Honoring the Lord on His Day

“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord, honorable, if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly, then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 58:13-14, ESV). “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118;24, KJV). “I was glad when they said unto me, ‘Let us go into the house of the Lord.’ " (Psalm 122:1, KJV).

Today is Sunday, a day set aside for worship, for gathering in Christian fellowship, prayer, Bible study and exhortation of the Word, a day in seven to especially seek God. How holy and sacred do we count our privilege of free worship? Do we honor God by honoring his day? Or is it just another day of work, pleasure and selfish pursuits? Every day is the Lord’s day; Sunday is the day we deliberately seek Him.

Compare any church congregation’s attendance on the Lord’s Day with the number on the church roll and we see an immediate condemnation of our actions. Too often we disregard the assembling of ourselves together for worship. This is an indictment of our modern age when we give God token allegiance and go our ways with seeming disregard of what His Word teaches about remembering the Sabbath Day (or holy day—a day set aside in seven). We say we believe in and practice the Ten Commandments. Yet this one commandment—“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8, KJV)--is broken week after week by so many Christians. Read again Isaiah 58:13-14. We need to turn back from pursing our own pleasure and again call the Lord’s Day a delight! To honor the Lord’s Day is to delight Him. Note how exuberantly Isaiah expresses personal rewards for those who honor the Lord’s Day: “Take delight in the Lord…ride on the heights of the earth…I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob, your father!” And why do these promises come true about our observance of the Lord’s Day? “The mouth of the Lord has spoken!”

I awoke early this morning with much anticipation of the Lord’s day. I will enjoy studying the Bible with Christian friends. Today at my particular church we will have the observance of the Lord’s Supper—one of our two ordinances. The Lord commanded that we observe communion “in remembrance of Him.” It is a time of solemn soul-examination, asking forgiveness, coming before the Lord with humility and deep gratitude. We gather to worship; we depart to serve. Help us Lord, so to live!

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Sunday, October 31, 2010

Loving and Respecting God’s Sanctuary

“I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.” –Psalm 122:1.
“Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honor dwelleth”--Psalm 26:8

I cannot remember a time when I did not like to go to the House of the Lord. One of my earliest memories of my little country church, Choestoe, is going to sleep on a blanket on the pew beside my mother and hearing singing and preaching as I drifted off. I felt so loved, safe and secure, even though that pew was hard despite the warm blanket. My sleeping in church then probably meant that my parents could worship without having to keep their young child quiet and not disturbing other worshipers. But even then, began my life-long love and respect for the sanctuary of the Lord.

Early in my life, a good Sunday School teacher led her “card class” to memorize Psalm 122:1. She taught us that God is everywhere (a hard concept for a child to grasp), but because we draw strength from God and from each other in church, He provided a tabernacle, a temple, a church building in which people can meet and worship God. And so was formed the good habit of going to the house of the Lord.

I sit in the beautiful sanctuary of our church building on Sunday morning and bring my thoughts to focus on God and the things of God. The atmosphere is one of worship. The altar, the cross over the baptistery, the architectural design, the pews on which believers are seated, the pulpit from which the Word will be read and preached, the choir loft filled with praise-givers, the organ and the piano, all these are different from and set apart from other buildings I enter during the week. The church sanctuary is a place where I can meet God. It is not the only place I meet Him, but it is a special place, a dedicated place, a set-apart place. I have made some effort to go to the sanctuary of God. I have prayed about and anticipated meeting Him there. Indeed, with the Psalmist of old, I can declare with certainty: “I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord!” There the honor of the Lord is manifested. There I can deliberately meet God and He can speak to me. As Isaiah of old when he saw the Lord high and lifted up in the temple, I can declare: “Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” (Isa. 6:5b). It is also the place where I hear God’s call to service and I respond, “Here am I; send me!”
(Isa. 6:8b). Oh! Neglect not worshiping together in the Lord’s house!

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Saturday, February 27, 2010

Never Take Worship For Granted

“I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good.” –Psalm 122: 1, 9

Amelia Cotton sounded the magnificent strains of “Jubilate” from our mighty organ. I sat there engrossed by the music, praising God for a house of worship where we can gather without fear of persecution. I prayed that I and the larger-than-usual congregation would be renewed in spirit and godly purpose. I prayed for our pastor and for my own son a pastor in another place. I prayed that they would be endued with the Spirit of God to preach His message with power and clarity. I prayed for my husband, sick in his bed at GWVH. I remembered and thanked God for the many years God had privileged us to work in His kingdom, leading in worship and worshipping together ourselves.

It came time for the sermon. Rev. Jerry Bradley is an expository preacher, and his method is taking a book of the Bible and preaching through it. This method is a wonderful way to teach the congregation great Bible truths, and if the one who hears in the congregation can be present for each sermon in the series, he or she will have a good grasp of the book in the Bible in his purview of sermons. We are now in The Revelation. Knowing the difficulties in interpretation of this apocalyptic book, I told my pastor I would be praying earnestly for him as he seeks to break this book of the bread of life to us. And God is answering my prayers! I learn something new every Sunday.

The sermon today is from Revelation 2: 8-11, or the Second Letter to the Churches—the Church at Smyrna. Persecuted severely both by the Jews in Smyrna and by the Romans who ruled them, the church at Smyrna had undergone severe tribulation, poverty, suffering, imprisonment, trials. “The First and the Last,” Jesus Christ the risen Lord, was with them, and He it was who was addressing them (and us). Polycarp, a saint of Smyrna, would not bow down and worship the emperor and at age 86 he was burned at the stake. For faithful ones at Smyrna, like Polycarp, better known to us as an early church father, The First and the Last has a crown of life. Neither will the faithful be hurt of the Second Death, but will escape it!

The thought came to me in a new and powerful way: “Never, ever take worship for granted.” Our pastor says we may be facing grave persecution, trials, hardships. As a church, just having purchased land and considering a move, we have to seriously search for what God wants us to do as a church. What must we be mindful to do in our present location? What is God’s way and will in the future expansion? Economic times are not good and they could get worse. As we go out into the community, to live, to work, to mix and mingle with non-Christians, how will we represent “The First and the Last”—the Lord Christ? Will our worship make us strong enough to be salt, light, yeast—and witnesses—as we are going about anyway? And will we deliberately and intentionally go telling, propelled by the Spirit?

I looked at the accoutrements of our worship center: The cross over the baptistery. The pulpit from which the Word is proclaimed. The choir and instruments that lift our hearts in praise. The architecture and lighting that provide an environment conducive to worship. Even now, in America, when some churches are hosts to certain groups they are asked to cover the cross. Persecution and denial of our Lord may be much closer than we think. Beware! Learn from the faithful church at Smyrna how to live and how to face persecution!

May we never, ever take for granted our privilege to worship.
And, from worship, to go forth as light in a dark and adverse world.
“I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord!”
Amen and Amen!

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Sunday, January 24, 2010