Tag: church

The Position, Posture & Place of our Worship

Part 3 — The Place of our Worship

In the book of Mark is a story of a woman’s act of love, service and devotion to the Lord. Her story is lost to time, not even her name is given in this passage. We don’t know her life story, we don’t know her past but we do see a glimpse of her heart. It is a story that shows us the position, posture and place of our worship.

Mark 14:3-9 ESV

3 And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. 4 There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? 5 For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. 6 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7 For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. 8 She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. 9 And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”

  1. The Place of our Worship

When I think about the place of our worship, my mind goes back to the verse when Jesus is speaking to the woman at the well. He says in John 4:23 ” But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him.” Jesus then says this in verse 24 “For God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and Truth.

We can go deeper into what Jesus is saying here but put it simply this way; we don’t have to go to a building (church) to worship. Our worship should not only be contained within the four walls of a building, but outside, in your car, in your home, in your workplace. His Spirit is what is living inside of us! Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 6:19 “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own.”

God, His Spirit is what is living inside of us. He is our place of worship!

Who Will You Choose?

IN THIS CHAPTER, BEFORE JOSHUA’S PASSING, HE CALLS FOR ALL THE ELDERS, JUDGES, & LEADERS. HE BEGINS TO REMIND THEM OF THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD. HE REMINDS THEM OF EGYPT,  PAST BATTLES THAT GOD GAVE THEM VICTORY OVER. THE MANNA THAT WAS GIVEN EVERYDAY IN THE WILDERNESS. 

14 “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” — Joshua 24:14-15

We have choices everyday. What to wear, what to eat that day. But everyday we make a conscience decision to choose Him in everything.

“But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

ii. Joshua could make this statement because he had lived a life that continuously chose to serve the LORD.

· Joshua chose to fight against the Amalekites – choosing when it might cost everything.

· Joshua chose to reject the golden calf – choosing when the flesh might be satisfied.

· Joshua chose to serve the Lord by serving Moses – choosing a humble place.

· Joshua chose to believe God’s promise about the Promised Land – choosing against the majority.

· Joshua chose to recognize the leadership of the Captain of the LORD’s army – choosing surrender to God.

· Joshua chose to take leadership of Israel and lead them into the land – choosing faith instead of unbelief.

iii. God gives us choice. God is a choosing God; we are made in His image. He wants us to also choose.

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So who will you choose?

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. — Matthew 6:24

Feeding Sheep or Amusing Goats

An evil is in the professed camp of the Lord, so gross in its impudence, that the most shortsighted can hardly fail to notice it during the past few years. It has developed at an abnormal rate, even for evil. It has worked like leaven until the whole lump ferments. The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them.

From speaking out as the Puritans did, the church has gradually toned down her testimony, then winked at and excused the frivolities of the day. Then she tolerated them in her borders. Now she has adopted them under the plea of reaching the masses.

My first contention is that providing amusement for the people is nowhere spoken of in the Scriptures as a function of the church. If it is a Christian work, why did not Christ speak of it? “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15) That is clear enough So it would have been if He had added, “and provide amusement for those who do not relish the gospel.” No such words, however, are to be found. It did not seem to occur to him.

Then again, “He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers … for the work of the ministry” (Eph. 4:11-12). Where do entertainers come in? The Holy Spirit is silent concerning them. Were the prophets persecuted because they amused the people or because they refused? The concert has no martyr roll.

Again, providing amusement is in direct antagonism to the teaching and life of Christ and all his apostles. What was the attitude of the church to the world? Ye are the salt” (Matt. 5:13), not the sugar candy—something the world will spit out not swallow. He was in awful earnestness.

Had Christ introduced more of the bright and pleasant elements into his mission, he would have been more popular when they went back, because of the searching nature of His teaching. I do not hear him say, “Run after these people, Peter, and tell them we will have a different style of service tomorrow, something short and attractive with little preaching. We will have a pleasant evening for the people. Tell them they will be sure to enjoy it. Be quick Peter, we must get the people somehow.” Jesus pitied sinners, sighed and wept over them, but never sought to amuse them.

In vain will the Epistles be searched to find any trace of this gospel of amusement! Their message is, “Come out, keep out…!” Anything approaching fooling is conspicuous by its absence. They had boundless confidence in the gospel and employed no other weapon.

After Peter and John were locked up for preaching, the church had a prayer meeting but they did not pray, “Lord grant unto thy servants that by a wise and discriminating use of innocent recreation we may show these people how happy we are.”

If they ceased not from preaching Christ, they had not time for arranging entertainments. Scattered by persecution, they went everywhere preaching the gospel. They turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6). That is the only difference! Lord, clear the church of all the rot and rubbish the devil has imposed on her, and bring us back to the Bible.

Lastly, the mission of amusement fails to effect the end desired. It works havoc among young converts. Let the careless and scoffers, who thank God because the church met them halfway, speak and testify. Let the heavy laden who found peace through the concert not keep silent! Let the drunkard to whom the dramatic entertainment has been God’s link in the chain of the conversion, stand up! There are none to answer. The mission of amusement produces no converts. The need of the hour for today’s ministry is believing scholarship joined with earnest spirituality, the one springing from the other as fruit from the root. The need is biblical doctrine, so understood and felt, that it sets men on fire. – Charles Spurgeon