Paradox
Paradox: Worship and the Christian Assembly
Paradox: 1. A seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true. 2. One exhibiting inexplicable or contradictory aspects. 3. An assertion that is essentially self-contradictory, though based on a valid deduction from acceptable premises. 4. A statement contrary to received opinion.
Worship: 1 a. The reverent love and devotion accorded a deity, an idol, or a sacred object. b. The ceremonies, prayers, or other religious forms by which this love is expressed.
Paradox is not a new concept for Christians to consider. Jesus’ teachings had paradoxical statements and ideas that have been embraced throughout religious history. The paradox of dying so that you may live is right at the top of these paradoxical teachings of Jesus. Another, is Jesus call for servant hood to those who wish to be great. How about “giving to receive.” Can you think of others?
Our understanding and practice in the Christian assembly is also a paradox. Christians for centuries have treated their assemblies as the time for worship and praise. Glorifying God at a specific time and place set aside for focusing on Him is the norm in Christianity. That is sometimes called our “tradition.” But, just because it’s the norm doesn’t mean it is what really glorifies God or praises Him.
Paradox: When we think we are worshipping God in the assembly, we aren’t. When we think we aren’t worshipping God, we are.
How can that be? Let’s look at some scriptures that will point out the paradoxes of this statement. First, lets examine the teachings of Jesus and his disciples on what really glorifies and does not glorify God. Isn’t glorifying God the purpose of our worship? How should we express it? Do the forms and mechanics of our “worship assemblies” glorify God or not?
Matt: 5:16- “Let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify (or praise) your Father who is in heaven.”
John: 15 : 8 “This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 9 "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”
Phil. 1:9 - 11 “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ-- to the glory and praise of God.”
These three passages emphasize that God is glorified by the fruit you bear and that this fruit is your shining robe of identity as Jesus’ disciple. Jesus didn’t say that you glorify the Father by sitting in an assembly and singing praise songs. It is further defined in John 13:
John 13:34"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
James helps us understand that this love, the fruit of your faith, is in the works that Jesus exampled to us.
James 2:14 “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. “
Don’t we profess these same things when we sit in an assembly, focused, not on loving each other as Jesus has commanded, but on doing something for God who needs nothing that man can give him?
Acts 17:24 "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.
Acts 17:25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.”
It’s no wonder that Paul teaches in Romans 12:1 that your spiritual worship is to make your bodies a living sacrifice to God.
Romans 12:1 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. “
It’s no accident that Paul teaches this view, for it comes from Jesus very teaching in John 4 to the Samaritan woman.
John 4:23 - 24 “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” "
Worshipping God is not an external act of lip service but rather a spirit generated life that emulates the acts of Jesus and thus glorifies God the Spirit Creator in who’s image we were made. This teaching was deemed to be contrary to the law in Acts 18 when the Jews charged Paul before the court of Gallio. Worship was a big deal to the Jews and it should be a big deal to Christians. One worshipped in symbols, the other in truth.
Acts 18:13 "This man," they charged, "is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law."
This fruit we bear that glorifies God is further stated by the writer of Hebrews.
Hebrews 13:15 “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise--the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”
“Sacrifice is seen as continual confession of the name of Jesus and the sharing with people in need. This “fruit,” “sacrifices that please God” is in the context of a lifestyle of continual worship—not acts to be performed during a “church service.” -Bruce Campbell
It is the same lifestyle of good works that Paul says is the result of His mercy and saving grace as we are “created in Christ Jesus” and now are “alive with Christ.”
Eph. 2:4-10 “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-- it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Just as Jesus glorified God by doing His will, so we glorify God when we do His will. We were created to glorify God by our good works and this is the definition of a Christian. Jesus teachings on loving each other as the definition of Christianity in John 13 -14 is the most defining moment in our understanding of what God wants His people to be know by.
35 “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
He has shown us through His son that this act of loving each other is the highest display of Godliness and is that which glorifies Himself the most. It shows that we are “one” with the Father as Jesus was one with his Father. He didn’t say that we would be know for our great praise assemblies, our preachers, our buildings or anything else we choose to be our definition. We have forgotten the words of Jesus when we define ourselves with these things.
So now you can see why the new Christians in Acts 2 did what they did. With no other commandment, after accepting Jesus as Lord, they sold their possessions and gave to each other as any had need.
Acts 2:42 “They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.”
Now that’s worship! They didn’t offer Old Testament type sacrifices to God but praised Him by and for the works he was doing through them. Their love for each other cried out the name of Jesus as they were one with him and his Father. The externalism and rule keeping that had plagued the religious of their day was not evident on that day. They loved each other and all the people saw this in them as they had “favor of all the people.” That’s what happens when you have Jesus living inside you! And, THAT is what glorifies God! It is consistent with everything the New Testament teaches about what God seeks for those created in His image.
Jesus came to do the “will” of his Father. He obeyed the Father’s commands. We are told in John 14:15 "If you love me, you will obey what I command.” Our actions, loving each other, show that we love Jesus and the One who sent him. It’s by this that God is glorified and praised.
So, when we assemble, do we focus on the command of Jesus and thus glorify him and his Father? Or do we ignore each others needs, forgetting to love, requiring of each other some sort of external worship expression that we have devised as good and useful. These expressions are usually generational in nature and have been the cause of many divisions and squabbles in the church. Defining churches by these expressions of externalism diminishes the unity sought by Jesus himself in John 17. This unity is one of the signs that indicate that Jesus is the Messiah and that we are his people.
John 17:20-23 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
Allowing Christians to accept the idea that each church entity should be unique in its “worship practices” is an immature rationalization caused by the misunderstanding that God is somehow praised by these external definitions. It is evident by God’s own words to us that he seeks for us to be know by unity and love for each other and not by some outward coat that we choose to wear. Our members need to see that God is glorified by our fruits of loving and sharing with each other. These acts are the glue of unity and will not cause division. Mature understanding of these ideas will ensure that our children and generations to come will show Jesus living in his church and bring sinners to believe in him.
Do we remember the message to those in Isaiahs’ day. They had tried to circumvent true worship with meaningless prayer and sacrifices, neglecting the weightier matters of good works. Isaiah, speaking for God, reminded them of true worship.
Is. 58:2-7 “For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. 'Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?' "Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?”
Although Old Testament worship practices were only a shadow of true worship and symbolic in nature, unlike the true worshippers that John 4 references, there was still TRUTH. Jesus himself reminds of the problems with symbolic worship when he quotes Isaiah’s words.
Matt. 15:7-9 “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men. ‘ "
Of course, the setting for this statement was the question by the Pharisees concerning Jesus disciples not washing their hands. Jesus countered with this thought:
Matt. 15:1-9 “Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat!" Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, 'Honor your father and mother' and 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,' he is not to 'honor his father' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: " 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men. ' "
Jesus was emphasizing that God’s word had commanded them to take care of their parents but the Pharisees were neglecting that practice by saying that their offering should go to God. Their misguided focus on God, who needs nothing, turned their face from the good works of taking care of those in need. It can be said that we do the same today. We bring people together to focus on God, give back to God, praise God, while all along forgetting or disallowing our members to focus on the needs of the body or others. Our worship is in vain when we do this.
Jesus concluded that the Jew’s worship was in vain when they practiced this way. When would you conclude that the worship at your church is in vain? Do you ever think of the needs of the body? Do you ever spend time taking care of each other when you assemble? Do you care when someone is unloved? Do you even pause when Christians leave the body? Do you take care of the widows? Do you take on the responsibility of caring for your parents or do you just put your money in the plate, saying it’s for God. Is that your worship?
Of course, many would say that loving each other in this way during our assemblies is just humanism and focusing on one another makes us a club. Would you condemn Jesus for teaching us to love one another as a test of our love for him? Is Jesus teaching humanism? James reminds Christians of their responsibilities to each other in James 1:22 - 27.
James 1:22 -27 “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it-- he will be blessed in what he does. If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
Jesus himself was the author of these very concepts in Matt 25 and taught us of their importance. They not only reflect Jesus in the life of the doer but also glorify God by letting their “lights shine” before men. The righteous, living by faith, are doers of the word and worship God in truth and spirit. Their worship is not in vain.
Matt. 25:34 -40 "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. ' "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you? ' "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' “
Conclusion: So now, I’m encouraging you to worship God in ways that are contrary to your traditions. When we meet together we need to continually remember these words:
Heb. 10:23-25 “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-- and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Love and good works are the fruits that glorify God. We need to make sure we remember this when we meet together. If not then, when?
Churches have forgotten this call if they ever knew it at all. They have placed their emphasis on the external praises that they think are important, forgetting what really glorifies God. “Better singing, that’s what matters!” “Better preaching, that will bring them in!” “Better buildings, that’s what people are drawn to!” “Contemporary gadgets, that’s what we need to define us!” All these things are superfluous definitions that have no value in glorifying God but are simply the creation of man to fulfill his own needs and wants.
It’s not that church members today don’t produce the fruit of good deeds, it’s that they are misled into thinking that the lip service of their assemblies is equal to or greater than their daily life service of loving each other as Jesus has commanded. Many of our members follow the teachings of Jesus in Matthew 25 but don’t understand that it is worship. They don’t realize that those actions are the primary things that please God and that’s the paradox! “When we think we aren’t worshiping God, we are.”
We are supposed to be known for our love and unity for the entire body while we continue to divide over cultural issues related to our “praise” or” worship service” and other frivolous matters of opinion. We seek to differentiate our churches by the assembly offerings and promote that offering in words and literature as the definition of our body. This is contrary to everything Jesus taught. He would never encourage congregational individualism as a proper response to his outpouring of love.
A false appearance of holiness and praise come from our assemblies while many are being ignored who are in need of love and good works. We have sacrificed many members in our bodies because of this very thing. They leave anytime their needs are being ignored by the body. Many leave because churches won’t bend to their immature demand of externalism, not having been taught what true worship is all about.
Singing is exampled in the New Testament but it is an ancillary expression of the joy we feel, it is not the central expression of our worship to God. Our singing to each other, as expressed in Ephesians 5:19 is a way to express our love and encouragement to each other, thus making melody in your heart to God. God loves it when we love and encourage each other in song. That smells good to God and glorifies Him but cannot be a substitute for bearing the fruit of love!
Eph. 5:19 - 20 “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Jesus always revealed action in loving each other as a way to express your love for God. My Dad defined love as “active goodwill.” It is this “active goodwill“ toward others that Jesus used as his basis for the account of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10 as the fulfillment of the greatest commandment. The two “religious” men in the story were shown to be unloving. When asking Peter in John 21 if he loved Jesus, Peter was told to “Feed my Sheep” which is showing this love to the body through action. It would not have been in Jesus nature to tell Peter to show his love for him in any other way. He wants us to express our love for him (remember the definition of worship - religious forms by which this love is expressed. ) by loving each other. What form does your expression of love for him take?
Paul taught in 1 Corinthians that love is the greatest gift of the spirit of Jesus and he knew what it meant to love having been the recipient of Jesus’ love while he was a sinner.
1 Cor. 12:31 But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way..............”
1 Cor. 13:4-8 “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”
So let’s see. The fruit or good works of the saved is what glorifies God. Loving each other is what Jesus has commanded of us. We are to be know for our love, our unity and the fruit that love bears. Traditions that focus on God alone are called vain worship because they miss the central point of what Jesus taught. “Love one another.”
Now you may think that I have reached far and wide in the scriptures to prove a point. We have looked at many scriptures but they are only the tip of the iceberg of those relating to this loving nature of God. If you can grasp this nature, that God is love and the central role it plays in our creation, our discipline, our salvation and our own God glorifying expression of it based on our transformation into the image of Jesus, you will better understand it’s importance in everything you do. Jesus revealed this greatest command to us and we must never leave it out of any thing we say and do.
Paradox: When we think we are worshipping God in the assembly, we aren’t. When we think we aren’t worshipping God, we are.
Don Campbell
Paradox: 1. A seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true. 2. One exhibiting inexplicable or contradictory aspects. 3. An assertion that is essentially self-contradictory, though based on a valid deduction from acceptable premises. 4. A statement contrary to received opinion.
Worship: 1 a. The reverent love and devotion accorded a deity, an idol, or a sacred object. b. The ceremonies, prayers, or other religious forms by which this love is expressed.
Paradox is not a new concept for Christians to consider. Jesus’ teachings had paradoxical statements and ideas that have been embraced throughout religious history. The paradox of dying so that you may live is right at the top of these paradoxical teachings of Jesus. Another, is Jesus call for servant hood to those who wish to be great. How about “giving to receive.” Can you think of others?
Our understanding and practice in the Christian assembly is also a paradox. Christians for centuries have treated their assemblies as the time for worship and praise. Glorifying God at a specific time and place set aside for focusing on Him is the norm in Christianity. That is sometimes called our “tradition.” But, just because it’s the norm doesn’t mean it is what really glorifies God or praises Him.
Paradox: When we think we are worshipping God in the assembly, we aren’t. When we think we aren’t worshipping God, we are.
How can that be? Let’s look at some scriptures that will point out the paradoxes of this statement. First, lets examine the teachings of Jesus and his disciples on what really glorifies and does not glorify God. Isn’t glorifying God the purpose of our worship? How should we express it? Do the forms and mechanics of our “worship assemblies” glorify God or not?
Matt: 5:16- “Let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify (or praise) your Father who is in heaven.”
John: 15 : 8 “This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 9 "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”
Phil. 1:9 - 11 “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ-- to the glory and praise of God.”
These three passages emphasize that God is glorified by the fruit you bear and that this fruit is your shining robe of identity as Jesus’ disciple. Jesus didn’t say that you glorify the Father by sitting in an assembly and singing praise songs. It is further defined in John 13:
John 13:34"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
James helps us understand that this love, the fruit of your faith, is in the works that Jesus exampled to us.
James 2:14 “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. “
Don’t we profess these same things when we sit in an assembly, focused, not on loving each other as Jesus has commanded, but on doing something for God who needs nothing that man can give him?
Acts 17:24 "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.
Acts 17:25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.”
It’s no wonder that Paul teaches in Romans 12:1 that your spiritual worship is to make your bodies a living sacrifice to God.
Romans 12:1 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. “
It’s no accident that Paul teaches this view, for it comes from Jesus very teaching in John 4 to the Samaritan woman.
John 4:23 - 24 “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” "
Worshipping God is not an external act of lip service but rather a spirit generated life that emulates the acts of Jesus and thus glorifies God the Spirit Creator in who’s image we were made. This teaching was deemed to be contrary to the law in Acts 18 when the Jews charged Paul before the court of Gallio. Worship was a big deal to the Jews and it should be a big deal to Christians. One worshipped in symbols, the other in truth.
Acts 18:13 "This man," they charged, "is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law."
This fruit we bear that glorifies God is further stated by the writer of Hebrews.
Hebrews 13:15 “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise--the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”
“Sacrifice is seen as continual confession of the name of Jesus and the sharing with people in need. This “fruit,” “sacrifices that please God” is in the context of a lifestyle of continual worship—not acts to be performed during a “church service.” -Bruce Campbell
It is the same lifestyle of good works that Paul says is the result of His mercy and saving grace as we are “created in Christ Jesus” and now are “alive with Christ.”
Eph. 2:4-10 “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-- it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Just as Jesus glorified God by doing His will, so we glorify God when we do His will. We were created to glorify God by our good works and this is the definition of a Christian. Jesus teachings on loving each other as the definition of Christianity in John 13 -14 is the most defining moment in our understanding of what God wants His people to be know by.
35 “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
He has shown us through His son that this act of loving each other is the highest display of Godliness and is that which glorifies Himself the most. It shows that we are “one” with the Father as Jesus was one with his Father. He didn’t say that we would be know for our great praise assemblies, our preachers, our buildings or anything else we choose to be our definition. We have forgotten the words of Jesus when we define ourselves with these things.
So now you can see why the new Christians in Acts 2 did what they did. With no other commandment, after accepting Jesus as Lord, they sold their possessions and gave to each other as any had need.
Acts 2:42 “They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.”
Now that’s worship! They didn’t offer Old Testament type sacrifices to God but praised Him by and for the works he was doing through them. Their love for each other cried out the name of Jesus as they were one with him and his Father. The externalism and rule keeping that had plagued the religious of their day was not evident on that day. They loved each other and all the people saw this in them as they had “favor of all the people.” That’s what happens when you have Jesus living inside you! And, THAT is what glorifies God! It is consistent with everything the New Testament teaches about what God seeks for those created in His image.
Jesus came to do the “will” of his Father. He obeyed the Father’s commands. We are told in John 14:15 "If you love me, you will obey what I command.” Our actions, loving each other, show that we love Jesus and the One who sent him. It’s by this that God is glorified and praised.
So, when we assemble, do we focus on the command of Jesus and thus glorify him and his Father? Or do we ignore each others needs, forgetting to love, requiring of each other some sort of external worship expression that we have devised as good and useful. These expressions are usually generational in nature and have been the cause of many divisions and squabbles in the church. Defining churches by these expressions of externalism diminishes the unity sought by Jesus himself in John 17. This unity is one of the signs that indicate that Jesus is the Messiah and that we are his people.
John 17:20-23 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
Allowing Christians to accept the idea that each church entity should be unique in its “worship practices” is an immature rationalization caused by the misunderstanding that God is somehow praised by these external definitions. It is evident by God’s own words to us that he seeks for us to be know by unity and love for each other and not by some outward coat that we choose to wear. Our members need to see that God is glorified by our fruits of loving and sharing with each other. These acts are the glue of unity and will not cause division. Mature understanding of these ideas will ensure that our children and generations to come will show Jesus living in his church and bring sinners to believe in him.
Do we remember the message to those in Isaiahs’ day. They had tried to circumvent true worship with meaningless prayer and sacrifices, neglecting the weightier matters of good works. Isaiah, speaking for God, reminded them of true worship.
Is. 58:2-7 “For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. 'Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?' "Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?”
Although Old Testament worship practices were only a shadow of true worship and symbolic in nature, unlike the true worshippers that John 4 references, there was still TRUTH. Jesus himself reminds of the problems with symbolic worship when he quotes Isaiah’s words.
Matt. 15:7-9 “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men. ‘ "
Of course, the setting for this statement was the question by the Pharisees concerning Jesus disciples not washing their hands. Jesus countered with this thought:
Matt. 15:1-9 “Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat!" Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, 'Honor your father and mother' and 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,' he is not to 'honor his father' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: " 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men. ' "
Jesus was emphasizing that God’s word had commanded them to take care of their parents but the Pharisees were neglecting that practice by saying that their offering should go to God. Their misguided focus on God, who needs nothing, turned their face from the good works of taking care of those in need. It can be said that we do the same today. We bring people together to focus on God, give back to God, praise God, while all along forgetting or disallowing our members to focus on the needs of the body or others. Our worship is in vain when we do this.
Jesus concluded that the Jew’s worship was in vain when they practiced this way. When would you conclude that the worship at your church is in vain? Do you ever think of the needs of the body? Do you ever spend time taking care of each other when you assemble? Do you care when someone is unloved? Do you even pause when Christians leave the body? Do you take care of the widows? Do you take on the responsibility of caring for your parents or do you just put your money in the plate, saying it’s for God. Is that your worship?
Of course, many would say that loving each other in this way during our assemblies is just humanism and focusing on one another makes us a club. Would you condemn Jesus for teaching us to love one another as a test of our love for him? Is Jesus teaching humanism? James reminds Christians of their responsibilities to each other in James 1:22 - 27.
James 1:22 -27 “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it-- he will be blessed in what he does. If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
Jesus himself was the author of these very concepts in Matt 25 and taught us of their importance. They not only reflect Jesus in the life of the doer but also glorify God by letting their “lights shine” before men. The righteous, living by faith, are doers of the word and worship God in truth and spirit. Their worship is not in vain.
Matt. 25:34 -40 "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. ' "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you? ' "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' “
Conclusion: So now, I’m encouraging you to worship God in ways that are contrary to your traditions. When we meet together we need to continually remember these words:
Heb. 10:23-25 “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-- and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Love and good works are the fruits that glorify God. We need to make sure we remember this when we meet together. If not then, when?
Churches have forgotten this call if they ever knew it at all. They have placed their emphasis on the external praises that they think are important, forgetting what really glorifies God. “Better singing, that’s what matters!” “Better preaching, that will bring them in!” “Better buildings, that’s what people are drawn to!” “Contemporary gadgets, that’s what we need to define us!” All these things are superfluous definitions that have no value in glorifying God but are simply the creation of man to fulfill his own needs and wants.
It’s not that church members today don’t produce the fruit of good deeds, it’s that they are misled into thinking that the lip service of their assemblies is equal to or greater than their daily life service of loving each other as Jesus has commanded. Many of our members follow the teachings of Jesus in Matthew 25 but don’t understand that it is worship. They don’t realize that those actions are the primary things that please God and that’s the paradox! “When we think we aren’t worshiping God, we are.”
We are supposed to be known for our love and unity for the entire body while we continue to divide over cultural issues related to our “praise” or” worship service” and other frivolous matters of opinion. We seek to differentiate our churches by the assembly offerings and promote that offering in words and literature as the definition of our body. This is contrary to everything Jesus taught. He would never encourage congregational individualism as a proper response to his outpouring of love.
A false appearance of holiness and praise come from our assemblies while many are being ignored who are in need of love and good works. We have sacrificed many members in our bodies because of this very thing. They leave anytime their needs are being ignored by the body. Many leave because churches won’t bend to their immature demand of externalism, not having been taught what true worship is all about.
Singing is exampled in the New Testament but it is an ancillary expression of the joy we feel, it is not the central expression of our worship to God. Our singing to each other, as expressed in Ephesians 5:19 is a way to express our love and encouragement to each other, thus making melody in your heart to God. God loves it when we love and encourage each other in song. That smells good to God and glorifies Him but cannot be a substitute for bearing the fruit of love!
Eph. 5:19 - 20 “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Jesus always revealed action in loving each other as a way to express your love for God. My Dad defined love as “active goodwill.” It is this “active goodwill“ toward others that Jesus used as his basis for the account of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10 as the fulfillment of the greatest commandment. The two “religious” men in the story were shown to be unloving. When asking Peter in John 21 if he loved Jesus, Peter was told to “Feed my Sheep” which is showing this love to the body through action. It would not have been in Jesus nature to tell Peter to show his love for him in any other way. He wants us to express our love for him (remember the definition of worship - religious forms by which this love is expressed. ) by loving each other. What form does your expression of love for him take?
Paul taught in 1 Corinthians that love is the greatest gift of the spirit of Jesus and he knew what it meant to love having been the recipient of Jesus’ love while he was a sinner.
1 Cor. 12:31 But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way..............”
1 Cor. 13:4-8 “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”
So let’s see. The fruit or good works of the saved is what glorifies God. Loving each other is what Jesus has commanded of us. We are to be know for our love, our unity and the fruit that love bears. Traditions that focus on God alone are called vain worship because they miss the central point of what Jesus taught. “Love one another.”
Now you may think that I have reached far and wide in the scriptures to prove a point. We have looked at many scriptures but they are only the tip of the iceberg of those relating to this loving nature of God. If you can grasp this nature, that God is love and the central role it plays in our creation, our discipline, our salvation and our own God glorifying expression of it based on our transformation into the image of Jesus, you will better understand it’s importance in everything you do. Jesus revealed this greatest command to us and we must never leave it out of any thing we say and do.
Paradox: When we think we are worshipping God in the assembly, we aren’t. When we think we aren’t worshipping God, we are.
Don Campbell
posted by Don Campbell at
11:50 AM
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