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The Church 2

August 4, 2016

Eph 1:22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Colossians 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.

Ephesians 3:10 so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. 3:21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

Eph 4:12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;

Eph 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.

It is easy to speak of how the Church is the body of Christ and never really deal with the ramifications of that for the meetings of the church, of worship, of prayer, and of preaching. However, if the most essential thing of the Church (and, therefore, of each local church) is that it is the body of Christ, then these things must be prayerfully understood and practiced. It is a far different thing to think of the Church in an external way than it is to think of it as being the very body of Christ who dwells in His people. It is one thing for people to meet in a building that has the name “church” on the sign or door, it is another thing altogether for the people themselves who meet in that building to be the temple of the living God.

When the people who are indwelt by Christ and the Spirit of Christ meet together, the most important thing is not going to be a discussion of sports and they will not be satisfied with a simple study of words in the Bible. The people who are indwelt by Christ and the Spirit of Christ may indeed come together and study Scripture, but they will want Christ Himself to open their eyes that they may behold His glory. They will seek the face of the living God and they will want to behold Him in His glory that they may worship and adore.

When people who love Christ come together, they come together to fellowship with each other. When people who love Christ come together as a corporate body, they should seek to fellowship with Christ Himself. While it is true that when those who truly love Christ fellowship with each other there is a true sense in which they fellowship with Christ, the corporate meetings of the people of God are different. It should not be simply going to church; it should be a meeting to seek God and fellowship with Christ. This is of course true of each individual believer, but when the saints come together it should be heightened.

If the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, then this teaches us about each Christian and about the Church as well. The Lord Jesus came to glorify the Father and to purchase a people that glorify the Father, yet they can only do this when Christ lives in them and through them. God saves sinners to the praise of the glory of His grace, so men are to glorify God by praising and enjoying the glory of His grace. It is not just a doctrinal formulation of grace that they are to praise and enjoy; they are to praise and enjoy the glory of His grace. But again, they are to do this and can only do this by the indwelling Christ who is their life. What happens when the true life (Christ) of several believers begins to show them His glory? His people manifest and express that life by praising and enjoying Christ.

The meetings of Christ’s people (those who have Christ as their life) should not always be like funerals and be filled with grim-faces. It is true that the people of Christ do mourn, but they are also commanded to rejoice. How sad should our praise be or how joyful should true praise be? Congregations should come together and the living and resurrected Christ should be evident among them. If He truly is the life of each believer, then it is the life of Christ that should be manifested in the local churches. The Lord Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before Him, so we should know that we have a joyful Mediator and a joyful Savior who dwells in us. Not only that, but the Spirit of Christ bears fruit of love, joy, peace, and so on. Does the Spirit bear His fruit in His people when they come together? Surely it should be so.

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The Church 1

August 3, 2016

Eph 1:22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Colossians 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.

Ephesians 3:10 so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. 3:21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

Eph 4:12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;

Eph 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.

The Church is such a vast subject that writers have each spent multiple volumes writing on it. Could it be, however, that so much ink has been spilled over the idea of the Church that the real issues of the Church have been neglected? Have people in the past and some today become so concerned about swallowing gnats about the Church that they have ignored the fact that they have swallowed camels? In a different way, could it be said that people have become so concerned about the order of the Church that they have forgotten the true nature of the Church? Have people become more concerned about “joining” the local church that they have forgotten the nature of the true Church?

While we look at a lot of complicated rules and documents on church order, it does not seem like anything like that was ever set out in the New Testament. It seems as if the concerns of men started early on and then took over the concept of what the Church really is fairly early as well. It has been said many times, and used wrongly many times as well, but still there is something true about the statement that “the church is not an organization, but it is an organism.” Again, that can be used in a wrong way, yet there is something very true about it. If we read the passages of Scripture above (all but one taken from Ephesians), it should be clearly seen that the essence of the Church is that it is the body of Christ. This changes things quite fundamentally.

The Church is not only headed by Christ and ruled over by Him, it is His very body. This is an essential and yet a most basic point. If we think of Christ as Head of the Church as a man is head of a company, then we have missed the biblical point. Christ is Head of the Church in the sense that we all have a head on our shoulders and the body is supposed to follow the head and in one sense receive all from the head. It is not just that Christ gives the Church its marching orders, but He gives it life and the Church is His body. The New Testament is quite clear that in salvation Christ dwells in each of His people and as such He is the very life of that person and the Church as a whole. Those who belong to Christ are also said to dwell in Him, which points to the unity of the believer with Christ. But again, these are things which should never be set aside in thinking about the Church. These things are the very essence and heart of the Church.

The Church is not just an organization sent out to do things written about in the Bible, but the Church is the Body of Christ in the world. The Church is to worship Christ in the strength, joy, and love that it receives from Christ as the Head. The Church is not on earth just to carry out a mission; it is here to be the Body of Christ. Before the Church can do anything biblical, it must realize who it is and what it is. The local church is not just to get together once a week and sing a few songs, say a few words of prayer and either give or listen to a sermon, but the local church is the very Body of Christ and it comes together because the Body is to be together. The local church gathers as the Body of Christ and it is to seek Him in His glory because that is the very life of the church. The Lord Jesus is the hope of glory to us because He is the very shining forth of the glory of God (Heb 1:3). In history the revelation of the glory of God in the face of Christ happens when the local church is together seeking His face.

It is in beholding the glory of God in the face of Christ (II Cor 3:18) is when we are transformed into His image from one degree of glory to another. When churches and preachers give learned messages and moral messages to the people and that apart from the glory of Christ in the Gospel, they are doing the devil’s work. Yes, that sounds harsh, but the devil works to hinder people from seeing “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (II Cor 4:4). When the church gathers, in order to pursue the Gospel they must pursue the glory of Christ and not just true words about Him. When the church gathers, if they are not seeking the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, what are they seeking? The devil works to hinder and blind people from seeing the glory of Christ, so those who do not seek His glory seem to be working hand in hand with the devil. The local church is either seeking the glory of the Christ who indwells His people or it is not. The devil does not seem to mind it when people speak of the facts of the Gospel, but he works to hide the glory of it. Do we really see the glory of Christ in the churches?

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Great Quotes

August 2, 2016

That you are a member in Him, eternally united to Him, and are already clothed in the all-glorious garment of His everlasting obedience, and cleansed from all your sins in His most precious blood.

I hope the love of God’s heart towards you in Christ Jesus is a fountain of comfort and consolation to your mind, and that you are fully persuaded the love God, wherewith He loves you in the Son of His love, can never alter, change, nor vary. He has loved you with an everlasting love, and He will continue it to your person to everlasting. And though the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, yet His lovingkindness shall not depart from you, nor the covenant of His peace be removed, nor broken.

The Lord Himself hath spoken it, “I will make an everlasting covenant with them,” i.e. His people, “that I will never turn away from them from doing them good.” And this is our mercy, and our security. And until God’s word fail, you, who have been led to believe what the Lord hath spoken, cannot.

It will be your mercy to be refreshing your memory daily, with thinking and meditating upon the love of God the Father, and to be viewing the blessed revelation He hath made of Christ in the sacred Scriptures, and it will be truly blessed to be led by the Holy Spirit to mix faith with the word, and by believing to honor God’s record concerning His Son, and to be setting your seal to the truth of it.

Jesus Christ is most gloriously and highly exalted in the word. And it is the office of the Holy Spirit to exalt Christ and to honor Him in our hearts, but giving us to receive Him into our minds as our everlasting righteiousness, and our everlasting all.

To be considering what God the Father says concerning Christ, that His soul delighteth in Him, that He is everlastingly pleased with Him, and to be looking unto, and to be exercised in believing in Christ, viewing His righteousness to be that which makes us completely righteous before the throne; to behold Him as the Lamb of God, who hath abolished all our sin, and presents us before the Lord everlastingly cleansed from every spot and stain, this is blessed. Then we lose a sight of our guilty, sinful selves, and triumph over sin, Satan, death, and hell, in Christ.

Nothing can make us truly spiritual but sights of Christ, real discoveries of Him made by the Spirit unto us. Glory be rendered to God the Holy Ghost, it is His great and blessed work to take of the things of Christ, and to show them unto us. To glorify Christ in our understandings, hearts, and consciences, and to make Him inestimably and everlastingly precious unto us.

The eternal Three are engaged by covenant, promise, and oath to bring us to eternal glory. Therefore, when we are at any time dejected and cast down in our souls, let the cause be what it may, we may well rebuke ourselves, and say, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God.” Al our objections, doubts, and fears arise from our own hearts, just as all the mist, and fogs, and vapors do from the earth. Blessed by the Lord, the bright rising and shining of Christ, the son of righteousness dispels them. Oh! How blessed is it to be warmed, quickened, healed, and comforted by the Lord Jesus Christ!

Letters of Samuel Eyles Pierce

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Musings 121

July 31, 2016

Genesis 2:17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

Hebrews 9:27 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,

Ecclesiastes 7:1 A good name is better than a good ointment, And the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth. Col 1:13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son

Ephesians 2:1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus

I found out today that a man I knew of and had a high appreciation for had died. Perhaps it sounds rather morbid to think on these things so much, but since all will die it is important to think on these things rather than just dismiss them and think on frivolities. It is appointed unto man to die and after that comes judgment. That is what has happened or will happen to each and every person that has ever lived. They have an appointed time to die and they will die, and then comes judgment.

As we think upon what will happen to people after death, it is not like those people pass into non-existence, but they enter into a state that they will be in for all eternity. This is not a denial of the bodily resurrection or the passing out of rewards or a last day, but all enter into a state of torment or a state of heavenly bliss. The degree of torment will change and the degree of the heavenly bliss will change on the judgment day, but the basic issue is settled once a person dies. This is so vital to realize.

All are born dead in sin and under the slavery of the evil one, yet by the grace of God people are delivered from that slavery. The glory of the grace of God is set with the background of the evil and despair of sin and the evil one. While it sounds so strange to say that people are born dead, that is to say that they are born spiritually dead and without the slightest bit of spiritual life to them. They must be born from above and be made spiritually alive or they will remain in death forever. The state of that death is the same in a sense, though when one dies physically one passes on to the second death where one remains in a state of spiritual death for eternity. This is the state where the person has no experience of the greatness and glory of God in His love and grace.

For those that God raises from spiritual death and grants spiritual life, they have that eternal life and that life is Christ. Those people taste life in this present world and when they die physically they will have a fuller and more blessed life for eternity. It is so hard for people who are consumed with the world to grasp these things, but these things are more real than the world we live in. It is like we live in a bubble (so to speak) before conversion and all we experience is a lie. As those dead to spiritual things we are fed lies about the reality of eternity, pleasure, God, and ourselves. Those who are dead have no sight and no sensibility at all of eternal things beyond what they can logically conceive of. It is horrible to live without God (sensible awareness and knowledge of) which is to live/exist without true life.

Men and women die and we have sorrow and we wonder why. But God is sovereign over all things even the day of our death. He is sovereign over the causes of how people leave this world. He loves His people far more than we ever could and as such He is not treating them with any cruelty. He has an eye to their eternal good and the eternal good of all that He has granted love for Himself, which is ultimately His own glory. We should not grieve as those who have no hope, but instead behold their deaths with spiritual eyes. Those to are for the glory of God and we should behold His glory in the Gospel in the saving of sinners when His people die. All die in accordance with His perfect wisdom and perfect timing. It may not feel like it, but we are to behold these things and interpret them in accordance with the character of God. The death of His children is precious in His eyes and He has transported them away from a place of suffering to a place where there can be no suffering. Let us bow and worship.

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Worship 29

July 30, 2016

John 4:24 “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. Isaiah 57:15 For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite.

Matthew 22:37 And He said to him, “‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ 1 Corinthians 13:1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

Mat 28:16 But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. 18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

John 13:34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

We hear people plugging and planning out the Great Commission as they call it, which is to say that this is used for great plans for evangelism. Congregations are sent out to evangelize and people come together for conferences on evangelism. Books are written about the methodology of it and seminary classes are taught on it. However, it appears that the vast majority of these are man-centered and man-focused. A true evangelism must always be centered upon and be consistent with the character of God. The same is true of worship. A true evangelism must be done with a focus and love on and for God, but the same thing is true of worship.

If we look at I Corinthians 13:1-2, we can see for certain that the practice of evangelism apart from love for God is really nothing. It is not that the practice of what is called evangelism is love for God, but we must love God and from that love evangelize (whatever that may be in biblical terms). It is also not the practice of what we call or think of as worship that is worship, but instead we must love in order that what we do actually be true worship. There is such a parallel between evangelism and worship that it should not be ignored, but perhaps light can be shown on one by the other.

There is so much focus on the planning and acts of evangelism today that it appears that God has been forgotten. The same is true of worship. The practice of worship in our day is really nothing more than music that is used to raise the feelings and words that make people who love themselves think that God loves them too. Evangelism and “worship” practiced in a man-centered way are very effective means of deceiving people. We get them in the door and to make some form of commitment out of self-love and then we keep them coming with music and words that do nothing but strengthen their self-love. In this people are not truly converted from self to God and they do not truly worship the true God but instead worship self. These two things are used to gain great numbers in the buildings of professing churches but do nothing but deceive people.

John 13:34-35 tells us with great clarity, and that in the words that Jesus spoke to His disciples, that they were to love each other as He had loved them and that all men would know that they were disciples of Christ by their love for one another. One can be an unbeliever and still evangelize in some way. One can be an unbeliever and do the externals of worship and that includes great delight in the music along with the false thoughts of a god that the person thinks is the true God. But one cannot worship the true God without true love and that love for others will be and can be seen in true worship.

When a person is granted repentance from self and false idols by the power of the Spirit of love one can love others and loving God in true worship is a biblical way to love others. When people are joined together by the Spirit of love to worship the living God in and through Christ they will have love for each other. It cannot be that Christ would be among His people and His Spirit would not give them love for each other. Christ loved His people and made the Father known to them, so His followers will make the Father known through Christ to each other in worship, teaching, and in fellowship. Worship in love is a high form of fellowship in the love of Christ.

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Musings 120

July 29, 2016

Romans 9:13 Just as it is written, “JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.” 14 What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! 15 For He says to Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION.” 16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.” 18 So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires. 19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?” 20 On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? 21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? 22 What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? 23 And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.

It seems that while there are many articles and books written on hermeneutics (science of interpretation), there are few that really deal with one of the main issues at hand. It also seems that books on apologetics seem to miss some of the major points made by Paul. The real issue with interpretation and with apologetics is God. This may sound elementary and perhaps even silly to some or perhaps even many, but we must start with God, who God is, and His sovereign rights over all of His creation. It is not necessary to come up with a fancy philosophical argument to convince the fallen reason of man or to jump through hermeneutical hoops to arrive at a correct conclusion. Perhaps we just need to get our interpretations in line with the character of God.

It is true that during the Reformation that the Reformers went by the thought that Scripture interprets Scripture and that was a tremendous principle. However, we should also know that there is another major thought that we should go by and that is the character of God interprets Scripture. We must bring our theology and our interpretations of Scripture to the character of God first and foremost. It is also true that Christ reveals the character of God by His Person and works, but we must learn to look for the Divine nature shining forth in and through Him. After all, He came to manifest God and His glory. The point, then, is that while Scripture interprets Scripture, the testimony of Scripture to the true God should lead us to study Scripture in light of who the true God really is.

In Romans 9:13 Paul writes that it is written “JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.” Of course we have heard the immediate and impassioned arguments of men that God is unjust if He does that in a literal way. But how does Paul answer that argument? Yes, He goes to Scripture, but He goes to Scripture to show how the character of God is such that He is not unjust. What pounds the argument that God is unjust into the dust is the fact that God will show mercy on whom He will. God is sovereign over those He shows mercy to and is under no obligation whatsoever to show mercy to anyone. The living God is sovereign and that is supposed to still our mouths and our hearts. It is the character of God that is to shut the mouths of men.

Paul moves on in the passage (vv. 17ff) and speaks of how God raised up Pharaoh for His own purposes and He did so that His name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth. Paul then continues the earlier statement (God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy) and now says that God will harden whom He desires. Oh how people argue that this is not fair and how God should not find fault with us then. However, Paul takes us back to the potter and the clay and tells us that the potter has the right to make one lump of clay as he pleases. In other words, Paul takes the person who is arguing back to the character of God and sets forth God as sovereign. God both has mercy on whom He desires and also hardens whom He desires. He is extensively sovereign.

Taking men back to the character of God in His glorious sovereignty is not popular in our day, but it is biblical. It is also the only real answer to those who bring up these questions. If we will take note a lot of times people do question the character of God in issues like these. The way to answer their questions is not to find a philosophical loophole as such, but to show them the true God. In a very real sense all theology is about God and it is the study of God and what He has revealed about Himself. It is God, His beauty, and His glory that shines forth in the Gospel. After all, it is the good news of God and the good news of the glory of God. We cannot preach the true Gospel apart from preaching the true God in the Gospel or the true God as set forth in and by the Gospel. These little canned messages centered on getting people to pray a prayer or make a decision out of nothing but self-love is quite foreign to the Gospel of God. God is to be our most basic hermeneutic and our most basic apologetic.

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Worship 28

July 27, 2016

John 4:24 “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. Isaiah 57:15 For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite.

Amos 5:21 “I hate, I reject your festivals, Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 “Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. 23 “Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.

Hebrews 12:28 Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; Matthew 15:8 ‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME 9 ‘BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.'”

Matthew 22:37 And He said to him, “‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ 1 Corinthians 13:1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

The living and true God who has been immutable with immutable purposes created all things for His own purposes and glory. God exists for Himself and does all for His own glory and in that He is holy. The motives of God are for Himself and He exists in love for Himself as triune and the whole universe is a manifestation of His love for Himself and His own glory. There can be no true worship that flows from God that does not have love for God. One of the most basic facts of the universe is that God loves Himself with delight and joy as He does all for His own glory. The worship that He works in the hearts of His people will be focused on Him out of true love.

God created all things for His own glory, yet nothing has the ability to glorify Him in and of themselves (or itself). The sun does not shine of itself and cannot shine unless He who created it upholds it each moment. No one can see His glory unless He opens the eyes to see it. However, the wonder of all created things (non-human beings) declare His glory. The Creator has manifested Himself in all creation. Human beings, however, were created in His image and they are to seek Him and His glory. The God who has lived from all eternity in perfect love shines forth Himself in those who have a renewed image. That image should reflect the love God has for Himself in the lives of those who have His image restored in them.

The Greatest Commandment which teaches us the great privilege it is to be like God and to share in His nature tells us how God is and yet how we are to be like Him. It does not tell us what we can do in our own strength, but it tells us what He can do in us in His strength. God dwells in His people by grace and He loves them by grace and He gives them His love to love Him by grace. As the soul which loves God and delights in the true God asks itself how it is that it loves God and delights in God that soul should know that it is the love of God who grants the soul that love and delight by communicating Himself to that soul.

The concept of worship should be seen and admired by the previous paragraphs. This is how the creature loves God and in this love of God true worship consists. It might also be added that in this true prayer consists as well. Oh how we are to seek God for Himself that He might by His free-grace manifest His love for Himself in us and enable us to love Him. In our love for God His love for us is seen. This, once again, reflects true worship. When the saints come together they are to forget about themselves and in true self-denial be caught up with the glory of God, yet this happens only by free-grace. As the saints of God love God and delight themselves in the worship of God, it is the love of God for Himself and His delight in Himself that is being displayed.

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Worship 27

July 26, 2016

John 4:24 “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. Isaiah 57:15 For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite.

Amos 5:21 “I hate, I reject your festivals, Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 “Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. 23 “Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.

Hebrews 12:28 Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; Matthew 15:8 ‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME 9 ‘BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.'”

Matthew 22:37 And He said to him, “‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ 1 Corinthians 13:1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

Politicians speak words without substance and without truth. They can get people fired up over empty platitudes and meaningless rhetoric. It seems that many operate on words that they change the meaning and leave the people deceived. They can attack the other candidates on what they say and yet be far apart from what the others mean by what they say. We should not deceive our own hearts in that way and think that because we do things that are part of an external worship that we therefore truly worship.

We must be careful that we are not content with orthodoxy in our words and yet not have love and truth in our hearts. In other words, we must not be like politicians (analogically speaking) in our worship. While people may be deceived and we may deceive ourselves with external worship and with hearts that delight in our external worship or even with the idea of worship rather than with God Himself, God is not deceived. The politicians speak with smiles on their faces and with promises and positive words, but their hearts are all about themselves and their own gain. So much outward worship seems to follow the things of self rather than the things of God.

Phil 2:20 For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus

True worship cannot be like the heart of the self-serving politician, but instead it must be a heart that truly loves God for who God is and not just out of the love of self. Even Paul had trouble finding ministers to send because he wanted those who would be concerned for the sake of the people and the things of Christ rather than seeking after the interests of self. Worship is that way as well. Worship must not be about the things of self, but instead it must be about the things of God. Worship is to adore and love the living God in truth as opposed to loving things because they benefit us and our flesh.

What a difference our time of worship would be when the local church comes together if the people longed for God and longed to love Him in the time of worship. While it is not possible to love God apart from truth, it is possible to have some aspects of truth without love for God. We can even think we love God when we love certain things about God, or at least we think we love certain things about God, but our love for God must come from God and be a type of joining Him in love of Himself. We must love God in our thinking and we must love God with our desires and affections.

Jonathan Edward wrote about God communicating Himself to our understanding and our affections. When we have true and delightful thoughts of God, He has communicated Himself to us. When we have exalted thoughts of God because of who He is apart from what benefits we think we may have, then God is communicating Himself to us. True worship is when God communicates Himself to His people and they delight in Him for who He is. In that the glory of God shines.

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Worship 26

July 25, 2016

John 4:24 “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. Isaiah 57:15 For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite.

Amos 5:21 “I hate, I reject your festivals, Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 “Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. 23 “Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.

Hebrews 12:28 Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; Matthew 15:8 ‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME 9 ‘BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.'”

1 Peter 4:11 Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Matthew 22:37 And He said to him, “‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’

The worship of God extends to all things, which is to say that we are to worship God in all of life. However, there is a specific worship regarding the spiritual things that He has given us that is in primary focus at the moment. We must never, ever forget that worship is not following the order of the bulletin and doing what the bulletin says, but worship is something that the entire soul does in the presence of God. True worship must come from God first and then be aimed or intended to be done for Him. True worship comes from God and is for God. True worship is the shining forth of the glory of God in and through His people (through Christ by the Spirit) and is primarily that He may behold Himself and His own glory.

Worship is to follow the Great Commandment in many ways and be an expression of it. True worship cannot happen apart from love and that means true love rather than what men call love in our day. This must be repeated and it must come to our hearts as a settled truth. True worship cannot happen apart from love which means apart from true love there is no true worship. Regardless of all the acts of the body and soul, apart from love there is no true worship at all. Even if we can sing with the most beautiful of voices, without love the beautiful voices are to God as a noisy gong or clanging symbol. Even if a person is the greatest preacher in gifts and has throngs crowding to hear him, apart from true love that person is nothing and what that person does is nothing. Even if a person has vast amounts of theological knowledge, apart from love that person is nothing.

1 Corinthians 13:1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

Just in case the point has not been made well or has not been stated strongly enough, the love that is required for true worship is the love of God. True worship is focused on Him so how can the love required for worship be anything less but love for Him? The modern day has so-called worship that appears to be so focused on men that it is not the true worship of God at all. A church without the true Gospel is not a church at all. What is a church without true worship? It is a church without true love. Can there be a true church without the love of God?

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Musings 119

July 24, 2016

1 Thessalonians 4:13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.

1 Corinthians 15:19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.

Psalm 16:11 You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 73:25 Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.

The world offers no real hope at all and what pseudo-hope it offers is but for a moment. How men pursue the things of the world and they cannot possibly fill the soul but for a short time and the world will not fill the soul at all in eternity. Neither political party has any answers that the soul that seeks the Lord for His presence can possibly be satisfied with. The soul with the life of Christ in it cannot be satisfied in any longer term sense with anything but the presence of God.

The world is nothing but darkness and those who seek it are bankrupt and empty despite their outward appearances. How hollow, empty, and vain are the riches and fame of the world. How big and powerful men can appear to be while inside their very souls are empty and miserable. They can seek to stuff their souls with the candy of the world, yet they do nothing but increase their misery as their soul withers. As the United States continues to slide down into the pit of darkness and misery the politicians try all sorts of things to stop it. While it is true that there are things that will make the slide into the pit appear to stop or at least slow down, only God can stop the slide and He will only do so at His good pleasure.

There is no doubt that we are in a dark time and we need men who will stop dancing around answers and will go straight to the heart of the problem. The greatest issue in our day is that God Himself has given us over to the desires of our heart. This is to say that He has hardened us and has turned us over to our sin. There is absolutely nothing we can do to soften our hearts when God has hardened them anymore than men could open the door to the Ark after God had shut it. Bluntly speaking, religion will not help and professing Christianity will not help. Lukewarm religion and lukewarm versions of Christianity will not help. Even real Christians cannot help either. Prayer will not help as long as it is prayer offered up as religious people do.

Christian conferences and religious conferences will do nothing to help as long as they do nothing but speak of this and that. Prayer conferences will not help as long as people think of prayer as their own work and as trying to talk God into something. All the church services in the world will do nothing but heap up wrath upon wrath as long as we are not seeking the true God in humility and brokenness of heart. All the Bible study without humble hearts seeking the Lord Himself as the greatest treasure and true love will do nothing. We must seek the Lord Himself in prayer and Bible study and for the Church and the nation or all we do is for the wrong reasons.

No, this is not some despairing and hopeless post; it is just saying that unless we seek God Himself all we do is vain. There is no hope in the prayers of self and the works of self, there is only hope in the living God. We must seek Him in prayer or we seek self in prayer. We must seek broken hearts and humility from His hand or we seek it from the works of sinful flesh. There is only one way to truly seek the Lord and that is the path of the denial of self, the broken heart, and the humbled heart. Oh how people mock this, but they mock the only way. It is true that these things in and of themselves cannot please God, but these are things that God works in the soul that He is pleased to dwell in and work through. We must seek the Lord for the spiritual strength to deny the forms of self that we must deny if we are to seek Him out of true love. We must seek the Lord for spiritual strength for a broken heart (from self and pride) that we may have Him dwell in that broken heart. We must seek the Lord for humility (the life of Christ in us) that we may have grace to seek Him and His glory.

There is nothing that man can be or do that can move God to come down and turn our hearts to Himself and to turn the hearts of the professing churches and our nation to Himself. He can only do these things when He is moved by Himself and then we behold free-grace. God can only be moved (so to speak) by Himself and His own glory. We should not want God to move apart from His free-grace. If we love true grace then we can only love free-grace. Our hearts can only be moved to true prayer for His glory out of love for Him and His glory by free-grace. We should seek the Lord to break our hearts and make them to where we ache for Him and His glory. Until He breaks our hearts and humbles us to desire His glory of free-grace, we must not deceive ourselves that we are truly praying. Only broken hearts can truly pray. In other words, it costs the very self in order to pray. Do we really want to pray? Do we truly want the presence of God? Do we truly desire the true glory of God? If not, all the empty prayers we offer with proud hearts will simply not do it. We must seek the Lord to make us in those who truly pray for His presence and glory.

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