Persecution - the Heart of Davidic Worship

            When we desire to understand the heart of David’s worship, there is no better place to turn than to the Psalms. In Psalm 56 and 57 (to only examine two), we find them both starting with persecution. The one is persecution from the Philistines, and the other is persecution from Saul. In this we have symbols of persecution from the world and persecution from the backslidden Church. I find it interesting that even with both of these two very different oppressors, the first few verses in both the Psalms reference David being “trampled.”

            “Be gracious to me, O God, for man has trampled upon me; fighting all day long he oppresses me (Psalm 56:1). He will send from heaven and save me; He reproaches him who tramples upon me (Psalm 57:3).” This is the unfortunate fate of a “David.” David symbolizes the man of faith – which is ironically the one that always gets trampled upon by men of the world, whether religious or otherwise. Though in both Psalms David is being trampled, his cry is to God and God alone. He does not raise his voice against the Philistines or against Saul.

            In Psalm 56, we find that verses four and eleven repeat one another. In verse 11 we read: In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? In another translation it uses the word “flesh” instead of man. What is the “flesh” and who is the “me” being spoken of? We have already seen from verse one that David is being trampled upon. So obviously flesh is doing something to him. Not to mention, if David is taken, there is a lot of torture that man can do to another man. Yet David insists that man can do nothing to me.

            The “me” must mean something more than the physical body that can indeed be harmed by men.  However, what he is in God, the essential David, cannot be harmed. In this we have the basis for why we shall not fear. This is the basis for worship. Who we are in God cannot be taken from us. We are something very distinct and different from our bodies. Though we are contained within our physical bodies, the reality of who we are is not destroyed with our body. This is why in the midst of persecution we can find solace in God.

            In all of the saints of old, whether Old Testament or New Testament, we read that the glory of God is revealed in both their lives and their deaths. Martyrdom is not merely in death, but a lifestyle. When we can live as though we have already died, then we are truly living. Our lives are not our own. God is somehow in control and is bigger than our lives. Everything we do is to the glory of God. Nothing is for self.

            In this, our death is taken in a way to say, “There is something more important than self-preservation.” In order to die at the hands of persecutors and make that kind of statement through your death does not come at the end of your life. You aren’t going to somehow find the gusto to endure pain. This kind of manifestation is displayed through your life – your death is only the final enactment. Any persecution that is faced, whether to the death or we live through it, will display full well the wisdom by which we truly are governed.

            King Zedekiah was promised his life if he surrendered to Babylon. There was a problem. He feared men more than God. Because he feared what the people of Israel would say, he was brutally tortured and ultimately killed. His death was not valiant. Isaiah, tradition says, was cut in half while hanging upside down. While they hacked him asunder, he was still prophesying. Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego took “death” (fiery furnace) without wavering. They claimed, “Even if God does not deliver us, oh king, we still will not bow down to your stupid antichrist statue!”

            When we view Acts 16, we see the story of Paul and Silas. These two men are beaten and thrown in prison unjustly. At midnight, they start singing songs of praise to God. In the midst of their worship, the prison doors swing wide open. What is it about the worship of Paul and Silas that would cause for such a phenomena? When you can give testimony of God like that to the world in the midst of adversity and trials, then you have given the ultimate witness of God that glorifies God and can be used as a witness to save the nations.

            When our worship comes from a heart that knows God’s character and that He would not allow anything to befall us if it did not glorify Him, we have stepped out of the realm of music as worship and into the realm of Davidic worship. Even in the midst of prison and death, Paul and Silas rejoiced in the God who saved them. Death could not keep them from Him. Why fear? If we die, we go to see the Lord. If we are tortured, then we should count it privilege to be found as worthy vessels to take the same torment that Christ received. Isn’t this why Peter and John rejoiced after being beaten by the Sanhedrin in Acts 5:40-42?

            Probably the greatest travesty of our age is the use of manipulation during worship to rile up the emotions and senses during the music time. True worship should be a spontaneous expression of a reality that has been obtained corporately, by a people who have been long enough and intensely enough together to obtain it. Choruses should be the expression of joy, not its substitute. Music can be a powerful thing, but when music becomes a means to feeling, we have forsaken the holy worship in Spirit and truth.

            There is a wickedness beyond human capacity, which is of the principalities and powers of the air. If we do not recognize (and wrestle) them now, then we will not recognize them during the time of persecution. We will assume that mankind is purely corrupted, and in that we will possibly lose heart. But what do we lose heart in? It is ultimately that we lose faith in God, and we therefore lose our own humanity as well.

            Our lifestyle must be born out of the real belief in a soon coming Tribulation and return of the Lord. With this, our view is properly centered to not fret with the things of this life, and to endure patiently until the end when we shall receive reward. My struggles in daily life are things to rejoice in. I know that the tougher the struggle the greater the work of sanctification it will bring. I rejoice that in pain there is comfort, in struggle there is ability to overcome, in persecution there is endurance, and in torture there is a crown.

You Will Save Many Lives...

Something that is titillating in my heart today comes from reflecting on Israel, the Church, and the last days. Let me first define my terms. By "last days," I mean that last Tribulation that the world will suffer before the coming of Christ. How do we prepare for it? What do we do now in order to not find ourselves at want in those days?

David Wilkerson gave a series of messages on this very thing. The conclusion that he continued to give was this: you live like Jesus told you to. If we have two coats, we give our brother in need one. If someone desires to sue us, we give them also our tunic (in modern language, we strip down to our underwear in front of them and allow them to also take our clothing). If someone persecutes us, we pray for them. If they curse us, we bless them. If they hate us, we love them. We do not return evil for evil. We give everything we have. If we have extra in any manner, we supply for others in need. We share all things in common with one another. Nothing is ours. We don't take money with us, but believe that God will provide for us clothes and food. Does He not give more splendor to the flowers than what even Solomon had?

I like this response. There is just one problem: what do I do now? To a certain extent, I live like Jesus told me to. I pursue that lifestyle so that when it really matters, I already have the habit of being generous. There is one other thing that is going through my heart, though. It deals with Elijah. Elijah went to a woman at Zerephath. This woman had nothing. In fact, she so had nothing that she was gathering sticks to eat her last meal with her son so that they could die together.

This woman is a representation of a religious system that is raising up children unto death. They are rejecting the religion of their mother, even while sitting in the pew with her. This son is our generation. The millennials are "leaving church." They have had enough. They have seen what they care to see. They are dying.

What was it that Elijah did when the woman's son did die? He took that child to his own bed chambers. He laid the boy upon his own bed. This, to me, speaks of taking in this generation. We bring them into our homes. We allow them to see our daily lives. They see the good, the bad, and the ugly. They see everything. We live in front of them a life that is worth living. This, of course, requires that we have that life that is worth living. We stretch ourselves upon that boy, and we seek God that He would give us something to breath into this generation.

That boy MUST live. If we allow him to die, then the widow dies too. It isn't enough to think that the millennials are leaving, and we'll get them back when they have kids. If that boy dies, the mother dies too. She won't continue on without her son. This is life and death for the church.

I am only 25 years old, but I feel as though God is granting me the heart of a father. If you don't want your kids, send them to me. If you don't want this generation, send them to me. I will take them in. I don't have much, but my God is greater than what I have. I will not stand by and watch this generation die and go to hell. There is a battle coming up on Mount Carmel where I will be required to face off with the false religious system of the day and give such a demonstration before Israel that they return to their God upon their faces crying, "The Lord - He is God! The Lord - He is God!"

Before that Tribulation comes and I take in the Jew, I need to take in that dead boy. I need to take him in, because if I don't raise that widow's son, there will be no Carmel. What we need to do as the Church is to take in this generation. We cannot put them off. Without this next generation, we will utterly fail in the ultimate purposes of God. We need them as much as they need us. They will be required to go through hell. They will be called upon to be a martyr generation, and someone needs to prepare them for it. Someone needs to reveal what martyrdom looks like. They need to know that martyrdom doesn't come at the end of life to a select few; it is a lifestyle lived out.

To the select few that do get called upon to be martyrs, the reaction they have to that call is based entirely on the life that they have lived. If their lives are still unto self, and they enjoy convenience and luxury, the end of their lives will also be lived to themselves. But there are martyrs that die silently. They die singing hymns. They die in such a way to bring glory to God, and to blow the whistle on everything the world says is truth. They display an alternate reality. What we have been living from is not truth. It is fake.

But the true martyrs are the ones that are so heavenly minded and eternally focused that they can say any suffering that they bear is momentary and light. That is what this generation needs. They need martyrs that live. They need to see in the deepest places of our being that we love not our lived even unto death. They need to see the power of the resurrection, or they won't themselves be raised from the dead. This is my call to everyone. Times are coming, and they will be difficult. What you do now will determine what you will do then. Pour yourself out like a drink offering to this generation, because that alone is what will save many lives - both physically and spiritually.

About Missionaries

I was asked recently about missionaries. Specifically, “What is your thinking when it comes to missionaries? It is churches that send missionaries out and help support them in ways that they need. How would you send out missionaries in your community?” It’s a great question, and it got me thinking about it. To be quite honest, I just assumed that evangelism and missionary work was included in community living. If you aren’t affecting the society/people around you, wherever you are, then what on earth are you doing?

But to ask it directly made me to realize that I don’t know that I have it as nailed down as tight as I thought. So here is my response, which I couldn’t seem to make small enough to post on that Facebook comment…

When dealing with evangelism and missionaries I think we’re dealing with subjects deeper than sending them and supporting them. What was it that gave Paul his authority and power? Everywhere he went there was either riot or revival. The disciples after being sent out from Jesus came back and proclaimed miracles and demonic deliverance in such a way to make even the Charismatic/Pentecostal denominations seem anemic in comparison. Notice in Acts 13:1-5 and when Jesus sends out His disciples that they are sent in 2 - never alone. There is still community even when they are sent out of community. Even in being sent out, they know where they are sent from is still their community, and they are welcome home at any time.

Paul seems to indicate that even when he is out abroad that he had hopes to go back to such and such church where he could reconnect with “home.”  I guess what I’m feeling for is that maybe missionary work isn’t merely winning the lost or going to places that haven’t heard the gospel? What if missionary work is something more like apostleship in that you are sent by the word of God to proclaim the message God gives you to proclaim to the people God sends you to (Romans 10:14-15)? Maybe it is the sent word that causes faith upon hearing, because it is hearing the very word of God.

Lets not pass that so soon. What makes this word so powerful? It actually gives faith to the hearer, gives liberty to the captive, and/or causes uproar. The man who is sent out by the will of the Lord is sealed with the power and authority of the Holy Spirit. I think that maybe what actually warrants that power and authority is found in the context of community. What exactly do I mean by that word?

Community is the denial of self. It is a relation with other believers that displays the mystery of the Godhead. As Jesus was one with the Father, so are we one with each other. We sacrificially give self unreservedly for the benefit of the other believers without expectation of recompense. Because I sacrificially give myself, and my wife sacrificially gives herself, somehow we pour into each other in a way that neither of us are empty, and neither of us are weak, but we somehow strengthen each other. This is the mystery displayed in that Jesus gave Himself unreservedly for the Father, and the Father selflessly promoted the Son (gave Him a name above every name – including His own name). 

When we can display that kind of reality, of denying self for the benefit and promotion of the others in the community, and by the power of the Spirit we are transformed into being one as God is one, it is precisely at that point that we have now reached “community.” When a Church is able to live like that, then they have no issue with also giving to another community in another town, village, country, etc.

One of my wife and my initial thoughts with the question were about the distinction made between local and global church. Kim and I don’t think that we should make a distinction between local and global church. Paul addresses the whole city, not “local churches” in Ephesus. He does sometimes address churches that met in homes (typically at the end of the epistle). Because they are all connected as the Church, many times we read of how the church in such and such location has shown its faithfulness by sending someone to another location in support.

The reason this is important is because I want to make it clear that I am not against supporting missions groups. They’ve already been established, and if you know they do good, then by all means support them. The point, however, is that having a special offering for missions, or having a denominationally supported mission, is not enough. It takes the whole Church. If it weren’t for the saints throughout the world coming to Paul in his time of need, who knows what kind of condition he would have been in Rome? He told Timothy that everyone abandoned him. He then goes on to say that he is thankful for some who came to him.

I would like to suggest that maybe the idea of community is so central to the Christian faith that even missions work is not a different subject. Maybe the reason that the disciples in that first century had such power is because “when two or three are gathered in My name, there I am in their midst.” What if the whole framework of missions is held up by the global church as community – being one with each other as God is one – in that they are in communion with the same Spirit? Is it possible that by the togetherness that we truly display here and now with the other believers that we gather with actually affects our witness?

In conclusion to try and directly answer the question, to support a missionary as a community means to take up their burdens with them; even if we are absent physically we are together in spirit. I think that if you don’t have community, you don’t have church at all. And what can we call “church” if not an entity that is connected together by the Spirit with all brothers globally, which is displayed locally through a body that has torn down all walls of hostility to one another.