Worthy of Service

Isiah 6:1-8

It (service to God) calls on us to put to death the sin and the indifference we have in our hearts toward God and our fellow persons. And it beckons us to enter once again into the joy of the Lord—the joy of a new life born out of a death to the old life¹

The prophet Isiah's vision again gives us a glimpse of Heaven and the worship rendered by the heavenly beings to the Lord who is seated on the throne.

John 14:12 tells us that the One whom the prophet saw was our Lord Jesus Christ, which is full proof that our Savior is God. In Christ Jesus, God is seated on a throne of grace; and through Him the way into the holiest is laid open.²

A close look at Isiah's vision gives us an account as to what happens when man is exposed to God's holiness: All vain-glory, ambition, ignorance, and pride, would be done away by one view of Christ in his glory. (Isiah 6:5)

A glimpse of such Heavenly glory would not only remind us of our personal sinfulness, it would also reveal to us the truth that by ourselves we are totally unworthy of God and His fellowship if not for Christ who acts as our Mediator before God.

In the same manner as that of the seraphs that cleansed Isiah's mouth with coal, Christ too in His act of love on the cross has also cleansed us from our unrighteousness, a cleansing which we receive by God's grace in Jesus, whom we can receive in our hearts by faith in Him. (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 3:22)

As worshipers it is equally important that we look at Isiah's vision in light of what God has done to us when He confronted us with His holiness through the Scripture but also at the same time also called us into His fellowship through the Gospel.

And in looking back at God's work of saving us and cleansing us of our sins in we should respond in the same manner to that of Isiah when the Lord said: “whom shall I send?” (Isiah 6:8a)

Isiah said: “Here am I send me...” (Isiah 6:8b).

God is totally worthy of our service because of what He has done for us in Christ.

Everything in our Christian life and service flows from our relationship with God. If we are not in vital fellowship with Him, everything else will be out of focus.³

Reflection:

1. Do I ever take the time to look back at who I was before I met the Lord?

2. Do I ever stop to consider the depth of God's grace in the person and work of Christ?

3. Have I ever responded to His love by making myself available to His service?

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Romans 12:1

Notes:

1A.W. Tozer, http://www.worldofquotes.com/author/A.-W.-Tozer/1/index.html

2Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume 4

3J. Oswald Sanders, Enjoying Intimacy With God, p.12

Worthy of Worship

Revelations 4:8,11

"Worship is the human response to the self-revelation of the triune God, which involves: (1) divine initiation in which God graciously reveals himself, his purposes, and will; (2) a spiritual and personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ enabled by the ministry of the Holy Spirit; and (3) a response by the worshiper of joyful adoration, reverence, humility, submission and obedience"¹

Is God worthy of our worship?

The passage gives us a view from Heaven which gives us an idea of what awaits us there: it is eternal worship to God who is truly worthy of worship because He is God. Every glimpse of Heaven that we have in the Bible is always a glimpse of worship and rejoicing because God is who He is.²

Truly, there is none like Him who deserves our all in worship. But before worshiping the Bible also at the same time instructs us that the God who deserves our worship should be the God that we must know on the basis of a personal relationship with Him.

In fact, Acts 17:22-31 tells of the story in which the Apostle Paul praised the religiosity of the Greeks in Athens but at the same time admonished them to give worship only to the one true God whom we can only approach on the basis of our response to: “Him whom He has raised from the dead.” (Acts 17:31).

That person is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ who was born of a virgin, suffered under Pontious Pilate, died on the Cross and rose from the grave to make worshipers out of rebels³ We are brought to God and to faith and to salvation that we might worship and adore Him.

God has provided His salvation that we might be individually and personally be vibrant children of God, loving God with all our hearts and worshiping Him in the beauty of holiness.⁴

So to answer the question of whether God is truly of our worship can only be answered with a simple 'yes!'. Yes because He is God! The greater question lies more on what is true worship?

The late A.W. Tozer once defined 'true worship' as being: “personally and hopelessly in love with God.”⁵

Now the question would be is that have we ever been that hopelessly in love with the God who saved us?

We can only answer that on the basis of our personal response to the Gospel of Christ who compels us to come to Him as we are as poor sinners, in need of a Saviour.

Reflection:

1. How do I view worship? Do I look at it in light of a personal relationship with my Creator, Redeemer and Lord?

2. How do I view my salvation? Do I look at it merely as my ticket to Heaven? Or do I look at it as God's work so that I may commune with Him in the beauty of who He is?

The Lord of all being is far more than the Lord of all beings. He is the Lord of all actual existence. He is the Lord of all kinds of beings--spiritual being, natural being, physical being. Therefore, when we rightly worship Him we encompass all being. ⁶

^Notes

1David Nelson (2002), Authentic Worship, p. 149

2A.W. Tozer (1985) Whatever Happened to Worship p.14

3Ibid

4Ibid

5Ibid

6A.W. Tozer, http://www.worldofquotes.com/author/A.-W.-Tozer/1/index.html

Revealed: A band of brothers

An old article that I wrote for the Church's newsletter ...
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I was having a very difficult time with writing this article. I wasn't sure why, perhaps I really don't know where to start.

But to what seemed to me as a grueling endeavor of conceptualization seemed to be more than meets the eye, because the best place to start writing about how the Lord worked in the lives of the Baclagon family was basically me.

Simply put, I was a product of this God's work in this church through the ministry that was bestowed upon my brothers. I practically grew up in Grace Bible Church (GBC), with the memories of playing with Edward Nogales and Tercy Manalo in the old building as one of my few childhood memories of the church. Truly: "the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. "

The Lord's work was set into motion with my Kuya Manny's introduction to the gospel through the Living Circle Ministry (LC) in Manila Science which subsequently led him to bring my other Kuyas to GBC starting with Kuya Louie who also became part of the LC Ministry in V. Mapa High School; followed by Kuya Peddie, Benjie and Gerry.

It was through GBC that they came to know the Lord and have decided to follow Him. Back then being a Christian in our household was not as laid-back as it is now because at the time being 'born again' was uncommon in our family who hailed from a Roman Catholic religious background, but as time passed our parents have seen the changes that God brought in the lives of my brothers that they become more understanding of their faith and tolerant of their participation in the church's ministry.

As time passed I too was brought here at GBC early on through the numerous cantata's that were produced during Christmas and Easter and later on through the Sunday School and Junior Worship Services. Eventually I came to a personal relationship with Lord through the church's solid Bible-based preaching which provoked me to realize my need for a Savior.

It was here that I witnessed how the Lord worked in the lives of my brothers as they all later on started their own families here at GBC and still continued to serve the Lord through their own respective ministries: Kuya Benjie as a fulltime campus missionary Kuya Louie through the Board of Trustees and Kuya Gerry through the offertory.

GBC is celebrating its 57th Anniversary this month and I believe that it is but fitting for the Baclagons to give praise to the God that has used this church and its people to minister to us as a family. After all, who would have known that simple preaching of the Gospel in Manila Science High School would weave our family life as brothers that are not only related by blood but also of the same Spirit.

Soli Deo Gloria

chuck baclagon

Welcome.

Hello I am Chuck Baclagon and welcome to ad maiorem Dei gloriam which is Latin for the English phrase: "for the greater glory of God".

Which is what I hope to live out as a Christian who stands confronted with the question of the Gospel's relevance in a society that seeks to eliminate the revelation of God as testified to by Sacred Scriptures and taught by the Church.

This blog serves as an online space where I would upload some of my thoughts on Christianity, theology, apologetics, some of the sermon messages that I have given exegesis for the youth ministry of Grace Bible Church. As well as some content from other blogs, sites and online resources on Christian theology.

Online stuff on the works

anyways this is somewhat a productive week for me since i've done a lot of online modifications to the Greenpeace Southeast Asia website primarily in the look and feel of the front page whereupon after getting some timely suggestions from folks here in the office i was able to make it less static and more up to date with the current web design trends in the Greenpeace planet.

also i've just jumpstarted my new online pet project called Buzz Light Year Terrorizes Toontown, where it features a homicidal Buzz Lightyear wreaking havoc on toontown and beating up Spiderman, the Justice League and a host of other super-powered and not so super-powered beings.

plus there's this DeathToPuberty MySpace account which i'm not yet good at troubleshooting since i'm a wee friendster patron. but please do check it out and please add us if you so happened to have a myspace account.

lastly the local church that i attend Grace Bible Church has officially given me the responsibility to become its webmaster and right now i've already migrated it with a CMS (content management system) hopefully this would make a good tool for spreading the gospel unto all nations.

i guess its time for this geek to log off and shut up...

see you again :)