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ELEMENTS OF CONGREGATIONAL SERVICE (III)
LORD’S DAY, MARCH 8
Nehemiah 8:13-18

Hosea 6:1-6

 

“Then shall we know,
if we follow on

to know the LORD.”

 

ELEMENTS OF CONGREGATIONAL SERVICE (III)
 
Man’s most important responsibility, irrespective of other achievements or accomplishments, is his duty to God, and to obey what God requires of him. Hence, Hosea’s statement “I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6) and Samuel’s statement to Saul “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) help us put the right emphasis on Scripture and its centrality in the life of God’s children.
 
And on the second day were gathered together (Neh 8:13). The duty to know God through His Word is our life-long duty. Its profitable accomplishment requires us to seek the Word daily. The leaders of the people gathered for further reading of the law after the congregational gathering had ended. They returned to Ezra for further exposition of the law and they learned more of what God had commanded through Moses. As they learned, they also had to do. The Word of God had to be understood and that was accomplished by the work of Ezra and the Levites. The Word of God understood had to be applied and put to practice, and that was what the leaders who gathered together realised and desired.
 
So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths (Neh 8:16). Upon reading, they discovered their duty. They chose to obey and do what God had commanded. They performed their duty according to God’s Word with “very great gladness” (Neh 8:17). And they continued in the Word daily. The people responded immediately and followed the Word and its requirements to the letter, for “they kept the feast seven days” (Neh 8:18). What a lesson for us today. We must be a people who are ready to learn and willing to practise what we understand from God’s Word. Our ministers must be available both to read and expound the Word of God whenever the people come to them, seeking God’s Word.
 
THOUGHT: There are blessings in hearing and obeying God’s Word.

PRAYER: May I be both a hearer and a doer of Thy Word, Father.

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