YOUR WORSHIP: IS IT OF GOD OR OF SELF?

“Worship is not a function of the mouth but of the whole body.
It is to bow the head, bend the body, fall on the knees, prostrate one's self, and so forth, and to do such things as a sign and acknowledgment of an authority and power greater than self. Just as people bow in one form or another in silence before secular princes and Lords, and just as popes, bishops, abbots, and people generally, have themselves honored and adored by bowing and kneeling, and so forth.
Such outward adoration of the bending of the body is what the Scriptures really mean by worship. We read in the Scriptures that worship or adoration is rendered outwardly both to God and to kings without distinction, just as bowing and kneeling are still rendered outwardly both to God and to men.
From this understanding of outward worship you will also understand what Christ meant by true spiritual worship. “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:23-24 (ESV) It is the adoration or bowing of the heart that Jesus refers to here, so that from the bottom of your heart you are to thereby show and confess yourself to be God’s subordinate creature who owes all to Him.
For from this you see that true worship can only arise from faith; it is faith's sublime activity with respect to God. For no one is able to offer such heartfelt confession, adoration, bending, and bowing of the heart (or whatever you want to call it) before God in his heart, unless he unwaveringly believes and holds God Almighty to be his Lord and Father, from whom he receives and will receive all good things, and through whom, without any merit or worthiness on his part, he is redeemed and preserved from all sins and evil.” Martin Luther (Excerpted from Treasury of Daily Prayer CPH)
In all that the church would establish as corporate worship (worship of the whole body of Christ as one), it must be above all else a matter of bowing both body and soul before the Lord in the rhythm of His speaking and His body responding to Him who alone gives them life. Even as our Lord began this rhythm at the moment of creation where He spoke and creation responded. This rhythm continues through the flow of the Holy Scriptures and even today as we gather for worship and depart out into the world.
In our forms and styles of worship there is freedom. But in no part of what of what we would call worship, can we free ourselves from the belief and confession that we poor miserable sinners and gathered before the most gracious and redeeming God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If worship is to be an expression of a believer’s faith in this reality, then in no part of true worship can anyone expect the content or style of worship to bow to them before they will participate in it.
What then are we to make of those who would put conditions and terms (on the style or content of worship) that must be met before they will participate in worship services, devotions, and prayer? Well, it can be rightly call worship, but in no way it is a worship of the one true God. All such worship is nothing other than a worship of self and the expectation that the Church and God Almighty should bow to their desires and whims before they will grant the favor of their presence and praise.
Again it needs to be said: “... the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:23-24 (ESV)

WHAT MAKES FOR TRUE HOLINESS

“God’s Word is holy and makes holy those it touches. Yes, it is the holiness of god Himself… this holiness is true holiness and the true salve that anoints unto eternal life even if you … must live and die a plain, unadorned human life just as the babies (and all of us) are baptized naked and without adornment.” - Martin Luther

To often in the life of the church, her pastors and lay leaders turn to many different things in hopes that they might help people increase or grow in the faith and holiness of life and living. The critical question every pastor or lay person must ask is a simple one: “Does this teach and enable me to believe, to learn to love God, praise God, and live in holiness?” Only the Word of God can do these things. Jesus (the Word made flesh), states it plainly, “Apart from me you can do nothing.”
Much that is used in the quest of holiness, in the end is nothing more than religiousness. It turns the laity and the pastorate into the friends of Job. The friends of Job were loving, sympathetic, empathetic and dedicated to their friend. They spoke some of the most religious words possible to their friend in hopes of comforting and consoling him in this despair. Yet for all their religious talk, Job was not comforted and the Lord had this to say to his friends:
“After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” Job 42:7 (ESV)

May the Lord ever guide us in the ways of HIS Holiness.

STEP INTO THE DARK

Please pray that the Lord would enable the pure Word of the Gospel to be heard by the Youth of our churches and nation. The following is a poem written by one such youth:

STEP INTO THE DARK
Step into the dark where no one can see
Step into the dark where all you see is me
Step into the dark where there is suffering and pain
Step into the dark where not a single person knows your name
Step into the dark where the only color is black
Step into the dark where love is a mystermystery
Step into the dark where real men don’t come back
Step into the dark where no one leaves tracks
Step into the dark where hell is a block away
Step into the dark where you might brighten my day
by John M.
from "hurt - inside the world of today's teenagers"
by Chap Clark
Baker Academic