Book-04-Spiritual Worship

Spiritual Worship

Text.—“God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth. ’ ’—John 4:24.

“And still the soul a far-off glory sees;

Strange music hears. A something, not of earth, still haunts the breeze, The sun and spheres.

All things that be, all thought, all love, all joy, Spellbind the man, As once the growing boy, And point afar—

Point to some land of endless, endless truth, Of light and life, Where souls, renewed in an immortal youth, Shall know the infinite.”

Man is a religious being. He is the offspring of Jehovah and naturally is an upward-looking animal. One thing that distinguishes him from all other ani­mals is his religious instinct—his desire to worship. He must have a God. If revelation does not reveal his God, then he will create a God. He knows that the best within his heart has come from above, and he finds himself reaching out after the source of all good. He feels within his soul a holy aspiration to be holy. He must lean upon one greater than himself, he must commune with one who possesses more wisdom and power than he possesses. He must have a God that can sympathize with him and who will have compassion when he is weak and conscious of his lost and helpless con­dition. In the language of one of old, he finds himself exclaiming: “Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honor dwelleth. I will offer in thy dwelling an oblation with great gladness. I will sing and speak praise unto the Lord. One thing have I desired of the Lord which I will require, even that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life; to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to visit his tem­ple.” “Oh! how amiable are thy dwell­ings, thou Lord of hosts! My soul hath a desire and longing to enter into the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, they will still be praising thee.” “One day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of un­godliness.” “What reward shall I give unto the Lord for all the benefits that he hath done unto me? I will receive the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord in the sight of all his people; in the courts of the Lord’s house, even in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem.” Can you say in the language of the Psalmist: “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord"? When we study the history of the hu­man family we find that the people of every age worshiped. As we begin the study of this history we are told that Cain and Abel sacrificed unto Jehovah. The altar was given its proper place in their lives. In this first age we read of a man who walked with God, and one day he followed him too far to come back; he went with him into his invisible kingdom and took up his abode with him. When Noah had been redeemed through the water and had come into the new world, he honored his God by building an altar and sacrificing unto him. It was then that God smelled a sweet savor and said in his heart: “I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake.”

Abraham heard the call and obeyed God. He was a man of faith and was constantly in communion with Jehovah. He was strong in his faith because he did not get far from his altar. In the beginning, when men called upon the name of Jehovah, they did not have attractive¹ and comfortable houses of worship; they met out in the groves, un­der the tent of azure blue which had been stretched by the hand of a personal and a living God, and there on his footstool, over which he had spread the carpet of green and pinned it down with the lilies, he held sacred communion with his God. After a while he erected a tabernacle ac­cording to the pattern which God had given in the mount, and there God re­corded his name, and his people came to worship. By and by the children of men were permitted to erect a beautiful and a magnificent temple unto Jehovah, and then they met in this house which had been dedicated unto Jehovah and here they called upon his name.

Miniature temples—the synagogues— were erected that the people might be ac­commodated, and in these places God had recorded his name and the people met to study his word, to pray unto him and to worship.

We are told of a noted man who made a long pilgrimage from his home to Je­rusalem for the purpose of worship. This man, on his return, heard the gospel from the lips of one of God’s evangelists and became a Christian.

Jesus’ life was one of worship. He spent the whole night in prayer. He with­drew from the crowd that he might get close to his Father and have fellowship with him. His soul was filled with indig­nation when he came into the temple and saw it being desecrated by the thieves and the robbers. No man can willfully absent himself from the place of worship and continue spiritual. Certain ones were exhorted by the apostle not to forsake the assembling of themselves together. It is in the house of the Lord we get instruction. “Thy way, 0 God, is in the sanctuary. When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.” Here the people are converted. Here we find the elements of spiritual life. Here we have the emblems that represent the death and the resurrection of our Lord. Here we receive strength and comfort. “But they that wait for Jehovah shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint” (Isa 40:31). Here the indi­vidual burden is forgotten. We come into the place of worship thinking of our­selves and of our burdens, and when the songs are being sung, the Word is heard read, the prayers are being offered, we see Jesus; and then we lose sight of our­selves and of our troubles, and soon we have found that our light afflictions have wrought out for us an exceeding and an eternal weight of glory. Here we give an outward expression of our inward life. Here we meet with Jesus. He has prom­ised to be in the midst of the two or three that meet in his name. He never disappoints. The disciple that stays away from the place of worship will miss see­ing Jesus. The one that misses the pres­ence of the Christ will soon begin to doubt. Thomas was a doubter because he was not present when Jesus came. The normal Christian will worship. Not to worship means to become bestial. This germ of reverence in the heart must be watered at least once a week. Suppose no one came to the house of the Lord on the Lord’s Bay, what would follow! No worship would soon mean no church of Christ, and no church and no opposition to evil would soon result in barbarism and universal darkness. The one who remains away from the house of worship is an enemy to good society and a promoter of all that is devilish.

Manner of Worship. — “But let all things be done decently and in order” (1Co 14:40). Why did the apostle write these words? The members of the church at Corinth had lost their reverence for the Lord’s table. Some of the members got drunk on the wine and they made a feast out of this holy Supper. We teach our children to be mannerly when in the homes of neighbors. It is more important to teach them to be mannerly and rever­ent when in the house of the Lord. It is here we come into the presence of God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the spirits of just ones made perfect. Our worship consists of preaching, and no one should sleep in the house of the Lord and in the presence of the King of kings. He should give heed to the things read and the things spoken. No one should talk and visit when in the act of worship. It consists of praying. All should kneel, or stand or bow the head, when the minister says, “Let us pray.” We should all do the same thing. The one who leads the prayer should not be expected to do all the praying for all the congregation. He is only leading, and all should unite in spirit in the prayer to our spiritual God.

Singing is a part of the worship. We should sing with the spirit and with the understanding also. We have no more right to hire a quartet to do our singing than we have to hire one to do our pray­ing. When the minister says, “Let all the congregation sing,^{9 9} all should sing or make a joyful noise unto the Lord. The one who leads the music or sings the spe­cial song should be a Christian. Let us understand that God is a Spirit, and that he must be worshiped in spirit and in truth, and that a singer should worship in his singing as much as the minister worships in his preaching or you wor­ship in your praying. If he does not worship in this act, then it is solemn mockery and an abomination in the sight of God.

Fellowship is also a part of worship. It is just as essential to give as it is to pray. We must understand that the act of giving is an act of worship, and we must give in the spirit and with the un­derstanding also. It is important that all shall worship. “Let every one of you lay by in store on the first day of the week 69 as the Lord hath prospered him” (1Co 16:2). The sermon should be simple and given in a way that all can understand it. Paul ’s ambition was to be understood. He says: “I thank God, I speak with tongues more than all of you: howbeit in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that I might in­struct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.” The preacher has no right to show himself off. Think of a minister spending an hour before a mir­ror practicing on his gestures that he might appear unto men to preach! The real minister will feel that he is worship­ing God in sermon. The window-pane that is painted and gaudy is not good for letting in the light; the minister that is drunk on egotism, and that tries to place himself on a pedestal, is a stumbling-stone to every honest man or woman. He is missing the mark, and sooner or later will be found out to be a miserable hypo­crite.

“Let us have grace whereby we may worship him acceptably with reverence and godly fear.” Let us heed the words of the inspired writer: “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” Rever­ence is the essence of true worship, and if there be no reverence there is no wor­ship.

Here in Body, but Absent in Spirit.— We have those who occupy a pew at al­most every service, but they are absent. They are here in body, but miles away in spirit. A minister received the con­fession of a man who had been a frequent visitor at his church. He was anxious to know which one of his sermons impressed him, and dared to ask. The man said: “I have never heard you preach. It is true I have filled a place in the pew many times while you were preaching, but I did not hear you. I was calculating and counting prospective gains I hoped to make that week. I was present, but never heard you. I was made to think by the simple life of a Christian woman.”

Present in Spirit.—We have another class who stay away from the services, but always tell the minister that they are with him in spirit. I had a man like this in my congregation. He would visit on Sundays and let any little excuse keep him from the house of worship, and when I would tell him I missed him, he would immediately inform me that he was with me in spirit. I told him I was afraid of ghosts. Think of a minister on a Sun­day morning preaching to a thousand ghosts! I’d rather have five spirits in bodies present at a church service. Should Prepare for It.—When a pa­tient is to undergo an operation he is pre­pared for it. To get the best out of the Lord’s Day worship we should spend some time shut in with God, with the world shut out, and get our hearts in tune for the day. Let us give our spirit a chance to grow.

“What am I?

Naught! But the effluence of Thy light divine, Pervading worlds, hath reached my bosom too.

Yes, in my spirit doth Thy spirit shine, As shines the sunbeam in a drop of dew.

Naught! But I live, and on Hope’s pinions fly Eager toward Thy presence; for in Thee I live and breathe and dwell, aspiring high, Even to the throne of Thy divinity.

I am, O God, and surely thou must be! ”