K Neill Foster

Welcome to Classic Christianity

First published by Christian Publications, Inc., 3825 Hartzdale Drive,Camp Hill, Pennsylvania 17011 Republished by www.kneillfoster.com in 2005. K. Neill Foster, Publisher. Paul L. King, Editor. A.W. Tozer, 1897-1963, Editorial Voice.


WELCOME TO:
#15 CLASSIC-CHRISTIANITY/THE E-ZINE


CLASSIC-CHRISTIANITY/THE INDEX
THEME: WORSHIP
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1) THE PUBLISHER ON "WORSHIP"
2) THE EDITOR ON "WORSHIP THAT PLEASES GOD"
3) A.W. TOZER ON "WORSHIP: THE MISSING JEWEL OF EVANGELICALISM"
4) BROTHER LAWRENCE ON "PRACTICING THE PRESENCE OF GOD"
5) MADAME JEANNE GUYON ON "THE DEPTHS OF THE OCEAN OF GOD'S LOVE"
6) RECOMMENDED READING
7) JOHN WESLEY ON "TRUE SPIRITUAL WORSHIP"
8) CHARLES SPURGEON ON "WORSHIP BEYOND THE SUBLIME"
9) ANDREW MURRAY ON "LIFE IN THE HOLIEST"
10) A.J. GORDON ON "THE HOLY SPIRIT AS THE MASTER OF ASSEMBLIES"
11) J. HUDSON TAYLOR ON "OUR BEAUTY BLOSSOMS FROM GAZING ON HIS BEAUTY"
12) RECOMMENDED READING
13) OSWALD CHAMBERS ON "WORSHIP IS GIVING GOD YOUR BEST"
14) G. CAMPBELL MORGAN ON "WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH"
15) INVITATION TO SUBSCRIBE
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1) THE PUBLISHER ON "WORSHIP"

Bloodless worship which skirts the requirements of the remission of sin, holiness and sanctification is false worship. Worship which fails to honor God is false worship (Leviticus 10:3). Worship which attempts to manipulate or imitate the holy fire of Almighty God is false worship.

The holy fire revealed to Moses and Aaron, as well as to the entire nation of Israel, was nothing less than the revelation of the glory of God. To assume, as did Nadab and Abihu, that God's glory can be managed or manipulated by false fire is anathema. As A.B. Simpson so luckily writes,

The true fire is kindled at the Altar of Sacrifice. The false fire ignores the blood. There is much religious fire today which is merely the so-called "enthusiasm of humanity," or the emotion stirred by eloquence, art or zeal for some human cause and selfish interest. It is not enough to believe in the Spirit, for spiritism and spiritualism all do this; but the true Spirit always comes in association with the blood [emphasis added].1

The glory of God rests only where the blood of the crucified One has been applied.2

1. A.B. Simpson, When the Comforter Came (Camp Hill, PA: Christian Publications, 1991), pp. 118-119.
2. K. Neill Foster, Sorting Out the Supernatural (Camp Hill, PA: Christian Publications, 2001), p. 180
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2) THE EDITOR ON "WORSHIP THAT PLEASES GOD"

A.W. Tozer spoke of worship as the missing jewel in the church. He would be both happy and unhappy with the recent emphasis on worship. He would be pleased with the focus on adoration and praise of God, but he would be quite displeased with a lot of the fluff, self-centeredness and carnal spirituality that passes off as worship. For this issue, we have chosen significant classic quotes on the real meaning of worship from people who spent time before the presence of God in the depths of worship in spirit and in truth. They show us worship that is authentic and really pleases God.


3) A.W. TOZER (1897-1963) ON "WORSHIP: THE MISSING JEWEL OF EVANGELICALISM"

Worship means to feel in the heart, . . . to express in some appropriate manner what you feel, . . . a humbling but delightful sense of admiring awe, . . . astonished wonder and overpowering love in the Presence of that most ancient Mystery. . . . God's purpose in sending His Son . . . was that He might restore to us the missing jewel of worship, that we might . . . learn to do again that which we were created to do in the first place-worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.(1)

God calls us to worship, but in many instances we are in entertainment, just running a poor second to the theaters. . . . Most of the people we say we are trying to reach will never come to a church to see a lot of amateur actors putting on a home-talent show.(2)

The church that can't worship must be entertained. And men who can't lead a church to worship must provide the entertainment.(3)

The presence of God is more important than the program. . . . When we compare our present carefully programmed meetings with the New Testament we are reminded of the remark of a famous literary critic after he had read Alexander Pope's translation of Homer's ODYSSEY: "It is a beautiful poem, but it is not Homer." So the fast-paced, highly spiced, entertaining service of today may be a beautiful example of masterful programming-but it is not a Christian service.(4)

(1) A.W. Tozer, WORSHIP: THE MISSING JEWEL (Camp Hill, PA: Christian Publications, 1992), 4, 5, 8.
(2) A.W. Tozer, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO WORSHIP? (Camp Hill, PA: Christian Publications, 1985), 17.
(3) A.W. Tozer, SUCCESS AND THE CHRISTIAN (Camp Hill, PA: Christian Publications, 1994), 6, 7.
(4) A.W. Tozer, THE ROOT OF THE RIGHTEOUS (Camp Hill, PA: Christian Publications, 1955, 1986), 92.


4) BROTHER LAWRENCE (1611-1691) ON "PRACTICING THE PRESENCE OF GOD"

What should we set as our ultimate goal in this life? The answer: the most perfect worshipers of God we can possibly be. . . . I sought no more than how to be God's and God's alone. My goal made me resolve to give my all for the All. . . . Always I worshiped Him as often as I could, keeping my mind in His holy presence. When I wandered I brought Him back to my mind. . . . At all times, every hour, every minute, even at the busiest times. I drove away from my mind everything capable of spoiling the sense of the presence of God. . . . I just make it my business to persevere in His holy presence. . . . My soul has had an habitual, silent, secret conversation with God.

Brother Lawrence, THE PRACTICE OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1975), 36, 42, 43, 50.


5) MADAME JEANNE GUYON (1648-1717) ON "THE DEPTHS OF THE OCEAN OF GOD'S LOVE"

Regarding your spiritual life, be open, simple and like a child. In the depths of your spirit be like a drop of water lost in an ocean, and be no longer conscious of yourself. In this enlarged condition see and enjoy everything from within God. Within yourself there is only darkness, but in God there is only light. Let God be everything to you. . . . God's love is like a weight within us, causing us to sink deeper and deeper into God.

Jeanne Guyon, JEANNE GUYON SPEAKS AGAIN (Sargent, GA: The SeedSowers, 1989), 123.


6) RECOMMENDED READING

Sorting Out the Supernatural
by Dr. K. Neill Foster.
Subtitled "If It Happens in Church, Is It Always of God?" this book looks at the contemporary components of Judeo-Christian life and practice, such as prophecy, tongues-speaking, deliverance and more. It explores the possibility of deception and affirms the biblical injunction to "test everything [and] hold onto the good."

Order from Christian Publications by calling 1-800-233-4443 (in North America) or fax 1-717-761-7273 or web: www.christianpublications.com.


7) JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791) ON "TRUE SPIRITUAL WORSHIP"

God is a Spirit, not only remote from body and all the properties of it, but likewise full of all spiritual perfections, power, wisdom, love, holiness. And our worship should be suitable to His nature. We should worship Him with the truly spiritual worship of faith, love and holiness, animating all our temperaments, thoughts, words and actions.

John Wesley, EXPLANATORY NOTES UPON THE NEW TESTAMENT (London: Epworth Press, 1976), 318.


8) CHARLES H. SPURGEON (1834-1892) ON "WORSHIP BEYOND THE SUBLIME"

I have never worshipped even in the presence of Mont Blanc [majestic mountain in France], or amid the crash of thunder, as I have at the foot of the cross. A sense of goodness creates a better worshipper than a sense of the sublime. . . . The most excellent sublimities of nature become too little for us. They dwarf rather than magnify our conceptions of God.(1)

Are there not periods of life when we feel so glad that we would dance for joy? Let not such exhilaration be spent upon common themes, but let the name of God stir us to ecstasy. . . . There is enough in our holy faith to create and to justify the utmost degree of rapturous delight. If men are dull in the worship of the Lord our God they are not acting consistently with the character of their religion.(2)

(1) Charles H. Spurgeon, 1000 DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1976), 101.
(2) Charles H. Spurgeon, THE TREASURY OF DAVID (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1978), 7:450.


9) ANDREW MURRAY (1828-1917) ON "LIFE IN THE HOLIEST"

Oh, the blessedness of a life in the holiest! Here the Father is seen and His love tasted. Here His holiness is revealed and the soul made partaker of it. Here the sacrifice of love and worship and adoration, the incense of prayer and supplication, is offered in power. Here the outpouring of the Spirit is known as an ever-streaming, overflowing river from under the throne of God and the Lamb. Here the soul, in God's presence, grows into more complete oneness in Christ, and more entire conformity to His likeness. Here, in union with Christ, in His unceasing intercession, we are emboldened to take our place as intercessors who can have power with God and prevail. Here the soul mounts up as on eagles' wings, strength is renewed, and blessing and power and love are imparted with which God's priests can go out to bless a dying world. Here each day we may experience the fresh anointing by which we can go out to be bearers, witnesses and channels of God's salvation to men, and living instruments of our blessed King's triumph. . . . Let this be our life!

Andrew Murray, cited in THE BELIEVER'S PROPHET, PRIEST AND KING, compiled by Louis Gifford Parkhurst, Jr. (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, 1989), 47.


10) A.J. GORDON (1836-1895) ON "THE HOLY SPIRIT AS THE MASTER OF ASSEMBLIES"

After many years of experience, I can bear emphatic testimony to value of magnifying the Holy Spirit as the conductor of the service, and of so withholding the pressure of human hands in the assembly that the Spirit shall have the utmost freedom to move this one to pray and that one to witness, this one to sing and that one to say "amen at the giving of thanks," according to His own sovereign will. . . . The fervor, spirituality and sweetness of this method have been demonstrated beyond doubt . . . with inexpressible ease and comfort and spiritual refreshment. Honor the Master of assemblies; study much the secret of surrender to Him; cultivate a quick ear for hearing His inward voice and a ready tongue for speaking His audible witness. Be submissive to keep silent when He forbids as well as to speak when He commands, and we shall learn how much better is God's way of worship than man's way.

A.J. Gordon, THE MINISTRY OF THE SPIRIT (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, 1964), 152-153.


11) J. HUDSON TAYLOR (1832-1905) ON "OUR BEAUTY BLOSSOMS FROM GAZING ON HIS BEAUTY"

It is His presence and through His grace that whatever of fragrance or beauty may be found in us comes forth. Of Him as its source, through Him as its instrument, and to Him as its end, is all that is gracious and divine. But He Himself is better far than all His graces works in us. . . . "My lover is to me a cluster of henna blossoms" (Song of Solomon 1:14). . . .Well it is when our eyes are filled with His beauty and our hearts are occupied with Him. . . . Then we shall recognize . . . that His great heart is occupied with us.

J. Hudson Taylor, UNION AND COMMUNION WITH CHRIST (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, n.d.), 29, 30.


12) RECOMMENDED READING

A Brooklyn Jew Meets Jesus
by Albert Runge.
Order this fascinating chronicle of a lifetime of obedience and trust that produced an accomplished and anointed leader.

Order from Christian Publications by calling 1-800-233-4443 (in North America) or fax 1-717-761-7273 or web: www.christianpublications.com.


13) OSWALD CHAMBERS (1874-1917) ON "WORSHIP IS GIVING GOD YOUR BEST"

Worship is giving God the best that He has given you. Be careful what you do with the best you have. Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love gift. Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship. If you hoard a thing for yourself, it will turn into spiritual dry rot, as the manna did when it was hoarded. God will never let you hold a spiritual thing for yourself; it has to be given back to Him that He may make it a blessing to others.

Oswald Chambers, MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST (New York, NY: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1935, 1963), January 6


14) G. CAMPBELL MORGAN (1863-1945) ON "WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH"

Worship . . . is not a question of locality. . . . It is not a question of intellect merely. To worship, men must get down to the deepest thing in their personality, spirit and truth. There must be honesty; there must be reality-by tearing off the mask and compelling you to face your own life.

G. Campbell Morgan, THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell, n.d.), 76, 77.


15) INVITATION TO SUBSCRIBE

Invite your friends to join the Classic Clan for free!

Welcome to a spiritual adventure!

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VOL. III, ISSUE 4, August 1, 2001. Published every other month 2/1; 4/1; 6/1; 8/1; 10/1; 12/1. Archives on www.kneillfoster.com.

Republished by www.kneillfoster.com 2005.