I just urge for us to sing songs about Bible things using Biblical language.  Don’t take a good song and mess it up doctrinally just to fit in with the world.  In the case of this song I have talked with our song leader and we have agreed that changing the word wine to vine, it not only makes rhyming sense, more importantly it makes Biblical sense.  Too many times if we come across something that is wrong scripturally we just stay away from it.  I suggest we fix it, turn it back to God for His praise.  If the old boundaries have been moved we shouldn’t just say, oh well, we should move them back.  Not to mention when something like this is misunderstood among the world it has a tendency of confusing those that are new Christians and to those that are not as spiritually mature as they could be.  Please don’t think me hard headed or legalistic, but check it out see what the Bible really says.  

     Sometimes I feel the same way about the word worship.  Maybe I just haven’t figured it all out yet.  Maybe I never will.  I do pray for understanding to help me to see it for what the Bible has said that it is and nothing more or nothing less.  I am going to list a few things that I know about worship, just to let you know why I understand what I do about worship. 

1.  I do know the word worship is first found in Genesis 22:5 Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.”

2.  I do know the word worship is translated differently from one version of the Bible to another, such as in Exodus 3:12 the NASB says And He said, “Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.” And then the KJV translates the word as serve.

3. I do know the word worship is used in reference to God and to idols.  Psalm 2:11 Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling. Then in Daniel 3:5-6 that at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe and all kinds of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up. “But whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire.”

4. I do know the word worship is used to mean many different things.  And most of those are things that are not what we would call church gathering events. 

     However, I do believe that worship is what we do when we come together to praise and honor the Lord, God the Father and Christ the Son.  Just as much as I understand that worship may not always be done as a group activity but can simply be me serving in the name of Christ in another capacity.  I also can conclude from study, that worship in not just the singing of hymns, choruses or spiritual songs, that worship is about pleasing the Lord in spirit and in truth as we learn in John chapter 4.

     In the summation of what I am trying to share is perhaps this, Worship is not so much what we do or when we do it, as much as it is what we are and how we express it.  And I believe that as we find in scripture it ought not be about what pleases me. but actually what pleases the Lord.

     That night it rained and rained. Soon, the shingle that had no nail blew away, and the roof began to leak. The water streaked the walls and the beautiful murals. The plaster began to fall, the carpet was stained, and precious Bibles were ruined by water. All this because a little nail decided to quit! While holding the shingle, the nail was obscure, but it was also useful. Buried in the mud, it was just as obscure, but now it was useless and would soon be eaten up by rust.

     You may, like the nail, feel obscure at times. You may feel that the job you are doing is no big deal. You may think that if I weren’t here nobody would miss me. But just like the nail, your absence is felt. When you are not present for worship, the body of Christ is hurt. We are ALL part of the Lord’s ministry. Don’t ever feel like you are not special to Christ or His Church. Each and every Christian should be an active, working, functioning part of the Body of Christ. Read what the apostle Paul penned down for us  in 1 Corinthians 12:14-27 For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. If they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.

     Paul reminds us that we all have important responsibilities in making the Gospel known to the entire lost world. That may mean going over seas and preaching the Word on a far away mission field. Or it could mean going to your neighbor or to your fellow co-worker and talking to them about the Salvation Christ has to offer. We are all important. Not that any of us should not do the afore mentioned ideal plan of sharing the Gospel, but we do need to keep in mind that there are other areas we can work for the Lord in. Do not overlook the importance of doing your faithful service to the Lord by working in the local congregation. It means just as much to the Lord to be the one that cleans the baptistery as it does to be the one that immerses someone in it. Please do not take what I have just said wrong. The point that is trying to be shared is that unless you do what you do for the sole purpose of giving the glory to the Lord then you should not even do it. Too many times we do this and we do that so that others will say, “Oh my, isn’t he/she a grand Christian.” Well the way I understand it we should do what we do so that the Lord will say, “Well done My good and faithful servant.”

     The hardest thing to remember is that you, that I, that we matter to God and to Christ. God the Father sent His only begotten Son to die for us and Jesus willing did that. That should be proof enough that we matter. Christ has expressed how much He loved us. Let us reciprocate that love and not be like that nail and quit doing our job. Let us continue on with the attitude that we “get” to work for Christ, instead of we “got” to work for Christ. If we work tirelessly with this attitude in mind we will come to a clearer knowledge that YOU DO MATTER!!!

About a certain preacher, who lived once upon a time.

At one of his appointments, some members – not a few

Became sorely troubled, about the word – “INTO”.

The good book says quite plainly, in Acts 8  “They came unto”,

And “Went down INTO water”, as Bible people do.

This man preached a sermon, with zeal and power and might,

And to his satisfaction, he set the passage right! 

“INTO” there doesn’t mean INTO, but AT, or NEAR, or BY

They went down TO the water, and got a small supply. 

Now, near this place of worship, there lived a sister Brown,

Who, by her splendid cooking, had gotten much reknown. 

And her delicious coffee, On all the circuit round,

The preacher oft said boldly, “It’s like could not be found” 

When he would preach a sermon, of extra power and length,

He liked at her good table, to recuperate his strength. 

She was a simple Christian – no better in the land,

And oft reproved the daring, for changing God’s command. 

She heard Jones’ “INTO” sermon, and thought the matter o’er

Then asked him home to dinner, as she had done before. 

She ground her well-browned coffee, the kettle steaming hot,

And put it AT, not INTO, the famous coffeepot.

She poured for him a cupful, I think she did not sin,

Why, sister – you’ve forgotten, to put the coffee in!! 

No, No! Dear Sir, that’s coffee, I ground a good supply,

And then down by the vessel, I put it AT, NEAR BY.

By logic of your sermon, (I think it very thin),

If AT or NEAR means INTO, I put the coffee IN!

But if you promise now, no more this stuff to teach,

Or dodge God’s plain commandment, when you attempt to preach.

I’ll go and make some coffee, just to a Bible dot

And I will put the coffee, INTO the coffeepot!!