“For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.” (Matt. 16:27)
In just this one verse nearly every religious organization finds their greatest excuse, except they would not of course call it that. Whether it be counting beads, making sure the church service is well organized and the pattern of it is followed precisely each week, or for the individual who has an exact regimen of Bible reading and prayer time, this verse is their “go to” for the proof they claim for their works. The question is, are they being done to glorify the Most High, or are they done more in a sense of obligation, out of fear of upsetting the Lord if they are not done as they should be done, when they should be done.
The main purpose of a man of God’s purpose in life, the one who has set his face like a flint (Isaiah 50:7) is to glorify God, and he never follows tradition, he is at best seen as an outsider in the church he attends most generally, and at the most is not welcomed, for he disrupts by his very nature the “ordered path of presumed worship.” “And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” (1 Sam. 15:22)
Saul thought he was doing right, I really believe that, maybe not in keeping alive the animals and King Agag, (1 Sam. 15:9) but in his intent to make a sacrifice, he believed himself correct, and here is where we come to the crux of the matter, here is where tradition and formalities begin to usurp true worship in nearly every church today. Leaving behind the discussion of religious organizations, for the evidence of this truth is quite easily seen in them, we will look at what can perhaps be called the Evangelical churches of today, and one must understand that not all can be categorized under this heading, for the Lord always keeps a remnant for Himself, but if we concentrate on those in nations where the majority of people have not known or experienced true want for many decades, the picture becomes very clear.
The Word of God is only burdensome to those who will not hear and listen to Psalm 23:1, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Those who want are never satisfied, the dress still fits, but I want, the car still runs, but I want, the songs of praise are truly songs of praise, but we want. The new becomes old very quickly to those with the means to replace what they have, and so it goes in the churches of today, entertainment, because nothing but the Scriptures gets a little boring, it causes the eyes to begin to droop, maybe nothing on a grand scale, just a couple of large monitors, “We could even put Scripture verses on them occasionally.” It is a very, very small step from true and holy worship to having one’s ears tickled, but it is the only step that needs to be taken.
You would be hard pressed today to find a congregation whose only desire is to hear the Word of God preached with boldness, where a man of God stands behind the pulpit and with firm conviction says, “Thus saith the Lord,” a place where humility does not need to be preached on often, for it is self-evident in all who attend. There are no spots and blemishes (2 Peter 2:13) in the assembly, they have been weeded out, exactly as the Scriptures say they are to be, (Eph. 5:27) they are treated as gentiles, and when they repent, they are welcomed back with open arms, forgiven in the same manner they once were forgiven by the Lord themselves.
They have all things in common, (Acts 2:44) they do not just preach and hear the Word, they live it, daily, Sunday morning is for corporeal worship, but their personal adoration of the Lord Jesus does not stop when they walk out of the building.
But not today, today we hear, “You will never find a church that suits all of your needs.” What that tells me is that this person has decided close enough is good enough, and I am starting to believe them, I am not going to find that church in this life ever again, I will have to wait until I go home.
