Worshiping With a Right Heart and a Right Mind

Worshiping With a Right Heart

By Rev. Benjamin P. Glaser, Pastor, Ellisville Presbyterian Church (Independent)

In the 29^th Chapter of Isaiah the prophet gives us the words of God as He speaks to the recalcitrant people of Judah. One of the more striking parts of this sermon is in verse 13 where the Lord says, “In as much as these people draw near to me with their mouths and honor me with their lips. But I have removed their hearts far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the commandment of men.”  Here we see God instructing the people that because they come to worship merely to go through the motions and to fulfill the cultural requirements of attending to the worship of God that God will judge them by removing their hearts from Him. We see Jesus using this same passage to condemn the Pharisees in Matthew 15. It is a stark reminder not only that the people of the Old Testament were required to love God with all their heart, soul, and mind (Deut. 6:5/Matt 22:37) and to worship God according to the way He had called them to (Deut 12:32), but that nothing has changed in this regard in the New Testament (John 4:24). While the physical way Christians worship is different (John 4:21) than the way Jews worshiped, Christians can fall into this same trap of worshiping God merely with our mouths and lips instead of with a grateful and loving heart. Not to mention also according to the traditions of men instead of seeking out the way God has called us to worship Him (Col. 2:22-23). We can become so accustomed to being in the company of God on Sunday’s that we can forget the privilege believers have of going to the Lord’s House (Psalm 122:1) . Let us always be diligent to worship God for the right reasons and with a right heart.

December Pastoral Letter

Greetings in the Name of the Lord!

2011 has come and gone and so with it has went our first full year here at Ellisville Presbyterian Church. My family and I want to again extend our thanks for all the blessings and love we have been shown and continue to be shown by all of y’all. We look forward to many more years of service and fellowship.

2012 is shaping up to be a wonderful year in the life of our church. For starters 2012 will be the 125^th Anniversary of the founding of this congregation in 1887. I am interested in setting up a special service some time (maybe in the autumn?) to celebrate this anniversary year. I am letting you know about this now so that we can begin to think how we want to make this an event (or events) in which we can invite the whole community to share with us.

We will also continue our Sunday evening Bible Study at 5:00pm in the Pastor’s Study. We have been enjoying the study through the book of Isaiah and hope that you will consider meeting with us. We have made it through 24 chapters and will begin with Isaiah 25 this Sunday. We also invite you to join together with us at 9:45am for Sunday school. Michael Shotwell will continue to teach the Adult study in the sanctuary and with Annette Sikes, Brandy Glaser, Georgena Probst, and Shannon Probst leading the kids classes in the upstairs classroom, the Fellowship Hall, and the nursery respectively there are plenty of opportunities for study.

We are of course always looking for more and varied ways in which to increase our fellowship with one another as we continue to grow in grace and in the love of Christ. With that in mind I want to ask the congregation if there is sufficient interest in starting a mid-week prayer meeting in the evening. The elders already meet every Tuesday morning for prayers, but I want there to be an opportunity for those who work or have other responsibilities during the day to gather together for prayer, bible reading, and encouragement during the week.

As always if there is anything I can do for you do not hesitate to give me a ring or stop by the study during the week.

In God’s Love,

                                                                              Rev. Benjamin P. Glaser, M. Div.

Pastor, Ellisville Presbyterian Church (Independent)

www.ellisvillepres.org

John Calvin, Socialist

Of course the title is a bit misleading because John Calvin never advocates Government redistribution of wealth by force of arms, but what he does have to say here is in direct contradistinction from the ethics of most of conservative Christianity.  This deserves your careful thought and meditation. This quotation comes from John Calvin’s Commentary on Isaiah 58, verse 7:

He goes on to describe the duties of love of our neighbor, which he had described briefly in the preceding verse; for, having formerly said that we must abstain from every act of injustice, he now shows that we ought to exercise kindness towards the wretched, and those who need our assistance. Uprightness and righteousness are divided into two parts; first, that we should injure nobody; and secondly, that we should bestow our wealth and abundance on the poor and needy. And these two ought to be joined together; for it is not enough to abstain from acts of injustice, if thou refuse thy assistance to the needy; nor will it be of much avail to render thine aid to the needy, if at the same time thou rob some of that which thou bestowest on others. Thou must not relieve thy neighbors by plunder or theft.; and if thou hast committed any act of injustice, or cruelty, or extortion, thou must not, by a pretended compensation, call on God to receive a share of the plunder. These two parts, therefore, must be held together, provided only that we have our love of our neighbor approved and accepted by God.

By commanding them to “break bread to the hungry, he intended to take away every excuse from covetous and greedy men, who allege that they have a right to keep possession of that which is their own. “This is mine, and therefore I may keep it for myself. Why should I make common property of that which God has given me?“ He replies, “It is indeed thine, but on this condition, that thou share it with the hungry and thirsty, not that thou eat it thyself alone.” And indeed this is the dictate of common sense, that the hungry are deprived of their just right, if their hunger is not relieved. That sad spectacle extorts compassion even from the cruel and barbarous. He next enumerates various kinds, which commonly bend hearts of iron to συμπάθειαν fellow*feeling or compassion; that the savage disposition of those who are not moved by feeling for a brother’s poverty and necessity may be the less excusable.

John Calvin On Danger and the Christian

From his commentary on Isaiah 7

This passage sets before us a very bright mirror, in which we may behold the thoughtlessness of the ungodly, when they do not feel the hand of God; and, on the other hand, the fearful trembling with which they are suddenly seized, when the Lord presents to them any danger. In the midst of their prosperity they are so much at their ease that they hardly believe that they are subject to the government of God, and undoubtedly imagine that they are placed beyond the reach of all danger. Adversity stuns them in such a manner that they suddenly fall down, and their senses are so entirely overpowered by terror that they lie like people who are lifeless or bereft of their senses. Such is the punishment by which the Lord arouses them from their deep slumber. At first they appear to be firm and immovable, as if nothing could throw them down from their rank; but now, at the slightest noise, they are suddenly seized with trembling. That terror is the righteous vengeance of God, to whom they never do homage until they are compelled.

Let us learn, that if we have any spark of faith, we ought not to distrust God when we are in any danger. It is indeed impossible that we should not be agitated and alarmed when dangers press upon us; but we ought not to tremble so as to be tossed about by our anxiety in every direction, and unable to see a harbour to which we may safely direct our course. There must always be this difference between the fear of the godly and of the ungodly, that the ungodly find no remedy for composing their minds; but the godly immediately betake themselves to God, in whom, knowing that they have a very safe harbour, though they be harassed by uneasiness, still they remain calm.

John Calvin On Worship

From John Calvin’s Commentary On Isaiah 66:1:

 

“When men endeavor to appease God according to their own fancy, they frame an idol that is altogether contrary to his majesty, Relying on their useless ceremonies, they thought that they had performed their duty well when they went frequently to the temple, and offered in it prayers and sacrifices. The Prophet shews that the majesty of God must not be measured by this standard, and that all that they bring forward, unaccompanied by purity of heart, are absolute trifles; for since it is evident from his dwelling-place being in heaven that the nature of God is spiritual, if the worship do not correspond to that nature, it is undoubtedly wicked and corrupted.”

True or False Teaching?

True or False Teaching?

By Rev. Benjamin P. Glaser

pastor@ellisvillepres.org

www.ellisvillepres.org

In 2 Peter 2:1-3 the Apostle Peter warns us that there will be many false teachers in our day that will try their collective best to confuse and lead astray the people of God. The question we should ask is how can we tell the “false teachers” from the “true teachers”? Well the Apostle helps us to understand how we can do this by reminding us where it is we receive the truth in the first place. Peter reminds us that it is not from the clever minds of men that we receive the beliefs Christians hold dear but from the Holy Spirit itself. He says in 2 Peter 1:21, “For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” What this tells us in the context of the question asked is that we can identify the truth of the teaching by comparing it to the words of the Bible. One of my favorite stories in all the Bible comes from Acts 17. In that chapter we learn about the Bereans, who searched the Scriptures to see if what the Apostle Paul was teaching them was true. The Bereans give us a perfect example of how we can tell false teachers from true teachers. However one thing we also learn in the Book of Acts is that the Bereans were not able to understand these things in a vacuum. In chapter 16 we learn that in the conversion of Lydia, “The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.” What does this have to do with discerning true from false teaching? It reminds us that God in His grace reveals the truth to His people. It is not because we are clever ourselves that we know truth from falsity, but because God in his mercy has opened our eyes and our ears that we may know His truth (Isaiah 35:4-5).

(Appearing in the Laurel Leader-Call)

John Calvin On the Judgment of God

From his commentary on Isaiah 5:26:

This confirms still more what I have already observed, that we ought not to judge of the anger of the Lord from the present appearance of things; for although everything appears to give assurances of peace, yet suddenly war will break out from a quarter from which we do not expect it. Even though we think that we are defended on all sides by friends, yet God will stir up enemies from the farthest corners of the earth, who will break through every obstruction, and overtake us with ease, as if the way were plain and smooth. This ought to be carefully observed, that we may not suffer ourselves to be blinded by vain presumption and foolish confidence.

We ought also to observe that wars are not kindled accidentally, or by an arrangement of men, but by the command of God, as if he assembled the soldiers by the sound of a trumpet. Whether, therefore, we are afflicted by battle, or by famine, or by pestilence, let us know that all this comes from the hand of God, for all things obey him and follow his direction. And yet it was not the intention of the Chaldeans to obey God, for they were hurried on by their eagerness to obtain wealth and power, while he has quite another object in view: but God employs their agency for executing his judgments. Hence arises a remarkable and illustrious display of the power of God, which is not limited by the will of men, or dependent on their decisions, but leads them, though contrary to their wish, or without their knowledge, to obey him. And yet it is no excuse for the ungodly that they are drawn contrary to the disposition of their mind, and do not willingly serve God, for they aim at nothing else than fraud, cruelty, and violence; and by their cruelty God punishes the transgressions and crimes of his people.