Worship and the Lord’s Table – 5th July 2015

• Worship Exhortations

We meditated on the forgiveness from the Lord.

According to Romans 3:23, all (men) have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is no one who is without sin (Ecclesiastes 7:20; Proverbs 20:9). But, God forgave our sins.  Forgiveness means: 1) Cancelling the account of sin (2 Corinthians 5:21) – Christ became sin for us – forgiving past, present and future sins. 2) Taking away the burden of sin. 3) Covering of sins (Romans 4:7-8) – no more condemnation (John 3:16), no more perishing (John 5:24), no more death but everlasting life (John 11:25). Through forgiveness of our sins we have received many blessings (life, Holy Spirit… John 7:38). Above all, we have become the members of the Body of Christ, the Church. These thoughts of forgiveness of sins and the blessings that follow it are the grounds for which we worship, praise and thank the Lord.

• Lord’s Table Exhortations

Acts 5: 1-16:  From the book of the Acts of the Apostles, we are considering 1) the works or acts of  the Holy Spirit and  2) work of a simple and common believer through the help of  the Holy Spirit. Our God can use weak instruments, like you and me,  mightily for His glory though the God of Holy Spirit.

From the first four chapters, we have seen that the early church has done great things with one accord. As many people as 8000 were added to the church. As the church grew from strength to strength, Satan attacked the early church – persecution from the priests and the Sadducees started (Acts 4:1). Yes, Satan’s  attack starts against a believer, as soon as he or she starts to live for the Lord (as soon as he/she takes decision to read the Bible or pray long hours or share the testimony or minister the word of God). However, the early church learned to depend on God in prayer (Acts 4: 24-29 and Acts 4: 31-32). Similarly we need to learn to depend on the Lord when Satan attacks us – whenever we face troubles or problems. This is the secret of the overcoming believer. We should not depend on our abilities – wisdom and strength, but we should seek the help of the Lord in prayer.

In chapter five, we observe that  Ananias (means “grace of God”) and Sapphira (“beautiful”) were filled with Satan. While all others in the first church were filled with the Holy Spirit, this couple were filled with Satan. They wanted “praise of men” or may be they wanted some prominence in the early church.  Barnabas, as we see him in Acts 4: 36-37, had offered himself and all his possessions to the Lord. It is to be noted here that God wants our hearts more than anything else (that we offer to him). Money does not matter to the Lord, but our willing heart does. In the Old Testament people have offered willingly for the building of the Tabernacle (Exodus 25 and Exodus 35) and in the building of the Temple (1 Chronicles 29). Whatever they gave was for the building of the House of God. Similarly, for the church (real spiritual building) God wants us – our lives and hearts as the material. We must offer our hearts to the Lord before offering anything to Him.

Ananias gave his heart to the Devil and tried to give money to the Lord. They had lied to the Holy Spirit. They have tempted the Holy Spirit. The Lord had struck both Ananias and Sapphira. The early church was pure and clean as the Bride of Christ. The Lord, the Bridegroom will not allow it to be defiled by Satan or man. It was the time of laying the foundations of the principles in the church therefore, the judgement came almost immediately.

The result was amazing – first of all, as a result of this, fear came on all (Acts 5:5), great fear come on church (Acts 5:11). We should have fear of God, more importantly in the matters of the church. Secondly, many people were joined the church (Acts 5:14). Actually, when we do all things with the fear of God and mind on the spiritual matters then many can join us – but not by doing attractive things that please people. This is where many make mistakes. We must hold on to the truths from the Word of God firmly.

At the same, we must also learn to deal money matters carefully as the children of God. If you have taken money, we must give back. We should ask the Lord for our needs. Do not spend more than what you have.

May the God of the Holy Spirit work in through you that you also may be a witness to the Lord as the early believers were.