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Showing posts from January, 2015

The Church 7a: The Essence of Biblical Worship, Part One

The Church 7a: The Essence of Biblical Worship, Part One Biblical worship is best understood through what the Holy of Holies in the Jewish Temple teaches us.  What is found there for the Jewish people represents, in essence, what also constitutes Christian worship of the one God in three Persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  The Holy of Holies helps us to understand worship of God as 1.       acknowledging the worth of God’s holy commandments for His covenant people through obedience and repentance; 2.       being aware of and responding to His glory and holiness; and 3.       giving thanks for and receiving His mercy and forgiveness.  Each of these might be discussed in regard to the Temple imagery and symbolism, what this means for worship, where this view of worship challenges certain contemporary practices, and how this understanding of worship relates to mission. A.      Worship as Honouring God by Obeying His Holy Commandments Imagery of Worship: An

Issues Facing Missions Today 26: God the Most Holy, God the Most Merciful

Issues Facing Missions Today 26: God the Most Holy, God the Most Merciful On the one hand, a people’s understanding of God can lead them to uphold his justice, holiness, and glory over against those who would pursue injustice, profane his holy name, and insolently defy his majesty.  On the other hand, a people’s understanding of God can lead them to tell of his mercy, live by his love, and rejoice in his own humble sacrifice for a people’s sins.  Yet the first path can lead to (so-called) holy war, and the second path to libertine indulgence.  Only a complete understanding of God’s character as just and merciful, holy and loving, glorious and suffering is Biblical.  Moses and Solomon understood this, and the first Christians witnessed and testified to it as the fullness of God’s glory was revealed on the cross of Jesus Christ.  In the cross, we see God the most holy and God the most merciful. God the Most Holy: the Essenes Getting this answer wrong is the stuff of much the