“You Have Not Passed This Way Before”

The title above is found in Joshua 3:4.  When God was preparing Israel to cross over the Jordan, He had the officers command the people “As soon as you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God being carried by the Levitical priests, then you shall set out from your place and follow it. Yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about 2,000 cubits in length. Do not come near it, in order that you may know the way you shall go, for you have not passed this way before” (3:3-4).

As we prepare to enter into 2012, we face the reality of not having passed this way before.  A new year!  A clean slate!   A fresh beginning!  Paul is an example of how a Christian can leave the past behind and press on toward what lies ahead (Philippians 3:12-14).

What can we do to assist ourselves in getting ready to enter this New Year?  We will not be disappointing to our Father in Heaven if we remember that there is:

     A God to Worship: ”…Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come! “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created” (Revelation 4:8, 11).  Our assemblies are an integral part of our relationship with God and with fellow Christians.  “A religion which does not bring you to worship will not bring you to heaven.”

     A Christ to Serve: “If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him” (John 12:26).  Each of us has been given gifts to use in service to Christ.  Have you evaluated your potential to serve others in new ways lately?

     A Church to Support:  “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20-21).  The church is one body with many members (1 Corinthians 12).  Do you realize you are an essential part of the body and that you are special?  Give yourself in every area possible to help the body function and grow.

     A Book to Know:  “Seek and read from the book of the Lord…” (Isaiah 34:16).  Batsell Barrett Baxter delivered this timely advice:  “Let us read this book for all seasons in the New Year just beginning. It is an anchor in life’s stormy sea. It is a light house. It is a landmark. It is a solid foundation. The stresses and the strains of our time make it all the more necessary that we examine its message and apply its principles to our lives, if we would live wisely in this

difficult, fast-moving age” (Sermon, January 5, 1969).

Someone has written, “Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.”

SM

Reflections by a Pioneer

This I Remember, by B.C. Goodpasture

William Henry Book was an outstanding preacher of the Christian’ Church. He was born in Newcastle, Virginia, on July 4, 1863; educated at Milligan College Milligan College, Tennessee; preached for the Tabernacle Church of Christ, Columbus, Indiana, for twenty years. He was the author of Real Life and Original Sayings of W. H. Book, Tabernacle Sermons, 2 Volumes, Indiana Pulpit, and Sermons for the People.

During the later years of his life he spent the winter months in Orlando, Florida. He usually spent a night in Atlanta enroute to Florida. I was living in Atlanta at the time. Usually when stopping in the city, he called me and asked me to come up to his hotel and talk with him. These visits were enjoyable and profitable. Book was regarded by many of his brethren as ultra-conservative. He told me more than once that, the use of instrumental music in the worship was a matter of indifference to him. He said that if he were preaching for a church that did not want it, he would not insist on having it; but, if, on the other hand, a church wanted it, he would not oppose it. ‘ Book was what some would call a strong “first principle” preacher. I heard him preach a powerful sermon on the Conversion of the Eunuch, while he was in a meeting in East Point, near Atlanta. He told me about being asked to preach at the Peachtree Christian Church, an “open membership” church. He said he preached on Pentecost and What Happened. He said he saw to it that one “gospel sermon” was preached in that imposing building.

But the thing I remember and cherish most is what he said about Brother Hardeman. At the time the Christian Church Committee was looking for a man to meet Brother Hardeman in debate, Book was asked. He said: “No; I will not meet Brother Hardeman in debate; I am more in agreement with him than I am with you fellows.” It will be remembered that Ira M. Boswell of Georgetown, Kentucky, was selected to meet Brother Hardeman.

(Gospel Advocate, November 18, 1976).

“He Being Dead, Yet Speaketh”

We are blessed to have many in our past who set godly examples and left their mark in the great works they accomplished. Brother Foy E. Wallace Jr. must be classed as an individual who though dead, yet speaks volumes! One of the treasures he left to us was The Instrumental Music Question. Deep within this rich work is the following simple, yet powerful teaching set forth on the question of mechanical instrumental music in worship. Brother Wallace gives us a syllogism on the subject, which concludes that instrumental music in worship is an authority issue.

Number one:
1. To use things not authorized in the worship is going beyond the teaching of Christ.
2. Instrumental music is not authorized in the worship by Christ.
3. Therefore, instrumental music in the worship is going beyond the teaching of Christ.

Number two:
1. To go beyond the teaching of Christ is transgression.
2. Instrumental music in worship is going beyond the teaching of Christ.
3. Therefore, instrumental music in the worship is transgression.

Number three:
1. Transgression of the law of Christ is sin.
2. Instrumental music in worship is transgression of the law of Christ.
3. Therefore, instrumental music in worship is sin.

The whole question of the use of instrumental music in worship involves respect for the word of God, a recognition of the authority of Jesus Christ (Foy E. Wallace Jr. The Instrumental Music Question. p. 240).

SM

Worship God!

Anyone or anything that takes center stage where God belongs and becomes the object of worship is robbing God of His rightful place of worship…Too often assemblies gather to observe what the created can do instead of assembling to express praise for what the Creator has done…Man is not to be the center of worship. Worship is not to be a performance for the benefit of other human beings. God is the audience instead of man (Owen Olbricht. God Is the Audience, p. 117)

God is the object of our worship (Revelation 4:8, 11; 5:12-13; Romans 1:25; Acts 12:22-23), and He is the audience (Psalm 139:7-12; Genesis 28:16; Hebrews 4:13).

We should regularly examine our motive and disposition when we approach our Creator in worship.

1.  Am I coming before God to worship Him with a sincere heart (John 4:24)?

2.  Am I allowing my relationship with others to serve as a stumbling block in keeping me from the proper worship of God (Matthew 5:23-24)?

3.  Am I drawing near to God in purity and holiness, or am I allowing sin to be a barrier between God and me (1 John 1:6-10)?

4.  Am I really trying to focus my full attention on God (Exodus 20:4-6; Revelation 5:9-14)?

5.  Am I fixing my vision on the Lord of glory to such an extent that my hungering desire is to draw near to Him (Matthew 5:6; James 4:8)?

6.  Am I singing enthusiastically, praying fervently, giving cheerfully, and lovingly remembering Jesus during the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians14:15; 11:23-28; 2 Corinthians 9:7)?

7.  Am I coming to God in worship with the full knowledge that the only reason I have such precious access to God is because of what Jesus did for me at Calvary (Matthew 27:51)?

8.  Am I worshipping solely to “see what I can get out of it,” or is my heart’s desire to offer praise, thanksgiving, and glory to my Lord and King (Revelation 4:8-11)?

9.  Am I willing to let God break me, mold me, and make me a vessel of honor for His service as a result of having been in His presence for worship (2 Timothy 2:21)?

SM

A Commentator’s Question’s On The Use of Mechanical Instrumental Music In Worship

“And with them Heman and Jeduthun, to sound aloud with trumpets and cymbals and the musical instruments of God. Now the sons of Jeduthun were gatekeepers” (1 Chronicles 16:42).

• Did God ever ordain instruments of music to be used in his worship?

• Can they be used in Christian assemblies according to the spirit of Christianity?

• Has Jesus Christ, or his apostles, ever commended or sanctioned the use of them?

• Were they ever used any where in the apostolic church?

• Does the use of them at present, in Christian congregations, ever increase the spirit of devotion?

• Does it ever appear that bands of musicians, either in their collective or individual capacity, are more spiritual, or as spiritual, as the other parts of the church of Christ?

• Is there less pride, self-will, stubbornness, insubordination, lightness, and frivolity among such persons than among the other professors of Christianity found in the same religious society?

• Is it ever remarked or known that musicians in the house of God have attained to any depth of piety, or superior soundness of understanding, in the things of God?

• Is it ever found that those churches and Christian societies which have and use instruments of music in divine worship are more holy, or as holy, as those societies which do not use them?

• And is it always found that the ministers which affect and recommend them to be used in the worship of Almighty God, are the most spiritual men, and the most spiritual and useful preachers?

• Can mere sounds, no matter how melodious, where no word nor sentiment is or can be uttered, be considered as giving praise to God?

• Is it possible that pipes or strings of any kind can give God praise?

• Can God be pleased with sounds which are emitted by no sentient being, and have in themselves no meaning?

• If these questions cannot be answered in the affirmative; then, query, Is not the introduction of such instruments into the worship of God antichristian, and calculated to debase and ultimately ruin the spirit and influence of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

• And should not all who wish well to the spread and establishment of pure and undefiled religion, lift up their hand, their influence and their voice against them? The argument from their use in the Jewish service is futile in the extreme when applied to Christianity.

–Clarke’s Commentary, Volume II, pp. 610-611

The following observation is certainly applicable today… (SM)

• “My brethren, we ought to be ashamed to allow a Methodist commentator to lift up his hand more strongly, and use his influence more determinedly,and lift up his voice more loudly than we do against the introduction of things foreign to the simple worship of God” (Fred E. Dennis, Fifty Short Sermons II, p. 75)

God is the Audience

Anyone or anything that takes center stage where God belongs and becomes the object of worship is robbing God of His rightful place of worship…Too often assemblies gather to observe what the created can do instead of assembling to express praise for what the Creator has done…Man is not to be the center of worship. Worship is not to be a performance for the benefit of other human beings. God is the audience instead of man (Owen Olbricht. God Is The Audience, p. 117)

God is the object of our worship (Revelation 4:8, 11; 5:12-13; Romans 1:25; Acts 12:22-23), and He is the audience (Psalm 139:7-12; Genesis 28:16; Hebrews 4:13).

Lethargy and the Church

Brother David Lipscomb used to say, “Brothers and sisters, we are playing at religion.” Unquestionably, lethargy is one of our greatest problems in the church of our generation. Thus, there is a need to arouse the church therefrom.

- Wendell Winkler Lecture in The Restoration: The Winds of Change.

Brother Winkler’s lecture needs to be read, meditated upon, preached, taught, and relayed to the people in our pews. He presents the definition, examples, areas, causes, the cure, the antithesis, and the tragedies of lethargy in the church today.

By clicking on the following link you can download it in PDF.

The Need Of The Present Day: To Arouse The Church From Its Lethargy.