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Men who refuse to worship the true God now worship themselves with tender devotion. (A. W. Tozer, The Divine Conquest, 52)
Who do you worship? Are you worshiping yourself or God?
The answer to this question lies, I believe, in who you are seeking to please with your worship– it’s a heart attitude. It’s also something only you can truly answer.
We here at MInTheGap have talked about a variety of issues over our time together. We’ve discussed if women should wear head coverings, how long their hair should be, can they wear pants, and should they keep silent in the church. We’ve discussed church music, and tongues.
But a lot of the problem that I see with the things that we have discussed always seems to come down to a question of culture. What emphasis does Biblical culture play?
As I think, pray and read through these passages I find that God was always very particular about the way in which people came to Him, and that didn’t differ with time. For instance, God commanded some pretty peculiar head wear and things for the high priest to wear. I assume that at the time of Christ the high priest was wearing pretty much the same thing and that if they get a temple in Israel and try to start sacrifices again they will be wearing something much similar to it. Culture won’t be having an impact because they will be trying to please God.
I think that a lot of the times believers in Christ tend to think more about themselves and what is convenient for them and dismiss as cultural those things that are not convenient. I understand what Stephen was trying to say when he said that we have to get an understanding of what Paul was trying to say in context, but does that mean that the injunctions are not valid today? When you see a woman in a “stylish” clothes, are they not dressing in ways similar to the temple prostitutes?
The whole head covering thing continues to puzzle me if not for the logic that keeps coming back to mind when did they stop believing that the Holy Spirit wanted women to wear hats? Was it a new inspiration? Were the godly men of old that instructed their women to wear hats because Paul commanded it wrong? All of them?
What will we find in the future that we do now that we will change our mind about?
If we are trying to please God with all of our hearts, we will seek things that please Him regardless of what those in our local assembly or the world think– and we won’t have a problem with it because everyone is at different spiritual levels.
I just wonder what our churches would look like if we were trying to please Him first and foremost. I fear that they would look a whole lot different than they do today.
As always you make some really good points. I never thought of it from the pov that God required such detailed headwear etc from the priests. Or that what we women wear today is similar to that of temple prostitutes. Thank you very much. :O(
Good food for thought. And prayer.
“Who do you worship? Are you worshiping yourself or God?”
Good question. Sometimes we “are choking on the goodness of our faith”, while there are so many souls to be saved…
The apostles dealt with this in the New Testament times as well. How were we to worship? What are we to do when….? The apostles in Acts came to several conclusions regarding the Gentiles. When someone came to the gentiles saying that they themselves must first be circumcised before they were truly saved the apostles gathered to discuss the matter. —-“Acts 15: 23They wrote this letter by them: The apostles, the elders, and the brethren, To the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings. 24 Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, “You must be circumcised and keep the law”*–to whom we gave no such commandment– 25 it seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who will also report the same things by word of mouth. 28 For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: 29 that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. F72 If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”—- I hope this answers your questions about if we are to follow the law. This is what the disciples themselves came to.
Todd Swanson
Todd, good points. The only reason that Paul had Timothy get circumsized (for instance) was not to fulfill the law, but because of the people that he would be ministering to.
However, Paul also said that the Old Testament was there for our instruction– instruction about sin and instruction about who God is, what His standards are, etc. Certainly we should look at the Old Testament as a place that God worked with a particular people at a certain point in time, and that we are no longer under the law, but grace. I would point out, though, that we can learn a lot about God and what He expects from us– His standard, His holiness, from that point in time.
From there, it’s up to us to serve Him with a heart seeking to please Him, not ourselves.