Worship # 7

Worship: Its Priority, Principles, and Practice" (continued)

6. In the last place, true public worship must be a "reverent" worship. It is written, "Walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil" (Eccles. 5:1). It is recorded that our Lord Jesus Christ began and ended his ministry with two practical protests against irreverent worship. On two distinct occasions he cast out of the temple the buyers and sellers who were profaning its courts by their traffic, and justified his act by the weighty words, "It is written,"  "My house shall be called a house of prayer," but you have made it a "den of thieves" (Matthew 21:13). People who call themselves Christians, and go to churches and chapels to stare about, whisper, fidget, yawn, or sleep, but not to pray, or praise, or listen, are not a whit better than the wicked Jews in the days of our Lord Jesus. They do not consider that God detests profaneness and carelessness in his presence, and that to behave before God as they would not dare to behave before their sovereign at a levee or in a drawing-room, is a very grave offence indeed. We must beware that we do not rush from one extreme into another. It does not follow, because "bodily service" alone is useless, that it does not matter how we behave ourselves in the congregation. Surely even nature, reason, and common sense should teach us that there is a manner and demeanor suitable to mortal man, when he draws near to his Mighty Maker. It is not for nothing that it is written, "God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be held in reverence by all those around him" (Psalm 89:7). If it is worthwhile to attend public worship at all, it is worthwhile to do it carefully and well. God is in heaven, and we are on earth. Let us not be rash and hasty. Let us mind what we are about. "Let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear" (Hebrews 12:28-29).

I ask the reader's special attention to the five leading principles which I have just laid down. I fear they strike at their root of the worship of myriads in our own land, to say nothing of Roman Catholics, Muslims, and heathens in other parts of the world. Thousands of English people I fear, are regularly spending their Sundays in a worship which is utterly useless. It is a worship with Scripture, without Christ, without the Holy Spirit, without knowledge, without heart, and without the slightest benefit to the worshipers. For any good they get from it, they might just as well be sitting at home, and not worship at all. Let us take heed that this is not our condition. Let us remember, as long as we live, that it is not the quantity of worship, but the quality that God regards. The inward and spiritual character of the congregation is of far more importance in his sight than the number of the worshipers, or the outward and visible signs of devotion which they exhibit. Children and fools, who admire poppies more than corn, may think all is right when there is a great external show of religion. But it is not so with God. His all-seeing eye looks at the inner man.

~J. C. Ryle~

(continued with # 8)