As a self-sustaining, everlasting being, God has no need to change. Temporal things may improve and strengthen or deteriorate and weaken. God cannot do any of these. There is nothing to improve upon and He cannot worsen.
Tag: Worship
Too often I hear complaints such as “I don’t get anything out of the service”, “the church’s worship doesn’t inspire me” or “church is boring”. I wish I could say that I don’t relate to these complaints, but the fact is I do. I’ve felt those same things before and the only conclusion I could draw to fix the problem was that something needed to change.
The Apostle Paul began his stirring speech to the idolatrous people of Athens with this preface: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; 23 for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you…” (Acts 17:22-23)
Consideration of the question of female church leadership and the place of women in the communal worship of Christian assemblies is of increasing importance in Western churches and religious bodies. As women have gained prominence and assumed positions of authority in secular institutions so have they advanced to leadership in religious organizations, albeit slowly and with more opposition. Some denominations have endorsed and encouraged women to go into the “ministry”, while others have not permitted this at all. Still others have concluded to allow a combination of husband-wife “pastor teams” or boards with both genders fully represented. I have been asked before why the church doesn’t allow women to be ordained to office or to lead the congregation in its worship of God. The simplest answer, which I still give, is, “the Bible doesn’t permit the ordination of women.” Let us review a few passages and I will throw in my two cents on this important discussion.
Jesus said, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him…” (John 14:21). He also said, “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love…” (John 15:10). Plain talk. Hard to swallow, maybe, but not hard to understand. Simply put, love and obedience are inextricably linked, each following on the heels of the other. According to Jesus, to love Him is to obey Him, and to obey Him is to be loved by Him.