[Worship] Drawing Near Without Guilt - 20 September 1998

[Worship Thought <kgentes@praise.net>]

TITLE: Drawing Near Without Guilt

Arriving home from work a few days ago, I opened the door. My children
leapt up off the floor. Leaving their toys, they shouted frantically,
"Daddy"! Kneeling down, I opened up my arms and embraced my three boys.
This scene played out countless times before and will again many more.
But it never gets tiresome, and never losses its attraction, either for
my kids or for me. We love being with each other. We were created to be
together, being commissioned by God, simply by being "family".

A few days later, I arrived home, and the three little huggies met me at
the door. As is the usual custom in our house, the great daily list of
household litigation is verbalized for me to judge- "Dad, Jared tore my
paper.", "Dad, Jordan isn't sharing", "Dad, mom wouldn't let us go to
the zoo today." Amidst the flurry of information, wise old dad sorted
through the days challenges with his children. Then the oldest
remembered a particularly important grievance- his toddler brother had
bitten him! Immediately, the toddler began to retreat, backing away to
the hallway, looking sheepishly up at me. Our moment of holding and
sharing had been suspended.

"Is that true, Jared?", I asked. He smiled guiltily.

We then talked about how we can't bite people, even if our brother makes
us mad. I assured Jared that I loved him, and that he needed to change
his behaviour in regards to biting. Soon we were back to talking about
the day and connecting verbally and hugging again.

Jared had learned what we all know- guilt always stops us from drawing
near to the Father.

When I look at people coming into a meeting for the purpose of worship,
I constantly see this being played out. We have sinned, so we repent.
But then we all get together to greet Father. First, when He is "coming
through the door" of our hearts in a family meeting, we start to connect
with him. Communication and honesty are initiated. Then, the accuser of
the brother steps in! He reports all the gory facts about the brother's
erroneous ways. Then the brother starts to retreat, making haste to
smile at the Father politely as he retreats to the "safety" of
disconnection. Another Sunday morning derailed for a son or daughter.

Sound familiar? This is the precise scene occurring with regularity for
many people. But why? Because God is some unforgiving Father? Nothing
could be further from the truth!

The real sinister nature of accusation by the enemy is that it has an
element of truth. Yes, we have sinned. Yes, we did feel guilty. But we
also looked at the Father and asked forgiveness. But it just couldn't
seem to hold in our minds. Why? Because the "accuser of the brothers"
knows that the best time to start reciting the weekly list of grievances
is not when you are dealing with them one by one throughout the week.
No, to have the real desired effect, it is best to bring them up in
front of family (in church worship meetings). So, as each individual
worshiper sits or stands in worship, the theatre of the minds of many
becomes the recital hall for the enemy. Feeling slightly more guilty
than we can cope with, we smile artificially, yet convincingly to one
another (and we think, to God).

But this was not what worship was supposed to be about.

Worship is about drawing near, not running away. The problem is that we
have begun to privately believe that we are still somehow guilty of sin.
That false sense of guilt begins to imbed itself in us. Now the voice of
the "accuser" fills the room! The only escape is retreat. Or is it?

No, it certainly isn't. Hebrews 10:22 tells us that our confidence in
the blood of Jesus is our one place of peace and our rest from guilt.
Drawing near to God is, in fact, the whole point of cleansing us from
sin (again, Hebrews 10:19-22 ). God wants to be near us. We want to be
near Him. The penalty and guilt of sin is completely washed away by
Christ's blood.
     
     Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most
     Holy Place by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way opened for
     us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a
     great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a
     sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts
     sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our
     bodies washed with pure water.
     Hebrews 10:19-22

So let's believe in God's work through the blood of Christ! Let's hold
on to the power of freedom from guilt. If guilt is there from sin, deal
with it. If it is dealt with, and the feeling of guilt remains, get with
a brother or sister in Christ and have them remind you of Christ's
freedom from guilt. Then let's all get back to drawing near to the
Father!

Selah!

Kim Anthony Gentes

The above scripture is Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International
Bible Society. All rights reserved.

The Daily Worship Thought was written and Copyright © 1998 by Kim
Anthony Gentes. Used by permission. The Daily Worship Thought is
available on the web at http://www.praise.net/worship/quote/ .
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