The purpose of
our worship is to glorify God. Our worship to God is very
important. If we expect to please God, so we can go to heaven when
this life is over, we "must worship Him in spirit and in
truth." Worship requires that we be an active participant and
not a spectator. We must not pervert the worship of God by our being
entertained by choirs, praise teams, concerts, and other entertainment
groups.
Our worship is to
be holy and sacred, because it is God we are suppose to be
worshipping. We must approach God with humility and godly fear in
showing Him reverence and respect by worshipping Him in the way He has
specified in the Bible. To worship God the way we see fit is
disrespectful to Him. Anything God has specified for us to do that
we leave out is displeasing to Him, and anything we add that he has not
authorized is also displeasing to Him. It is quite evident that many
people are trying to worship God after the will of men. When you
look around, you can see the many different things done in the worship of
many differing churches which are not in accordance with God’s will.
They are following the commandments of men. As we see in Mark 7:7
our Lord said, "And in vain they worship me, teaching
as doctrines the commandments of men." It is sad when people
allow their worship to become vain.
Today there are
over 400 different denominations with many different plans of salvation,
practicing different kinds of worship, teaching different doctrines, and
wearing different names which are unheard of and unknown in the
Bible. Is this what God wants? A denomination must have a man
made creed, confession of faith, manual, discipline, catechism, and such
like in order to exist. Each conflicting doctrine, which each
denomination has produced, contradicts the scriptures. If people
would follow what the Bible says, and only what the Bible says, then there
would only be one church, the church of Christ.
We have also seen
that we must worship and only serve God, and not some idol or icon.
God has commanded women not to teach or take a leading role over men in
the church. We must regularly attend worship of the church; and the
way we dress must be modest.
In our worship we
offer prayers to God. We have seen that God only hears those who are
obedient to His will. Our giving is an indication of our love for
God. We are not to give to be seen of men.
We are to remember
our Lord’s death in partaking of the Lord's Supper every first day of the
week as the church in the first century did. When we partake of the
Lord’s Supper every first day of the week, we not only remember the great
sacrifice the Lord made for us, but we proclaim the Lord’s death to the
world until He comes again.
As we worship in
spirit and in truth, we are to sing praises to God. We are to do the
singing ourselves and not have a choir to sing to us. God has only
authorized singing. Man has perverted the worship of God by adding
mechanical instruments of music, because man likes them.
When God’s word is
preached, God is glorified. Only God’s will must be preached.
If one is preaching man’s will, he is preaching a perverted gospel.
The Bible must be the final and only source of spiritual authority for all
that we teach and practice.
The Lord is to be
worshipped and glorified in His one church, the one He built and purchased
with His own blood. He is the saviour of only His one church.
People are laboring in vain if they are not in that one church.
Only saved people
are in the Lord’s church. We are saved only after we have done the
will of God and not man’s will. A more complete discussion of what
we must do to be saved entitled "Are You Really Sure Of Your Eternal
Salvation?" can be found on the following link:
Are You Really Sure Of Your Eternal Salvation?
God must be
worshipped in His church only as He has specified otherwise it will be
vain and useless. The Lord has specified that each congregation of
His church is to be overseen by a group of elders, who meet His
qualifications. Are you worshipping in the church of Christ, the one
He bought with His own blood? Please don’t wait until the Day of
Judgment to find out how wrong you are. Don’t allow someone to cheat
you of your reward in Heaven.
Please think
seriously about the things pointed out in this writing, particularly the
scriptures which have been quoted. Do not allow anyone or anything
to cause you to vainly worship God by participating in worship that
follows the commandments of men instead of God. If our worship to
God is vain we will loose our souls. We will not be able to go to
Heaven, but we will have to spend forever and ever in eternal
punishment. I wonder if many people really believe there is going to
be an eternal punishment in the fires of Hell.
But as the Bible
says in Hebrews 9:27, "It is appointed unto men once
to die, but after this the judgment." We will all stand
before the Lord on the Day of Judgment and give an answer as to how we
have obeyed Him. But on that day, as we are told in Matthew 7:13-14,
only few will be saved and the majority of people will be lost. Such
a tragedy!
Our Lord says in
Matthew 6:33, "But seek first the kingdom of God and
His righteousness." Going to heaven has got to be our first
priority in our life or we probably will not make it. We will
not accidentally end up in Heaven. Heaven is too great and glorious
to miss. It will be beyond our greatest expectations. There is
no way to visualize how wonderful it will be. Don’t you want to go
there? Please don’t miss it. If we miss Heaven the only other
place for us is eternal punishment, which is horrible and beyond
description.
Deuteronomy
10:12-13 sums up everything quite well, "What does the
Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God,
to walk in all His ways and to love him, to serve the
Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to
keep the commands of the Lord and His statues." This
is what God requires of us, both in our obedience and worship of
Him. We must worship God in spirit and in truth, if we
really want to go to heaven.
This has been
written because I deeply care for your soul. If there is any thing
that I can do to help you to become a Christian and to help you locate a
congregation of the Lord’s church in your area that worships God "in
spirit and in truth" please let me know by Email at ron@netbiblestudy.net
. If you have a comment about this web site or if you have
bible questions that you would like a Bible answer, please also let me
know by E-mail. If you would like to locate in your area a
congregation of the church that Jesus built, please click on the
following: World Wide Directory Of
The Churches Of Christ
I deeply care, please E-mail
me.
Ron
Boatwright
Questions Lesson 24
Summary
(click
on the button of the answer of your choice)
1)
Is the purpose of your worship to glorify God?
2)
Do you give your best to God in worship?
3)
Is all the worship of the church where you attend in
accordance with God’s
will as expressed in the
Bible?
4)
Does the name of your church where you attend give
glory only to
God and Christ and does not glorify
the names of men such as John
the Baptist, Martin
Luther, the Day of Pentecost, Rome, Nazareth,
etc.
5)
Do only men take a leading role in the worship of
the church where
you attend?
6)
Do you faithfully attend the worship services of your
congregation?
7)
Do you pray to God regularly?
8)
Do you give cheerfully as you have been
prospered every
first day of the week?
9)
Do you partake of the Lord’s Supper every first day
of the
week?
10)
Do you sing in worship?
11)
Does the church where you attend have a choir that
sings for you
during the worship service?
12)
Does the church where you attend use mechanical
instruments ofmusic in the worship service?
13)
Are you worshipping God in spirit and in
truth?
14)
Are you worshipping God in the one and only
church the Lord
established?
15)
Is the congregation of the church where you attend
overseen by a
plurality of elders?
16)
Have you been baptized (immersed) for the
forgiveness of your sins so
you can be saved?
17)
Has the Lord added you to His one church?
18)
Are you really sure you are ready to stand before
the Lord in
judgment?
19)
If you were to die today do you know for sure
without a doubt that
you would go to heaven?
I want to plead with you to renounce any and all
denominational affiliations and humbly submit to Christ as your Lord, by
repenting of every sin and being baptized for the forgiveness of your sins
so that you can be saved and go to Heaven. Then you will need to
worship God "in spirit and in truth" regularly in His church, the church
of Christ.
If I can help in you any way please E-mail
me. Ron Boatwright
Another course you might be interested in taking is
entitled: