The Biblical Matrix

Are You Depressed, or are you just sad?

2009-03-29T18:09:00.008-04:00

Geoff Thomas, who has written for "Banner Of Truth" says it this way: "Times of sadness are a normal part of the Christian life." He goes on to list several instances in the Scriptures, i.e. Jesus weeping over Jerusalem and the prophet Jeremiah lamenting the state of God's people and the destruction of that very same city.

Does it not break our hearts today when we see the wholesale rejection of our Lord and a turning away from God's Word as the final authority in the affairs of men?

Dr. Theodore Darylmple, in an article written for the Daily Express says it this way: "No one is unhappy these days, but everyone is depressed." Note: I have been given written permission to quote from and include some of his writings in this article.

In my ministry as a shepherd I have dealt with many, many folks who have struggled with issues in their lives and have identified their problem as one of depression. Dr. Dalrymple sounds a warning against "the tendency of medical science to apply drugs to block natural human emotions."

He readily admits that depression does in fact exist, but he says, "I must have heard hundreds or even thousands of people say that they were depressed but only two or three admit that they were unhappy (and one of those was in prison)."

He notes that those he characterized as depressed were relatively few in number. Their malady was incapacitating. They often neglected themselves in regards to eating and drinking properly. They were extremely subdued and often felt guilty "for no good reason." In earlier times such folk were often assigned to asylums and would spend days upon end "sitting on a chair at a table set against a wall..."

Here's the problem: the replacement of the word "unhappiness" by the word "depression" turns a normal human experience into a medical condition which is "to be treated and cured by doctors."

Many cases of unhappiness are understandable: a recently widowed person misses their spouse; a vacation has to be canceled due to illness or other circumstances. You get the picture.

From the article again: "Unhappiness usually arises from the situation in which people find themselves, either through circumstances beyond their control, or as a result of their own choices ... "

The replacement of the word 'unhappiness' with the word 'depression' has "turned the world into a great hospital. If unhappiness is an illness, then why not every other human experience as well?" Many doctors, instead of trying to find out what it is that is making the patient unhappy hands the patient a pill. Since pills are handed out for illnesses, the patient now has confirmation from the doctor that he is indeed ill. He does not have to try and deal with the circumstances that are making him unhappy...." Deep, huh?

Here's another problem: the effectiveness of anti-depressants against most forms of unhappiness is slight, if it exists at all.

Another quote from the article: Drug companies feared at first that there would not be enough seriously depressed people to make the manufacture of anti-depressants profitable. But the abandonment of the word unhappy for the word depressed came to their rescue. "

So, I ask again: Are you depressed or are you just unhappy?

Psychiatrist Thomas Szasz jokingly suggests that if unhappiness is treated as an illness, than happiness should be as well."

If you're happy, perhaps you should try and figure out what's wrong with you.

Hit me back.

We reserve the right...

2009-02-22T15:32:00.006-05:00

At the top of our weekly Sunday bulletin you'll find these words: "We reserve the right to change the order of service as the Spirit leads." I'm going somewhere with this so follow the journey.

As with most chuches there are certain elements that make up our Sunday worship time. There are things that we do pretty much every Sunday. We have a time of welcome and greeting where we get to exchange handshakes and hugs with each other. We have a time of singing which will include at different times hymns, choruses and contemporary praise & worship songs. We like to call it "blended worship." We receive tithes and offerings. There is our pastoral prayer time. There's the reading of Scripture. We also take time to go through some announcements.

I have the privilegde of being very involved with the order of service each week, and each week I begin with what I call a "blank page." Even though the elements of the service may not change much from one Sunday to the next, where they actually happen during the service is up for change each time. But because I try to be sensitive to the "flow" of the service there are certain things I don't like to do. For example, I like to put the announcements at the front or the back of the service, before we start singing, or after the message is done. Once we've sung some songs and are in that place where singing to God takes us, I don't like to interject announcements until after the message. That's just me.

This Sunday we had everything in the order we set, and things began to happen. Two members of our praise team were involved with a car problem and were running late.We also had some choir members with issues that put them behind schedule. It was messin' with our plans.

Thanks to a worship leader who wasn't rattled, a pastor who was ready to go with the flow, and a general sense of God's sovereignty among those involved in the worship ministries that day, service went on and God was honored.

This may seem like a small thing, but for me it was a reminder that God can and will work in us and through us regardless of what's happening around us. The next time it may be a bigger thing. No problem. We reserve the right to change anything, even our very lives, as the Spirit leads.

WORSHIP AS ENTERTAINMENT

2009-02-16T06:11:00.004-05:00

I can't tell you how many times I've been to a service where someone said something like: "We're not here to entertain, we're here to worship." Let's dialogue.

Over the course of my life I've had several paradigm shifts regarding gospel music. One of the first was due to the music of Edwin Hawkins. The Hawkins Family took it to a different place for me. It was soulful and jazzy at times. Intricate... Then there was Andre Crouch. The smooth harmonies ... he was another mile marker in my journey. The Winans ... the question is, 'What took them so long to arrive?" They definitely changed the landscape for me.

For my money Fred Hammond was the guy that urbanized praise and worship like it had never been done before. When I first saw him he was playing bass for the Winans. He moved from back-up musician to front and center as a leader in the gospel music "industry." Let's dialogue.

Check out the logo above. Verizon Wireless is having something they call "How Sweet The Sound", the search for the best choirs in America. Persons of all faiths are invited to participate. The prize: $50,000 in cash prizes. Plus, you could claim the Verizon Wireless V Cast People's Choice Award, with a performance of the winning choir featured on V Cast (in addition to taking home a $5,000 prize).

They are not alone. There are numerous such events to choose from. Some will say it's an opportunity to spread the gospel. Some will say it's a competition and as such is counter-productive to what should be the goal of gospel music. What do you say? Let's dialogue.

I've been in services where one person's worship experience was another persons excuse to get up and go the bathroom. "She was really anointed." "I thought she was showing off." Is it live or is it Memorex? Is it worship or entertainment? Perhaps some of it has to with where "we" are. Let's dialouge.

Living A Life Of Worship Part II

2009-02-08T16:17:00.011-05:00

Imagine that you are about to start a new society complete with municipalities, governing bodies, the whole works. One of your first jobs is to establish the laws- the rules and regulations which will regulate the relationships and interactions of the people living in your new world.

These laws will be the foundation of your community. They will cast your vision and be the fulcrum upon which your commonwealth will turn. They will establish both the patterns of acceptable and unacceptable behavior. One more thing: you only get to make ten laws.

How would you start? What do you think would be the most important things to establish?

The Ten Commandments which God gave His people were set into stone. I've never really thought about the implications of that, but it is a striking image. Here's what God deemed important: the first three commandments establish the fact that God and God alone is to be worshiped. Number one: No other gods go before Him. Number two: Idols are a no-no. Number three: Don't misuse His Name.

Think of it, the first three commandments are centered around the idea of worship.

Worship is not a passing fad. It's not something we do at the front of the service to give the late folks time enough to get seated before the message starts. God thought it was important enough to be the jumping off point in His directive to His people. We could even argue that the very purpose of our being- the very reason we exists is to worship God. And we will argue that point. Next time. For now, let's consider giving worship the weight that God does. Hit me back.

Living A Life Of Worship

2009-02-05T16:35:00.006-05:00

If you were to ask 10 different people for their definition of worship you'd get 15 different answers.

John Piper made a statement which sheds a revealing light on the subject of worship. Piper doesn't begin with the word worship in his assertion, but by the end of the first sentence I immediately understood what he was talking about.

It's not so much a definition of worship as it is an observation of the conflict we find as we approach worship and endeavor to do so in Spirit and truth. Here's what he said: "There are two great passions in the universe: God's passion to be glorified and man's passion to be satisfied."

As I digested the sentence I began to read on: "These two [God's passion to be glorified and man's passion to be satisfied] do not need to conflict. They can come to simultaneous fulfillment through worship, because God is most glorified in me when I am most satisfied in Him alone."

Leaving the sanctuary satisfied is not a guarantee that God has been glorified. Unfortunately, for too many worshipers satisfaction is found in singing the types of songs they prefer, hearing the style of preaching they like, and gettin' their praise on in the way that is most comfortable to them. In commenting on people's penchant for gravitating to what feels familiar and agreeable, the Dad of a friend of mine said this: "There's a church for everybody."

I'd like to use the next few posts to stimulate a dialogue about the dynamics of worship, both corporate and personal. It's my prayer that for each of us, our worship will begin to focus more and more on His passion to be glorified, and that we will find our satisfaction in His glorification. Stay tuned.

Knowing God

2009-02-03T06:19:00.000-05:00

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country." God also said to Moses, "I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them. Exodus 6:1-3 NIV

He made known His ways to Moses, His deeds to the people of Israel Psalm 103:7 NIV

In the first passage above we see that the patriarchs knew God as a covenant maker. But God was about to reveal Himself to the next generation as a covenant keeper. The difference between the dynamics is earth shakin'. It's one thing to know that God "can" do something, it's another thing to see Him do it. That's how I want to experience God. But more than by experience, I want to know Him by relationship. That's what the 2nd passage is about.

The people of Israel had seen the hand of God. They knew Him by His deeds. I love it when I can see God's hand at work in my life and the lives of others. But I want more. Moses not only saw His acts. To Moses, God revealed His ways. That's relationship. Moses knew God's modus operandi. My prayer is that we will look past God's hand and into His face. Just a thought...

Cheap Grace

2009-02-02T18:01:00.000-05:00

During some study time today I was reacquainted with this quote and it provoked some serious thought: Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

The part that particularly grabbed me today was the idea of grace without discipleship. The Biblical price of discipleship is one that a lot of folks don't want to pay. being accountable has been equated with being vulnerable, and who wants that? Anyway, just passing it on ...

Monday

2009-02-02T07:56:00.000-05:00

I start my day at about 5am. No matter what time I go to bed, I ususally wake up at about 5am. I like mornings because it's quiet and I can get a lot done.

I spend some time letting God speak to me then get about sending out a daily email to my church family and friends which I call "For your consideration."

Yesterday's message at church was about "Small Prayers." Taken from the book of Ruth, it was about how many of our prayers are short-sighted. God, who sees the big picture, wants to do the "exceedingly, abundantly, more" than we usually ask, or think for that matter. It was a great Word.

Our dance team ministers every first Sunday. They were awesome again. I absolutely love to see them worshipping God like that. Worship. That's what it's all about for me.