Worship in the Christian church
Chapter 1
Worship in the Christian church
I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot! but because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I... I will vomit from my mouth. Because you say: I am rich, and I have enriched, and I have need of nothing; and you do not know that you are an unfortunate, miserable, poor, blind, and naked person. For So, I advise you to buy refined gold from me in fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments to wear, and that you do not let the shame of your nakedness be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye drops, so you can see. I rebuke and discipline everyone I love; be zealous, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and I call; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him.
with him, and he with me. To the one who overcomes, I will grant to sit down with me on my throne, just as I have overcome, and have sat down with my Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Apocalipsis 3:15–22
Christian churches have reached the dangerous moment that has A long time was predicted. It is a time when we can give ourselves. everyone a pat on the back, congratulate ourselves and join in the cheerful saying We are rich, we have become wealthy and we have no need You're welcome. It is very true that we lack almost nothing in our churches. Currently, except for the most important thing. We are missing an offering. genuine and consecrated to our own life and the worship of God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the message of Revelation, the angel of the church of Laodicea is addressed charged directly in this position (3:17, 19):
You say: I am rich, and I have become rich, and I have nothing. necessity... I rebuke and punish all those I love; know, then, jealous, and repent.
My deep loyalty and my responsibilities have been and always will be will be directed towards the churches that honor Christ, believe in the Bible and preach the gospel faithfully. We have made progress and we are building great temples and immense congregations. We pride ourselves of having high principles and we talk a lot about revival. But I have a question that is not rhetorical: What has happened with our worship? The response of many is that "we are rich and not we need nothing. Doesn't that say something about the way in which Has God blessed us?
Did you know that the highly quoted author Jean-Paul Sartre mentioned that he I had returned to philosophy and to despair because I wished to distance myself. of a church that seemed secular to him? Sartre said: "I could not see in the God in the fashion that they taught me to someone who would want my soul. I I needed a Creator and I was introduced to a great man of businesses.
None of us feels the deep concern that we should about the image that we really project to the community around us. That lack of concern is especially true for all those who They profess to belong to Jesus Christ and still fail to demonstrate their love. and compassion in the proper way. We, the Christians fundamentalists and orthodox have earned us the reputation of being some 'tigers' and some great defenders of the truth.
Our hands are full of calluses produced by the gloves that we use to hit liberal believers. For what it means our Christian faith for a lost world, we are obligated to to defend the truth and to fight for the faith when necessary. But there is a better way to deal with those who are liberal in their faith and in their theology. We can help them much more if we resemble Christ than if we metaphorically hit them in the head with our arguments.
Liberals tell us that they cannot believe in the Bible; they tell us that they cannot believe that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God. Therefore, but most of them are honest about it, but I am sure that we will not achieve them bowing their knees by cursing them. If we are guided by the Spirit of God and if we show the love of Lord, this world needs, we become 'pleasing saints'.
The strange and wonderful thing about this matter is that the saints who are truly nice and loving are not aware of their attractiveness. The great saints of past eras didn't even know that they were. If someone had told them, they wouldn't have believed it; but those who lived around them they knew that the life of Jesus was manifested in these men.
I think we can be part of the group of attractive saints when God's purposes in Christ become clear to us. For to be part of that very special group we need to learn to worship God for what He is. Sometimes it seems that evangelical Christians we We feel confused and insecure about the nature of God. and its purposes in creation and in redemption.
Preachers are usually to blame for this because they still there are preachers and teachers who say that Christ died so that we would neither drink nor smoke nor go to the movies.
No wonder people are so confused. No wonder people they decide to go back when they are taught that these things are the reason of salvation.
Jesus was born of a virgin, suffered under the power of Pontius Pilate, died on the cross and rose from the grave to transform rebels into worshipers. And He has done all this through grace, of which we are object. Perhaps that doesn't sound very dramatic but it is the revelation and the way of acting of God.
Another example of a mistaken thought regarding God is the the vision that so many people have that God is dedicated to doing charitable works. These people think that God resembles a
frustrated foreman who is unable to gather enough help; according to them, the Sir is by the road wondering how many people will come to help him and they will start the work.
Oh, if we only remembered who He is! God has never needed us. to none of us; not even to a single person. But we we believe that He does need us and we put on a great show when someone accepts 'to work for the Lord'. All of us should to be willing to work for the Lord because it is a great favor that God makes us. I am one of those who believe that we should not worry. to work for God until we have learned the meaning and the delight in worshiping it. A worshiper can perform the work with quality eternal while a worker who does not worship is only piling up wood, hay, and leaves for the day when God brings fire upon the world.
I fear that there are many professing Christians who do not want to hear this type of statements regarding the 'tight ones' "agendas" that they have, but this is the full truth. God is trying to to lead us to that for which we were created: to worship Him and enjoy Him eternally. Therefore, it is from our deep adoration that arises the ability to do his work.
I heard the president of a university say that the church is suffering an attack of inexperience.
Any person without preparation or training or depth spiritual can start a religious work and find many followers who listen to him, pay and promote the matter. At some point it becomes evident that that person had never heard of God. These things are happening around us because we do not we are worshipers. When we are part of the true worshipers, we do not waste our time on carnal religious projects or mundane.
All the examples we find in the Bible illustrate the fact that that devoted, happy, and reverent worship is the normal occupation of the
moral beings. Every flash we can see from the sky and of the creatures that God created are always a spark of worship, joy and praise because God is who He is.
In Revelation 4:10-11, the apostle John presents us with a clear depiction. of the created beings that are around the throne of God. John expresses the occupation of the elderly as follows:
The twenty-four elders fall down before the one who is seated on the throne. throne, and they worship the one who lives for ever and ever, and they throw their crowns before the throne, saying: Lord, you are worthy to receive the glory and honor and power; for you created all things, and by your will exist and were created.
I can assert with total certainty based on the authority of what we It is revealed in the Word of God that every man or woman on this earth who feels bored or disconnected from worship is not prepared for the sky. But I can almost hear someone saying: 'Does Tozer Are you moving away from justification by faith? Haven't we been always taught that we are justified and saved and directed to heaven only by faith?" I assure you that Martin Luther never believed in the justification by faith with greater firmness than I believe. I believe that we are saved by having faith in the Son of God as Lord and Salvador.
But currently there is a deadly and automatic feature about the salvation that deeply bothers me. What I mean by the 'automatic' characteristic is that people say something similar to next: "Insert a coin of faith in the slot, pull the lever and Take a salvation card; keep it in your wallet and walk away. "calmly." After that, the man or woman can say: Yes. I am saved.
How can they have that certainty?
Because I inserted the coin of faith, I accepted Jesus and signed the card.
Very well. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with signing the card. It can be something useful for us to know who has taken one.
decision. But the truth, my beloved brother or sister, is that we come to God, to faith and to salvation in order to have the ability to to adore him. We do not come to God to become Christians automated, mass-produced, labeled with a seal.
God has provided his salvation so that we may be fervent children of God. individuals who love God with all our heart and worship Him in the beauty of holiness. That doesn't mean that we all must worship in the same way; that's not what I mean. The Holy Spirit does not operates through someone else's preconceived ideas or formulas. But I know that when the Holy Spirit comes among us with his function, we become a worshiping people. Some people it may seem difficult to accept this but when we are really adoring and reverencing the God of all grace, all love, all mercy and all truth, it is impossible for us to remain silent to please other people.
I remember the description Lucas makes of the crowd that was there first Sunday of Lent:
When they were nearing the descent of the Mount of Olives, all the multitude of the disciples, rejoicing, began to praise God at great voices for all the wonders they had seen, saying: Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord; peace in heaven, and glory in the highest! Then some of the Pharisees among them multitude said to him: Master, rebuke your disciples. He, answering, he said to them: I tell you that if these were silent, the stones would cry out
they would cry out. (Luke 19:37–40)
I would like to share two things about it. First of all, I do not believe that it is necessarily true that we are worshiping God when we make a lot of noise but often the worship is audible. When Jesus came to Jerusalem and presented himself as the Messiah, there was a a large crowd and a great uproar. Undoubtedly, many of those who they joined in the songs and the praise they had never been able to chant the melodies in the right way. When there is a group of people who They sing in one place, with certainty some will not be in tune.
But what is worth noting about the worship of this scene is that they were praises, from a united group, to God.
Secondly, I would like to warn those who are cultured, quiet, self-controlled, relaxed, and sophisticated who do feel embarrassed in the church when a happy Christian says: "Amen!", very likely they need spiritual illumination. The saints of God who are in the the body of Christ has usually been noisy.
I hope you have had the opportunity to read some of the devotionals left to us by certain beloved saints who lived in the past as Lady Julián, who lived more than six hundred years ago. She wrote that one day she had been thinking about how big and sublime era Jesus and how, despite that, He fulfills the deepest desires. humble of our heart; that meditation blessed it so much that it did not he was able to control himself and exclaimed a powerful shout of praise to God in Latin. Well, glory to God.
Well, my dear friend, if that makes you uncomfortable, it probably is because you do not know the type of blessings and delight that the Spirit Saint wants to grant to the saints who worship God. Did you notice what Lucas wrote about the Pharisees and the request they made to Jesus. to draw the attention of his disciples for praising God in loud voice? Their ritual norms probably allowed them to whisper the words Glory to God but they were very uncomfortable to hear that someone would say them out loud. Jesus said to them: "They are doing what Correct. God my Father and I and the Holy Spirit must be worshiped. If men and women do not adore me, the very rocks will. praise.
Those religious Pharisees, so well-dressed and sober, would have fallen. dead in the midst of their composure if they had heard that a rock gave praises to the Lord. Well, we have churches immense, beautiful sanctuaries and we join the choir that says: 'No we have no need for anything." But there are clear signs that we do we need worshipers.
We have a multitude of men who are willing to be part of the leadership meetings of a church but do not have the desire to experience joy and spiritual fervor and never attend the prayer meetings of the church. Those are the men who they usually make decisions about the budget, the expenses of the church and the decorations that the new temple should have that is going to to build.
They are the men who run the church, but it is impossible to make them. attend prayer meetings because they are not worshipers. Perhaps to Don't you think that's an important matter? But, in my way. of seeing things, precisely that way of thinking turns you in a member of that group.
It seems to me that it has always been a terrible incongruence that the men who do not pray and do not worship are the ones who truly lead many of the churches and ultimately determine the direction that these They will take. It is something that clearly applies to many of our situations and perhaps it is because it is necessary to admit that in many "Good" churches have allowed women to pray and the men who make the decisions. Since we are not true worshipers, we spend a great amount of time in the church doing unnecessary rounds, having many activities and a lot of noise but without heading anywhere.
Oh, brother or sister, God calls us to worship but in many at times we are dedicated to entertainment putting on a show a play of very poor quality. That is the point at which we are in many evangelical churches and I am not uncomfortable saying that most of the people we say we are trying to ever reach, they will never come to the church to see a handful of actors inexperienced individuals putting on a homemade show with very little talent.
I want to tell you that, aside from politics, there is no other field of activity. in which there are so many words and so few works, so much wind and little rain. What are we going to do about the beautiful and amazing worship that Does God call us to offer Him? I prefer to worship God than to perform.
any other activity that I know exists in this vast world. I don't even want to tell you the number of hymnals I have in my study. I don't have the talent to sing well, but that doesn't matter to God; He thinks I am an opera star. God listens to me while I sing the old hymns translated from French and Latin into English. God hears me while I sing the old Greek hymns that I used to sing. Eastern church, the psalms written in meter and many other songs simple ones composed by Watts, Wesley, and so many others.
I am serious when I say that I prefer to worship God than to do anything else. Perhaps you might respond: 'If you worship God, do not just that." But that only reveals that you haven't done your homework. because the beauty of worship is that it prepares and empowers us for all the other important tasks we must carry out for God. Listen to me; practically every great work that has been done in the church of Christ since the remote times of the apostle Paul has been accomplished by people who shone with radiant devotion to God.
By studying the history of the church, we will verify that the fervent worshipers were also the great workers of God. Those great saints whose hymns we sing today with tenderness, were active in their faith to such an extent that it is worth asking how it was possible that they will do all the things they did. The big hospitals arose from the hearts of fervent worshippers. The institutions mentalities were born in the hearts of men and women filled with compassion and worship and it is also valid to say that when the church comes out of its lethargy and wakes up from its dream to enter into the movement of revival and spiritual renewal, there have always been worshippers promoting the matter.
We make a mistake if we remain still and say: 'But if we... we give in to worship, no one will do anything." On the contrary, if we we respond to the call that God makes to us for worship, everyone will do more than what he is doing so far because only in that moment what everyone does will have meaning and importance; those
works will have a quality of eternity; they will be gold, silver, and stones precious, not wood, hay and leaves.
Why should we be silent about the wonders of God? We should rather join joyfully with Isaac Watts in one of his hymns of worship:
Bless, Oh my soul, the living God,
Bring home your thoughts that wander abroad
May all the abilities within me unite.
In the work and worship of the divinity
Bless, Oh my soul, the God of grace,
Your favors call for your most noble praise
Why let the wonders He has done
Do they get lost in silence and forget?
Let all the earth confess its power
Let all the earth adore His grace
The Gentiles and the Jews will unite.
In the work and worship of divinity
I can't decide for you, but I want to be among those who worship; not I want to be just a part of a grand machinery ecclesiastical in which the pastor moves the levers so that the machine Come on. You know what I mean. The pastor loves everyone and everyone... he loves him; that's what they pay him for.
I wish for us to return to worship. Then, when people enter to the church, they will instantly feel that they are in the midst of a people Saint, the people of God. Then he will testify: "Surely, God is in this place.