Dec 10
17
How am I to worship God? (by Horatius Bonar)
Man asks, “How am I to worship God?” and
he has answered it also in his own way. In the
gorgeous temple, in the pillared cathedral, with
incense, and vestments, and forms, and ceremonies,
and processions, and postures, he says.
But these performances are the ‘will worship’ of
self righteousness, not the obedient service of
men worshiping God in ways of His own choosing.
Man cannot teach man how to worship God. When
he tries it he utterly fails. He distorts worship; he
misrepresents God, and he indulges his own sensuous
or self righteous tastes. His “dim religious light” is
but a reflection of his own gloomy spirit, and an
ignorant misrepresentation of Him “who is light.”
God’s answer to man’s question is given in the
Lord’s words, “those who worship Him must worship
Him in spirit and in truth.”
The vestments may or may not be lovely; that matters not.
The music may or may not be beautiful.
The knees may or may not be bent.
The hands may or may not be clasped.
The place of worship may or may not be
a cathedral, or a consecrated building.
These are immaterial things; mere
adjuncts of religion, not its essence.
The true worship is that of the inner man; and all
these other exterior things are of little importance.
As it is with love, so it is with worship.
The heart is everything!
God can do without the bended knee,
but not without the broken heart!
—
Heart worship
“Blessed is the man whose strength is in You;
in whose HEART are Your ways.” -Psalm 84:5
“None find joy in worship but those
who throw their hearts into it.
Neither prayer, nor praise, nor the
hearing of the word will be profitable to
those who have left their hearts behind them.”
-Spurgeon
—
Unity, peace, truth…
J.C. Ryle, “The Fallibility of Ministers”
Do not put implicit confidence in any man’s opinion,
merely because he is a minister.
What are the best of ministers but men–
dust, ashes and clay-
men with a nature like our own,
men exposed to temptations,
men liable to weaknesses and failings.
They have often driven the truth into the wilderness,
and decreed that to be true, which was false.
The greatest errors have been begun by ministers.
Peace without truth is a false peace;
it is the very peace of the devil.
Unity without the gospel is a worthless unity;
it is the very unity of hell.
We ought to contend jealously for the truth and to
fear the loss of truth more that the loss of peace.
To maintain pure truth in the church, we should be ready
to make any sacrifice, to hazard peace, to risk dissension
and run the chance of division.
Never let us be guilty of sacrificing any portion of truth
on the altar of peace.
We should no more tolerate false doctrine
than we would tolerate sin.
To regularly hear unscriptural teaching is a serious thing.
Is is a continual dropping of slow poison into the mind.
Let us receive nothing, believe nothing, follow nothing
which is not in the Bible, nor can be proved by the Bible.
—
OUR FORMS OF WORSHIP… -Spurgeon, “Is God in the Camp?”
If I have gone through the general routine of the worship
of my church, and then think that I have done something
acceptable to God, while yet my heart has not communed
with him in humble repentance, or faith, or love, or joy, or
consecration; I make a great mistake.
You may keep on with your religious performances for
seventy years or more; you may not neglect a single rubric
in the whole ritual; but it is all nothing unless the soul has
fellowship with God.
Godliness is a spiritual thing; for “God is a Spirit; and they
that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
So far as our forms or worship help us towards this
spiritual communion, they are good, but no farther.
Everything brought to God as a sacrifice must be alive.
Its blood must be poured out warm at the altar’s foot.
Oh that you and I might feel that lifting of the soul to God,
and that buoyancy of heart, which true spiritual worship
alone can bring to us! May our ritual, whether we have much or little,
be ourguide to God, and not our chain to hold us back from
God!
Modern Church Machinery
from Spurgeon’s sermon, “FAITH OMNIPOTENT”
Friends! the Churches of Christ have no need of the Modern
Machinery which has supplanted the Simplicity of Faith.
I verily believe, if the Lord swept the church committees
and missionary societies out of the universe, we would be
better without them.
I hope the Church will soon say, like David in Saul’s clanking
armor, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them,”
and with only her sling and her stone, confident in her God,
I trust she will confront her foe.
We Can Do All Things, If We Can but Trust Christ.
“All things are possible to him that believes.”
But nothing is possible to your schemes, and to your systems.
God will sweep them away yet, and happy shall be that
man who shall lead the van in their utter destruction!
Go up against her, take away her bulwarks, for they are not
the Lord’s; he did not ordain them, nor will he stand by them.
Act in faith, O you people of God, and prove the power of
prayer, for “all things are possible to him that believes.”
The fact is, God does not need our power, but our weakness;
not our greatness, but our nothingness.
—
Peace, peace! (J. C. Philpot, from his ‘Reviews’)
They dress the wound of My people as though
it were not serious. “Peace, peace!” they say,
when there is no peace. Jeremiah 8:11
How Jeremiah testifies against those prophets
who prophesy smooth things—who prophesy
deceits—who know not the way of the Lord,
nor have walked in His counsel.
There is no greater mark of false ministers given
in the word of truth, than healing the wound of God’s
people slightly, saying, “Peace, peace!” when there
is no peace.
If we carefully read the book of Jeremiah, we shall
see that the great sin and the chief deception of all
the false prophets who sprang up in scores during the
period of his ministry, was to build up the people in a
false hope—to assure them that they had no reason
to fear the judgments of God—that the Lord would
not execute against them what He threatened. They
therefore hardened the people in sin and disobedience,
led them to trifle with and despise the judgments of God,
and built them up in a false confidence that, because they
were the people of God by external profession, they were
His also by regenerating grace.
If our eyes were fully open to see the effect of the false
teaching of our day, we would see it equally dishonoring
to God—and pregnant with equally awful consequences.
We would see hundreds of dead professors built up
without a foundation of repentance toward God. We
would see sin made a little matter of—the awful anger
of the Almighty against it, and His dreadful indignation
against transgressors passed by as a thing of little
importance. We would see the strait and narrow path
widened out in all directions—and the distinguishing
truths of the gospel beaten down and amalgamated
with the grossest errors.
—
Jesus Christ Himself!
(J. C. Ryle, “The Real Presence“)
There is a real “spiritual presence” of Christ, wherever His believing people meet together in His name. This is the plain meaning of His famous saying, “Wherever two or three are gathered together in My name—there I am in the midst of them!” (Matthew 18:20). The smallest gathering of true Christians for the purposes of prayer or praise, or holy conference, or reading God’s Word—is sanctified by the best of company! The great or rich or noble may not be there—but the King of kings Himself is present—and angels look on with reverence!
The grandest buildings which men have reared for religious uses, are often no better than whitened sepulchers—destitute of any holy influence—because they are given up to superstitious ceremonies, and filled to no purpose with crowds of formal worshipers, who come unfeeling, and go unfeeling away. No worship is of any use to souls—at which Christ is not present! Incense, banners, pictures, flowers, crucifixes, and long processions of richly dressed ecclesiastics—are a poor substitute for the great High Priest Himself!
The poorest room where a few penitent believers assemble in the name of Jesus—is a consecrated and most holy place in the sight of God! Those who worship God in spirit and truth—never draw near to Him in vain. Often they go home from such meetings warmed, cheered, established, strengthened, comforted and refreshed. And what is the secret of their feelings? They have had with them the great Master of assemblies, Jesus Christ Himself!
—
Four Warnings To The Seven Churches
Todd Nibert
In Revelation 2 and 3, we read seven letters written by Christ Himself to the seven churches of Asia. Evidently they did not heed His warnings because none of those churches are with us today! It is only through giving heed to these warnings that you and I will persevere in the faith. There are at least these four warnings to the seven churches.
Losing you first love (Rev. 2:4). When we lose our first love, we no longer hear the Gospel as a sinner. We become like the man in James 1:23-24 who beholds himself in a mirror, and he goes away and forgets what manner of man he was. We then hear the Gospel as a critic, a judge, or in indifference.
The spirit of toleration (Rev. 2:24-25; 2:20). The churches at Pergamos and Thyatira were rebuked, not for what they did, but what they tolerated. When we loose our first love, under the guise of unity and charity, we tolerate that which is contrary to Christ.
Living in the past (Rev. 3:1). “Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.” A living faith is always present tense. When I have to go back to past experiences for assurance, it is because of the present deadness of my heart. Who are you looking to right now?
Lukewarmness (Rev. 3:15-17). Being neither cold nor hot – everything is alright. I’m o.k. You’re o.k.
These are the attitudes of the beginning of the end. May Christ preserve us from these things and cause us to persevere all the way to the end.
—
The best sermons!
Spurgeon, “Christ the Glory of His People”
The best sermons are the sermons
which are most full of Christ.
A sermon without Christ….
it is an awful, a horrible thing;
it is an empty well;
it is a cloud without rain;
it is a tree twice dead, plucked by the roots.
It is an abominable thing to give men
stones for bread, and scorpions for eggs,
and yet they do so who preach not Jesus.
A sermon without Christ! As well talk of
a loaf of bread without any flour in it.
How can it feed the soul?
Men die and perish because Christ is not
there, and yet His glorious gospel is the
easiest thing to preach, and the sweetest
thing to preach; there is most variety in it,
there is more attractiveness in it than in
all the world besides!
—
The A and the Z
(by DeWitt Talmage)
Christ is the A and the Z of the Christian ministry.
A sermon that has no Christ is a dead failure. The
minister who devotes his pulpit to anything but Christ
is an impostor. Whatever great themes we may discuss,
Christ must be the beginning and Christ the end.
A sermon given up to sentimental and flowery
speech is as a straw flung to a drowning sailor.
What the world needs is to be told in the most
direct way of Jesus Christ, who comes to save
men from eternal damnation.
Christ the Light,
Christ the Sacrifice,
Christ the Rock,
Christ the Star,
Christ the Balm,
Christ the Guide.
If a minister should live one thousand years,
and preach ten sermons each day, these
subjects would not be exhausted.
Do you find men tempted?
Tell them of Christ the Shield.
Or troubled? Tell them of Christ the Comfort.
Or guilty? Tell them of Christ the Pardon.
Or dying? Tell them of Christ the Life.
Scores of ministers, yielding to the demands
of the age for elegant rhetoric, and soft speech,
and flattering terms, have surrendered their
pulpits to the devil.
May Christ be the subject of our talk;
Christ the inspiration of our prayers;
Christ the theme of our songs;
Christ now, and Christ forever!
Philosophy is nothing;
denominations nothing;
conferences nothing;
assemblies nothing;
ourselves nothing, …. but CHRIST EVERYTHING