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:

#16 CLASSIC-CHRISTIANITY/THE E-ZINE


CLASSIC-CHRISTIANITY/THE INDEX

THEME: WORSHIP II


1) THE PUBLISHER ON "It Matters Who We Worship"

2) K. NEILL FOSTER ON "LOSING THE SENSE OF HOLINESS"

3) THE EDITOR ON "THE DEEPEST AND HIGHEST WORSHIP"

4) A.W. TOZER ON "GOING DEEPER WITH GOD"

5) THOMAS TRAHERNE "WORSHIPING GOD WITH OUR MIND"

6) WILLIAM LAW ON "WORSHIPING GOD WITH ALL OUR LIFE"

7) RECOMMENDED READING

8) THOMAS BROOKS ON "ADORATION OF THE HOLINESS OF GOD"

9) DWIGHT L. MOODY ON "WORSHIPING GOD FOR HIS HOLINESS"

10) A.B. SIMPSON ON "OFFERING STRANGE FIRE"

11) ANDREW MURRAY ON "THE WAY INTO THE HOLIEST"

12) A.B. SIMPSON ON "OPENING THE WAY TO THE HOLIEST"

13) RECOMMENDED READING

14) HERBERT LOCKYER ON "GIVING JESUS PRE-EMINENCE"

15) PAUL BILLHEIMER ON "PRAISE: THE 'SUMMUM BONUM'"

16) RECOMMENDED READING

17) INVITATION TO SUBSCRIBE


1) THE PUBLISHER ON "It Matters Who We Worship"

Years ago a large congregation gathered on a Sunday morning to hear the renowned preacher Henry Ward Beecher. However, at the appointed hour a substitute minister approached the pulpit. Learning that Beecher was not to preach, several people began to move toward the doors. The visiting minister stood and called out, "All who have come here today to worship Henry Ward Beecher may now withdraw from the church. All who have come to worship God, keep your seats!"

Down through history, people have lost their focus on God. Even the Israelites, who had visible, daily reminders of God’s presence with them (a cloud by day and a fire in the cloud at night), incredulously, built and worshiped a golden calf while their leader Moses was himself in the presence of God on nearby Mt. Sinai. And today is no different. With empty churches beckoning our society to come, we go instead to the mall. Our golden calves are shopping, sports, politics, glamour, money, and other special interests that pull our attention away from God.

Thankfully, however, there are those spirit-filled individuals (like the godly men excerpted in this edition of "Classic Christianity") who through their sanctified writing point our hearts and minds to the One who alone is worthy to receive our praise and adoration. By its derivation, the word "worship" means "worth-ship." In other words, the object of our worship must be deemed worthy to receive it. Only one object meets that fundamental qualification: Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

The Book of Revelation records this wonderful song of adoration: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" (5:12). By constantly reflecting on such glorious thoughts of God's greatness, there cannot possibly be any room remaining for self and its trivial pursuits. Yes, it matters greatly who we worship.


2) K. NEILL FOSTER ON "LOSING THE SENSE OF HOLINESS"

We need to sort out the supernatural in worship as the twenty-first century dawns. My perspective from this point in time is that evangelicals have lost their sense of sanctification, of separation from sin. We are no longer a distinct set apart people. Not surprisingly, we have developed a form of godliness devoid of power (2 Timothy 3:5). A kind of evangelical itch has spread among us, and no one seems to know the cure.

Where might that cure be found? I believe it is on the pathway to the glory of God. Sanctification is ignored at great peril. "Without holiness no one will see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14). Any theological paradigm that has no place for Spirit-empowered holiness and fullness of the Spirit is inadequate. A.W. Tozer allowed that no one was ever filled with the Holy Spirit who didn't know it.


3) THE EDITOR ON "THE DEEPEST AND HIGHEST WORSHIP"

The classic writers have so much valuable insight on worship that we decided to devote a second issue to it. After all, we are created ultimately to worship, glorify and enjoy God forever, as the Westminster Catechism teaches. Biblical worship, as revealed in the pattern of the tabernacle and temple, progresses from the outer court (the place of service and testimony) through the Holy Place (the place of consecration and illumination) into the Holiest (the place of the Skekinah glory and manifest presence of God). This issue focuses on the insights of classic writers concerning what it means for us to enter into the deepest and highest worship in the Holiest of Holies, especially worshipping the God of holiness. May our prayer be the words of a recent worship song, "Take Me into the Holy of Holies."


4) A.W. TOZER (1897-1963) ON "GOING DEEPER WITH GOD"

I believe in the deeper life. I believe that the farther on with God we go, the farther up into Christ's heart we move, the more like Christ we'll become; and the more we become like Him and the nearer we are to Him, the more perfect our worship will be.(1)

The interior journey of the sinner from the wilds of sin into the enjoyed Presence of God is beautifully illustrated in the Old Testament tabernacle. . . . Though the worshipper had enjoyed so much in the outer court and the holy place, still he had not yet entered the Presence of God. . . . Ransomed men need no longer pause in fear to enter the Holy of Holies. God wills that we should push on into His presence and live our whole lives there. . . . The church is famishing for want of His Presence. . . .

God is so vastly wonderful, so utterly and completely delightful that He can, without anything other than Himself, meet and overflow the deepest demands of our nature, mysterious and deep as that nature is. . . . Why do we tarry without? Why do we consent to abide all our days just outside the Holy of Holies?(2)

(1) A.W. Tozer, WORSHIP: THE MISSING JEWEL (Camp Hill, PA: Christian Publications, 1992), 9-10.

(2) A.W. Tozer, THE PURSUIT OF GOD (Harrisburg, PA: Christian Publications, 1948), 35-38, 42-43.


5) THOMAS TRAHERNE (1637-1674) "WORSHIPING GOD WITH OUR MIND"

To think well is to serve God in the Interior Court: to have a mind composed of Divine Thoughts and a mindset to be like Him within.

Thomas Traherne, SELECTIONS FROM THOMAS TRAHERNE'S CENTURIES OF MEDITATIONS (Cincinnati, OH: Forward Movement Publicatons, 1980), 25.

Editor's Note: Traherne was an Anglican Puritan leader who influenced nineteenth- and twentieth-century holiness leaders.


6) WILLIAM LAW (1686-1761) ON "WORSHIPING GOD WITH ALL OUR LIFE"

We must devote, not only times and places to prayer, but be everywhere in the spirit of devotion; with hearts always set towards Heaven, looking up to God in all our actions, and doing every thing as His servants; living in the world as in a holy temple of God, and always worshiping Him, though not with our lips, yet with the thankfulness of our hearts, the holiness of our actions, and the pious and charitable use of all His gifts. That we must not only send up petitions and thoughts to Heaven, but must go through all our worldly business with a heavenly spirit, as members of Christ's mystical body; that, with new hearts and new minds, we may turn an earthly life into a preparation for a life of greatness and glory in the kingdom of Heaven.

William Law, A SERIOUS CALL TO A DEVOUT AND HOLY LIFE (Albany, OR: AGES Software, 1997), 48.


7) RECOMMENDED READING

Read more about the book Islam in America: Understanding and Reaching Your Muslim Neighbor by Larry Poston and Carl F. Ellis Jr. Uniquely written by a highly qualified Anglo/African-American team, this book provides a compassionate understanding of the history and current status of Islam in America and motives believers to become involved in enriching personal encounters with Muslim neighbors.

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


8) THOMAS BROOKS ON "ADORATION OF THE HOLINESS OF GOD"

A person of real holiness is much affected and taken up in the admiration of the holiness of God. Unholy persons may be somewhat affected and taken with the other excellences of God; it is only holy souls that are taken and affected with His holiness. The more holy any are, the more deeply are they affected by this. To the holy angels, the holiness of God is the sparkling diamond in the ring of glory. But unholy persons are affected and taken with anything rather than with this.

Thomas Brooks, cited by Dwight L. Moody, PREVAILING PRAYER: WHAT HINDERS IT? (Albany, OR: AGES Software, 1997), 14.

Editor's Note: Brooks was a seventeenth-century Puritan leader.


9) DWIGHT L. MOODY (1837-1899) ON "WORSHIPING GOD FOR HIS HOLINESS"

When we see the holiness of God, we shall adore and magnify Him.

Moses had to learn the same lesson. God told him to take his shoes from off his feet, for the place whereon he stood was holy ground. When we hear men trying to make out that they are holy, and speaking about their holiness, they make light of the holiness of God. It is His holiness that we need to think and speak about; when we do that, we shall be prostrate in the dust. . . . The moment that God revealed Himself, Job changed his language. He saw his own vileness, and God's purity. . . .

The same thing is seen in the cases of those who came to Jesus rightly, seeking and obtaining the blessing. They manifested a lively sense of His infinite superiority to themselves. . . . However intimate their companionship, and tender their love, they reverenced as much as they communed, and adored as much as they loved.

If we are struggling to live a higher life, and to know something of God's holiness and purity, what we need is to be brought into contact with Him, that He may reveal Himself. Then we shall take our place before Him as those men of old were constrained to do. We shall hallow His Name. . . . When I think of the irreverence of the present time, it seems to me that we have fallen on evil days.

Dwight L. Moody, PREVAILING PRAYER: WHAT HINDERS IT? (Albany, OR: AGES Software, 1997), 14-15.


10) A.B. SIMPSON (1843-1919) ON "OFFERING STRANGE FIRE"

May I ask you, are you approaching the most holy Presence through the blood of Jesus? Or are you coming with your own natural thoughts, self-righteousness and self-will? If you are doing the latter, you are bringing strange fire, and it will be death. Are you counterfeiting God's holy incense? Are you making feeling or sentiment, delightful music, or sacred eloquence or poetic rapture, or anything but the Spirit of God take the place of true devotion? Oh, if it is not in the name of Jesus, it is strange fire! It is counterfeit, and it is death. Or is anyone using the ministry of God to tickle the fancy of an audience, using this sacred desk to play with people's sentiments, using sacred song and holy worship and the very Church of God just to entertain or amuse the aesthetic tastes of people, even using God's incense for man's mercenary purposes? It is the counterfeiting of which He said of old, "it is death."

A.B. Simpson, CHRIST IN THE TABERNACLE (Harrisburg, PA:  Christian Publications, n.d.), 123-124.


11) ANDREW MURRAY (1828-1917) ON "THE WAY INTO THE HOLIEST"

The Holiest has been opened up to you. . . . Just think what an extraordinary thing this is. God has said, "I want to come to My people, to dwell among them, and to let them dwell with Me. . . . The veil is now rent, and the command comes to you to come into the most complete and intimate nearness. . . .

When a man comes home from a long journey, having been absent for years, his mother will prepare a room for him with loving care. And when he comes, the mother says, "Here is your room. See, we have made it nice for you. You must come and stay here now." Today, God comes and says, "My children, I have prepared the best room for you. The place where I dwell, there you must dwell." . . . "Let us draw near."

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


12) A.B. SIMPSON (1843-1919) ON "OPENING THE WAY TO THE HOLIEST"

As long, dear friends as your flesh is indulged and allowed to remain, there is no way for you into the Holiest of all. You cannot see it. The old nature hinders our seeing the glory of God. But when self dies, the veil is rent in two, and the glory of God is opened. . . . Everything, therefore, that helps you to die to self, helps you to live in Him, and is the opening up of the glory of God to you.

A.B. Simpson, CHRIST IN THE TABERNACLE (Harrisburg, PA: Christian Publications, n.d.), 131-132.


13) RECOMMENDED READING

Read more about the timely book When the Empire Strikes Out by William Goetz. The Introduction begins by asking: "Is the human race on a collision course with global disaster?  A growing number of alarmists seem to think so." You will find the implications of this journey of discovery into the history of empires alarming--but not without hope.

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


14) HERBERT LOCKYER (b. 1886) ON "GIVING JESUS PRE-EMINENCE"

There are those who give Christ a PREFERRED place--they are "Outer Court Christians." . . . There are others who give Jesus a PROMINENT place--they are "Holy Place Priests," who manifest delight in Him. . . . There are still others who give Jesus the PRE-EMINENT place--they are "dwellers in the Holiest of All." . . . As the Most Holy Place was the inner shrine filled with the presence of God, so all who hunger and thirst after Him reflect all unconsciously, as Moses did, the glory of His presence within their hearts. May you and I be found in this company!

Herbert Lockyer, ALL THE MESSIANIC PROPHECIES OF THE BIBLE (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1973), 353-354.


15) PAUL BILLHEIMER ON "PRAISE: THE 'SUMMUM BONUM'"

If the highest function of the angelic hosts is praise, it follows logically that the highest function of the human spirit must also be praise. Ever-increasing approximation to the infinitely lovely character of God is the most sublime goal of all creation. This is the "summum bonum," the greatest good, the highest joy, the most exquisite delight, the supreme rapture, and the most ravishing transport of the human spirit. . . . Worship and praise of the infinitely lovely God exercises, reinforces and strengthens all that is most sublime, transcendent and divine in the inner being. Thus as one worships and praises, he is continually transformed step-by-step, from glory to glory, into the image of the infinitely happy God. . . .

Here is one of the greatest values of praise: it decentralizes self. The worship and praise of God demands a shift of center from self to God.

Paul Billheimer, DESTINED FOR THE THRONE (Ft. Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 1975), 116-118.


16) RECOMMENDED READING

Read more about the timely book When the Empire Strikes Out by William Goetz. The Introduction begins by asking: "Is the human race on a collision course with global disaster? A growing number of alarmists seem to think so." You will find the implications of this journey of discovery into the history of empires alarming--but not without hope.


17) 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 5, October 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.