PERVERTED WORSHIP

LESSON 3

(An e-mail from a reader asked if "saints only worship" would forbid a Christians children or other family members from coming and should guards prevent non-Christians from entering? The answer is NO to both questions. We learned in our last lesson, from 1 Cor. 14:23-24, that those who are outside of Christ may be present. Except during times of persecution the early Church did not have secret meetings. So Paul said that if an unbeliever "comes in" the words of the prophet might judge him and make is heart manifest. (v. 24-25) These verses even contradict the promise we make that if you visit with us "you will not be embarrassed". "There come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth." However these verses do not justify inviting non-saints to "come to our church" or directing any part of the worship for their benefit. If you can't wait for the rest of this series and are not afraid to see the truth on this subject, open your Bible to 1 Corinthians chapter 14. Take a red pen and underline every verse that says who the preaching (prophesying) in the assembly is to teach and edify. How many times is "the church" mentioned in this chapter? This same truth applies to the Lord's Supper, Singing and Praying. In short, when saints assemble to break bread it is their time to worship. Only God's mercy will give us a chance at a heavenly home for all of these years that we have invited people to "come and learn" while we refused to obey God and "go and teach.")

Not yet convinced that the Lord's Day assembly is exclusively for the disciples of Christ? Why not? I gave you book, chapter and verse for what I believe the Bible to teach. What else do you need? Are you having a problem because you have not seen these truths before and need more time to study or is it that you are unwilling to apply these principles because it will involve changing your traditions? To prepare these lessons I first asked some brethren why they were opposed to instrumental music. The answers were the same that have been given for over 100 years. Later I raised the issue of Saints Only Worship and asked for Biblical authority for inviting sinners to come. The answers were very interesting: We have always done it this way. It doesn't matter. We are to preach to the lost and this is a good time to do it. No scripture says we can't preach to the sinners. The elders have the right to do what they think best. It's all right as long as we do the five acts of worship, etc. This is the same kind of reasoning given by the Christian Church for the piano! But to this day no one has provided a single verse to support this perversion of the worship of the saints. So if you need further proof this is what the inspired Word says:

"Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is. But exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching."

Heb. 10:25

Simple isn't it? Only the saints were to assemble and were to use this occasion to strengthen each other against the coming persecution. The first century church did not lock the door to prevent outsiders from coming in but they never invited them. And they surely never changed their praise, prayers or preaching to teach them or make them feel welcome. There is not one passage in the entire N.T. that even hints that they used this special time for evangelism. What we are doing perverts the worship that is commanded and authorized by God. We pervert the Lord's Supper by not making it the focal point of our assembly. "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep." (1 Cor. 11:30) We pervert the singing by directing songs to the sinners in the audience instead of God and the saints as we are authorized (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16). There is not one verse that authorizes "teaching and admonishing" sinners with our songs. But have you ever attended a Lord's Day service that didn't have an invitation song? We pervert the prayers because we don't even understand prayer. How many times have you heard the one leading the prayer remind God of each of the 5 steps in the plan of salvation or encourage the lost to "obey the Gospel before it is everlastingly too late"? This isn't a prayer to God it's preaching to sinners! If you can't see this then you need to learn how to pray. (Luke 11:1-4) We pervert the preaching not because some subjects are not allowed but because they are directed to people who do not even belong there. In fact, there is not one preacher in a thousand that has ended a sermon without extending an invitation to the sinners that are in the audience. And yes we even pervert the contribution by inviting outsiders to our assembly and then passing the plate like a Pentecostal tent meeting. Have we forgotten 1 Cor. 16:1-2? "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come." There is not one act of acceptable worship that includes those who are not children of God!

It is sad indeed that this perversion of the worship of the church is based on the fact that we do not understand or appreciate the importance of the congregation and its worship. It is no wonder that the church today is spiritually sick and its members are starving for the meat of God's word. I won't even ask you to look up this passage. It is too important for anyone to miss.

"And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love."

Eph. 4:11-16

God's Word is plain and simple on this matter. We are to go to the lost, preach the Gospel, immerse the believers into Christ and then and only then invite the saved to assemble with us to worship and praise our Father. These new brethren need us and we need them for growth and edification. This is why the Bible teaches that only saints are invited to assemble for worship. If you want to use your building to preach to sinners, fine, invite them to a special Gospel meeting. But don't pervert the assembly of the saints on the 1st day of the week.

This perversion is far more serious than the addition of a piano in worship. Brethren who use such can still sing, pray, break bread, study God's Word and give. They can do so as God has instructed without violating one principle of acceptable worship. However when we change the worship, as we have, everything we do becomes less than and more than what God has authorized. We not only fail to worship God as He has instructed but we also fail to preach to the lost as He has instructed. The piano fails to respect the silence of the scriptures while our actions fail to respect the very commands of God. We have restored the things they did in worship but we are not even close to restoring the very purpose of scriptural worship. Our cold, formal services are directly related to our perversion of the worship of God's people by preaching to the lost, impressing our visitors and making them feel at home. Quite frankly, when anyone who is not a member of the body of Christ attends our services they should feel that they don't belong. Why? Because they don't! They are outsiders who are observing an exclusive group, Christians, worship their God, memorialize their Savior and encourage one another. Never, ever forget the promise of our Savior, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them," (Matt. 18:20.) We must strive to make Jesus welcome in our midst not those who are outside His family.

To be continued.

The Parson