Friday, December 14, 2012
Daily Worship
From this week's worship notes:
Daily Worship
The Christian life is not just something that happens on Sunday. We are called by the Scriptures to offer our whole lives as living sacrifices. In Acts 2:46 we read that the believers assembled together daily, and again in Acts 5:42 we read that the apostles taught daily in the temple. Hebrews 3:13 calls on believers to exhort one another daily. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 exhorts us to pray without ceasing. The Bereans, who were praised as being of a more noble character than others, searched the Scriptures daily to evaluate the doctrine of the Apostles.
The Christian will find his spiritual life much more rich and profitable if he does not simply try to "top off the tank" every Sunday, but rather is continually drinking of the well of fellowship with God. There is no particular commandment in the Scriptures about exactly what daily or midweek worship we are to engage in, and we should never seek to make a legalistic law of the matter, but many serious Christians have discovered that being continually in the word and prayer become much easier if one makes a regular habit of it. A few minutes a day of Scripture reading and prayer is a world better than none at all.
Fathers or heads of household in particular need to lead their families in worship. Children ought to be instructed of the importance of the Scriptures and prayer even before they can understand much of the Scriptures very well. After breakfast or dinner, depending on one's schedule, is a good time to spend a few minutes reading the Bible and discussing it with our families.
The church also often makes Bible studies available during the week, and midweek studies are, in this pastor's experience, very profitable. It is a time to meet and fellowship with our fellow believers, to approach different parts of the word and in a different manner, and to discuss in a more informal setting the meaning of the Scriptures and other questions that may be on our mind.
We are all busy, and a great many different activities compete for our time. We are not Sabbatarians, meaning that we do not believe that a strict observance of one day out of seven of complete abstinence from any non-religious activities is still mandated for New Testament believers. But it is a great mistake to think that the fourth commandment is therefore no longer relevant. That commandment instructs us to lay hold of the means of grace, to be active in the word and prayer, and the absence of a one-in-seven observance just means that this command is true for us every day of the week. If you wish to grow in grace and understanding, then you simply must learn to take time out of your schedule throughout the week for these kinds of activities.
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