Sabbath Meditation #2

Avoiding the Love of Provinces

One of the great failings of our covenant fathers of old was to distort and pervert the faith of God into nationalistic and racialistic shapes. The true faith was seen as being inextricably tied to Israel and to Jews. It was seen as inextricably tied to the Temple and its worship ceremonies. This grave error, which in the end became an idolatry in its own right, was one of the reasons for the rejection of Israel as the people of God, so that the Gentiles might be called. The old wineskin could not contain the new wine.

As we cease from our six days of the privileged labour and gather together to turn our faces upward to God in holy worship we must contend against falling into the same failing as our older covenant fathers. Public sabbath worship always has an intense local element to it. Our most holy and blessed activity occurs at a certain time and place, with a certain pattern or liturgy, in the company of certain beloved brothers and sisters. At this place the Lord meets with His people. At this time and place the means of grace are powerful and saving.

Given such an intensity of favour and blessing it is inevitable that our local congregational gatherings will be regarded as our most significant and holy events. The place and the occasion come to be sacred in our eyes—and rightly so. Would to the Lord that this were ever the case, and increasingly so, amongst us all.

But we must never fall into the mistake of provincialising worship. As Stephen reminded the Sanhedrin in one of the most powerful and fateful recorded sermons of all time, the prophets said of the Temple: “Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me?” says the Lord; “or what place is there for My repose? Was it not My hand which made all these things.” (Acts 7: 49,50)

The Lord comes to meet with us as we worship. That is why it is such a holy and blessed and special event. He is in our midst. Yet because it is the Lord Almighty who is amongst us, our hearts must ever be drawn to take up the needs, the concerns, and the glories of His universal Kingdom. He is above all the earth; therefore, all the earth belongs to Him. As He taught us to pray: “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Our worship will inevitably be intensely local, but must never be allowed to become provincial. The concerns of our Father's business must ever lift our hearts to heaven, and from heaven to the whole earth, that His will might be done everywhere, in every place.