to have things in common and share.2 In 1 Cor. 10:16 it is translated “communion.” There Paul is talking about coming to the Lord’s Table. “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? 17 For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.” When we partake of the bread and wine at the Lord’s Table we are recognizing and celebrating our unity and fellowship with God and one another. That’s why it is a time to reflect on our relationships, as we talked about last week. Koinonia is about our communion, our fellowship, our participation in the life of God by the Holy Spirit.3
We have been talking about our corporate worship experience. Much of what we say in this series has application to our personal worship experience. But our focus is on the corporate meeting.
In a previous teaching, I talked about the importance of intentionality—knowing why we have gathered and keeping that purpose in mind. I emphasized the objective of us expressing thanksgiving, praise, and adoration to the Lord. We’re not just singing songs. We’re praising and exalting the Lord. We come together to glorify the Lord. But that is only one side of the worship experience. A more holistic understanding is that we come to commune with the Lord. We come to enjoy koinonia with the Father and the Son by the Holy Spirit. Koinonia is not just a one-way exchange. It is interaction with one another and with the Lord. It involves two-way communication. It is sharing our life with the Lord and with one another. At the same time, it is the Lord sharing His life with us—not just in an abstract way, but experientially. This is why worshipping “in spirit” is so essential. God is spirit. We are interacting with the Father spirit to spirit. Our hearts are expressing love and adoration to Him. But it doesn’t stop there. In the koinonia of worship, He also expresses Himself to us!
In our worship series, I had said the fifth way to enhance our worship experience to “Be Sensitive” to the Holy Spirit. That might be stated more broadly by saying, enter into this koinonia with the Father as a corporate body. The goal is not just to declare praises to God. It certainly includes that and naturally begins with that. But if we stop there, we have come short of God’s intention for us. He wants us to enter into fellowship with Him that flows in two directions—our words and activity toward Him AND His words and activity toward us.
When we come together and in one accord offer up our praise and thanksgiving to the Lord, we are setting an atmosphere for God’s presence to be manifested. David proclaimed in Ps 22:3 “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel” (KJV). We are inviting God’s presence when we worship. We are posturing ourselves to receive him as our King and Ruler. We are positioning ourselves in the humility of worship to receive His manifest presence. It is a posture of honor and reverence toward who He is. NKJV says, “But you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.” The Japanese translation says that our praise “builds a big chair for God to sit on.”4
This is not a mechanical formula to get God to show up and do some things we want Him to do. It is embracing the attitude of submission and respect that makes it safe for God to show up. It’s a dangerous thing to have the manifest presence of God when the heart is not right. It is actually an expression of God’s mercy that God does not show up when people are self-willed and rebellious. In Ex 19:20 the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai and called Moses to come up on the mountain with Him. Israel was in no spiritual condition to follow Moses up that mountain into God’s presence. Listen to what God told Moses about that. Verse 21 “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to gaze at the Lord, and many of them perish. 22 Also let the priests who come near the Lord consecrate themselves, lest the Lord break out against them.’”
Everything we have talked about in this series on worship is about preparing our hearts to host the manifest presence of God. At one level God’s presence is everywhere. He is omnipresent. But God’s presence on the top of that mountain was not omnipresence. It was God manifesting Himself in glory. At another level God’s presence is in every believer, giving that person eternal life. When I talk about the manifest presence, I’m talking about God showing up in power.5 There is a right mindset and heart condition that people need in order to enjoy that. Moses had it; Israel, as a whole, did not. Someone may say, “Well that was Old Testament.” Tell that to Ananias and Sapphire. They were New Testament; but they did not fare well in the manifest presence of God. I’m saying all this to emphasize the value of entering into a sincere posture of worship as an invitation for God to show up.
So we express our praise and adoration for the Lord; and that becomes a platform for Him to come into our midst and commune with us. That sets the stage for our koinonia with the Lord, experientially. Then wonderful things happen, simply because He is there in power.6 God’s presence brings transformation to us. The Hebrew word translated presence means face.7 With open face we behold the Lord. He looks upon us with His favor and love. And we are changed by that encounter. 2 Cor 3:18 “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."
Holiness is not about us coming together and the pastor telling everyone to try harder next week. There is the element of choice. But holiness is not obtained by tenaciously trying harder. Holiness is about God’s influence on our lives. It’s about getting into His presence and getting a look at who He really is—discovering the depth of His love for us and never wanting to violate that love in any way. It’s about the Holy Spirit shedding His love abroad in our hearts. In the presence of a holy God I am transformed. This is the other side of worship. This is the other side of koinonia. Us expressing our love toward Him and Him expressing His love toward us.
When God manifests His presence in our midst the powers of darkness flee. Light dispels darkness; and God is Light; in Him is no darkness at all. When God’s presence comes on a congregation in that way, deliverances happen. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” People get free. It’s not a showy thing. It simply happens because the enemy can’t stand to hang around the manifestation of God’s presence.
When David worshipped the evil spirit temporarily left King Saul.8 In 2 Chron. 20 when King Jehoshaphat and the people of God worshipped the Lord, God set up ambush and destroyed the adversary. Worship is an atmosphere where God comes down and exercises his power in behalf of His people.
Be aware that God speaks to His people in that kind of setting as well. In 2 Chron. 20 a word of prophecy came giving encouragement ad direction. We must not think of worship as just us singing and speaking to God. It is a 360 degree koinonia. Some of the songs are declarations designed to encourage one another. Take, for example, the song “There is Power in the Blood.” By singing that, are we telling God something He doesn’t know? No, we are making a declaration to ourselves and one another. We are building one another up in the faith. We are singing a truth that fortifies our faith in God. In the koinonia of worship there is a horizontal edification going on. Eph. 5:17 “Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” There is this one another aspect of worship. It’s only effective if we are experiencing koinonia with the Father in conjunction with our interaction with one another. Worship is not just us speaking to God. It is also God speaking to us and us speaking to one another by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Paul talks about the way the Holy Spirit uses different members of the body to edify the whole. In 1 Cor 12:7-11 e writes, “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.” Notice in that passage how he emphasizes that this is done “by the Spirit.” It’s not just people taking turns showing off their talents. It is the Holy Spirit prompting this one to give a word of wisdom, and that one to give a prophecy, and someone else giving tongues and interpretation. In that place of koinonia with the Lord the Holy Spirit is orchestrating the interaction as He sees fit. The objective is stated in verse 7 “for the profit of all.” For the edification and benefit of the whole congregation.
You can tell when a word is coming from the Lord because it uplifts the meeting. It lightens the load and strengthens the hearts of the people. It brings additional life into the meeting. When something is done in the flesh it has a deadening affect and sometimes brings a bit of heaviness to the meeting. Every action is either enlivening the meeting or deadening it. It may be to a small degree or to a large degree. But all kinds of dynamics are going on in a worship service.
Let me give you three keys to hosting the presence of the Lord.
1. Desire.
God comes to those who really want Him—those who will not be satisfied without Him. “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled” (Matt. 5:6). Not everyone gets filled. Who gets filled? Those who hunger and thirst for it. Multitudes of Christians never experience the fullness of the Spirit simply because they never pursue it. An attitude that says, “God knows where I am if He wants to fill me”—typically results in the person never being filled. Passivity robs us of God’s best. Half-heartedness robs of God’s provision. God provided the land of Canaan for the Children of Israel. But it was their responsibility to pursue it. They had to lay hold on the thing God had provided for them.
If I’m satisfied with a little bit of God, that’s what I will have. Ask largely of God and pursue Him wholeheartedly. David expressed his hunger for God in Ps 42:1-2 “As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?” Allow the desperation of his desire to soak in. A deer that is dying of thirst is focused on one thing: water. He searches and pants for the water brook. He is not at all casual about the matter. He must have that water. In the same way, David says, “My soul thirsts for God….” Are you thirsty for God’s presence?
We can see this same thing in Moses Ex. 33. Moses is in the Tabernacle talking with God: the Scripture says face to face as a man talks with his friend. Moses is asking for God’s help in leading the nation of Israel. So God makes this promise to Moses in verse 14, “And He [God] said, ‘My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’ Verse 15 has Moses’ response, “Then he [Moses] said to Him [God], ‘If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.” Moses’ position is, “God, if I can’t have Your presence with me, I don’t want to move forward. I must have Your presence.” Then he makes a profound statement, verse 16 “For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth." The NIV says it more clearly, “What else will distinguish me and your people from all other people on the face of the earth?”
The one thing that distinguishes us as God’s people is God’s presence. If we don’t have that, what are we? Life Church, if we don’t have God’s presence, how are we anything different than any other group of people who meet together? What makes us any different from the Rotary Club? What distinguishes us from the Bowling League that is at the Bowling Alley as we speak? It is the supernatural presence of God in our midst that makes all the difference. We must have the Presence of God! Verse 17 “So the Lord said to Moses, ‘I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.’" Now watch this closely. Moses is still not satisfied. Verse 18 “And he said, ‘Please, show me Your glory.’" Greedy for more of God! Did that displease the Lord? Far from it; this is what God loved about Moses. He always wanted more of God. When we genuinely want more of God, we shall have it. When we are passively content with what we have, we shall have that. May God give us a holy dissatisfaction with the status quo. May God increase our desire for more of Him. If we will pursue the presence of God, we shall have the presence of God. So our goal in a worship service is not that we would just sing some songs. It’s not even enough that we would genuinely and sincerely praise God. It goes further than that. We are in pursuit of His presence. We desire to enter into rich koinonia/communion/interaction with the Father by the Spirit. God meets with those who truly want to meet with Him.
In a superficial way everybody wants to meet with God. But in most cases they haven’t even thought through what that means, let alone made a determined decision to pursue it. Every church in Springfield has a song service. That’s a good thing. It’s a beginning. Singing is a natural way to bring people together. As we sing the same song our hearts are in some way joined together. But the pursuit of God’s presence extends way beyond that. With the singing we are exalting the Lord; we are longing to be near Him; we are reaching out to Him with sincere desire. It’s more than just wanting Him to show up and fix our problem. It’s wanting Him! It’s wanting His fellowship. It’s longing for His presence. One key to hosting the presence of God is desire—an unwillingness to accept anything less. A second key is:
2. Sensitivity to the will of the Holy Spirit.
Even when God shows up, it’s important to host His presence with sensitivity. The Holy Spirit is the heavenly dove. I heard one person illustrate sensitivity to the Spirit by talking about the nature of a dove. A dove is a sensitive creature that is easily put to flight. If I have a dove sitting on my shoulder, I will need to be very aware of His presence. I will need to gage my actions carefully so that I don’t scare him away. This is why being sensitive to the Spirit during a meeting is important.
First, I need to have my ears open to His voice. He usually speaks in a gentle tone. He usually nudes our spirit ever so gently. If I am not listening for that still small voice, I can easily miss it. So I must highly value hearing Him. I must come with an anticipation that I will hear Him. He is a speaking God. Koinonia is about participation. Most Christians come to a church service with an audience mentality. They don’t expect God to speak to them; they don’t expect God to use them. Therefore, they are not alert to the promptings of God when He does speak to them. We have to give God our attention. We have to cock our ear toward heaven and listen. Paul instructs the early church with this admonition in 1 Cor. 14:1 “Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.” The Greek word translated desire is sometimes translated covet or to be zealous.9 We are specifically told to desire spiritual gifts. If we are passive about that, then we are disobedient to this admonition. When we are zealous for the gifts of the Spirit we pursue them, we ask God to use us in the gifts, we celebrate the operation of the gifts. If God speaks to a congregation through prophetic utterance several times, and nobody pays much attention to it, what happens? Eventually God stops talking.
Have you ever started to tell a story to someone, and halfway through the story you realized the other person was not paying any attention to what you’re saying? I used to try to finish the story. Now I usually just stop in the middle of the story and ask the person something that I think he might be interested in. Occasionally the person asks me to finish the story. Most of the time they don’t even realize I didn’t finish. Why would God keep talking to people who don’t pay any attention to what He is saying? We must value the gifts of the Spirit, we must pursue the gifts of the Spirit, we must listen for the direction of the Holy Spirit during a service. One other key for hosting the presence of God.
3. Obedience to the Holy Spirit.
When He tells us something to do, we must do it. We do that decently and in order. But we find an appropriate way to express what the Holy Spirit has given. We have to learn to distinguish between our own thoughts and the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Just sharing thoughts that pop into our head can diminish a service. But when we share something the Holy Spirit is saying, it brings life to the hearers. It doesn’t have to be profound. Most of the time, it’s something simple—perhaps something we all know. But the essential factor is the source. If God is saying it, it will encourage people and enrich the service. Like many other things, learning to operate in the gifts of the Spirit is a lot of trial and error. It takes humility because we will not always do everything right. That’s how learning works. But we will never get there if we don’t step out and go for it.
There is always a sense of risk when we operate in faith. If we play it 100% safe, we will probably never enter in. So a gentle pressure rises up in my spirit. I think it is the Holy Spirit, but I’m not sure. What should I do? Ask God to make His will more clearer. Wait momentarily on the Lord for a couple of things. One does this prompting seem to persist? If so, it is more likely the Holy Spirit. Secondly, does the Holy Spirit arrange opportunity to express the word in a non-disruptive way. Is there a brief pause? If these things line up, step out and speak. Some gifts take more faith to operate in than others. It’s easier to give a message in tongues than to give the interpretation. God may start you out that way. The first time God used me to give a message in tongues I was scared to death. It was a large congregation that was open to that sort of thing, but it didn’t happen often. God was gracious to make it pretty clear that I was to speak out. My heart was pounding 90 miles an hour. I spoke the message in tongues, but did not have the interpretation. Someone else gave the interpretation. But that got me off to a good start in the gifts of the Spirit. You have to be willing to put your ego on the line and take a risk. A good place to learn how to operate in the gifts of the Spirit is in a worship setting where God is manifesting His presence.
Worship is foundational to moving in the gifts of the Spirit for all the reasons I have already talked about. If I can gain a heart of worship, then listen for Him to speak to me in that setting, I can learn to operate in the gifts of the Spirit. The gifts are never to show our level of spirituality. They are to encourage and strengthen the Body of Christ. The gifts are not just for the church service. But that’s a good place to start. In Acts 13 Barnabas and Paul were ministering to the Lord along with other brothers in Christ. Verse 2 says, “As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’" It was a perfect setting for God to speak. The prophetic word came as they ministered to the Lord. We need the benefits that come through the operation of the gifts of the Spirit. God never intended for us to live New Testament Christianity without it.
This message is a call to pursue His presence. Are you hungry for more of God? If not, ask Him to make you hungry. Nurture the desire for His presence. Will you do that? Will we do that as a congregation?
Pray
END NOTES:
1 All Scripture quotes are from the New King James Version unless indicated otherwise.
2 NT: 2842 Strong’s Concordance.
3 The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit live in perfect koinonia. In our salvation God is inviting us to share in His life (koinonia). 1 John 1:3 is talking about sharing in the life of God in broad terms. In this message I am only dealing with experiencing koinonia in our public worship experience.
4 Tommy Tenney, God’s Favorite House: If You Build It He Will Come (Shippingsburg, PA: Fresh Bread, 2000) p. 56.
5 I can rightly say electricity is in a 9-volt battery; but that is something very different than the electricity in a 220-volt line. They are both electricity; but the effect of the two are very different.
6 Jack Hayford wrote, “Where worship is released, God’s presence comes to dwell, and where God’s presence abides, there will be power.” Manifest Presence: Expecting a Visitation of God’s Grace through Worship (Kent, England: Sovereign World Ltd, 2005) p. 101.
7 OT:6440 “paniym” Strong’s Concordance.
8 1 Samuel 16:23
9 1 Cor. 12:31; 14:39, Rev. 3:19 in KJV.
