What would you give or do to have a meal with Jesus?
What about with one of his trusted inner circle of disciples? His special chosen ones?
What about with one of his other disciples or Paul? His special chosen ones?
What would you give? Give up? or do for that?
Then Why do we find it so hard to practice hospitality to one of His Chosen in the church?
His special Chosen ones!
Showing posts with label Church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Church. Show all posts
Friday, January 6, 2012
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Amusing ourselves to death
John Stonestreet of summit.org makes an astute comment
Ponder that and you will reaslise why so many who role up at Church seek not to be fed by the Word of God, not to have their thinking extended so that their actions may follow right thinking but rather to be entertained.
In Christ,
Gary
We live in an age of entertainment so that people think Christianity is about Christian entertainment.
Ponder that and you will reaslise why so many who role up at Church seek not to be fed by the Word of God, not to have their thinking extended so that their actions may follow right thinking but rather to be entertained.
In Christ,
Gary
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Body Life in the Church - 1 Corinthians
It was a really challenging sermon on Sunday Night,thanks to Norm, and it got me thinking. How many of us are just playing at being a Christian? We can see it in how we think of Church, our understanding of our place in the body because of Christ.
The Corinthians were playing at church weren't they? They were only interested in themselves - their special group, of Apolos, or Cephas, or Christ 1:12. Their Jesus was one they thought up in their own imaginations, one they were comfortable with, who let them focus in on themselves and do what they pleased. That was seen in their understanding of gifts. they were for them weren't they? for their benenefit, so they could be seen by others as spiritual. WRONG. Those gifts were given by the Spirit to them not for their benefit but for the body. For the common good.
Get over it you lot, me included - it is not all about you! And we see none better exemplified when they came together for the Lord's Supper. Well some at least got there and had a feast as for the others nothing was left for those that arrived late because they weren't wealthy enough to have a short work day!
Let's not be Corinthians! Let us all see what it means to be part of the body. When you aren't there on a sunday or at your home group, then the body is deformed! Don't settle for that garbage about "Well it's just me that is missing out". That is a total denial of the word of God in chapter 12. If someone walked in and they were missing their nose and their ears and one of their feet we'd quickly say - What happened to you? How did you get so messed up? And yet that is what is happening far too often in our local churches across our land. The body is meeting together and it's disfigured all because YOU ARE MISSING!
Come on friends, let's get this into perspective. If Christ is your Head, then make sure you are attached to the Body.
The Corinthians were playing at church weren't they? They were only interested in themselves - their special group, of Apolos, or Cephas, or Christ 1:12. Their Jesus was one they thought up in their own imaginations, one they were comfortable with, who let them focus in on themselves and do what they pleased. That was seen in their understanding of gifts. they were for them weren't they? for their benenefit, so they could be seen by others as spiritual. WRONG. Those gifts were given by the Spirit to them not for their benefit but for the body. For the common good.
Get over it you lot, me included - it is not all about you! And we see none better exemplified when they came together for the Lord's Supper. Well some at least got there and had a feast as for the others nothing was left for those that arrived late because they weren't wealthy enough to have a short work day!
Let's not be Corinthians! Let us all see what it means to be part of the body. When you aren't there on a sunday or at your home group, then the body is deformed! Don't settle for that garbage about "Well it's just me that is missing out". That is a total denial of the word of God in chapter 12. If someone walked in and they were missing their nose and their ears and one of their feet we'd quickly say - What happened to you? How did you get so messed up? And yet that is what is happening far too often in our local churches across our land. The body is meeting together and it's disfigured all because YOU ARE MISSING!
Come on friends, let's get this into perspective. If Christ is your Head, then make sure you are attached to the Body.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Feeding the Sheep
I just read the following helpful post by the blog Grafted in at the branch who reported the following:
an encouraging word from D.J. Ward:"The best way to purify the church and keep it pure--is to get rid of all the goats! And the best way to run the goats out of the church--is to feed them 'sheep food'. God's sheep will grow in grace under the preaching of grace--but goats will go hungry because they choke on 'sheep food'. They will soon leave and go somewhere else. Preach sovereign grace!" Is this not what scripture teaches? Did the Lord Jesus not say, "Feed My sheep." John 21:17 Did the apostle Peter not commission church elders to, "Feed the flock of God entrusted to you." 1 Peter 5:2
I suppose the thing about goats is that they will eat rubbish, but when it comes to the things of God they will either be repulsed by the truth or convicted by the Holy Spirit and repent.
While speaking of sheep, the other thing they need as they grow is solid food. They only have milk while they are lambs. We don't need malnourished sheep and the way to nourish them is with the solid teaching and exposition of the Scriptures.
Helpful to ponder eh?
In Christ,
Gary
Monday, May 18, 2009
The Preacher's Job
What is the main role of the pastor in a church?
In Ephesian's 4:11 we are told that God gave gifted men to be pastor-teachers. I take it as one person spoken of here, although some debate it suggesting it is two separate people being spoken of.
Sometimes I have heard the person in the church comment that "our minister is a great pastor, he really looks after his people, but he is not a very good preacher." I have also heard in other churches how people make the opposite claim. "Our minister is a really good preacher but not good at pastoring, he's hopeless at relationships and relating to people."
It really saddens me when I hear this for obviously something is wrong. And in many cases it's not the missperception of the person in the church who said this. In some cases it is that someone has been trained and given a ministry as leader in a church and they are not so gifted. It is our fault for putting them in that position.
However I think we also need to understand what Ephesians is speaking of when talking of the pastor-teacher.
It is the case I believe that an elder pastors by feeding God's people, by teaching them God's Word, he protects them, the flock by teaching the word, applying it, correcting, rebuking and encouraging the flock to obey the commands of Christ, Matt 28:20. In teaching them he pastors them, and in pastoring them he teachers them.
Does that mean he doesn't have to be all that relational? I know of a few preachers who come across as personal in their sermons, as very relational but actually find personal relationships very difficult and are rigid and stiff in relating at that personal level. There's no question about it we are all different. Some of the guys I went through college with were great at getting up front and leading singing and worship with a guitar - they were what I would classify as extroverts, whereas I would not put myself in that category. Does that mean I should not be a pastor-teacher?
The point to remember here is twofold, first God has given gifted men to his church. Second in deciding who they are God again has given requirements for such men. One of which he speaks of in Titus is to be hospitable, that is, a over of strangers. Someone who loves to care for and be hospitable to strangers. My reflection on that means that he continually battles to divide his time between the study and the market place, between studying God's Word and involvement in relationships. He will love both these things.
What do you think?
In Christ
Gary
In Ephesian's 4:11 we are told that God gave gifted men to be pastor-teachers. I take it as one person spoken of here, although some debate it suggesting it is two separate people being spoken of.
Sometimes I have heard the person in the church comment that "our minister is a great pastor, he really looks after his people, but he is not a very good preacher." I have also heard in other churches how people make the opposite claim. "Our minister is a really good preacher but not good at pastoring, he's hopeless at relationships and relating to people."
It really saddens me when I hear this for obviously something is wrong. And in many cases it's not the missperception of the person in the church who said this. In some cases it is that someone has been trained and given a ministry as leader in a church and they are not so gifted. It is our fault for putting them in that position.
However I think we also need to understand what Ephesians is speaking of when talking of the pastor-teacher.
It is the case I believe that an elder pastors by feeding God's people, by teaching them God's Word, he protects them, the flock by teaching the word, applying it, correcting, rebuking and encouraging the flock to obey the commands of Christ, Matt 28:20. In teaching them he pastors them, and in pastoring them he teachers them.
Does that mean he doesn't have to be all that relational? I know of a few preachers who come across as personal in their sermons, as very relational but actually find personal relationships very difficult and are rigid and stiff in relating at that personal level. There's no question about it we are all different. Some of the guys I went through college with were great at getting up front and leading singing and worship with a guitar - they were what I would classify as extroverts, whereas I would not put myself in that category. Does that mean I should not be a pastor-teacher?
The point to remember here is twofold, first God has given gifted men to his church. Second in deciding who they are God again has given requirements for such men. One of which he speaks of in Titus is to be hospitable, that is, a over of strangers. Someone who loves to care for and be hospitable to strangers. My reflection on that means that he continually battles to divide his time between the study and the market place, between studying God's Word and involvement in relationships. He will love both these things.
What do you think?
In Christ
Gary
Thursday, May 14, 2009
What is preaching?
I just read a post over at JDGreear.com where J.D talks about Piper's views on preaching.
It's great stuff and well worth reading. Piper makes some challenging statements which you should read in the context of his article. Things like "Preaching isn't Church but serves the Church", and that he, Piper preaches 40 minutes, not aiming to be immediately practical but eternally helpful; and in preaching, he is not relaxed!
Oh for more expository preaching! Real food for the living.
In Christ,
Gary
It's great stuff and well worth reading. Piper makes some challenging statements which you should read in the context of his article. Things like "Preaching isn't Church but serves the Church", and that he, Piper preaches 40 minutes, not aiming to be immediately practical but eternally helpful; and in preaching, he is not relaxed!
Oh for more expository preaching! Real food for the living.
In Christ,
Gary
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Who is in church? the unbelievers and inquirers
Last time we saw that in the church gathered together we have saints and pastor-teachers. Who else can we also expect to be there from what the bible tells us?
There's an interesting word found in 1 Cor 14:23-24 the "idiwtnrs", literally 'the ungifted', and my question here exegetically is whether in the context of gifts as the chapter speaks of, it's speaking of someone without charismata, "gifts", however one gift all Christians have is salvation, the grace gift. In that case these are truly unbelievers. Of course Leon Morris in his Commentary on 1 Corinthians published by IVP argues the case better than I. See commentary on 1 Cor and chapter 14:16, 23-24. He points out that in verse 23 the idiwtns is distinguished from "the whole church" so that the person mentioned cannot be a Christian. It seems best then as Paul distinguishes him from the unbeliever to see him as an enquirer.
So in the context of 1 Cor 14 in the church gathering you have Paul saying that both unbelievers and enquirers can be present.
What does that mean for us who gather together in church? We need to be mindful that some among us are unsaved, or enquirers. Does that mean we should turn our teaching from the pulpit into an evangelistic message? If so how often do you do that since presumably the unbeliever and enquirer can be there every time? No. The call is for pastor-teachers to equip the church, to expound the whole Word of God. The saints are to be equipped for evangelism. They can and should be able to evangelise with the gospel message of salvation both the unbeliever and enquirer.
Does that then exclude any call to unbelievers to repent and turn to the Lord Jesus in the pulpit sermon? No. for many texts open themselves up to this as one of the applications. It may not and probably should not be the main application, unless it it so in the text, yet it is often accompanying the thrust of the text. For example, if it calls upon the believer to rejoice and obey some specific command, then it means that "if you are an unbeliever among us tonight then 'you cannot do this' or 'this promise is not for you unless you repent of your sin and turn to the Lord Jesus as Lord'." etc.
Who is with us in church? Saints, pastor teachers, unbelievers and enquirers.
For us saints, let's do the work of ministry!
God Bless,
Gary
There's an interesting word found in 1 Cor 14:23-24 the "idiwtnrs", literally 'the ungifted', and my question here exegetically is whether in the context of gifts as the chapter speaks of, it's speaking of someone without charismata, "gifts", however one gift all Christians have is salvation, the grace gift. In that case these are truly unbelievers. Of course Leon Morris in his Commentary on 1 Corinthians published by IVP argues the case better than I. See commentary on 1 Cor and chapter 14:16, 23-24. He points out that in verse 23 the idiwtns is distinguished from "the whole church" so that the person mentioned cannot be a Christian. It seems best then as Paul distinguishes him from the unbeliever to see him as an enquirer.
So in the context of 1 Cor 14 in the church gathering you have Paul saying that both unbelievers and enquirers can be present.
What does that mean for us who gather together in church? We need to be mindful that some among us are unsaved, or enquirers. Does that mean we should turn our teaching from the pulpit into an evangelistic message? If so how often do you do that since presumably the unbeliever and enquirer can be there every time? No. The call is for pastor-teachers to equip the church, to expound the whole Word of God. The saints are to be equipped for evangelism. They can and should be able to evangelise with the gospel message of salvation both the unbeliever and enquirer.
Does that then exclude any call to unbelievers to repent and turn to the Lord Jesus in the pulpit sermon? No. for many texts open themselves up to this as one of the applications. It may not and probably should not be the main application, unless it it so in the text, yet it is often accompanying the thrust of the text. For example, if it calls upon the believer to rejoice and obey some specific command, then it means that "if you are an unbeliever among us tonight then 'you cannot do this' or 'this promise is not for you unless you repent of your sin and turn to the Lord Jesus as Lord'." etc.
Who is with us in church? Saints, pastor teachers, unbelievers and enquirers.
For us saints, let's do the work of ministry!
God Bless,
Gary
Who is in church? Pastor - Teachers
We saw last time that some of those in Church the Bible tells us are saints, those God called, set apart for himself.
In Ephesians 4:11-12 we also see that in the Church gathering, we see God has provided, gifted special men, namely the pastor-teachers, with a specific role, that of "equipping the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ."
Don't diminish God's gifts, you who want to be truly charismatic, receiving the Grace gifts of God, the most basic of all which is salvation, then receive also those who he himself , Jesus, we are told has given these pastor-teachers to the church. 4:10.
The first letter to Timothy tells us these men, these elders are to be apt to teach, elsewhere we are told they are able to rebuke correct etc. They are to have certain gifts evident. They are not merely warm and friendly guys who don't ruffle feathers. You can do a study on elders in the New Testament to see their role and yours. you could and must look at Titus and Hebrews 13 and note how the Bereans in Acts 17 checked all that Paul, the apostle Paul ! said, against the Scriptures.
So when we gather together at church, there's also pastor-teachers, those elders who have a certain role to carry out to our benefit who are in our midst.
Let's rejoice in God's gifts to us. Not neglecting to pray for our Elders.
God bless,
Gary
In Ephesians 4:11-12 we also see that in the Church gathering, we see God has provided, gifted special men, namely the pastor-teachers, with a specific role, that of "equipping the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ."
Don't diminish God's gifts, you who want to be truly charismatic, receiving the Grace gifts of God, the most basic of all which is salvation, then receive also those who he himself , Jesus, we are told has given these pastor-teachers to the church. 4:10.
The first letter to Timothy tells us these men, these elders are to be apt to teach, elsewhere we are told they are able to rebuke correct etc. They are to have certain gifts evident. They are not merely warm and friendly guys who don't ruffle feathers. You can do a study on elders in the New Testament to see their role and yours. you could and must look at Titus and Hebrews 13 and note how the Bereans in Acts 17 checked all that Paul, the apostle Paul ! said, against the Scriptures.
So when we gather together at church, there's also pastor-teachers, those elders who have a certain role to carry out to our benefit who are in our midst.
Let's rejoice in God's gifts to us. Not neglecting to pray for our Elders.
God bless,
Gary
Who is in Church?
When we gather together on sundays or at any other time to hear God's Word preached, to worship in manifold ways our Great God, and to serve one another, who are gathered there?
Paul begins his letter to the Ephesians "to saints, who are in Ephesus and faithful in Christ Jesus" 1:1
It's their physical location, in Ephesus, and their spiritual location, faithful in Christ Jesus. They are made saints, holy, those whom God has set apart as special to himself, through their faith in Christ Jesus.
We find out more about these saints, when Paul speaks of the role of the pastor-teacher in Eph 4:11-12. Their work is "to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ."
So when we come together, when we gather as the body of Christ, we are primarily saints, called, set apart by God himself. Saints not as the Roman Catholic see them as some special person who has been designated so by the Papal Authorities. Someone who requires some authenticated miracle in order to become saints. No, we who are redeemed and transformed by god are saints. And these are some of the people the bible tells us, gathered together in "church".
Who is in Church? I hope you are one of the saints!
God Bless.
Gary
Paul begins his letter to the Ephesians "to saints, who are in Ephesus and faithful in Christ Jesus" 1:1
It's their physical location, in Ephesus, and their spiritual location, faithful in Christ Jesus. They are made saints, holy, those whom God has set apart as special to himself, through their faith in Christ Jesus.
We find out more about these saints, when Paul speaks of the role of the pastor-teacher in Eph 4:11-12. Their work is "to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ."
So when we come together, when we gather as the body of Christ, we are primarily saints, called, set apart by God himself. Saints not as the Roman Catholic see them as some special person who has been designated so by the Papal Authorities. Someone who requires some authenticated miracle in order to become saints. No, we who are redeemed and transformed by god are saints. And these are some of the people the bible tells us, gathered together in "church".
Who is in Church? I hope you are one of the saints!
God Bless.
Gary
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Pastors and Christians wake up call - Dr Akin's talk at BtT
Hi all,
I think we can all benefit greatly from reading and pondering Dr Akin's talk on BtT ( between the Times ) at chapel for a wake up call as it were for Southern Baptists.
So much of what he says I am in total agreement with.
I am thrilled when I hear things like his following comments:
"Russ Bush was absolutely correct when I heard him say in a seminary classroom in the early 1980’s, “the question of biblical inspiration is ultimately a question of Christological identity.” Why? Because Jesus believed the Holy Scriptures to be the completely true and trustworthy Word of God! Even Rudolf Bultmann said this, he just believes Jesus got it wrong! Well hear me, and hear me well. To deny inerrancy is to say that Jesus was wrong and that you are smarter than He. That is both heresy and blasphemy. It is spiritually suicidal!
Are you questioning inerrancy? Then repent! Do you deny inerrancy? Then go join another denomination. We will love you and pray for you, but we do not want you infecting our people with a spiritual disease that is always fatal to the Church of the Lord Jesus. Inerrancy and the sufficiency of the Bible in all matters of faith and practice is not up for debate in the Southern Baptist Convention. It alone will give us the necessary weapons to take on and take down what Newsweek (8-13-08) calls “a newly muscular secularism.” "
and his reminder:
"However, and hear me well, the “war for the Bible” is not over and it will never end until Jesus returns. Launched by Satan in the Garden of Eden, “has God said,” will continue to be under assault, and we must ever be on guard and ready to answer those who question its veracity and accuracy. "
Great sermon and a challenge to our pampering to the arrogant lost who don't want to listen to our Lord and His Word.
For those who say we just need to love Jesus then you better listen to Jesus and do what he says. You wouldn't get away with saying you love your spouse but don't listen to a thing they say!
In Christ,
Gary
I think we can all benefit greatly from reading and pondering Dr Akin's talk on BtT ( between the Times ) at chapel for a wake up call as it were for Southern Baptists.
So much of what he says I am in total agreement with.
I am thrilled when I hear things like his following comments:
"Russ Bush was absolutely correct when I heard him say in a seminary classroom in the early 1980’s, “the question of biblical inspiration is ultimately a question of Christological identity.” Why? Because Jesus believed the Holy Scriptures to be the completely true and trustworthy Word of God! Even Rudolf Bultmann said this, he just believes Jesus got it wrong! Well hear me, and hear me well. To deny inerrancy is to say that Jesus was wrong and that you are smarter than He. That is both heresy and blasphemy. It is spiritually suicidal!
Are you questioning inerrancy? Then repent! Do you deny inerrancy? Then go join another denomination. We will love you and pray for you, but we do not want you infecting our people with a spiritual disease that is always fatal to the Church of the Lord Jesus. Inerrancy and the sufficiency of the Bible in all matters of faith and practice is not up for debate in the Southern Baptist Convention. It alone will give us the necessary weapons to take on and take down what Newsweek (8-13-08) calls “a newly muscular secularism.” "
and his reminder:
"However, and hear me well, the “war for the Bible” is not over and it will never end until Jesus returns. Launched by Satan in the Garden of Eden, “has God said,” will continue to be under assault, and we must ever be on guard and ready to answer those who question its veracity and accuracy. "
Great sermon and a challenge to our pampering to the arrogant lost who don't want to listen to our Lord and His Word.
For those who say we just need to love Jesus then you better listen to Jesus and do what he says. You wouldn't get away with saying you love your spouse but don't listen to a thing they say!
In Christ,
Gary
Thursday, January 29, 2009
What is Worship Part 3 - As proclamation
The more astute of you of course realized that I hadn’t covered all the Greek words used for worship. And so I will turn our attention quickly to the word leitourgos.
Paul used the word leitourgos for his being a minister of the Gospel message in Romans 15:16. There he speaks of preaching to the Gentiles. Worship is then also to be seen as proclamation, proclamation of the message of the Gospel so people may come to know Christ.
No doubt many have heard a sermon or two speaking about Worship and referring back to the root of the English word which literally means worth-ship, and so means attributing worth to something. As Paul Plew in ‘Think Biblically’ ed John MacArthur pg 188 says “[it] denotes the ascription of reverence to someone or something of superlative worth.” I do so much like that word superlative for indeed our Lord God is Superlative worth! Doesn’t that make nonsense of when we use the word worship in relation to football stars, or movie stars, or musicians or a football team? They don’t even deserve such a word as worship do they? Yet that’s how it’s used in our common parlance of our culture. We must ask unbelievers by what standard they declare something worthy? Apart from the God of the bible as the Standard, there is no value in saying something is worthy of worship. Without the Christian Worldview of the bible their standard of things or people worthy of worship are just arbitrary. Are the things or people they choose to worship or glorify worthy?
Listen to how the Scripture speak of making this decision, indeed it’s a forgone conclusion because it can really be seen as a command, but for the unbelievers situation just read it and think about the things and people they worship.
Psalm 96, says that we are to “ascribe to the Lord the glory due to His name.” Psalm 96:8-9.
We are to give to the Lord the glory due to his name, that is, according to His character. And the Scriptures leave us in no doubt about what His character is like, Merciful, full of Grace, Patient, Just and Righteous and so on. You can then see in new light the utter foolishness of setting up stone or wooden idols that do not speak, that do not Love, that do not care!
Is it not surprising then to find that Paul is then speaking of worship, indeed the failure of worship by rebellious mankind, when he speaks of them “neither giving their Creator thanks and praise” Romans 1. If I could express it in another way, they failed to give Him the Glory He so rightly deserves.
What I have been speaking about is the Gospel message isn’t it? Who could not proclaim such a message? Who Could not in gratitude proclaim, and by doing so worship the Lord?
Paul used the word leitourgos for his being a minister of the Gospel message in Romans 15:16. There he speaks of preaching to the Gentiles. Worship is then also to be seen as proclamation, proclamation of the message of the Gospel so people may come to know Christ.
No doubt many have heard a sermon or two speaking about Worship and referring back to the root of the English word which literally means worth-ship, and so means attributing worth to something. As Paul Plew in ‘Think Biblically’ ed John MacArthur pg 188 says “[it] denotes the ascription of reverence to someone or something of superlative worth.” I do so much like that word superlative for indeed our Lord God is Superlative worth! Doesn’t that make nonsense of when we use the word worship in relation to football stars, or movie stars, or musicians or a football team? They don’t even deserve such a word as worship do they? Yet that’s how it’s used in our common parlance of our culture. We must ask unbelievers by what standard they declare something worthy? Apart from the God of the bible as the Standard, there is no value in saying something is worthy of worship. Without the Christian Worldview of the bible their standard of things or people worthy of worship are just arbitrary. Are the things or people they choose to worship or glorify worthy?
Listen to how the Scripture speak of making this decision, indeed it’s a forgone conclusion because it can really be seen as a command, but for the unbelievers situation just read it and think about the things and people they worship.
Psalm 96, says that we are to “ascribe to the Lord the glory due to His name.” Psalm 96:8-9.
We are to give to the Lord the glory due to his name, that is, according to His character. And the Scriptures leave us in no doubt about what His character is like, Merciful, full of Grace, Patient, Just and Righteous and so on. You can then see in new light the utter foolishness of setting up stone or wooden idols that do not speak, that do not Love, that do not care!
Is it not surprising then to find that Paul is then speaking of worship, indeed the failure of worship by rebellious mankind, when he speaks of them “neither giving their Creator thanks and praise” Romans 1. If I could express it in another way, they failed to give Him the Glory He so rightly deserves.
What I have been speaking about is the Gospel message isn’t it? Who could not proclaim such a message? Who Could not in gratitude proclaim, and by doing so worship the Lord?
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
What is Worship? Part 2 – The value of a word study.
We saw in Part 1 that worship in Matthew’s Gospel chapter 2 involved the wise men prostrating themselves before Jesus but is that all we learn about worship from Matthew 2?
We can get some help about worship from doing a word study of the biblical terms used for worship.
Prounein:
Here we find that there are different words used in the Bible for worship and these need to be taken into consideration. Bowing down, prokunien in the Greek is one of them, used for the act of bowing down so that homage or reverence is done to a person. This is what we see for example in John 9 with the blind man prostrating himself before Jesus, showing honor and respect to the Lord Jesus. Earlier in John in chapter 4 is a very interesting passage in that the Samaritan woman asks where is the right place God should be worshipped[1] and Jesus tells her that worship must be in spirit and truth. It would of course be fruitful to consider the whole background issue to what is happening here in John 4. That the Glory of God, His actual Presence had actually departed the Temple back in Ezekiel 10 and left Jerusalem, and that God had been quiet towards Israel for 400 odd years, that there had been no spokesmen for God, no prophets, and How now in Jesus the Glory comes back to the Temple only to have the Nation as a whole tragically reject Him. But I want us to consider that sometimes the thing missed here is that true worship Jesus says, arises out of true knowledge, as John tells us in verse 22 “we worship what we know.” True worship then requires a proper knowledge of God[2], we are not to merely imagine within ourselves how we think[3] God ought to be worshipped, we are not left to our own devices about how we think the Lord God would be pleased to be worshipped, but we are to listen to what He says in the Bible about Worshipping Him. Here for example, Jesus told the Samaritan woman in verse 21, 23 & 24 that God is Father and God is Spirit, and we are to worship Him. As MacArthur points out, God as Father tells us His essential relationship is that He is Father, and God as spirit tells us that His essential nature is Spirit[4]. Any such worship we bring to Him must involve both. As to God is spirit we must go back to Isaiah 40:18f to fill that out, but the basic point is that God is not flesh and bones like us, He is not created, but Spirit. The point being made with the Samaritan woman is that the place isn’t the issue, because God is not “there only” or “here only” see Jer 23:23, and further, His essential nature means he’s not some object that can be replicated as in some icon or image or statue. If one chooses to set those as things representing Him, one has opted to commit idolatry. As to his essential relationship being that of Father, at minimum we understand Him as personally involved. He is Caring, loving, Merciful and Just and so on.
From John’s Gospel to worship the Lord, to bow before him and give him the honor that is due to Him is to worship the way he declares, in spirit and truth, to worship Him as Spirit and Father.Importantly just a few verses later in verse 23 of John 4 Jesus tells us that the Father seeks people who will worship in spirit and truth. In other words, this is what kind of worship the Father wants. This verse is one of the central passages to consider what worship is because here the Lord God tells us that these are the kinds of worshippers He seeks, those who worship in Spirit and Truth.
This is not the end of our investigation into what worship is. It is merely the start, but it is an important start. We would do well to consider how later in John’s Gospel the blind man bows before Jesus John 9:38 recognizing that Jesus was both from God, Jn 9:33 and Son of Man, Jn 9:35. There we see, belief and action go hand in hand.
latreuein:
When translating the Old Testament the translators also used another Greek word for worship, namely latreuein, commonly translated as “to serve”
When looking at Deut 10:12-13 we see that such service involved fearing God, obeying and loving Him. Verses 10-11 in Deut make it clear that such worship or service arises out of recognizing the very character of God as one who makes promises, keeps them and acts with compassion and Mercy. The passage in Deut 10 of course speaks of ceremonial actions of sacrifice and so on, and we of course recognize that we do not have to carry our those same sacrifices, but the principle we pick up on there is that such worship involves all the life of the believer, such that the worshipper is able to acknowledge with Joy everything you do in life because the Lord has blessed you. Vs 7. Are we not in the same position of having been blessed abundantly more through the forgiveness of sin wrought by our Lord Jesus Christ? It is this very same sort of worship that is seen mentioned by Paul in Roman’s 12. The giving of our very lives as a living sacrifice is our reasonable or logical “worship” or “service”. ( latreuein ). As with Deut 10 this worship is in response to the great mercies of God, not done in order to make ourselves acceptable to Him but rather its done out of gratitude! Such reasonable worship offers to God our minds to be transformed by him, our thinking needs regeneration, which then will flow out into our actions to our Lord and other Christians.
leitourgia:
Lastly there is the Greek word leitourgia. What does leitourgia involve? Interestingly it’s from this Greek word that we get our English word liturgy. And it’s derivative “ministry”. Liturgy is the specific acts of a public nature that a congregation involves itself in. The Old Testament background is alluded to in Hebrews when he says the Priest is said to have ministered day by day ( performed liturgy ) and to have offered the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. Hebrews 10:11.
From its use elsewhere in the New Testament we can gain further valuable insight into its meaning. In Acts 13:2 the prophets and teachers at Antioch ministered to the Lord by engaging in intercessory prayer. In Phil 2:17 Paul links ministry with sacrifice, a ministry which is not external or ritualistic but a commitment of faith.
And lastly in Phil 3:20 we read of the gift of money that the Philippian Church made to Paul. It speaks of Epaphroditus supplying that which was lacking in their service “liturgy”. This service this “liturgy” was one of the sacrificial giving of money. That also is understood in the bible as being a means or form of worship.
And this insight bring us back to the wise men of Matt2. They came and worshipped, bowing down before Jesus and then they offered their gifts of gold and frankincense and Myrrh. Instead of separating the two actions, one of worship and one of giving gifts, I wonder if both are not true worship of the Lord Jesus? It certainly seems that the giving of gifts is also a means of worship?
Given just these few insights I am paused to ponder just how my worship of the Lord is faring?
[1] the Greek the word is proskuneo; the Hebrew equivalent is shacah.
[2] we know from the Old Testament that Samaritans did not know how to worship. They were syncretistic, as we read in 2 Kings 17:33, “They worshiped the Lord, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought.” All their worship was false. In fact, Jesus told the Samaritan woman, “You worship what you do not know.” In other words a syncretistic “faith” is not believing faith. “This is eternal life,” Jesus said, “that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). The only way to know God the Father is through Jesus Christ who was sent to reveal the Father to us.
[3] our own subjectivity and imagination, nor is it based on our own opinions and feelings.
[4] From John MacArthur Sermon on worship.
We can get some help about worship from doing a word study of the biblical terms used for worship.
Prounein:
Here we find that there are different words used in the Bible for worship and these need to be taken into consideration. Bowing down, prokunien in the Greek is one of them, used for the act of bowing down so that homage or reverence is done to a person. This is what we see for example in John 9 with the blind man prostrating himself before Jesus, showing honor and respect to the Lord Jesus. Earlier in John in chapter 4 is a very interesting passage in that the Samaritan woman asks where is the right place God should be worshipped[1] and Jesus tells her that worship must be in spirit and truth. It would of course be fruitful to consider the whole background issue to what is happening here in John 4. That the Glory of God, His actual Presence had actually departed the Temple back in Ezekiel 10 and left Jerusalem, and that God had been quiet towards Israel for 400 odd years, that there had been no spokesmen for God, no prophets, and How now in Jesus the Glory comes back to the Temple only to have the Nation as a whole tragically reject Him. But I want us to consider that sometimes the thing missed here is that true worship Jesus says, arises out of true knowledge, as John tells us in verse 22 “we worship what we know.” True worship then requires a proper knowledge of God[2], we are not to merely imagine within ourselves how we think[3] God ought to be worshipped, we are not left to our own devices about how we think the Lord God would be pleased to be worshipped, but we are to listen to what He says in the Bible about Worshipping Him. Here for example, Jesus told the Samaritan woman in verse 21, 23 & 24 that God is Father and God is Spirit, and we are to worship Him. As MacArthur points out, God as Father tells us His essential relationship is that He is Father, and God as spirit tells us that His essential nature is Spirit[4]. Any such worship we bring to Him must involve both. As to God is spirit we must go back to Isaiah 40:18f to fill that out, but the basic point is that God is not flesh and bones like us, He is not created, but Spirit. The point being made with the Samaritan woman is that the place isn’t the issue, because God is not “there only” or “here only” see Jer 23:23, and further, His essential nature means he’s not some object that can be replicated as in some icon or image or statue. If one chooses to set those as things representing Him, one has opted to commit idolatry. As to his essential relationship being that of Father, at minimum we understand Him as personally involved. He is Caring, loving, Merciful and Just and so on.
From John’s Gospel to worship the Lord, to bow before him and give him the honor that is due to Him is to worship the way he declares, in spirit and truth, to worship Him as Spirit and Father.Importantly just a few verses later in verse 23 of John 4 Jesus tells us that the Father seeks people who will worship in spirit and truth. In other words, this is what kind of worship the Father wants. This verse is one of the central passages to consider what worship is because here the Lord God tells us that these are the kinds of worshippers He seeks, those who worship in Spirit and Truth.
This is not the end of our investigation into what worship is. It is merely the start, but it is an important start. We would do well to consider how later in John’s Gospel the blind man bows before Jesus John 9:38 recognizing that Jesus was both from God, Jn 9:33 and Son of Man, Jn 9:35. There we see, belief and action go hand in hand.
latreuein:
When translating the Old Testament the translators also used another Greek word for worship, namely latreuein, commonly translated as “to serve”
When looking at Deut 10:12-13 we see that such service involved fearing God, obeying and loving Him. Verses 10-11 in Deut make it clear that such worship or service arises out of recognizing the very character of God as one who makes promises, keeps them and acts with compassion and Mercy. The passage in Deut 10 of course speaks of ceremonial actions of sacrifice and so on, and we of course recognize that we do not have to carry our those same sacrifices, but the principle we pick up on there is that such worship involves all the life of the believer, such that the worshipper is able to acknowledge with Joy everything you do in life because the Lord has blessed you. Vs 7. Are we not in the same position of having been blessed abundantly more through the forgiveness of sin wrought by our Lord Jesus Christ? It is this very same sort of worship that is seen mentioned by Paul in Roman’s 12. The giving of our very lives as a living sacrifice is our reasonable or logical “worship” or “service”. ( latreuein ). As with Deut 10 this worship is in response to the great mercies of God, not done in order to make ourselves acceptable to Him but rather its done out of gratitude! Such reasonable worship offers to God our minds to be transformed by him, our thinking needs regeneration, which then will flow out into our actions to our Lord and other Christians.
leitourgia:
Lastly there is the Greek word leitourgia. What does leitourgia involve? Interestingly it’s from this Greek word that we get our English word liturgy. And it’s derivative “ministry”. Liturgy is the specific acts of a public nature that a congregation involves itself in. The Old Testament background is alluded to in Hebrews when he says the Priest is said to have ministered day by day ( performed liturgy ) and to have offered the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. Hebrews 10:11.
From its use elsewhere in the New Testament we can gain further valuable insight into its meaning. In Acts 13:2 the prophets and teachers at Antioch ministered to the Lord by engaging in intercessory prayer. In Phil 2:17 Paul links ministry with sacrifice, a ministry which is not external or ritualistic but a commitment of faith.
And lastly in Phil 3:20 we read of the gift of money that the Philippian Church made to Paul. It speaks of Epaphroditus supplying that which was lacking in their service “liturgy”. This service this “liturgy” was one of the sacrificial giving of money. That also is understood in the bible as being a means or form of worship.
And this insight bring us back to the wise men of Matt2. They came and worshipped, bowing down before Jesus and then they offered their gifts of gold and frankincense and Myrrh. Instead of separating the two actions, one of worship and one of giving gifts, I wonder if both are not true worship of the Lord Jesus? It certainly seems that the giving of gifts is also a means of worship?
Given just these few insights I am paused to ponder just how my worship of the Lord is faring?
[1] the Greek the word is proskuneo; the Hebrew equivalent is shacah.
[2] we know from the Old Testament that Samaritans did not know how to worship. They were syncretistic, as we read in 2 Kings 17:33, “They worshiped the Lord, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought.” All their worship was false. In fact, Jesus told the Samaritan woman, “You worship what you do not know.” In other words a syncretistic “faith” is not believing faith. “This is eternal life,” Jesus said, “that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). The only way to know God the Father is through Jesus Christ who was sent to reveal the Father to us.
[3] our own subjectivity and imagination, nor is it based on our own opinions and feelings.
[4] From John MacArthur Sermon on worship.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
What is Worship? Part 1
Today if you ask a group of Christian people what worship is, it won’t be long before you hear someone say that music and singing are worship. They don’t qualify that statement in anyway, they just say this is what worship is. Indeed some churches put aside a special period before the service called praise worship meaning a time of singing before the service begins. If you go into a Christian bookstore or look at a Christian book store catalogue what do you find under the section called worship but “Christian” CD’s and music. These are subtle influences in our lives that we sometimes ignore the impact of and yet they are the things that tend to mould our thoughts about certain subjects. Has this influenced you and me into what we understand as worship?
Think about it bit. Does your church have Praise and Worship "Teams" that are an integral part of the "services"?
Those who play musical instruments are sometimes tempted into thinking that music and singing is what worship is all about. What we need to realise is that it’s a means of worship. So that some don’t think I have a gripe against musicians let me say my wife teaches piano and keyboard and all my children play and my wife and daughter also play in the music team at church. It is just that there is an avenue of temptation for anyone being out the front of the congregation to think that what they alone are doing is what worship is. And that’s not even considering the problem that some are even tempted to become a performer or even an entertainer [ some preachers already act this way with their actions and words moulded to entertain their listeners instead of faithfully teach the Word of God ].
Of course it’s not hard to identify with the person who wrote into Christianpost.com and said
“I know I'm supposed to worship God when I go to church, but I can't say I always do. My thoughts wander, or I get to thinking about the people around me and I come away disappointed in myself for not really worshipping. How can I keep from being distracted? - D.H.”
That experience is not all that uncommon, and it can depend upon a lot of things, it can be that the person is that day weighed down with a lot of worldly cares, or their Church may itself not be showing the love for the brethren that works out in brotherly fellowship. It’s so common that even some pastors have at times not felt the urge on a Sunday morning to drag their feet out of bed and go to church. For them it could have been because satan is attacking them at that point in time or that there are so many “problems” happening in the church that they just don’t want to deal with, or even that bed is so warm and comfy on a cold winters day! [ which of course could be satan tempting them again :) ]
Still whilst at times there’s a temptation not to worship or of being distracted, we still need to be clear about what the Bible says Worship is.
I recently read a helpful article by Steven Shephard which referred to how the wise men came to Jesus at his birth and worshipped him. As we read about it in Matthew 2:1-2
“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying ‘Where is He who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him’” (Matt. 2:1-2)
Then in Matthew 2:11 we read about having found Jesus they “fell down and worshiped Him.” The Greek word here translated "worship" means to prostrate oneself. But biblical worship implies more than the bowing down of our body. You don’t get very far in merely doing a word study of Hebrew and Greek words used in the Bible and translated as “worship” in our English translation. We need to do that, but a fruitful result requires us to do more.
Here in Matthew’s Gospel we see first that the wise men came to worship Jesus and they clearly prostrate themselves before him, Matt 2:11 but is that the end of the story in Matthew 2 about worship? Is worship merely a physical prostrating of oneself before Jesus?
That’s what we shall consider next time.
In Christ
Gary
Think about it bit. Does your church have Praise and Worship "Teams" that are an integral part of the "services"?
Those who play musical instruments are sometimes tempted into thinking that music and singing is what worship is all about. What we need to realise is that it’s a means of worship. So that some don’t think I have a gripe against musicians let me say my wife teaches piano and keyboard and all my children play and my wife and daughter also play in the music team at church. It is just that there is an avenue of temptation for anyone being out the front of the congregation to think that what they alone are doing is what worship is. And that’s not even considering the problem that some are even tempted to become a performer or even an entertainer [ some preachers already act this way with their actions and words moulded to entertain their listeners instead of faithfully teach the Word of God ].
Of course it’s not hard to identify with the person who wrote into Christianpost.com and said
“I know I'm supposed to worship God when I go to church, but I can't say I always do. My thoughts wander, or I get to thinking about the people around me and I come away disappointed in myself for not really worshipping. How can I keep from being distracted? - D.H.”
That experience is not all that uncommon, and it can depend upon a lot of things, it can be that the person is that day weighed down with a lot of worldly cares, or their Church may itself not be showing the love for the brethren that works out in brotherly fellowship. It’s so common that even some pastors have at times not felt the urge on a Sunday morning to drag their feet out of bed and go to church. For them it could have been because satan is attacking them at that point in time or that there are so many “problems” happening in the church that they just don’t want to deal with, or even that bed is so warm and comfy on a cold winters day! [ which of course could be satan tempting them again :) ]
Still whilst at times there’s a temptation not to worship or of being distracted, we still need to be clear about what the Bible says Worship is.
I recently read a helpful article by Steven Shephard which referred to how the wise men came to Jesus at his birth and worshipped him. As we read about it in Matthew 2:1-2
“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying ‘Where is He who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him’” (Matt. 2:1-2)
Then in Matthew 2:11 we read about having found Jesus they “fell down and worshiped Him.” The Greek word here translated "worship" means to prostrate oneself. But biblical worship implies more than the bowing down of our body. You don’t get very far in merely doing a word study of Hebrew and Greek words used in the Bible and translated as “worship” in our English translation. We need to do that, but a fruitful result requires us to do more.
Here in Matthew’s Gospel we see first that the wise men came to worship Jesus and they clearly prostrate themselves before him, Matt 2:11 but is that the end of the story in Matthew 2 about worship? Is worship merely a physical prostrating of oneself before Jesus?
That’s what we shall consider next time.
In Christ
Gary
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