Robert Lowery

1. “Worship is our response to God’s initiative” (Dr. Dinelle Frankland, Professor of Worship Ministry, Lincoln Christian Seminary).
2. Revelation’s notion of worship fits in with the teaching of Jesus (see John 4:23) and Paul (Rom. 12:1-2).
3. John focuses on both a narrow and a broad view of worship: We must cherish the times when we can celebrate God’s faithfulness and give him glory as a community, and we must also realize that worship is ultimately 24/7/365. The corporate worship gathering prepares us to worship God when we are “alone,” trying to live out our lives as faithful disciples of Jesus. The worship we offer God on a daily basis makes us eager to be reunited with brothers and sisters so that we can praise God and encourage one another.
4. Not only is there good worship, there is also bad worship: Everybody’s gotta worship somebody!
5. The worship we offer to God in this life foreshadows the perfect worship we will offer to God when God brings the new heaven and new earth.
6. The worship we offer on earth should mirror the worship the saints and heavenly beings are offering to God in his presence.
7. In Revelation worship is an act of war.
8. In Revelation worship offered to God is voluntary; the Dragon forces worship or seduces people to worship him.
9. Worship serves as a link uniting the past, the present, and the future.
10. “Liturgy plays the part it does in Revelation because of the conviction that what people do in their worship lies behind what they do in the world: if God is truly acknowledged, the war at the heart of things is resolved.” (J.P.M. Sweet, Revelation, p. 20).

(And one more — “The worship of the living and true God is essentially an engagement with him on the basis on the terms that he proposes and in the way that he alone makes possible.” David Peterson, Engaging With God: A Biblical Theology of Worship, p. 20.)

In light of my current health issues, that is the question I have been asking more and more.

I asked it again last night (April 7) as I was going through the day’s mail. I had received a packet of information from the company called Student Magazines. The company offers fantastic bargains on magazine subscriptions to students and educators. I was being offered a special discount if I would renew my subscriptions to Time, Newsweek, US News and World Report, and Rolling Stone. In the same stack of mail I was asked to renew my subscription to National Review. Do I or don’t I?

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On Wednesday, April 14, students, faculty, staff, and friends gathered at the morning Seminary chapel service to pray for the Lowerys.  The service began with singing and a brief sermon by LCU president Dr. Keith Ray, then transitioned to a time of prayer.  Bob and Marilyn were seated up front while friends and colleagues gathered around them to pray for Bob’s health, his family, and his ministry.  Here are some of the moments from that special time.

Photographs by Michael Gowin

“The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon (that is, suddenly or quickly) take place…” (Revelation 1:1a; see 22:6,7,12,20)

“Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.” (Revelation 1:3; see 22:10)

Two beautiful thoughts, often misunderstood or ignored, are brought together in these two verses: the speedy manner in which the Lord will return and the ongoing nearness of the Lord’s return. Christ’s first coming started the long-awaited kingdom (God’s rule), and it is a kingdom which will continue to exist throughout the church age until Christ returns.

Unknown Yet Certain

The first century Christians would not have been surprised if Christ had come during their lifetime. This observation does not mean that they knew when he was going to return or that they knew that most certainly he was going to return during their lifetime (see Matt. 24:36-25:46; John 21:20ff.; I Thess. 5:1ff.; II Pet. 3:10; Rev. 3:3; 16:15). They lived with the strong and eager sense of expectancy that he indeed would return. But such an outlook did not mean they knew he was going to return during their lifetime. In fact, they knew full well that Jesus and Paul, to name just two individuals, taught that no one knew when Christ was going to return. Yet they would not have been surprised if he indeed did come during their lifetime because they had accepted the certainty of Christ’s final return.

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In his marvelous work, Life Together (p. 112), Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes eloquently and passionately about the power of confession:

In confession the break-through to community takes place. Sin demands to have a man by himself. It withdraws him from the community. The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him, and the more deeply he becomes involved in it, the more disastrous is his isolation. Sin wants to remain unknown. It shuns the light. In the darkness of the unexpressed it poisons the whole being of a person. This can happen even in the midst of a pious community. In confession the light of the Gospel breaks into the darkness and seclusion of the heart. The sin must be brought into the light. The unexpressed must be openly spoken and acknowledged. All that is secret and hidden is made manifest. It is a hard struggle until the sin is openly admitted. But God breaks gates of brass and bars of iron (Ps. 107:16).

The last several months have been terribly demanding on me and my family and closest of friends. I have never felt deeper need for God’s presence. And in recent days I have felt the need for confession.

Dear readers, it is confession time, and I disclose…

That I have often been irritable and impatient—Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy!

That I have often uttered “Oh God!” and it has not been in the context of prayer—Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy!

That I have kept my fears and anxieties hidden from those who love me the deepest—Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy!

That I have complained and whined and have planned some magnificent pity-parties to which I have invited only one person—Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy!

That I have allowed despair some depression to rule far too many moments of my life—Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy!

That I have squandered times where energy has been present to do more for God—Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy!

That I have not been grateful enough for God’s saving and sustaining grace—Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy!

Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy! Amen!