“You must seek the Lord your God at the place of worship He Himself will choose.” (Deuteronomy 12:5)
We often hear amongst professed Christians, “I can worship God my own way—I don’t need church.” Can I just say . . . according to the Bible, that’s untrue. Christians are commanded to gather and worship together with brothers and sisters at the place God has chosen.
I have voiced this very same lie. Self-talked my way into thinking, “I need only me to worship God.” “Church is messed up.” “Nobody’s gonna care if I’m not there.” . . . blah blah blah. Truth is, “the body does not consist of one member but of many.” (1 Corinthians 12:14) The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you.’ If God is in fact God—He chooses where I worship, where I serve, where I sleep, where I brush my teeth—or He ceases to be God of my heart.
Throughout the Old Testament God established decrees and regulations for his holy people—a people He gathered from out of the entire world. Why appoint Moses? the levites? the musicians? the goldsmiths? Because God is God, and His plan never fails. My plans leave me isolated, depressed, and generally irritable. I am prone to wander. I am easily deceived. The human mind is always thinking up new ways to rebel. Rebellion is what we do best—and the devil’s on the porch encouraging us.
My culture says, “You do you.” and the Church has followed in those footsteps. “Be careful,” the Lord says again and again. You are living among those who do not know Me. But you know Me, and you follow Me.
Deuteronomy 12 says, “Don’t be offering sacrifices in any old place like the Canaanites do.” I cannot take a walk in the woods, a swim in my pool and tell God, “This is my offering.” “This is my time of worshipping You.” That’s what the Bible calls, “following the dictates of your own heart.” Can we worship God in the woods, in our pool? Of course we can. That sounds wonderful—but we mustn’t stop there. For God has said, “You must seek the Lord your God at the place of worship He Himself will choose.”
God gave His chosen people many statutes, ordinances, and decrees in order that they might learn to obey Him. That we might come to understand—How desperately we need Him. For in Him we live, we move, we find our very being.
The Lord has established a place of worship for His children for His perfect purposes. He appoints pastors, teachers, evangelists, musicians, encouragers, givers, discerners, those gifted in showing mercy and kindness. “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit, there are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. There are diversities of activities, but the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. (1 Corinthians 12:4-7)
I’ve hopped from place to place. Seven years there, two months there, six years over there, three years in some other place. I have known the spiritual cancer of a corrupt gospel. I have experienced the blessing of true fellowship in Bible believing churches and left for selfish reasons. If you’re trying to be your own church—it does not work. Isolation is basically exaltation.
Return to the flock. I knows it’s messy, your messy, I’m messy—but God has a plan, a chosen place where we learn to obey, truly change, and discover what it means to worship the Lord His way.
“For you have been called to liberty, only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” (Galatians 5:13)
“You must seek the Lord your God at the place of worship He Himself will choose.” (Deuteronomy 12:5)
We often hear amongst professed Christians, “I can worship God my own way—I don’t need church.” Can I just say . . . according to the Bible, that’s untrue. Christians are commanded to gather and worship together with brothers and sisters at the place God has chosen.
I have voiced this very same lie. Self-talked my way into thinking, “I need only me to worship God.” “Church is messed up.” “Nobody’s gonna care if I’m not there.” . . . blah blah blah. Truth is, “the body does not consist of one member but of many.” (1 Corinthians 12:14) The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you.’ If God is in fact God—He chooses where I worship, where I serve, where I sleep, where I brush my teeth—or He ceases to be God of my heart.
Throughout the Old Testament God established decrees and regulations for his holy people—a people He gathered from out of the entire world. Why appoint Moses? the levites? the musicians? the goldsmiths? Because God is God, and His plan never fails. My plans leave me isolated, depressed, and generally irritable. I am prone to wander. I am easily deceived. The human mind is always thinking up new ways to rebel. Rebellion is what we do best—and the devil’s on the porch encouraging us.
My culture says, “You do you.” and the Church has followed in those footsteps. “Be careful,” the Lord says again and again. You are living among those who do not know Me. But you know Me, and you follow Me.
Deuteronomy 12 says, “Don’t be offering sacrifices in any old place like the Canaanites do.” I cannot take a walk in the woods, a swim in my pool and tell God, “This is my offering.” “This is my time of worshipping You.” That’s what the Bible calls, “following the dictates of your own heart.” Can we worship God in the woods, in our pool? Of course we can. That sounds wonderful—but we mustn’t stop there. For God has said, “You must seek the Lord your God at the place of worship He Himself will choose.”
God gave His chosen people many statutes, ordinances, and decrees in order that they might learn to obey Him. That we might come to understand—How desperately we need Him. For in Him we live, we move, we find our very being.
The Lord has established a place of worship for His children for His perfect purposes. He appoints pastors, teachers, evangelists, musicians, encouragers, givers, discerners, those gifted in showing mercy and kindness. “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit, there are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. There are diversities of activities, but the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. (1 Corinthians 12:4-7)
I’ve hopped from place to place. Seven years there, two months there, six years over there, three years in some other place. I have known the spiritual cancer of a corrupt gospel. I have experienced the blessing of true fellowship in Bible believing churches and left for selfish reasons. If you’re trying to be your own church—it does not work. Isolation is basically exaltation.
Return to the flock. I knows it’s messy, your messy, I’m messy—but God has a plan, a chosen place where we learn to obey, truly change, and discover what it means to worship the Lord His way.
“For you have been called to liberty, only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” (Galatians 5:13)
