You're all You say You are

It was another Saturday. It was another service. It was another day. But, today, 2 truths were illuminated brightly in my spirit during service.

1) The first was during worship while we were singing "You Are Holy". A fantastic song written by a worship song legend - Matt Redman. From his song lyrics, you know he's a true worshipper. Here's the YouTube lyric video of the song.



The song states in the bridge:

Who shall we say You are?

You're the living God

Who shall we say You are?

You're the Great I AM

The highest name of all

You're all You say You are

The truth in the last line of the bridge suddenly spoke to me as I was pondering on the lyrics of the bridge. My first thought as my mind skimmed through the lyrics was "That line sounds really idiotic - You're all You say You are...Like duh?"

The bridge asks "Who shall we say You are?" and the answer is "You're all You say You are." I mean, think about it...If someone asks you to introduce your friend and you say "He is all he say he is." It's such a lame rhetoric...Like YOU DON'T SAY...Haha.

But it suddenly dawned on me that...usually what we say we are, is not actually who we are. Who we think we are is never who we really are.

One classic example is found in the Bible.

Matthew 26:33 "Peter answered and said to Him, “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.”

Matthew 26:35 "Peter said to Him, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!”

Guess what happened next?

Luke 22:57 "But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.”

Peter's impassioned discourse of standing by Jesus till death was shattered to smithereens when the rooster crowed three times.

Why did Peter weep bitterly thereafter?

Because the man he thought and said he was, isn't the man he really is.

It dawned on me that for all of us, who we sincerely say we are, is never all that we actually are. Because what we think of ourselves is only based on our imperfect, flawed and fallen mind.

No one else's description of themselves are timelessly true and perfectly accurate because we don't know who we are exhaustively.

That's why there are sayings that go "discover yourselves", "venture out and find yourselves", "learn more about yourself" etc...It goes to show that we only know ourselves by experiment and experience. WE DO NOT TRULY KNOW WHO WE ARE!

We need circumstances to reveal us and show our character. And who we say we are is only based on what we think we have discovered of ourselves THUS FAR.

Only God truly knows who we are - past, present, future tense - because He crafted us and designed us. So, God is the only One who has the prerogative, authority and right to say that He is ALL THAT HE SAYS HE IS.

Thus, the lyrics suddenly took on a whole new meaning. I realized that yes, God is the only One that is ALL THAT HE SAYS HE IS.

The lyric suddenly held a weight; a revelatory weight. I began to see that God's words are infallible, perfect and timelessly true as opposed to our biased, flawed and fallacious flare of words.

2) The second thing that really hit me was when Ps How was describing the church with these words:

The church is not an organization; It is an organism

It really hit me. The church is a living, breathing, kicking, squirming, moving, changing, growing organism! It is the body of Christ!

It is not just a gathering of like-minded people who believe in Jesus Christ but a union of Jesus-followers committed to loving each other as a body of Christ for better or for worse.

WE ARE THE BODY OF CHRIST, A BODY, AN ORGANISM! When one part of the body suffers, the whole body suffers. (1 Corinthians 12:26-27)

I, for one, am a very individualistic Christian. I belong to no Church; I belong to the Church of Christ. So whichever Church that preaches and lives out Christ in the most effective, inspiring and relevant way has my support.

But no, God calls us to be committed to a church, to be devoted to it for better, or for worse. So yeah, still got a lot of debates and thoughts going through my mind about this.

But for now, it is an awesome statement that packs a load of truth in it. The church is an organism, not an organization.

Yup, these are the 2 biggest takeaways for me today :) Glad that God is using Heart of God church to mould me and change me like it is doing for many other members of this body :)

May God's hand and favour ever be upon this church and its leadership as He uses it for His glory in the last days :)