RPG Adults
ELEMENTS OF CONGREGATIONAL SERVICE (XIII)
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18
Nehemiah 10:28-39
Genesis 28:10-22
“Jacob vowed a vow.”
ELEMENTS OF CONGREGATIONAL SERVICE (XIII)
Their commitment and intent to ensure that worship continued as prescribed in the law were both noble and necessary. They understood their oath and the means they deemed necessary for its fulfilment. They had purposed to live according to God’s law. Some of the instructions given in the law related to the house of God and worship. Because the Temple was yet to be rebuilt, they made provisions for fulfilling all of the law including those related to the worship of God.
We will not forsake the house of our God (Neh 10:39). The house of God is not a building. Jacob sleeping under the stars with a stone for a pillar awoke with the realisation that “this is none other but the house of God” (Gen 28:17). The house of God is not defined by anything physical, not the structures put in place, nor the number of people present in attendance, nor the furnishings nor revenues it has. The house of God is spiritual and sacramental. The people, having no physical edifice ready, having neither riches, nor revenue sufficient to run and sustain the operations instituted by law and to support the priests and Levites ministering to them, made for themselves ordinances that would enable worship to be biblical and acceptable. They made provisions for the “service of the house of our God” (Neh 10:32) taking into account provisions for (i) the wood for the altar (Neh 10:33-34); (ii) the priests that ministered in the house of the LORD (Neh 10:35-36); (iii) the Levites that assisted the priests and ministered in all the cities the people lived in (Neh 10:37-38); and (iv) the porters and singers who served where the vessels of the sanctuary were (Neh 10:39). In other words, their vow to live according to His Word included supporting the work of the ministry and the ministers God had given to them. They understood that their continued faithfulness to their vows rested in their continued growth in and understanding of the Word of God. This meant it depended on the faithfulness of those who read and expounded the Word of God to them and led them in the worship of God. How necessary it is for us today that our ministers are faithful, and that we fulfil our duty to support them.
THOUGHT: Possible to have a Cathedral without it being God’s house?
PRAYER: (Pray to have the right view of the church and to support its work.)