WHATEVER HAPPENED TO WORSHIP?: We will do great harm to the church and to those for whom we have love & concern if we do not recognize the terrible day in which we live. Are you foolish enough to believe and expect that everything is going to remain just as it was, week after week, month after month, year after year? Probably we are all better acquainted with Canadian & American & British history than with that of the rest of the world. But it is well to remember the history and the fate of Rome. One of the most civilized empires the world has known, Rome went down like a rotten tree. She still had military strength and the show of power on the outside. But Rome had crumbled away on the inside. Rome doted on plenty of food & drink & on circuses and pleasure and, of course, on unbridled lust and immorality. What great army put the Roman Empire down? Rome fell before the barbarous hordes from the north---the Lombard, the Hun, the Ostrogoth--- people who were not worthy even to care for the shoes of the Romans. Rome had become fat and weak and careless, and unconcerned. And Rome died. The Roman Empire in the west ended when the last emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed in 476 A.D. The tragedy that happened to Rome on the inside is the same kind of threat that can harm & endanger a complacent and worldly church on the inside. It is hard for a proud, unconcerned church to function as a spiritual, mature and worshipping church. There is always imminent danger of failure before GOD. Many people loyal to the church & to forms & traditions deny that Christianity is showing any injury in our day. But it is the internal bleeding that brings death & decay. We may be defeated in the hour when we bleed too much within. Remember GODS expectations of the Christian church, of the believers who form the invisible body of CHRIST. It was never in GODS revealed plan that Christian churches would degenerate to the point that they would begin functioning as social clubs. The fellowship of the saints that the Bible advises is never dependent upon the variety of social connections which the churches lean upon in these modern times. The Christian church was never intended to function as a current events forum. GOD did not intend for a popular news magazine to serve as a textbook, providing the ramp from which a secular discussion can take off and become airborne. The church of JESUS CHRIST was never intended to become a religious theater. When we build a sanctuary and dedicate it to the worship of GOD, are we then obligated to provide a place in the church for entertainers to display their amateur talents? I cant believe that a holy, loving, sovereign GOD who has given us a plan of eternal salvation based on the sufferings & death of our LORD JESUS CHRIST can be pleased when HIS church becomes any of these things. We are neither holy enough nor wise enough to argue against the many statements in the Bible setting forth GODS expectations of HIS people, the Church, the Body of CHRIST. Peter reminds us that if we are believers who treasure the work of CHRIST on our behalf, we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a special and peculiar people in GODS sight. Paul told the Athenians that an effective & obedient believer & child of GOD lives & moves and has his or her being in GOD. If we are willing to confess that we have been called out of darkness to show forth the glory of HIM who called us, we should also be willing to take whatever steps necessary to fulfill our high design & calling as the New Testament Church. ~ A. W. Tozer ( A Call To TRUE WORSHIP ) ~
Posted on: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 18:00:27 +0000
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