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Worship and
Witnessing
John 4:20-24
You can't take your choice!
Worship and witness is the scriptural balance. If you eliminate one or
the other you are not completely in the will of God.
God wants and deserves worship. "The true worshipers shall worship the
Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship
him" (John 4:23). Worship is done "in spirit." There is danger that
worship be so put into the mold of a certain Sunday morning church
atmosphere with dim lights, quiet music and soft-toned preaching that
only in this context will people "worship." However worship cannot be
stereotyped. It should be an hour-by-hour experience of "speaking to
yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making
melody in your heart to the Lord" (Eph. 5:19).
As you read the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, you do not see
many public demonstrations of worship. Worship services per se as a
public act are not spelled out. In fact, Jesus Himself admonished that
acts of worship be done "in secret" (Matt. 6:1-18). Witnessing, on the
other hand, is predominant! Worship must go on to demonstrate itself
in action. Witnessing is one essential action expected by our Lord who
said, "Ye shall be witnesses unto me" (Acts 1:8).
When the Lord ascended, the people were asked, "Why stand ye gazing up
into heaven?" (Acts 1:11). We need desperately to look up to heaven,
but we must not continue to just "stand there." We also need to go
with the gospel until He comes again.
We need people who worship God, who have not left their first love
(Rev. 2:4) but who then go to witness. Jesus Himself asked, "Why call
ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46).
Most churches have many worshipers on Sunday morning but few witnesses
on Monday morning actually leading people to Christ.
If those witnessing in public are not worshiping in private, they are
dead wrong. From the facts and statistics of how few are being brought
to Christ, witnessing seems desperately lagging. "These ought ye to
have done, and not to leave the other undone" (Matt. 23:23). |
