Helps: The Church and Its Services
“Oesides the help received in private devotion, every young Christian needs the aid which the public services of the Church are designed to afford. We were not made to live alone. We lean upon and cling to one another “like trailing flowers that grow by interlacing.” The necessities of our being require companionship. It is so in all the phases of our life. A hermit is a contradiction of nature. Mind best grows and develops in contact with other minds. Socially, too, we need one another. And the same is also true in the religious life. In one sense God himself is all we need, and in communion with him every want of our souls is met.
“Yea, through life, death, through sorrow and through sinning, He shall suffice me, for he hath sufficed.”
Yet the glory is so great the splendor is so dazzling, that we need human hands to bring the divine blessing down to us. Besides, the heart does not rise to its highest fervor in the solitude of the closet. Our warmest feelings of devotion are drawn out when we unite with others in associated service. The consciousness that a whole congregation of worshipers about us is moved by the same emotion that we experience, whether it be gratitude, confession of sin or prayer for mercy, deepens the emotion in us.
Then there are special promises to those who unite in the services of God’s worship. In times of great defection particular mention was made by the prophet of those “who feared the Lord and spake often one to another.” It was said that “the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him.” Christ gave special promise of answer to prayer when his people shall agree in asking, implying that, as added strands make the cable stronger, so added hearts make the supplication more availing. He also gave a definite promise of his own pnisencc where even two or three of his disciples shall meet together in his name.
There is no doubt that there are blessings which we can obtain in the public worship, where many hearts mingle their homage and their prayers, which we cannot find in secret. Private devotion is indispensable and cannot be replaced by the public services, yet, in addition to all the aid we can get in our religious life in secret prayer and Bible-reading, we need, and cannot afford to neglect, public worship. To do so is to deprive ourselves of one of the greatest helps in Christian life.
We can better understand the nature of the help wo may receive from the church-services if we have definite conceptions of the objects of public worship.
One object is to honor God by bringing to him our hearts’ homage. This element of worship is one that needs to be strongly emphasized, especially in non-liturgical churches. Many persons have the impression that the sermon is the most important — even the all-important — feature of the service. Too little is made of the devotional part. The error is a very grave one. There can be no doubt that in the divine intention the primary object in public religious service is to worship
God, to bring to him our hearts’ love and adoration, our gratitude and our confession, and to renew before him our personal consecration.
Another object in the public service is instruction. The minist-er has been trained to be an expounder of the word of God. He has spent years in preparation for his work. He devotes the golden hours of every day to special study and thought, so as to be able each Sabbath to bring to his people and clearly and impressively put before them some important truth of Holy Scripture. Then the people come to the church to be instructed in things concerning God’s character and will and concerning their own needs and duties.
A third object in the public service is spiritual growth and culture. We learn about God’s character, that we may adore and worship him more fervently; about his will, that we may obey him more implicitly; about his promises, that we may trust him more confidently; about our duty, that we may do it more faithfully. The object of worship, also, so far as its influence upon ourselves is concerned, is the spiritual blessing and strength that come from communion with God and the opening of our hearts in the warmth of his presence.
These public services are designed, therefore, and adapted to impart rich help to the sincere worshiper. The meeting with God is in itself an incalculable blessing. No one can spend an hour in God’s presence, looking up into his face and occupied with thoughts of him to the exclusion of worldly thoughts, and not experience a cleansing of heart and a warming of soul which will prove a great enriching of the life. All that is good in us receives quickening and new impulse in such an atmosphere; all that is evil is checked and repressed. The influence of fellowship in worship with other Christians is also of great profit. We are lifted up on the tide of spiritual emotion. Our affections are purified. The bonds of Christian love are strengthened. There is the benefit, also, derived from the instruction in God’s word which we receive. Now we are warned against some danger; now some sin in us is rebuked; now it is a word of comfort which comes to cheer us in sorrow; now it is a new thought about God, the unveiling to us of an attribute in his character, which draws out in us fresh adoration and love; now it is a call to some neglected duty. Besides all these benefits, there is the personal renewal of spiritual strength which we find in the house of God:” They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.’’ Life wastes our vigor. Its duties and struggles exhaust us. The Sabbath services bring us again into communion with God, and the emptied pitchers are refilled. No one can spend an hour in God’s house in true and sincere worship and not be better and stronger for it for many days.
How to get from the church-services the help they have to give to us is one of the most important practical questions in Christian life. No doubt there are rich possibilities of spiritual help in these public ordinances, if we know how to find the help.
It is quite possible to attend the church-services even with commendable regularity and yet receive but little spiritual profit. There is no holy atmosphere in the house of God, no heavenly ozone that is necessarily medicinal or tonic to our souls. There is no filtration of grace into our lives that goes on without agency of our own while we sit in our soft pews in the sanctuary with shut hearts and dream through a service. Forms of worship, whether plain or elaborate, are empty without the sincere homage and faith of loving hearts. They carry up to God just what we put into them; they bring to us from God just what with prayer and faith we draw out of them.
Two persons may sit side by side and take part outwardly in the exercises of devotion, yet from one there will rise to God pure incense and an acceptable oifering, and from the other the empty mockery of a heartless and formal service; the one worshiper goes away strengthened and blessed, and the other carries away nothing but an empty hand and a cold, unblest heart. Whatever the forms of public service may be, the heart must be truly engaged or the worship will be vain and unprofitable.
To make this chapter as helpful as possible to young Christians, a few definite practical suggestions are offered.
To begin with, thoughtful preparation for the church-services will greatly increase their profitableness to those who engage in them. The very; best ordinary preparation is a season of private devotion before going to the house of God. The heart is thus cleansed of its worldly thoughts, is opened and warmed toward God, and is in a suitable condition to enter sincerely and earnestly into the public worship.
A reverent approach toward and entrance into Gods house are further aids to blessing in the services. We should at least remember that we are going to meet God, and should know and consider well on what errand we are going to meet him — to worship him and receive help for our own lives, if we have any real errand at all — and should have our expectations aroused in anticipation of the communion with God and his people which we are soon to enjoy, and our hearts eager with desire for the holy meeting. Many persons enter God’s house with as little though tfulness and seriousness as if it were a concert or a literary entertainment they had come to hear. Such persons are not prepared either to render acceptable worship or to receive needed help in the service. We shall find in God’s house and in his ordinances just what we are spiritually prepared to find. God must be in the heart, or we shall not see God in the exercises of worship. We shall never find in the sanctuary that which we do not seek and want to find. If we enter careless and indifferent, with no spirit of devotion, we shall carry away no blessing. If we come with longing and earnest desire to meet God and lay our burdens at his feet, and rest and refresh ourselves in his presence, and receive new strength from him for duty, we shall find all we wish.
Another condition of help is earnest personal interest in each part of the service. There is no blessing in our being merely among true worshipers and in the presence of God. A throng was close around Christ one day, but one only of them all was healed; and she was healed because she reached out her trembling finger and in faith touched the hem of Christ’s garment. The multitude thronged, but only one touched him. This history may be repeated any Sabbath in any congregation. While many crowd close around Christ, only those will receive blessing who touch the hem of his robe. Even in public services we do not worship in companies, but as individuals. One sitting close beside us may hold delightful communion with God and receive rich spiritual refreshment, while our own heart remains like a dry, parched field; in the midst of the showers, yet receiving not one drop of rain from the full overhanging clouds. No matter what others may or may not do or receive, our business in God’s house is personal. There is blessing there for us if we will take it. Suppose the minister is a little dull and the service a little wearisome; yet is not God present? And the blessing is not in the minister nor in the service, but in God himself, who is ready always to dispense to the tired and the hungry the rest and the bread they crave. Then, after the service, we should go away thoughtfully and reverently as we came. The custom which prevails in some churches of lingering a moment in silent prayer after the benediction is very beautiful and impressive. Let the last minute be spent looking into God’s face for a parting benediction.
Church-aisle sociability, so often commended, no doubt has its pleasant side, but it certainly has its disadvantages and its grave dangers. We may without spiritual harm greet one another cordially and affectionately in quiet tones as we pass out, but too often the conversation runs either into criticism of the preacher and the sermon or off on trivial and worldly themes. The consequence is, that the good seed sown is picked up and devoured by the birds before it has had time to root. We had better go away quietly pondering the great thoughts which the service has suggested to us, seeking to dee’pen in our hearts the impressions made and to assimilate in our lives the truths of God’s word which have fallen upon our ears.
From the church -gate back again to the closet whence we set out is the best walk to take after the service has closed. A few moments of secret prayer will carry the blessings of the sanctuary so deep into our hearts that thereafter they will be part of our very life.
In the porch of the little parish church in England where Mr. Gladstone worships when he is at Hawarden Castle there is posted a notice containing counsels to church-worshipers which are worthy of being inscribed in the gateway of every Christian church. The following is a transcript;
“on your way to church.” On your way to the Lord’s house be thoughtful, be silent; or say but little, and that little good. Speak not of other men’s faults; think of your own, for you are going to ask forgiveness. Never stay outside; go in at once: time spent inside should be precious.
“in church. “Kneel down very humbly and pray. Spend the time that remains in prayers; remember the awful Presence into which you have come. Do not look about to see who are coming in, nor for any other cause. It matters nothing to you what others are doing: attend to yourself. Fasten your thoughts firmly on the holy service; do not miss one word. This needs a severe struggle; you have no time for vain thoughts. The blessed Spirit will strengthen you if you persevere.
“after church.” Remain kneeling and pray. Be intent; speak to no one till you are outside. The church is God’s house even when prayer is over. Be quiet and thoughtful as you go through the churchyard.
“on your way home. “Be careful of your talk, or the world will soon slip back into your heart. Remember where you have been and what you have done. Resolve and try to live a better life.”
A special word may fitly be spoken of the Lords Supper and of the way in which we may get help from it. In the minds of many people a great deal of unnecessary mystery hangs about this ordinance. That which sets it apart from other services is that it is a memorial feast appointed by Christ himself in which our thought and faith are helped by visible elements which represent to us the great spiritual facts of our redemption. The help this service gives is not different from that received from other ordinances, unless it be that the use of the visible symbols brings Christ and his sacrificial work more vividly before our dull eyes than where words only are used to picture the same truths. In this sense it is a greater aid to faith than a sermon or a hymn; but, as in all worship, so in the communion: the blessing comes, not from the ordinance itself, but from Christ.
How, then, can we get from the Lords Supper the help which it has to give? Only by finding the way to Christ and submitting our hearts to the tender influences of his love as exhibited in symbol in the external rite. The Supper is a memorial; we should remember Christ as we come to his Table. It is a memorial especially of our Lords sufferiDgs and death: we should recall his humiliation, his obedience, his agonies, his crucifixion, and think of the love that led him voluntarily to make himself an offering for sin. But memories alone will not bless us: there must be appropriating faith. “Broken for you,’’ said the Master; “Broken for me” should be Faith’s answer.
There is much needless dread in many sensitive Christian hearts in approaching the Lord’s Table. There is an impression that there is about this ordinance some peculiar sacred ness which makes it perilous to engage in it without some special fitness which is not required for engaging in the other exercises of God’s worship. This is a mistake. There should be in the heart of the sincere Christian no more dread in going to the Lord’s Table than in going to any other service. St. Paul’s word unicorthUy ‘’ — which has been misunderstood by so many — has reference entirely to the manner in which persons observe the ordinance.
The Corinthians to whom he was writing made it a common feast, with reveling — even with drunkenness. Of course, any one who would observe it in that way, or any one who would sit at the table without loving Christ, without believing in him, without truly worshiping him and submitting to him, or who should act irreverently or with levity, would be “guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.” But in the apostle’s word there is not the slightest allusion to those who feel themselves unworthy, yet who are sincere and true disciples of Christ. A sense of personal unworthiness is part of all true faith in Christ.
“Not worthy, Lord, to gather up the crumbs
With trembling hand that from thy table fall, A weary, heavy-laden sinner comes
To plead thy promise and obey thy call.”
If the heart be sincere, if the trust in Christ be true though trembling, and the obedience loyal though imperfect, we have the same right to come boldly to the Lord’s Table as to prayer or any other ordinance. We can sin in any act of wor- ship by formality, by insincerity, by levity, by want of heart, and we can sin in the same way in partaking of the Lord’s Supper. We can sing a sacred hymn or listen to an earnest sermon or engage in the external form of prayer in such a way as to grieve Christ and harm our own souls.
There is no reason, therefore, for dread in coming to the Lord’s Table, any more than in engaging in any other sacred rite. We need to be sure only that we are truly in living union with Christ, that we are trusting him alone as our Saviour and following him faithfully as our Lord, and that we come to his Table with a sincere desire to meet him and to seek blessing from him.
The young Christian should never stay away from the Lord’s Supper when it is celebrated in the church of which he is a member. If he is conscious of sin and failure, let him make humble confession and start anew. The Lord’s Supper will help him to do this. AVe cannot afford to miss this ordinance. The weaker we are, and the more unworthy, the more do we need it. Besides, it is in a peculiar sense a Christ-confessing ordinance: we take our place at his table, and we thus witness to the world that we are his. His honor therefore demands that we should never absenf ourselves when his people thus confess him.
There are other church-services which have their large possibilities of help for young Christians. Among these are weekly meetings for prayer. From Sabbath to Sabbath is a long stretch when the way is hard and the distractions are many, and the battles sore. The prayer-meeting is a little oasis midway. It is a place specially for the refreshment of Christians. Every young disciple should put it down among his positive weekly engagements. We cannot aiford to miss it if we are at all earnest in our desire to be strong and noble Christians.
The Sabbath -school is another of the church-services which no young Christian should miss. It is not for children only: it ought to be a Bible-school for the whole church, with its classes of young men and young women, and of old people with dim eyes and gray heads. It is on God’s word that we all need to feed more and more. It will make us strong. It will lead us in right paths. It will beautify our character. It will put into our hand the sword of the Spirit for battle with temptation. It will prepare a pillow for our head in sickness and sorrow. It will at the last guide us through the valley of the shadoAV of death.
Thus it is that the church-services will help us. We all need them. We cannot neglect them and not suffer great harm and loss. Whenever the church-bell summons us to the house of God,
1 ({ V fi ‘A we should gladly respond. We should reverently enter the gates of the sanctuary. We should worship God in sincerity and in truth. We should come away thoughtfully and with prayer.
Then in the busy days that follow will come the proofs of the helpfulness and blessing that our lives have found in the services. The food that is eaten to-day is the strength of the laborer, the eloquence of the orator, the skill of the artisan, to-morrow. The spring sunshine and rain that fall upon the dry briery rose-bush reappear in due time in fragrant, lovely roses. And sincere and true worship in the quiet of the sanctuary will show itself in the beautified character, the sweetened spirit, the brightened hope, the truer, better living and the holier consecration of the days of toil and struggle that come after.