Worship is corporate, private, a way of life

May 24, 2017

Worship:  Standing On The Promises (Medley)as sung by Selah

Standing on the promises of Christ, my King
Through eternal ages let His praises ring
Glory in the highest I will shout and sing
I'm standing on the promises of God

Standing on the promises that cannot fail
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail
By the Living Word of God, I shall prevail
I'm standing on the promises of God

Standing, standing
Standing on the promises of God my Savior
Standing, standing
Standing on the promises of God

What a fellowship
What a joy divine
Leaning on the everlasting arms
What a blessedness
What a peace is mine
Leaning on the everlasting arms

I'm leaning, leaning
Safe and secure from all alarm
I'm leaning, I'm leaning
Leaning on the everlasting arms

Are you washed
In the Blood?
In the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb
Are your garments spotless?
Are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Yes I'm standing, standing
Standing on the promises of God my Savior
I'm standing, standing
Standing on the promises of God

Yes I'm standing, standing
I'm standing on the promises of God

Lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txAxJfFw7es

Video: https://youtu.be/txAxJfFw7es

Witness:

Anyone who has read my journal entries knows I struggle with time management, sleep deprivation, and bouts of melancholy- as the saints of the past have called it. In the last three days I have battled with various thoughts and feelings, and each day my faithful God whose “compassion never fails” and are “new every morning” (Lam 3:22-23), has come and comforted, rebuked, and reminded me of His never-ending grace towards me. He has spoken to me through songs, words I have written in the past, and words others have written. So I chose to worship my faithful Savior in whom I hope with a medley of old favorite hymns that remind me of the security I have in Him.

I did a little word search on the word “melancholy” and came across an entry by the venerable commentator Donald Grey Barnhouse.

Steadfast Joy You have no right to be anxious and fretful. You are wrong to be a hypochondriac and depressed, weary, and melancholy. True, many events in life bring sadness. True, Christian joy looks very gloomy to a worldly eye. But there are far more occasions which, if we were right, would make joy instinctive, and which, whether we are right or not, make it obligatory. If that hope were brighter than it commonly is with us and if it were more constantly present to our minds and hearts, we would sing with gladness: Come, we that love the Lord,And let our joys be known;Join in a song with sweet accord,And thus surround the throne. Let those refuse to singWho never knew our God;But children of the Heavenly KingMay speak their joys abroad. There we shall see His face,And never, never sin;There, from the rivers of His grace,Drink endless pleasures in. Yea, and before we riseTo that immortal state,The thoughts of such amazing blissShould constant joys create.
(from Romans: Expositions of Bible Doctrines © 1966 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. All rights reserved.)

Therefore, I, as a human being and subject to many failures, do not have the right to wallow in a melancholy state. Yes, some have fallen into such a state, perhaps due to their genetic makeup. However, genetic design does not necessitate our destiny. Some may need help through medicine, but that will not cure the problem. Only a change in attitude towards the circumstances that are leading one down the path of depression, and faith in the God of wisdom, love, and all comfort, will bring deliverance.

Will I continue to fight this fight for faith? Of course I will. Case in point, I am writing this portion of my journal over a two-day period. I initially ended on the quote from Barnhouse above because I had to go to work. When I arrived at work and began my shift walk (which entails, among other things emptying the trash outside at the truck bays), I went into my usual mode of thinking about my life situation. This is the time I struggle most with my feelings. Yet, once again, God showed up and comforted me. As I was walking towards the second to last trash receptacle, I was feeling a sense of melancholy sweeping across me. As I turned to go to the last trash, receptacle the truck in the last bay started to move and stopped when the driver realized I needed to pass in front of him. He motioned me to go, but I let him go for some reason. I discovered the reason when he pulled out. He was not hauling anything at the time, so there was no trailer blocking the back of his cab. There in bold print were these words emblazoned on the cab:

Amazing Grace

Need I say anything more?

WORD:

Ps 26:8-27:1 8 I love the house where you live, O Lord,                the place where your glory dwells.                        9 Do not take away my soul along with sinners,                             my life with bloodthirsty men, 10 in whose hands are wicked schemes,                 whose right hands are full of bribes. 11 But I lead a blameless life;                 redeem me and be merciful to me. 12 My feet stand on level ground; in the great                            assembly I will praise the Lord.                                                    NIV (’84)

Ps 26:8-27:1 8 I love your sanctuary, Lord,                 the place where your glorious presence dwells. 9 Don't let me suffer the fate of sinners.                 Don't condemn me along with murderers. 10 Their hands are dirty with evil schemes,                 and they constantly take bribes. 11 But I am not like that; I live with integrity.                So redeem me and show me mercy. 12 Now I stand on solid ground,                and I will publicly praise the Lord.                                                                                                      Holy Bible, New Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

Ps 26:8-27:1 8 Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth. 9 Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men: 10 In whose hands is mischief, and their right hand is full of bribes. 11 But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity: redeem me, and be merciful unto me. 12 My foot standeth in an even place: in the congregations will I bless the Lord. KJV

Ps 26:8-12 8 O Lord, I love the habitation of your house                 and the place where your glory dwells. 9 Do not sweep my soul away with sinners,                 nor my life with bloodthirsty men, 10 in whose hands are evil devices,                 and whose right hands are full of bribes. 11 But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity;                 redeem me, and be gracious to me. 12 My foot stands on level ground;                 in the great assembly I will bless the Lord. ESV

One more thought on verse 8 before I move on. David’s desire to worship the Lord in the Tabernacle was out of his love for God and the fact that God’s glory or presence dwelt there in a special way. The word “glory” used here is the same as that found in Psalm 24: 7-10. There it is used as part of a title with reference to the LORD. A title only found in that psalm alone. It is the title, “King of Glory.” Here in Psalm 26, the King of Glory is dwelling in His sanctuary, and by inference, seated on His throne above the ark of the covenant.

When we move to the New Testament, we see that the Church is seen as the temple of the Lord (1 Cor. 3:16-17, Eph. 2:19-22). Jesus referred to His body as being a temple (John 2:19-21). Therefore, it is easy to see why the Apostle could call the church a temple for elsewhere; he calls the church the “body of Christ” (1 Cor. 12:27, Eph. 4:12). Since Jesus our Lord is the Son of God and the second person in the Trinity then, the church can rightly be called the “temple of God.” The Apostle Peter presents a slightly different picture but is, in essence, saying the same thing as the Apostle Paul. He says,

1 Peter 2:4-6 4 As you come to him, the living Stone — rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion,a chosen and precious cornerstone,and the one who trusts in himwill never be put to shame."
NIV

Thus, Jesus is the “living stone” and “ precious cornerstone” of the building or temple and we are the “living stones” being built into a “spiritual house” for the express purpose of “offering spiritual sacrifices.” Therefore, we learn that the church is an unfinished building project to be consummated at the second coming of Christ. Wherever true spiritual sacrifices are being offered, there the true church is. Does my local assembly reflect that? If the church is the temple of God, then His glory dwells there. When we gather together in worship, do we sense His presence? Do we come with a desire to worship and give thanks because the King of Glory resides in His church?

The church is being built by the Lord. Do we acknowledge that? If we don’t, then who is. If we in our pride or desire for personal pleasure based on our own sensual desires seek to build the church, then we are no better than those who attempted to build the tower of Babel (Gen. 11:1-9). And like then, confusion will result and destruction of the work done by human hands.

Like my previous study, there is not only a corporate application but a personal one as well. For not only is the church seen as the temple but our very own bodies are seen as a temple. We find this truth in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20.

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. NIV

Paul makes this reference in light of the sexual immorality prevalent in the pagan society and worship practices of his day (is it really any different than from today’s society?). However, the broader context is the libertarian view many held in the church at Corinth – and I am convinced resides in much of the Christian church today. They took grace and ran with it to illogical and immoral conclusions. This is seen in 1 Corinthians 6:12, "Everything is permissible for me" NIV. Notice that it is in quotes. That’s because many see this a Paul quoting a popular saying in the Corinthian church. This attitude led to practices that, while permissible would cause weaker believers to stumble. It also led to immoral circumstances as found in 1 Cor. 5:1 in which a man was sleeping with his father’s wife. Something he said was not even practiced among the pagans!

Therefore, one reason we are to be careful about what we do in our bodies is that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit and do not wish to profane the temple of our Holy God. Neither do we want to grieve the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30).

Finally, I want to mention one more reason to desire to worship in the presence and glory of God. It is the transformative power of worship. We see this in 1 Cor. 3:17-18.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. NIV

In this context, it is the freedom to grow and be conformed into the image of Christ. Having been freed from the bondage of the letter of the law. Unlike Moses, who veiled his face to hide the fading glory, we with unveiled faces shine forth the glory of the Lord who dwells within us, and this transforming glory is “ever-increasing.”

I understand that the context of this transformation is wider than worship as we might conceive it, and I am not limiting it to such. However, worship, in the final analysis, is much bigger than we imagine it to be. Worship is not only to be seen with reference to public gatherings or private rendezvous with the Lord, but it is also to be seen as what governs our entire life. Worship is what we do. Paul declares in 1 Cor. 10:31:

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. NIV

The Lord indicates that worship is a way of life when he addressed the hypocritical teachers of the Law.

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.'"
Matt 15:3-9 NIV

Notice the context in which the Lord said this was not that of which we view as worship. The Pharisees and Scribes had come to Him and asked why His disciples transgressed the tradition of the elders by not washing their hands before eating. In response, He asked them why they broke the commandment of God by placing tradition above the Torah. He cited the practice which exposed their hypocrisy. He quoted from Isaiah 29:13 and used it to describe the real state of their heart when it came to honoring God’s word and their parents. In that quote, we find these words, “They worship me in vain.” Therefore, worship is a way of life and not just in church or our quiet times. It is the attitude in which we approach all of life. Worship informs and transforms us. It is a means of grace. It is one of the ways we “are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”