Skip to main content

 TAKE CARE, IDOLATRY IS SNEAKY

There are a number of ways that followers of the Triune God worship. The point is that when the Body of Christ, whether it's the Orthodox believers or the Pentecostal disciples, the Lord God is the focus, His Word and His Presence.

We do not summon the Lord to come among us. That is thinly veiled paganism as if the Lord is somehow off somewhere and needs to be contacted to let Him know we ae ready for Him to "show up."

Think clearly. Jesus Christ has become Life within His disciples. He never leaves us and will never forsake us. He is always present since our bodies have become temples of the Holy Spirit. We are the ones who get distracted, dulled to His Presence by so many things, even "good" things. The Lord wants us more than He needs our work for Him. We come together because He is Who He has declared Himself to be, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We come to give Him thanks and praise, to acknowledge His sovereign right to all we are by virtue of being His creation and because of His redemption by Jesus' life, death, resurrection and ascension. 

There are so many traditions that have grown up among believers in Jesus Christ. Some may have rather shallow roots, not grounded in God's Word. The traditions of the Pharisees and Sadducees in the days of Jesus Incarnational ministry and mission got the emPHASIS on the wrong syLLABLE. Their worship and actions were about the rule and regulations. Those rules and regulations were meant to point to the fact that God alone saves; we can add nothing. Ours is to receive, never initiate. The religious authorities had begun to "worship their worship."

Worship that has become focused on the exactitude of phraseology, religious gesturing, vestments and flummery to verify its authenticity has become idolatrous. Worshipping our worship is not the same things as worshipping the Lord Jesus who called us out of sin and death, out of darkness into His Light and Life. Whether in a cathedral or under a tree, if Jesus is not the reason for gathering and the focus of said gathering, it is not worship.

True worship is a seeking of the Lord, a passion to experience His Presence corporately as His Body gathered, to heard His Word read and proclaimed and to come to His table where He gives Himself in covenantal meal to His own in the creatures of bread and wine set apart by the Holy Spirit to be the sacrament of the New Covenant in His body and the blood .

True worship is focusing everything on the Lord Jesus, giving Him thanks and praise, letting His Word fill us displacing any darkness bringing about change in us by the Holy Spirit. If the focus isn't on the Lord God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, then who or what are you worshipping?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

  PRAYER Jesus Christ NEVER taught on what we call "unanswered prayer." James wrote that a divided loyalty between trusting the Lord God for life and at the same time relying on the world's systems to get what you want will result in you not getting anything from God you may have prayed about. God will never reinforce the unbelief that flows from divided loyalty. THAT is not unanswered prayer. That is God saying, "No." to your request. God saying, "No." to your requests is not unanswered prayer. It is His grace. His "No" is just what I would want if I knew what He knows. The Lord also answers with, "Not now; not yet." because we are not yet prepared to receive what we think we need. God works in us both to will and to do His good pleasure. If I am praying for something God wants to do in me and the Holy Spirit is working in me preparing me to receive what God has in store, His "Not yet." is NOT unanswered prayer. As we see...
Post a Comment
Read more
 HEBREWS 10:1-2, 10-18 "The sacrifices under that system ( the Old Covenant) were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship.   If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.   For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.  Under the Old Covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins.   But our High Priest offered Himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then He sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.   There He waits until His enemies are humbled and made a footstool under His feet.   For by that one offering He forever m...
Post a Comment
Read more
  From Oswald Chambers today: "If the Spirit of God detects anything in you that is wrong, He doesn’t ask you to make it right; He only asks you to accept the light of truth, and then He will make it right. A child of the light will confess sin instantly and stand completely open before God. But a child of the darkness will say, “Oh, I can explain that.” When the light shines and the Spirit brings conviction of sin, be a child of the light. Confess your wrongdoing, and God will deal with it. If, however, you try to vindicate yourself, you prove yourself to be a child of the darkness. What is the proof that carnality has gone? Never deceive yourself; when carnality is gone you will know it— it is the most real thing you can imagine. And God will see to it that you have a number of opportunities to prove to yourself the miracle of His grace. The proof is in a very practical test. You will find yourself saying, “If this had happened before, I would have had the spirit of resentment!”...
Post a Comment
Read more