Category Archives: John 17

image_pdfimage_print

Thou Shalt Worship the Lord Thy God Matthew 4:10

Posted on by

Thomas F. Eaves Sr.
February 2014

What Is Worship?

Poetically, worship has been defined as “Man climbing the altar stairs to God.” The dictionary defines worship as: “Worthiness, repute, respect, reverence paid to a divine being.” Others have defined worship as: “Profound respect mingled with fear and affection; veneration. A token of respect or veneration; an obeisance.”

In the New Testament the most common word translated worship is proskuneo which has the basic meaning of “to kiss toward.” It appears sixty times and is defined as follows: “to do obeisance to, to prostrate oneself, do reverence to.”

Acceptable Worship Involves a Conscious Effort

Worship is not an act that one engages in accidentally, neither is it a spectator activity, rather it is an activity in which the worshiper puts forth a conscious effort to accomplish God’s will. Moses writes the account of Cain and Able worshiping God (Gen. 4:3-4). He wrote that God had respect for Abel’s offering but no respect for Cain’s. The Hebrews writer tells us: “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain” (Heb. 11:4). Abel’s sacrifice was by faith and since faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17), Abel made a conscious effort and followed God’s instructions.

When Abraham was obeying God’s instructions concerning Isaac (Gen. 22:2; cf. Gen. 22:11-12; Heb. 11:17-18), he told his young men: “Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you” (Gen. 22:5). Abraham made a conscious effort to go to the place designated by God for the purpose of worshiping. God’s children also assemble at designated places for the purpose of worshiping Him.

Jesus, in conversation with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, instructed her that under the Jewish law Jerusalem was the proper place to worship (John 4:20-22). The Ethiopian eunuch traveled from his homeland to Jerusalem for the purpose of worshiping (Acts 8:28).

Acceptable Worship Involves Several Characteristics

Obedience—In the days of Malachi the prophet the priests were accused of despising the name of Jehovah because they were not following God’s instructions concerning sacrifices. Instead of offering Jehovah sacrifices which met His specifications, they were offering polluted bread, blind, lame, and sick animals (Mal. 1:6-8). Because of this disobedience their sacrifices were rejected. In the New Testament, Jesus declared that worship was to be in spirit (from the heart) and truth (John 4:24). To worship in truth is to worship according to God’s instructions (John 17:17).

Attitude—Jesus spoke a parable to certain men who trusted in themselves (not God) that they were righteous and set all others at nought (Luke 18:9). A Pharisee and a Publican (tax collector) went up to worship (pray). The Pharisee’s worship was rejected because of his ungodly attitude. The Publican’s worship was accepted because he worshiped with an acceptable attitude (Luke 18:9-14).

A Pure Life—God told the Jews in the time of Amos that He despised their worship and emphatically told them that He would not accept it. The reason? The Jews were walking in disobedience to God’s Word (Amos 5:21-24). Jehovah spoke to the Jews through Isaiah and told them that He considered their worship as nothing more than trampling His courts and that He would hide His eyes from them (Isa. 1:11-17). The reason Jehovah would not accept their worship is vividly described earlier in the same chapter (Isa. 1:2-9). Christians are to offer their spiritual sacrifices as holy priests (1 Pet. 2:5). Pure worship cannot come from an impure life.

Five Types of Worship

God’s Word informs us that there are five types of worship which man can engage in but only one is acceptable to God.

  1. False worship—(Jer. 19:5). Israel’s worship to Baal was false worship and an abomination unto God.
  2. Ignorant worship (Acts 17:23).
  3. Will worship—(Col. 2:18-23, especially v. 23).
  4. Vain worship—(Mat. 15:7-9).
  5. True worship—(John 4:23).

This is the only one that God will accept. Worship is an opportunity of a lifetime. May God help us to worship Him in spirit and truth, that He may be glorified and that we as Christians may benefit from the fellowship with Him and our fellow Christians.

Deceased

The Authority of the Scripture Concerning Worship

Posted on by

Jerry Moffitt
September 1990

We have always been a people who made the Word of God our authority in religion. However, since there are signs in our brotherhood of drifting from this mooring, let us express two propositions regarding why God’s Word, revealed in the Bible must be our sole authority in worship.

Proposition One: All Else Is Rejected as Authority

First, the church cannot be our authority for it did not give us the truth. Rather, truth gave us the church. The church must support the truth and be the pillar and ground of it. Paul wrote to Timothy: “But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15).

Second, we reject denominations and ecclesiastical bodies as authority. They are not from heaven, but from man (Mat. 21:25). They are evil plants the Lord wants rooted up (Mat. 15:13).

Third, we reject human reason as authority. God has made it foolish (1 Cor. 1:18-31), so the way of man is not in himself (Jer. 10:23). Under this category we would place traditions of men (Mat. 15:7-9), human philosophy (Col. 2:8), secret knowledge (1 Tim. 6:20-21), and all men as an authority. Men can be false teachers (2 John 9-11; 1 John 4:1; 2 Pet. 2:13; Jude 3-4).

Fourth, we reject angels (Gal. 1:8-9; 2 Cor. 11:13-15), and human experiences (Mat. 24:24; 2 Cor. 3:13) as authority concerning worship. It is possible for us to be deceived, especially in the realm of human experience.

Proposition Two: Why Scripture Is Our Sole Authority

First, only it is the Word of God (Deut. 8:3; 1 Thes. 2:13; 2 Tim. 3:16-17). “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Mat. 4:4). No other book, than the Bible, can stand tests intended to discredit this claim.

Second, it is in the Bible that God exercises His authority (1 Cor. 14:37; 2 Thes. 2:1-3; John 14:16-18; John 14:26; John 16:13; 2 Tim. 3:16-17). God had authority and delegated it to the Son (Heb. 1:1-3). The Son put it in men (2 Cor. 5:20), and they wrote it down (1 Cor. 14:37; 2 Thes. 2:1-3).

Thus, third, the Bible claims to be an authority (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Thes. 1:7-9; 2 Pet. 3:5). As a church, we dare not sail off the map of God’s Word.

Fourth, Jesus appealed to Scripture as the final authority to settle religious concerns (Mat. 22:28-33; Mat. 19:4-5; John 10:35-36). The apostles did the same, quoting Old Testament passages to authenticate their teaching.

Like the Hebrews writer, time fails if we try to tell all. Scripture is our authority for it is reliable; it will judge us; and, it is indestructible. It will convert us (Psa. 19:7), guide us (Psa. 73:24), cleanse us (John 15:3), save us (James 1:21), sanctify us (John 17:17), edify us (Acts 20:32), and work in us (1 Thes. 2:13). What else could we ask? So may we continue to hold it up as our sole authority in Christianity.

P.O. Box 1275; Portland, TX 78374

How Good and How Pleasant it Is for Brethren to Dwell Together in Unity!

Posted on by

Tim Smith
July 2007

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore” (Psa. 133:1-3).

A study of the biblical subject of Unity is ever a timely one, and now is no less the case. There is now, and there always has been since shortly after the beginning of the church, much division within the ranks of those who purport to be followers of Jesus Christ. The Psalmist declared that it is a good and pleasant thing when brethren are united, but is this always the case? Is there any set of circumstances wherein unity is not good? Biblically speaking, the answer is yes. Let us take a few minutes to consider these matters.

Unity is Shared Between Brethren

As the Psalmist declared, unity is a family thing. We enjoy unity with each other based on our kinship with each other, and that kinship is based on our relationship with the Lord. We are brethren with each other because God is our Father. The point at hand is well illustrated in Paul’s dealings with the brethren in Corinth. He had condemned extending fellowship to “fornicators…covetous…idolaters” and the like (1 Cor. 5:9-10). That he was dealing with a family relationship was punctuated in verse 11: “But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.” Clearly the point is that we do not “keep company with” (fellowship) those of this world in a spiritual sense. We do not have family responsibilities to those not in the family of God. Hear Paul again: “For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth” (1 Cor. 5:12-13). We have family duties toward those in the family of God, no more, no less, and none else.

Unity Between Brethren Is Predicated Upon the Brethren Respecting the Principles of Truth

We are granted salvation upon proper immersion (Acts 2:38; 22:16; 1 Pet. 3:21), and we are granted entrance into the body of Christ at the same time (Acts 2:41, 47; 1 Cor. 12:13). But to maintain our salvation and our good standing in the body of Christ we are obligated to be faithful and true to the truth which saved us (James 1:21). Should we, in the course of time, leave the truth and replace it in our lives with error, what happens? Consider the case of the Thessalonians: “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thes. 2:10-12). The sin under consideration in this passage warranted the ones guilty of it to be “damned,” but what was it? Murder? Extortion? Perversion? No, it was their lack of love for and submission to the truth. When they left the truth, they left their salvation. What was to be done with them? Were they to continue to enjoy the benefits of the family relationship afforded them in Christ? Hear the same inspired writer in the next chapter: “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us…. And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother” (2 Thes. 3:6, 14-15). This man who left the truth lost his privileges as a member of the family of God and was to be “withdrawn from” by the faithful. He was no longer in “good standing” with God, and Paul demanded that the church recognize that fact. We may not, with the approval of God, enjoy unity with those who have left the truth.

The Prayer of Our Lord for Unity

Our Lord prayed that his followers might be united, and in this wonderful prayer He linked unity with acceptance of the Word of God. Hear him: “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (John 17:20-21). Notice that the unity for which he prayed was linked with the acceptance of (belief in) the Word of Christ as revealed through the apostles. To this Paul adds: “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Cor. 1:10). To do our part in answering the prayer of our Lord for unity and in obeying the command of the Lord through Paul, we must believe in and obey the truth.

It truly is a “good and pleasant” thing for “brethren to dwell together in unity,” but it is only brethren who are so to dwell, and specifically brethren who are faithful and true to the principles of truth. All others are excluded from this relationship. We love the lost, whether they be lost as unfaithful Christians or as alien sinners; but our love for them is demonstrated by teaching them the truth; not extending fellowship to and dwelling in unity with them in their sin.

171 Radford Rd
Dothan, AL 36301