Worship

Be sure to read this thoughtful article: Why Should Christians Regularly Assemble: Part 3, Worship

Christians know that we ought to assemble as we are commanded: "not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching" (Hebrews 10:25)

The question is WHY should we gather? For me the word "worship" is a little hard for to grasp, but here are my thoughts:

1. Worship means ascribing worth to the object of our affection - in this case, the Triune God!
   
2. Worship must be a part of the fabric of our lives - every day (not just on Sunday and not simply "in church").
   
3. I've read quite a bit about musical style in worship (traditional verses contemporary). My personal view is that musical style is largely preference and culture related (but I personally prefer traditional hymns in corporate worship).
   
4. The act of "going to church" alone is not worship. Frankly there have been times when all I could think about during a sermon was the football game in the afternoon. Additionally some (teenagers?!) attend church because they are made to.
   
5. Worship must come from the soul. That "ascribing of worth" is not a head issue ... it is a heart issue.
   

This much I know: God is looking for men and women to worship Him. And if we know Who God is and have appropriated His love and forgiveness through faith in His Son, that worship will flow naturally from that act!

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Justice

The Scriptural doctrines of satisfaction and justification rest on
the principle that God is immutably just, i.e., that his moral
excellence, in the case of sin, demands punishment, or expiation. The
Bible clearly teaches the necessity of satisfaction to justice in
order to the forgiveness of sin. Christ was set forth as a
propitiation, in order that God might be just in justifying the
ungodly. This assumes that it would be unjust, i.e., contrary to moral
rectitude, to pardon the guilty without such a propitiation. This
necessity for a satisfaction is never referred to expediency or to
governmental considerations. If sin could have been pardoned, without
a satisfaction. the Apostle says, Christ is dead in vain. (Gal. ii.
21.) If there could have been a law which could have given life,
salvation would have been by the law (Gal. iii. 21.) (Hodge v 1 p 423)

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1. Very cold here today ... was 7 at noon
   
2. Kathee and I shopped
   
3. Nathan and Rachel here for dinner
   
4. Rachel left for Mankato to commence her final semester
   
5. Kathee and I read Exodus 29 & 30 tonight
   
6. Roger working at Wells Fargo processing W-2's