LUKE 5:1-10 – On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”
Today’s nugget theme is the title of the fourth chapter in R. C. Sproul’s classic book The Holiness of God. A break for a little commercial; if we have not heard of or read this book, change both of these experiences in our lives. In my opinion, his book makes the short list of “must read” books as well as the list of “must read again” books in one’s Christian life. Sproul would write of Peter’s response when he was spiritually awakened to the “traumatizing” glory and majesty of the Holy Lord Jesus – At that moment Peter realized that he was in the presence of the Holy Incarnation. He was desperately uncomfortable. His initial response was one of worship. He fell to his knees before Christ. Instead of saying something like, “Lord, I adore You, I magnify You,” he said, “Please go away. Please leave. I can’t stand it.” Yet, we don’t see Peter walking away and here lies the wonderful tension when we truly encounter the holy God. We see our sinfulness in light of His blazing holiness and we want to run and hide. We also want to stay in the Presence of His holy Person because it and it only truly satisfies our longing soul. But there is another lesson in this account of the trauma of being exposed to God’s Holy Person. It is about worship.
When it comes to true worship in spirit and truth, we must come to grips with two things. First, we do not create the environment for worship by our music, the “mood” of a darkened auditorium with lights and effects, nor anything else man-made. They all produce false worship because they move us to trust them instead of what brings true worship to God’s people. And that leads to the second thing to embrace about worship; how it is produced.
True worship occurs when God reveals Himself as He really is – holy, majestic, and glorious to His people; like He did to Peter. And there is no mistaking the Presence of God. It humbles a person .It fills the place with holy fear, even dread. It produces a serious but joyful spirit among God’s people. There is no levity, irreverence, or light-heartedness toward worship or God. In fact, often we don’t know what to say. We simply are overwhelmed with His Person leaving us without words but with a full and adoring heart. When all these responses are absent, we may be in church and think we are offering worship but it isn’t true for it is not being driven by the God who is holy, holy, holy. Yes, the trauma of holiness. It is real and actually is the “call to worship” for all true worship begins here.
PRAYER: “Father, I praise You for Your Holy Being that both exposes me in my sinfulness and satisfies me in Your Person.”
QUOTE: “Someday we will behold the holiness of God without sin and thus never wanting to hide from such beauty.”