How am I to worship God? (by Horatius Bonar)<\/p>\n
Man asks, “How am I to worship God?” and
\nhe has answered it also in his own way. In the
\ngorgeous temple, in the pillared cathedral, with
\nincense, and vestments, and forms, and ceremonies,
\nand processions, and postures, he says.
\nBut these performances are the ‘will worship’ of
\nself righteousness, not the obedient service of
\nmen worshiping God in ways of His own choosing.
\nMan cannot teach man how to worship God. When
\nhe tries it he utterly fails. He distorts worship; he
\nmisrepresents God, and he indulges his own sensuous
\nor self righteous tastes. His “dim religious light” is
\nbut a reflection of his own gloomy spirit, and an
\nignorant misrepresentation of Him “who is light.”
\nGod’s answer to man’s question is given in the
\nLord’s words, “those who worship Him must worship
\nHim in spirit and in truth.”
\nThe vestments may or may not be lovely; that matters not.
\nThe music may or may not be beautiful.
\nThe knees may or may not be bent.
\nThe hands may or may not be clasped.
\nThe place of worship may or may not be
\na cathedral, or a consecrated building.
\nThese are immaterial things; mere
\nadjuncts of religion, not its essence.
\nThe true worship is that of the inner man; and all
\nthese other exterior things are of little importance.
\nAs it is with love, so it is with worship.
\nThe heart is everything!
\nGod can do without the bended knee,
\nbut not without the broken heart!<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
Heart worship
\n“Blessed is the man whose strength is in You;
\nin whose HEART are Your ways.” -Psalm 84:5
\n“None find joy in worship but those
\nwho throw their hearts into it.
\nNeither prayer, nor praise, nor the
\nhearing of the word will be profitable to
\nthose who have left their hearts behind them.”
\n-Spurgeon<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
Unity, peace, truth…
\nJ.C. Ryle, “The Fallibility of Ministers”
\nDo not put implicit confidence in any man’s opinion,
\nmerely because he is a minister.
\nWhat are the best of ministers but men–
\ndust, ashes and clay-
\nmen with a nature like our own,
\nmen exposed to temptations,
\nmen liable to weaknesses and failings.
\nThey have often driven the truth into the wilderness,
\nand decreed that to be true, which was false.
\nThe greatest errors have been begun by ministers.
\nPeace without truth is a false peace;
\nit is the very peace of the devil.
\nUnity without the gospel is a worthless unity;
\nit is the very unity of hell.
\nWe ought to contend jealously for the truth and to
\nfear the loss of truth more that the loss of peace.
\nTo maintain pure truth in the church, we should be ready
\nto make any sacrifice, to hazard peace, to risk dissension
\nand run the chance of division.
\nNever let us be guilty of sacrificing any portion of truth
\non the altar of peace.
\nWe should no more tolerate false doctrine
\nthan we would tolerate sin.
\nTo regularly hear unscriptural teaching is a serious thing.
\nIs is a continual dropping of slow poison into the mind.
\nLet us receive nothing, believe nothing, follow nothing
\nwhich is not in the Bible, nor can be proved by the Bible.<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
OUR FORMS OF WORSHIP… <\/strong>-Spurgeon, “Is God in the Camp?”<\/em> be ourguide to God, and not our chain to hold us back from Modern Church Machinery<\/strong> The fact is, God does not need our power, but our weakness; —<\/p>\n Peace, peace!<\/strong> (J. C. Philpot, from his ‘Reviews’) How Jeremiah testifies against those prophets —<\/p>\n
\nIf I have gone through the general routine of the worship
\nof my church, and then think that I have done something
\nacceptable to God, while yet my heart has not communed
\nwith him in humble repentance, or faith, or love, or joy, or
\nconsecration; I make a great mistake.
\nYou may keep on with your religious performances for
\nseventy years or more; you may not neglect a single rubric
\nin the whole ritual; but it is all nothing unless the soul has
\nfellowship with God.
\nGodliness is a spiritual thing; for “God is a Spirit; and they
\nthat worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
\nSo far as our forms or worship<\/strong> help us towards this
\nspiritual communion, they are good, but no farther.
\nEverything brought to God as a sacrifice must be alive.
\nIts blood must be poured out warm at the altar’s foot.
\nOh that you and I might feel that lifting of the soul to God,
\nand that buoyancy of heart, which true spiritual worship
\nalone can bring to us! May our ritual, whether we have much or little,<\/p>\n
\nGod!<\/p>\n
\nfrom Spurgeon’s sermon, “FAITH OMNIPOTENT” <\/em>
\nFriends! the Churches of Christ have no need of the Modern
\nMachinery<\/strong> which has supplanted the Simplicity of Faith.
\nI verily believe, if the Lord swept the church committees
\nand missionary societies out of the universe, we would be
\nbetter without them.
\nI hope the Church will soon say, like David in Saul’s clanking
\narmor, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them,”
\nand with only her sling and her stone, confident in her God,
\nI trust she will confront her foe.
\nWe Can Do All Things, If We Can but Trust Christ.<\/strong>
\n“All things are possible to him that believes.”
\nBut nothing is possible to your schemes, and to your systems.
\nGod will sweep them away yet, and happy shall be that
\nman who shall lead the van in their utter destruction!
\nGo up against her, take away her bulwarks, for they are not
\nthe Lord’s; he did not ordain them, nor will he stand by them.
\nAct in faith, O you people of God, and prove the power of
\nprayer, for “all things are possible to him that believes.”<\/p>\n
\nnot our greatness, but our nothingness.<\/p>\n
\nThey dress the wound of My people as though
\nit were not serious. “Peace, peace!<\/strong>” they say,
\nwhen there is no peace. Jeremiah 8:11<\/p>\n
\nwho prophesy smooth things<\/strong>\u2014who prophesy
\ndeceits\u2014who know not the way of the Lord,
\nnor have walked in His counsel.
\nThere is no greater mark of false ministers given
\nin the word of truth, than healing the wound of God’s
\npeople slightly, saying, “Peace, peace!<\/strong>” when there
\nis no peace.
\nIf we carefully read the book of Jeremiah, we shall
\nsee that the great sin and the chief deception of all
\nthe false prophets who sprang up in scores during the
\nperiod of his ministry, was to build up the people in a
\nfalse hope\u2014to assure them that they had no reason
\nto fear the judgments of God\u2014that the Lord would
\nnot execute against them what He threatened. They
\ntherefore hardened the people in sin and disobedience,
\nled them to trifle with and despise the judgments of God,
\nand built them up in a false confidence that, because they
\nwere the people of God by external profession, they were
\nHis also by regenerating grace.
\nIf our eyes were fully open to see the effect of the false
\nteaching of our day, we would see it equally dishonoring
\nto God\u2014and pregnant with equally awful consequences<\/strong>.
\nWe would see hundreds of dead professors built up
\nwithout a foundation of repentance <\/strong>toward God. We
\nwould see sin <\/strong>made a little matter of\u2014the awful anger
\nof the Almighty against it, and His dreadful indignation
\nagainst transgressors passed by as a thing of little
\nimportance. We would see the strait and narrow path
\nwidened out in all directions\u2014and the distinguishing
\ntruths of the gospel beaten down and amalgamated
\nwith the grossest errors.<\/p>\n