Worship
Worship is not a small matter. It is one of the great ends of our creation.
If we sincerely love the Lord we will desire to worship him, and to gather with his people to publicly do so, but we can worship God truly or we can worship God falsely. The Lord Jesus Christ warned some in his day quoting from the prophet Isaiah:
“This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Mark 7:6,7
Sadly this is still true today, many worship God in vain because they do so with man invented teachings and ways of worship and not with the word of God. People may show great energy and effort in their worship and diligent preparation for it but if it is not in accordance with the word of God it will be in vain.
We must come to God through Jesus Christ. There is only one way to God, only one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5 and John 14:6) Do we wholeheartedly trust in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and in what he has done for sinful man on the cross of Calvary as the only means of salvation? If we do not we will not ever truly worship the Lord in truth.
We must worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). God is a spirit he is not to be worshipped by material things. Firstly paintings or statues cannot represent an infinite eternal God and cannot be part of spiritual worship. It is not by ornate architecture, holy vestments (clothing), fine or loud music that God is worshipped but in the heart of people, in their spirits. In truth – by the means of God’s word. God has revealed himself to us in the Bible, it is in the Bible that he tells us how he is to be worshipped.
The worship of God in the Bible is remarkably simple – so it can be practiced universally by the simplest or most advanced of societies, and by individuals with little ability or with much. Prayer, singing of God’s praise together, the reading of his word, the preaching and teaching of his word are all that are prescribed by the Lord in the New Testament. If we add to these the inventions of men we run the risk of our worship being in vain, that is empty, useless.
Lest though we think we have worshipped God by simply formally carrying out these commands we are instructed by the Lord how we are to carry them out. Firstly with the heart, which means with the understanding firstly and then with the emotions and will. We must include with reverence and godly fear, if we do not have godly fear we do not serve God acceptably (Hebrews 12:28). Many think worship should be more akin to a disco or rock concert such should consider whether the emotions they experience is simply an emotional high and no real communion with the Living God through Jesus Christ.
Why we use the Authorized Version of the Bible in our worship.
Some friends may wonder why we continue to use a version of the Bible which to many seems out of date. We are happy and unashamed to use the old Authorized or King James Version not because we believe it to be the only legitimate version in English for a Christian believer or church to use, but because we judge it to be the best English version even for today’s church and individual. Why do we think it the best English version at the present time. The Hebrew and Greek texts from which it is translated. The Bible itself teaches that the word of God abides for ever (1 Peter 1: , Isaiah 40 ) therefore we do not believe that men may suddenly (in the 19th Century and following) decide that the Biblical text the church has used for many centuries since apostolic days is to be corrected and a different text substituted for it. The AV is based upon what is known as the Received text, which we believe has been wonderfully preserved over the centuries and which ought to be the basis for all future translations. Sadly nearly all of the contemporary versions are not based upon the Received text. Secondly the translation style of the AV is honest and accurate. The AV and some more modern versions try to translate as literally as possible word for word where it is possible. It does not seek to interpret the text but simply to render it understandable in English for the reader to interpret it with the help of the Holy Spirit. The words of the original are inspired by God and so we seek a translation that keeps as close to the original words as possible. Some words in the English of the AV are obviously archaic but it is not hard to find out their meaning or for them to be explained by a preacher.
There are other good reasons to use the AV which are not of primary importance, such as the simple brevity and beauty of the language, the esteem in which it is held by English speaking brethren all over the world,