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Tag: worship

  • Between Sabbaths – Convocations and Holiness

    Between Sabbaths – Convocations and Holiness

    Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.

    Leviticus 23:2 KJV

    Holy Holidays

    We’ve lost something of the holiness of the holidays in the translation. Worldliness seeps steadily into our daily lives and we don’t necessarily relate to what some versions of the Bible call, ‘sacred assemblies,’ or ‘holy feasts.’

    Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.

    Leviticus 23:3 KJV

    Do we hear of or even know what “holy convocations” might be?

    Even though raised in the church, I didn’t until I looked it up during my college years. A convocation מִקְרָא is a sacred gathering, a called public meeting for the reading of God’s word.

    Perhaps you’ve noted our digression from holy worship  to a more culturally palatable feast of entertainment at church.

    Priests and religious officials would have taken all sorts of rules (and definitions of work) from Leviticus, which we recognize as the Sabbath Commandment. Yet what many contemporary gatherings may miss or dismiss from Exodus and Deuteronomy is holiness.

    Seasons and celebrations between the sabbaths may be designated as holy convocations; days for feasting — neither a time for fasting, nor ordinary work day.

    The sabbath of the LORD, which Christ points out it is ‘made for man,‘ is, never-the-less, set aside by the LORD for Holiness.

    So what are these convocations? And more importantly, how do their principles apply to us today?

    Note that these seven prescribed seasons of holy rest do not include certain notable minor holiday observances.


    Hanukkah חֲנֻכָּה and Christmas??

    Christmas and Hanukkah both focus on light and God’s faithfulness in helping men (and women) of faith to be restored to holiness.

    The minor celebration of Hanukkah began during the second temple period, about 200 years before Christ and was also known as the feast of dedication.

    The minor convocation of Christmas points to the holiness of God, humbly descending to us as the Son of Man; a baby like all others, yet without sin, like no other man. 

    Jews have recently celebrated eight days of Hanukkah.

    Christians have begun a preparatory season of Advent leading up to the festival of Christmas. 

    Do you feel rested? 

    Has God been a part of your celebrations of this season?

    I mention these holidays blown out of proportion by our sustained worldly emphasis on minor celebrations, because we fail to rest in the Lord.

    Return to the Lord’s rest

    “I hate all your show and pretense—
    the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies.

    Amos 5:21 NLT

    This, too, is nothing new, as you can see from the rebuke of the Lord through the prophet Amos. His complaint sounds much like that of contemporary unbelievers, when Christians most of all ought to be questioning our own Christmas traditions. 

    God deserves worship שָׁחָה, not occasions of excess and entertainment.

    “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star at its rising and have come to worship him.”

    Matthew 2:2

    Religious Convocations

    Without drilling down to the detail of ancient worship to the Lord called for in the Law, let’s briefly examine these other Sabbath rests. I invite you to research these scriptures and celebrations further, since I will only comment on each briefly.

    Most scriptures and quotes in this section from BlueLetterBible.org
    Below are festivals linked to this article from Easton's Bible Dictionary.

    1. The weekly Sabbath
    2. The Passover feast:
    3. Pentecost, or the feast of weeks.
    4. The Ingathering, or feast of Tabernacles 
    5. The seventh new moon or the feast of Trumpets (Num 28:11-15; Num 29:1-6)
    6. The Sabbatical year (Exd 23:10-11; Lev 25:2-7)
    7. The year of jubilee (Lev 25:8-16; Lev 27:16-25)

    “The Passover was kept just before the harvest commenced, Pentecost at the conclusion of the corn harvest and before the vintage, the feast of Tabernacles after all the fruits of the ground had been gathered in.

    As previously mentioned, Jews celebrated additional feasts after destruction of the first Temple.

    • The feast of Purim
    • The feast of Dedication (Hanukkah)

    The Day of Atonement, the tenth day of the seventh month (Lev 16:1; Lev 16:34; Lev 23:26-32; Num 29:7-11). 

    Christians cannot overemphasize God’s requirement of holiness, achieved by atonement for our sins.

    God presented Christ Jesus as an atoning sacrifice in his blood, received through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed.

    Romans 3:25

    The Sacrifice and death of Christ, made possible by the incarnation of God in the flesh of Jesus, exceeds the importance of our holy celebrations.

    Traditions of Sabbath Rests

    Contemporary worshipers may not relate to cultures of the times of these designated rests from the Lord; however, hear the Lord’s purpose in these additional Sabbaths made for man.

    On each of these occasions every male Israelite was commanded “to appear before the Lord” (Deu 27:7; Neh 8:9-12).

    The attendance of women was voluntary. (Luk 2:41; 1Sa 1:7; 1Sa 2:19.)

    The promise that God would protect their homes (Exd 34:23-24) while all the males were absent in Jerusalem at these feasts was always fulfilled.

    “During the whole period between Moses and Christ we never read of an enemy invading the land at the time of the three festivals. The first instance on record is thirty-three years after they had withdrawn from themselves the divine protection by imbruing their hands in the Saviour’s blood, when Cestius, the Roman general, slew fifty of the people of Lydda (Joppa) while all the rest had gone up to the feast of Tabernacles, A.D. 66.

    A few details of worship

    Of the new moon festivals the Lord commands: “this is the burnt offering of every month throughout the months of the year ‘And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work.’

    All men worship the Lord and all men have rest for this worship.

    Of the Sabbatical year the Lord commands rest for the field, the vineyard and orchard. 

    Celebration of the year of Jubilee each fiftieth year: “In the Year of Jubilee each of you may return to the land that belonged to your ancestors…Be assured that I will send my blessing for you in the sixth year, so the land will produce a crop large enough for three years… 

    ‘The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me.

    Leviticus 25:23

    “You are to allow the redemption of any land you occupy.

    We walk with the Lord: our land, a temporary possession of sojourners in this temporary world where we work. The Lord grants redemption to us, the ability to repurchase what He has rightfully given to us from all that is His. Our worship returns but a portion of His abundance to our Lord.

    The Lord’s laws are unlike our own unbalanced views of righteousness and justice. His ways are higher than our ways. Though the birth of our Redeemer is important, Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection challenge the sinners of this world with consequence for our worldly ways. 

    Are you caught up in the restless rush of the holidays?

    1 Peter 1:

    3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…

    Christmas defines the beginning of the life of God Incarnate, His gift to us: “new birth into a living hope…”

    14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance.

    15 But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; 16 for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy.

    “Be holy, because I am holy. – 1 Peter 1:15b, Leviticus 11:44-45; 19:2; 20:7

    Christ-mass: ‘because I am holy.’

    Be holy, because I am holy. – This is our promised rest, through a babe in a manger, a sinless Savior born for the Cross.


  • The Three o’clock Prayer Service

    The Three o’clock Prayer Service

    CHRISTIAN NEWS HEADLINES

    You will not see these HEADLINES in the Jerusalem News twenty-one centuries ago or even now.

    MIRACLE!

    ישוע המשיח עלה!

    Changes in Worship

    Peter and John went to the Temple one afternoon to take part in the three o’clock prayer service.

    Acts:3:1 NLT

    Post-resurrection Christians frequently miss some subtlety of detail in the Bible due to the amazing witness of the miracles which surround the circumstance. “Peter and John were:

    • a. going to the Temple just a few months after Jesus had been found guilty of violating church rules, was tortured, murdered and made an example to others by powerful leaders.
    • b. It was ‘three o’clock [3 p.m.] on a weekday afternoon and
    • c. the church (Temple) had a prayer service where faithful Jews actually prayed.

    Like many believers I have multiple versions of the Bible and wanted to check the facts in the English Standard Version which I generally quote. “the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. Footnotes: a. Acts 3:1 That is, 3 p.m.

    Who would be praying at 3 p.m. on a weekday?

    Yet, they did. It was customary – usual. [ctt title=”21st century worshipers take a much more casual attitude toward God than most generations before us.” tweet=”#Prayer Peter and John went to the Temple one afternoon to take part in the three o’clock prayer service. Acts 3:1″ coverup=”XSu36″]

    Nothing wrong with a 3 p.m. prayer service. Temple officials would soon show up with objections when disciples of Jesus worshiped the Lord on their way to the service by healing a man who witnessed Christ by following these leaders of the new Way.

    The NLT version heading states:

    Peter Heals a Crippled Beggar

    The text shows detail which gives glory to God.

    6 But Peter said, “I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene,[a] get up and[b] walk!”

    9 All the people saw him walking and heard him praising God.

    The more politically correct heading of the ESV for Acts 3:1 states:

    The Lame Beggar Healed

    The witness of Peter continues: [ctt title=”Christianity is never about what we have done for Jesus.” tweet=”Our witness is what Jesus will also do for you. #Jesus” coverup=”3JM77″]

    ESV: Acts 3:9

    And all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

    The King James Version (translation) has no labels

    Recalling that scripture was hand-transcribed until the printing press, note that modern editors add headings. Headline Titles help us to see the topic of a section, while we prejudicially dismiss some important detail. If fact, consider that the Bible, as a traditional Holy Writing did not even divide into chapters and verses. Like scripture before, Acts and the letters are one connected writing and the witness all connects to Christ Jesus.

    Take a look at the link below and note the headings of three renderings of the Acts text.

    Acts 3:

    • Preaching in Solomon’s Portico [NKJV]
      11 Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John…
    • Peter Preaches in the Temple [NLT]
      12 Peter saw his opportunity and addressed the crowd.
    • Peter Speaks in Solomon’s Portico [ESV]
      11 While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s.

    And if you would like to translate for yourself from the original Greek, try this:

    Κρατοῦντος δὲ τοῦ ἰαθἐντος χωλοῦ τὸν Πέτρον καὶ Ἰωάννην συνέδραμεν πρὸς αὐτοὺς πᾶς ὁ λαὸς ἐπὶ τῇ στοᾷ τῇ καλουμένῃ Σολομῶντος ἔκθαμβοι – Acts 3:11 TR

    We don’t want to get caught up in this too much and miss the importance of witness of these verified miracles and the credit all witnesses give to the risen Christ Jesus. Note, however some of our natural prejudices in thinking about a setting over 2000 years ago. It is little different than not being able to wrap our heads around the concept of praying to the Lord our God and Creator at three in the afternoon.

    Visual Prejudice of HEADLINE NEWS

    Mohammed – Crippled Beggar – Africa

    Temple

     

    Jerusalem

    Visual prejudice will not produce truth in your thoughts. The setting is not the Temple built by Solomon, but one built centuries later by a half-jew, Herod, a powerful puppet king beholden to the Caesars of Rome. The Herods, Jesus, Temple officials and Peter all appeal to traditions of Hebrew heritage.

    Peter speaks to the crowds gathered after God’s miracle healing of the man:

    “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? 13 The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus…

    22 Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers…

    26 God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”

    [ctt title=”But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.” tweet=”Acts 4:4 – after a singular witness on their way to an obligatory prayer service.” coverup=”kaY9r”]

    As our series highlighting passages from many centuries prior to the Cross concluded with the resurrection. This post from the early history of the church reminds us that even the journeys of Acts will cover much more territory and the spread of Christianity continues for centuries.

    TalkofJesus.com takes you to scripture to discover the details of truth and God’s love. Links included go to trusted sources you may search for further study. My commentary is minimal, but your comments by reply are more than welcome as witness of Jesus Christ to others.

    In my continuing journey of Christian Social Witness via http://talkofJesus.com you will see several updates to our HEADLINE look over the next few weeks. Don’t let it throw you.

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    @RogerHarned
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  • A Psalm of Thanksgiving – Psalm 100, Psalm 50

    A Psalm of Thanksgiving – Psalm 100, Psalm 50

    Psalm 100

    Who is giving thanks? And to whom? “For what do we give thanks on Thanksgiving?” 

    The New International Version tells us it is For giving grateful praise. The New King James Version calls it, A Song of Praise for the Lord’s Faithfulness to His People and the English Standard Version, borrowing from its text reminds us, His Steadfast Love Endures Forever.

    מִזְמֹור לְתֹודָה

    A Psalm of Praise, in Hebrew, תּוֹדָה, towdah, a common theme in the Psalms, means, thanksgiving.

    “Thanksgiving, done proper, is worship of the Lord God.”

    Psalm 100 for the year of our Lord, 2016

    A select version of verses 1-5

    A Psalm of Thanksgiving.

    Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!

    Worship the Lord with gladness;
    come before him with joyful songs.

    Acknowledge that the Lord is God!

    It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
    We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

    Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
    And into His courts with praise.

    Give thanks to him; bless his name!

    For the Lord is good.
    His unfailing love continues forever,

    And His truth endures to all generations.

    תּוֹדָה tôwdâh -a definition:

    תּוֹדָה tôwdâh, to-daw’; from H3034; properly, an extension of the hand, i.e. (by implication) avowal, or (usually) adoration; specifically, a choir of worshippers:—confession, (sacrifice of) praise, thanks(-giving, offering).

    give praise to God
    thanksgiving in songs of liturgical worship, hymn of praise
    thanksgiving choir or procession or line or company
    thank-offering, sacrifice of thanksgiving
    confession

    An extension of the hand

    Psalm 100, though written for the Hebrew people speaks to all. Make a joyful shout, a joyful noise, a celebration unto the LORD, all you lands, all people, all of His creation, all of the earth. And why not? Has the Lord God not been gracious to many peoples of many lands, most especially US?

    This should be a time of joyful songs, not quiet personal celebration of what we have done. We have food, we have shelter, most of us have not been driven from our homes, like those so oppressed in lands of conflict. We are blessed!

    “Is it not appropriate for us to extend our hand of thanks to the Lord who has provided for us so abundantly?” Thanksgiving is an extension of praise and worship to our One Provider.”

    The long tradition which precedes Thursday’s annual holiday is worship, acknowledging the Lord who provides the fruits of the harvest. At times some have no food, yet even these learn to rely on the graciousness of God – all the more reason to say more than grace over our meal.

    What is our problem with God?

    It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves. Even if sinful man points to a big bang without cause, reason or likelihood, we like to take credit for everything we do – all we accomplish, even the very act of creation, cell from cell or primate from amphibian. Some even would imagine alien intelligence (yet who created them) before humbly considering a God greater than man. We don’t want to be sheep and certainly resist being led by a God or a King or even someone of an opposing political persuasion.

    Know that the Lord, he is God! Acknowledge that the Lord is God! We know it in our hearts, but a certain humility must bow down to worship the One we do not understand with all power and mercy we cannot comprehend.

    Perhaps you never thought of this as a time of worship or a place to have your hands extended in praise and thanksgiving to your creator who knows each synapse of your thoughts and every pulsing of your heart. Though you resist any as King over you, even a most benevolent Lord over all of our provision, the King of the heavens and earth welcomes you through the gates of the eternal place of worship and into the courts of loving worshipers saved in the blood of His own Sacrifice for our sins.

    The LORD יְהֹוָה Yĕhovah

    Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. Give thanks to him and praise his name. Do you need a reason to make the Lord the center of your celebrations? It’s really quite simple: He is good. The LORD is good.

    [ctt title=”What man can claim the righteousness of the LORD our God?” tweet=”Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. – Psalm 100:4b” coverup=”doKDN”]

    For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever… Not only is the Lord good – the only One – God’s love endures. Whose love in your life has endured more than a season? Who truly loves you until your death… and beyond, can a mortal soul love your flawed flesh forever? The Lord will when you extend your hand in worship.

    His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation. His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations. Praise the Lord with what words the Spirit will share. God is good.

    Mark this, then…

    Psalm 50:22-23

    “Mark this, then, you who forget God,
    lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!

    The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;
    to one who orders his way rightly
    I will show the salvation of God!”