MAY I SAY - REAL WORSHIP
“Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye
say, What have we spoken so much against thee? Ye have said, it is vain
to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance,
and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts?
(Malachi 3:13, 14)
In Malachi’s day, Israel said, “What good is it for us to serve God? It
is an empty thing.” For them it was an empty thing because their hearts
were not in it. And since their hearts were not in it, God had not
blessed them. So they blamed God for the situation. They said, “It’s
not worthwhile to serve God.” Well, the way they were doing it, it
wasn’t worthwhile.
There are some people who attend church who, very frankly, I think
would do better if they would just take a drive on Sundays. Their
hearts are not in it. They go to church to criticize. As someone has
said, “Some people go to eye the clothes and others to close their
eyes.” Some will go to church because it’s a nice place to get a nap.
If your heart is not in it, my friend, if you don’t love God, if you
don’t want to praise Him and serve Him and worship Him, it is of no
value.
It was vain and empty for the people in Malachi’s day to worship God,
but the problem wasn’t with Him - the problem was with them. I went to
see a man in the hospital many years ago. He said to me, “Dr. McGee,
I’m about to freeze to death. Would you get that blanket over there and
put it on me?” That room was hot - oh, it was hot - but that man
thought he was freezing to death. He blamed it on the room and said,
“They never keep these rooms warm.” But the room was overheated. There
are a great many people who say that the church they attend is cold.
Are you sure that the church is cold, or is it maybe you who are cold?
It might be well to check up, because the problem here was with the
people - it was not with God at all.
Way back in Isaiah’s day, Israel had the same problem they had in
Malachi’s day: “Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest
not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no
knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact
all your labours” (Isaiah 58:3). They fasted and they afflicted
their souls, and God didn’t do anything about it. “Behold, ye fast
for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness ye
shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on
high” (Isaiah 58:4). God says, “I don’t care about your fasting,
your going through all of that ritual, and your wanting to debate
religion.” My friend, all of this outward religion is not good. The
crucial thing is the condition of your heart and your relationship with
Jesus Christ.
I would like to look at a good definition of real worship which is
given to us in the Scriptures in Isaiah 58: “IS NOT THIS THE FAST
THAT I HAVE CHOSEN? TO LOOSE THE BANDS OF WICKEDNESS, TO UNDO THE HEAVY
BURDENS, AND TO LET THE OPPRESSED GO FREE, AND THAT YE BREAK EVERY
YOKE? IS IT NOT TO DEAL THY BREAD TO THE HUNGRY, AND THAT THOU BRING
THE POOR THAT ARE CAST OUT TO THY HOUSE? WHEN THOU SEEST THE NAKED,
THAT THOU COVER HIM; AND THAT THOU HIDE NOT THYSELF FROM THINE OWN
FLESH? THEN SHALL THY LIGHT BREAK FORTH AS THE MORNING, AND THINE
HEALTH SHALL SPRING FORTH SPEEDILY: AND THY RIGHTEOUSNESS SHALL GO
BEFORE THEE; THE GLORY OF THE LORD SHALL BE THY REREWARD. (Isaiah
58:6-8)
What Isaiah is saying is that when you come in to worship God, make
sure you have a life to back it up. This is very important. God wants a
life that will back up what you have to say. Here we have an Old
Testament definition of real worship. The ritual itself has no value
unless the heart is right before God.
(Adapted from Edited Messages on Malachi by J. Vernon McGee)
MAY I SAY - SWITCHES
Actually the word there for “prune” is the Greek kathairo. It
means that He actually cleanses it by trimming it back. Many times in
our lives we are not producing much fruit - there is not much love, not
much joy, not much peace in our lives (perhaps some, but not much).
Then the heavenly Father, the husbandman, steps in close with His
pruning shears and He trims. And it hurts when He trims.
Years ago a Puritan divine observed, “The husbandman is never so
close to the branch as when he is trimming it.” God is never so
close to you as when He is trimming you, my friend. And when He is
trimming you, it is wonderful to get in close to Him. There is a story
- though personal - that is worth the telling. When I was a boy, I used
to play hooky from school. I recall that I went to school one April
morning with good intentions; I did not intend to play hooky, but I got
under the influence of some “bad boys” and they suggested that I go
fishing with them.
So I went fishing with them, and we fished all day. We didn’t catch a
thing! And in the afternoon our conscience bothered us; personally I
was afraid to go home without my books, and they were at school. The
other fellows felt the same way. So we decided that when school was out
we would get our books and go home, acting as though we had been to
school. It did not work. Apparently the principal anticipated that, and
the minute we stepped into the schoolroom he stepped into the room also
and invited us into his office for a conference.
One of the boys had been in there before, so he knew what was coming
and gave me some very good counsel. He said, “NOW HE USES A LONG,
THIN HICKORY SWITCH, AND WHEN HE BEGINS TO HIT YOU, DON’T BACK AWAY
FROM HIM. IT WILL KILL YOU IF YOU DO. THE THING TO DO EVERY TIME HE
HITS YOU IS TO TAKE A STEP TOWARD HIM. THE CLOSER YOU GET TO HIM THE
LESS IT WILL HURT YOU.” So I tried it - it worked! It was
wonderful! By the time I took two or three steps I was so close to him
that I could hardly feel it.
I have thought about that a great deal since then. In the case of many
of God’s children, He has stepped in and pruned. He has done surgery
and, oh, it has been terrible! We have cried out to Him, “IT HURTS
SO MUCH!” My friend, why don’t we move in close to Him where it
does not hurt! The closer we get to Him the less it hurts. But the
Father always prunes His branches that they might not just bring forth
fruit but that they might bring forth much fruit. He is not even
satisfied with more fruit. He wants a bountiful crop. You recall what
He said in another parable, “SOME BRING FORTH THIRTYFOLD, AND SOME
SIXTY, AND SOME AN HUNDREDFOLD.” Here they are: fruit, more fruit,
much fruit. He wants an hundredfold from those who are His, and so He
steps in to prune them. But how does the Husbandman prune us? What does
He use? Will you listen to this: “NOW YE ARE CLEAN THROUGH THE WORD
WHICH I HAVE SPOKEN TO YOU.” The Word of God is the pruning knife.
The Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged
sword.
(Excerpt from The Whole Word for the Whole World: The Life and Ministry
of J. Vernon McGee)
WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS CONCERNING ABORTION
THOU SHALT NOT MURDER.” (Exodus 20:13)
“FROM EACH MAN I WILL DEMAND AN ACCOUNTING FOR THE
LIFE OF HIS FELLOW MAN. WHOEVER SHEDS THE BLOOD OF MAN, BY MAN SHALL
HIS BLOOD BE SHED; FOR IN THE IMAGE OF GOD HAS GOD MADE MAN.” (Genesis
9:5-6)
“FOR YOU CREATED MY INMOST BEING. YOU KNIT ME TOGETHER IN MY MOTHER’S
WOMB. I PRAISE YOU BECAUSE I AM FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE. YOUR
WORKS ARE WONDERFUL, THIS I KNOW. MY FRAME WAS NOT HIDDEN FROM YOU WHEN
I WAS MADE IN THE SECRET PLACE. WHEN I WAS WOVEN TOGETHER IN THE DEPTHS
OF THE EARTH, YOUR EYES SAW MY UNFORMED BODY. ALL THE DAYS ORDAINED FOR
ME WERE WRITTEN IN YOUR BOOK BEFORE ONE OF THEM CAME TO BE. (Psalms
139:13-16)
“BEFORE I FORMED YOU IN THE WOMB, I KNEW YOU,
AND BEFORE YOU WERE BORN I CONSECRATED YOU.” (Jeremiah 1:5)
“DID NOT HE WHO MADE ME IN THE WOMB MAKE HIM,
AND THE SAME ONE FASHION US IN THE WOMB?” (Job 31:15)
“YOU HAVE BEEN MY GUIDE SINCE I WAS FIRST
FORMED, MY SECURITY AT MY MOTHER’S BREAST. TO YOU I WAS COMMITTED AT
BIRTH, FROM MY MOTHER’S WOMB YOU ARE MY GOD.” (Psalms 22:10-11)
“AS YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT IS THE WAY OF THE
WIND, OR HOW THE BONES GROW IN THE WOMB OF HER WHO IS WITH CHILD, SO
YOU DO NOT KNOW THE WORKS OF GOD WHO MAKES ALL THINGS.” (Ecclesiastes
11:5)
“DELIVER THOSE WHO ARE BEING TAKEN AWAY TO
DEATH, AND THOSE WHO ARE STAGGERING TO SLAUGHTER, O HOLD THEM BACK. IF
YOU SAY, ‘SEE, WE DID NOT KNOW THIS,’ DOES HE NOT CONSIDER IT WHO
WEIGHS THE HEARTS? AND DOES HE NOT KNOW IT WHO KEEPS YOUR SOUL? AND
WILL HE NOT RENDER TO MAN ACCORDING TO HIS WORK?” (Proverbs 24:11-12)
(www.lifeisprecious.net/files/bible.html)
THE HOLY BIBLE - WHOLLY TRUE
The Bible isn’t like any other book that has been written. The claims
of the Bible are unlike any other book - it’s not a human book! God
called His Word living. You can’t mess with it. It’s too heavy!
Credentials
So what are this book’s credentials? I could say to you, “I have just
written a book, and it is the Word of God. It’s a great book, took me a
year to write it.” And you would have every right to say, “Prove it!”
There are 30 or 40 books in the various world religions, each one
claiming to be a superior revelation. Jesus said, “Heaven and earth
will pass away, but My words shall not pass away.” (Matt 24:35).
How important do you think the earth is? Well, Jesus says, “Heaven
and earth will pass away. . .”
The Bible does not attempt to defend its inspiration. You will not find
any verse that says, “This book is really true, so you better believe
it!!” But here is an interesting thing, Genesis opens with the words, “God
said,” 9 times in the first chapter. The statement, “Thus says
the Lord” appears 23 times in the last Old Testament book -
Malachi. So you have “God says” from Genesis to Malachi. “The
Lord spoke” appears 560 times in the first five books of the Bible
alone. Isaiah claims at least 40 times, his message came directly from
the Lord; Ezekiel, 60 times, and Jeremiah, 100 times! And at least 3800
times in the Old Testament, “The Lord spoke” appears. And the
Lord Jesus quoted from at least 24 different Old Testament books -
that’s right. He just quoted.
Voltaire, over 250 years ago, held a copy of the Bible in his hand and
said, “In 100 years this book will be forgotten, eliminated.” What is
hilarious is that 100 years later, to the day, his house was made the
headquarters of the Geneva Bible Society, and they were distributing
Bibles out of his house! God has an incredible sense of humor!
Let’s say you are going to write a book, and this is how you had to
write it: take 40 different writers for a start, totally different
writers - some highly-educated, even doctors. Then get some farmers. Go
and dig up a guy off of a ranch and say, “I would like you to help me
write a book.” Then you find some fishermen - you go down to the wharf
- a couple of guys from San Francisco and say, “Hey! Listen, help us
write a book.” And they say, “Sure, fine - we will help you.” And then
you get them to write on the following things: religious themes,
poetry, ethics, science, philosophy, the creation of the universe and
where it’s going (throw in a few things about where they think it will
all end.) You collect all that, and then…oh, by the way, you have to
separate these people so they can’t communicate by phone or
telegram…only possibly word of mouth, passed down over the years. Ah
yes, years…you collect all this stuff over about one and a half
thousand years and compile the whole thing in one book. What would you
have? I suggest you take a biology textbook from 60 years ago, and
compare it with one today. And that is just 60 years! I know what you
would have, you would have the most motley - junk you have ever seen in
your whole life - with people totally contradicting each other! But
that is not what you have when you read your Bible. The more you read
this book, the more incredible the unity of it. Because the more you
get into it, the more incredibly detailed it is, and you find there are
not 40 people who wrote it, but one person.
The Bible as a Science Book
The Bible is scientifically accurate. The same God who created the
universe wrote it. (No statement in the Scriptures is scientifically
incorrect.) At the time the Bible was written, they thought the world
was flat and held up by three elephants. Big elephants. Someone asked,
“What holds the world up?” Another said, “Three elephants.” Then
someone ventured to ask, “And what holds up the elephants??” It was
answered, “A big tortoise.” And so the early sciences grew.
Now, listen to what God said. Remember, this wasn’t written in the last
hundred years, or even the last thousand. This comes from over 2,500
years ago. . .”Have ye not known? Have ye not heard?…Have ye not
understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He that sitteth
upon the circle of the earth” (Isa. 40:21,22) The word “circle” is
the word “sphere” in Hebrew. Also, “He stretcheth out the north
over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing” (Job 26:7).
(So much for elephants!)
(www.monett.net/~nixit/seamlles3.html)
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