____________________________________________________ THE GOSPEL OBSERVER ____________________________________________________ "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19,20). ____________________________________________________ May 15, 2005 ____________________________________________________ Contents: 1) The Church: Its Worship (Paul Williams) 2) Quietly Great: Phinehas (Rusty Miller) 3) News & Notes ____________________________________________________ -1- The Church: Its Worship by Paul Williams One of the first things strangers notice when they assemble with a church of Christ to worship God is the absence of man-made musical instruments. The second is that every Lord's Day the Lord's Supper is served. And the third is that except on the Lord's Day there are no collections taken. These three things distinguish the worship of the Lord's church from the worship of most denominations. They are not things devised by men for the purpose of making the church different, however. They are the result of following what Christ has given the church to do. Must Have Authority An important Bible principle is to do only those things in which we can find authority for in the New Testament. The Apostle Paul states in Colossians 3:17, "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus." To do something in the name of a person we must first have that person's permission. Therefore, we must have the authority of Christ through His word in the New Testament before we can practice anything in religion and be acceptable to Him. It is not enough that a particular practice not be specifically condemned. If I send my child to the store for milk, he knows that he is not to buy anything but milk. I do not have to tell him not to buy ice cream and candy. The fact that I tell him to buy milk only is enough to exclude all other kinds of food. And when the Lord gives us authority to perform certain things in worship to Him, the fact that He left out other practices is enough to tell us that these other practices are not acceptable to Him. We cannot perform things not authorized and do them in the name of Jesus Christ. And whatsoever we do in word or in deed, we must do all in His name. Singing The New Testament contains many commands and examples teaching the church of God to sing praises to God and to teach and admonish one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (Col. 3:16; Eph. 5:19). However, there is no authority for playing on a musical instrument to God. God commanded instrumental music in the Old Testament, but not in the New. Although there is no specific prohibition of the use of musical instruments in the New Testament, the fact that singing is the only kind of music authorized in the New Testament is all we need to know that other kinds of music are not pleasing to God when used in worship. To worship God in song in the name of Jesus Christ, we have no choice but to sing -- and to sing only. Consequently when you attend the worship of a church of Christ you will find all singing praises to God, teaching and admonishing in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs. You will find no piano or organ because there is no authority for these in the New Testament. The Lord's Supper It is for this same reason that we partake of the Lord's Supper each first day of the week. The Lord's Supper was given by Christ to be observed by Christians in the assembly (1 Cor. 11:23-34). In Acts 20:7 there is the example of the church at Troas meeting upon the first day of the week to break bread -- that is, to eat the Lord's Supper. If you will read the passage carefully, you will see that the church was in the habit of meeting every first day of the week for that purpose. This apostolic example shows that God is pleased with weekly observance of the Lord's Supper. There is not one shred of authority for eating it on any other day of the week, or for eating it once a month, once a quarter, or twice a year. Therefore, in keeping with the creed-book of the church, the New Testament, the Lord's church cheerfully and obediently eats the Lord's Supper each first day of the week. Giving Taking up a public collection for the work of the church is commanded in 1 Corinthians 16:1-2. In this passage it says, "Upon the first day of the week let each one of you lay by him in store." Consequently, churches of Christ give an opportunity for the members of the church to give upon the first day of the week. When there are services on other days of the week, no collections are taken on those days. Only upon the Lord's Day are we to lay by in store. And only Christians are asked to give. Churches of Christ do not beg the businessmen of the city or the listeners to a radio broadcast to support their work. The New Testament plainly teaches that the members of the church are the ones to give for the support of the work of the church. Christians are to give -- not to beg others to give in their place. Prayer There are two other items, which also can be classed as worship. One is prayer. Christians are to pray in faith, nothing doubting, in the name of Jesus Christ according to His will. Public and private prayer are to be offered -- not to any "saint" or any woman, but to God through His Son, Jesus Christ. Teaching The other is teaching and studying the word of God. It is often observed that preachers in the church of Christ are easier to understand than some others. The reason is that the preachers' stick to the things revealed in the word of God, as God tells us to do, and leave off politics and speculative doctrines. A careful attempt to explain the scriptures is made. We invite you to attend and find out for yourself. The worship of churches of Christ is determined by what God has shown He desired from His people. We do not presume that we can please Him by offering worship, which He has not commanded. God rejected worship in Old Testament times when it was not offered in the way He commanded. (See Leviticus 10:1-2.) We do not want Him to reject our worship. We invite you to attend where God is honored by obedience. You will find a friendly welcome when you come. -- Via Truth Magazine XI: 1, pp.17-19, October 1966 ____________________________________________________ -2- Quietly Great: Phinehas by Rusty Miller Who are the great leaders of the children of Israel? We can list them pretty easily, can't we? Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Samuel, David, Hezekiah, Phinehas, Josiah. Phinehas? While the others on that list are all well known to us, Phinehas is not; but it is God who proclaims Phinehas a great leader and deliverer of His people. Whenever God commends someone in Scripture, it is important for us to take note. So who was Phinehas? Phinehas was the son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron. He was therefore in the line of Aaronic priests, but it is not in the performance of his priestly duties that Phinehas shines. In the 24th chapter of Numbers, the people of Israel are camped at Shittim, and Moses tells us that they began "to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab" (vs. 1). There is a great deal involved in that phrase, as it conveys not just that they committed fornication, but also that they worshipped and sacrificed to the idols of Moab, angering Jehovah, who had rescued them from Egyptian bondage and had brought them through the wilderness and to the edge of the promised land. God commanded the execution of those who had caused them to go astray, and as those executions were being carried out, the leaders of Israel stood weeping at the tent of meeting (vs. 4-6). As the leadership watched, an Israelite named Zimri brought a princess of Moab into his tent. Seeing such a blatantly defiant act of sin, Phinehas grabbed a spear, ran to the man's tent and pierced both the man and the woman through. At this point, God speaks, "Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned away My wrath from the sons of Israel in that he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel in My jealousy. Therefore say, 'Behold I give him My covenant of peace; and it shall be for him and his descendants after him a covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the sons of Israel'" (vs. 11-13). The number of Israelites who died because of this harlotry was 24,000, but it is clear from Num. 25 that it could have been many more if not for the zealousness of Phinehas, and God remembered Phinehas again when he recounted the rebellious nature of the Israelites in the 106th Psalm. In fact, there the actions of Phinehas are said to have been "reckoned to him for righteousness" (Psa. 106:31). What do we learn from the story of Phinehas? Clearly, the message is not that we should take the law into our hands, acting as some kind of avenger for God, even though the story has been unfortunately interpreted that way by some. First, Phinehas was a priest, with some duty to judge and enforce God's commandments. Second, Zimri was supposed to be a child of God. Finally, we live under a different system, one that commands us to obey civil authorities, Rom. 13:1-7; 1 Pet. 2:13-17. So, God is not calling us to take up spears and run sinners through. What then? What we should take from Phinehas is the great sorrow caused by sin. Phinehas was wounded by this blatant disregard for God's word, and because he cared so much for that word, he took action. We too, should be hurt when we see God's word ignored by His people, and we should not be timid in speaking out against any sin. We cannot allow sin to go unchallenged. Phinehas went on to lead the warriors of Israel against the Midianites (Num. 31), to be a judge in the matter of the altar at Gilead (Josh. 22), and served to guard the tent of meeting (1 Chron. 9:20), so his care for the things of God was not a singular action but a lifetime endeavor. So should ours be. You and I may never be mentioned among the great leaders of God's people, but if we are zealous for God's word, and act against sin, God will take notice, just as He did with Phinehas. And that notice is what we should be striving for. -- Via Abundant Life, April 2005 ____________________________________________________ -3- News & Notes Let us keep praying for James Shuff, as he awaits his liver transplant and tries to recuperate from his recent radiation treatment. He is now first on the list for the next liver at a hospital in Atlanta where this will be performed. Greetings to all who are visiting with us today! We are glad to have you with us. ____________________________________________________ MYRTLE STREET CHURCH OF CHRIST 1022 Myrtle Street Denham Springs, LA 70726 (225) 664-8208 Sunday: 9:15 AM, 10:00 AM, 4:00 PM Wednesday: 7:00 PM evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (225) 667-4520 e-mail: tedwards@onemain.com web site: http://home.onemain.com/~tedwards/go ____________________________________________________