"Do Not Forsake Assembling Together: Hebrews 10:25

The Lord Commands Church Attendance and Worship

By Anugrah Kumar
Christian Post Contributor


Holding indoor services once again in defiance of California’s COVID-19 lockdown orders, Pastor John MacArthur of Grace Community Church on Sunday told his congregation, “We are holding church … because our Lord commands it.” The megachurch met hours after an appeals court blocked a ruling that had allowed it to meet for worship.

“They don’t want us to meet, that’s obvious,” MacArthur said after Los Angeles County secured a stay of the trial court ruling that would have allowed the congregation to meet indoors with masks and social distancing.  “They’re not willing to work with us. They just want to shut us down. But we’re here to bring honor to the Lord,” the pastor continued.

The California Court of Appeal said in its ruling late Saturday, “As between the harm that flows from the heightened risk of transmitting COVID-19 (namely “serious illness and death”) and the harm that flows from having to conduct religious services outdoors instead of indoors, the balance at this early stage favors issuance of a stay.”

MacArthur said he doesn’t know “exactly what the city is trying to do with us and to us,” and clarified that the indoor service was not aimed at being “rebellious.” “We’re meeting because our Lord has commanded us to come together and worship Him.”

The Sun Valley church has been holding in-person worship services despite Gov. Gavin Newsom's recent lockdown orders prohibiting indoor church gatherings. Grace Community filed a lawsuit last week against state restrictions, accusing government officials of selectively restricting gatherings amid the pandemic.

“When many went to the streets to engage in ‘political’ or ‘peaceful’ protests purportedly against racism and police brutality, these protesters refused to comply with the pandemic restrictions. Instead of enforcing the public health orders, public officials were all too eager to grant a de facto exception for these favored protestors,” the lawsuit says.

On Friday, Judge James Chalfant of Los Angeles Superior Court agreed with MacArthur and his church that it is the county’s burden to show why they should be permitted to infringe on the constitutionally protected rights of churches to freely exercise religion. The appeals court, however, issued an emergency order on Saturday in favor of LA County.

The Church Punished By Inconsistent, Prejudiced Politicians

Invercargill Reverend Calls For Ability to Worship Together

Damian Rowe
Stuff

First Presbyterian Church Reverend Nyalle Paris says people should now be able to worship in churches together.  Under Covid-19 Alert Level 2, the Government has restricted public gatherings of groups larger than 10 people, which will reviewed by Cabinet on May 25. 

However, cinemas, bars, restaurants and shops can operate and earlier this week the Government raised the limit of people able to attend funerals. Rev Paris said while the pandemic meant people were living in unprecedented times there had been no new coronavirus cases in the Southern District Health Board catchment area for weeks and it was time to allow some form of worship.

It seemed ironic that cinemas, cafés, bars and schools could open but the church could not, Rev Paris said.  It was also against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights regarding the freedom to religion, he said.

Worship And Its Detractors

Keeping The Right Perspective

Our secularist overlords, pagan to the core, have no regard, let alone respect, for Christian public worship.  According to our government's moral abacus, shopping at a mall amidst hundreds of fellow consumers, is close to the sacrosanct.  But if more than ten gather to worship they are Verboten.

This does not make us angry.  We Christians can easily work around this.  After all, the promise of our Lord remains firm: "where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst" (Matthew 18:20) 

We also realise that the run of the mill secularist politician is largely ignorant of spiritual realities.  For most, their awakening to these realities must await their passing in this life into the world to come. 

Luke 16:19-31 English Standard Version (ESV)
“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”

So, let us press on.  The government may hold us in contempt, but our Lord does not.  And that, dear friends, makes all the difference in the world--at least to us.

The Church Militant and Public Worship

Worship as Our Warfare

Posted on

Saturday, April 25, 2020 by Douglas Wilson 

Introduction

The church is the “worshiping assembly,” and her mission is to call the nations to worship God. But worship is not only our goal; it is also one of the chief assigned means for achieving that goal. Worship is not a retreat from the church’s work of conquest. Worship is a fundamental “strategy” of the church militant. Worship is not a retreat from cultural engagement; rather worship is the driving engine of all true cultural engagement.

During this time of the coronavirus scare, we are being told by unbelievers that our worship services are somehow “non-essential.” In actual fact, worship is the most essential activity of our lives. So as we assemble before God now, we want to be pleading with Him to rise up and vindicate His name. Without Him, we are all of us nothing, and if this is the true and honest teaching of His Word, we are pleading with Him to intervene now, and to vindicate this teaching of His Word.

The Text

“It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria; and, behold, they be in Hazazon-tamar, which is En-gedi. And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah . . . Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the LORD in the midst of the congregation; And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s . . . And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD, worshipping the LORD . . . And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever . . . And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much . . . Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them, to go again to Jerusalem with joy; for the LORD had made them to rejoice over their enemies” (2 Chron. 20:1-3, 14-15, 18, 21, 25, 27).

Summary of the Text

Though he had sinned by giving support to Ahab in the Northern Kingdom (2 Chron. 19:1-3), Jehoshaphat (whose name means “Yahweh judges”) was generally a faithful and reforming king of Judah. He removed the idols from the land (17:6; 19:3), and appointed judges throughout the land (19:5-11). He was not a perfect king, but he was certainly a good one. And it was under his leadership that Israel experienced one of her most remarkable victories.

Daily Meditation

Stunting Worship

Ligonier Ministries

The visual impact of the furnishings and the buildings of both the Old Testament tabernacle and temple was awesome. The eyes were dazzled with a sense of the splendor of God.

Sound was vital to Old Testament worship. The choral compositions of the Psalms were moving to the Spirit. They were accompanied by the full harmony and rhythm supplied by the harp, the lyre, the flute, and trumpets. The piano and the organ are marvelous instruments, but they cannot produce the sounds that the other instruments provide. Hymns and choral anthems are greatly enhanced when they are supported with greater orchestration.

Old Testament worship involved all five senses. The element of touch is missing in most Protestant worship. Charismatic groups emphasize the laying on of hands, which meets a strong human need for a holy touch. Early Christian worship involved the placing of the pastor’s hands on each person with the pronouncement of the benediction. When congregations got too large for such personal attention, the act gave way to the symbolic gesture of the benediction spoken by the pastor with outstretched arms. This was a simulation of the laying on of hands, but the actual touch was lost.

Old Testament worship included taste and smell. The fragrance of burning incense gave a peculiar sense of a special aroma associated with the sweetness of God. One of the first gifts laid at the foot of the manger of Jesus was that of frankincense. Most Protestants reject incense without giving any substantive reason for its rejection.

Taste was central to the Old Testament feasts as well as the New Testament celebration of the Lord’s Supper. The injunction to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Ps. 34:8) is rooted in the worship experience. The people of God “tasted the heavenly gift” (Heb. 6:4).

Perhaps we have stunted worship by excluding elements that God once included and deemed important.

Coram Deo

Reflect on ways you might involve your physical senses in worshiping God in your private devotions.

Passages for Further Study

Psalm 150:3-5

Daily Meditation

Becoming a Worshiper of God

Ligonier Ministries

“Church is boring”—this is the most oft-stated reason why people stay away from church. It raises some important questions. How is it possible that an encounter with a majestic, awesome, living God could ever be considered boring by anyone? God is not dull. If worship is boring to us, it is not because God is boring. Sermons can be boring and liturgies can be boring, but God simply cannot be boring. The problem, I think, is with the setting, the style, and the content of our worship.

The New Testament gives us little information about proper Christian worship. It establishes some guidelines, but does not offer much content. In contrast, the Old Testament provides a panorama of worship information. This poses some dangers, as well as some vital clues, for worship. We cannot simply reinstate the elements of Old Testament worship, because many of them are clearly fulfilled once and for all with the finished work of Christ in His offering of the perfect sacrifice.

The Old Testament does provide a key to elements involved in worship. We see, for example, that the mind must be engaged in worship. The centrality of preaching underscores the crucial role of the Word. Full worship, however, is both verbal and nonverbal. The whole person is addressed and involved in a worship experience. We note that in the Old Testament, worship intimately involved all five senses: sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste.

Coram Deo

Is church boring to you? What do you think might be the reason? Spend some time in prayer asking God to show you how to become a true worshiper.

Passages for Further Study

Psalm 132:7
Psalm 86:9
Psalm 29:2

The Quiet Glory of Simple Sunday Worship

Worship Wars, and the ‘Simple People’

Donald Macleod

We don’t usually think of the Roman Catholic Church as suffering from the kind of worship-wars which have so often disrupted Evangelical churches.  After all, the Pope and the Magisterium exercise a firm control, and the freedom of individual priests and local parishes is carefully circumscribed by innumerable detailed Canons.

It was fascinating, then, to discover from Elio Guerriro’s recently translated biography of Pope Benedict XVI, that Romanism, too, has had its fair share of liturgical innovators; and as Archbishop of Munich, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and finally as Pope, Joseph Ratzinger was well placed, and well qualified, to evaluate their impact.

Originally a loyal supporter of the reforms proposed by the Second Vatican Council, Ratzinger quickly realised that, although the Council had introduced only minor changes, these had been sufficient to encourage a widespread impatience with all liturgical tradition; and what troubled him was strikingly similar to what was happening within Evangelicalism.