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The Highest Duty of the Church (Part 3 of 3)

Paul D Mulner — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 13:21:35 +0000

Worship Structured by the Gospel

Worship is our response to the divine initiative of God to make covenant with His people through Christ Jesus our Lord. We believe and practice that “God meets his people in Christ as the Holy Spirit works through the liturgy: confession of sin, declaration of forgiveness, songs of praise, confession of the faith, the preaching, the prayers, and the sacraments.”63 In every service we endeavor to praise God, confess our sins and our faith to God, receive the grace of God from preaching and sacraments, give thanks for His blessing and go blessed by His Word into the entire world to preach the gospel as commanded by Christ. Terry Johnson called this order of worship “Gospel logic.”64 In other words, worship that is structured or ordered by the gospel.

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The Highest Duty of the Church (Part 2 of 3)

Paul D Mulner — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 13:11:55 +0000

The Lord of the Sabbath
God is a holy God.17 God has set forth a holy day.18 God has redeemed for Himself a holy people.19 Therefore, the worship of holy God on His holy day by His holy people must be holy worship; worship set apart by the object of our worship, the appointed time of our worship and by the proper means and attitude of our worship.20 The worship of holy God must, by necessity, be set apart in all respects from every other human activity.21 Our model of worship cannot reflect the values, preferences or demands of the world.22 Worldliness in worship diminishes the glory of God and robs His people of a truthful and real encounter with Him.23 “When God’s people understand who God is, who they are in His presence, and what is happening to them when they come into His presence, not only their minds but their hearts are transformed.”24
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The Highest Duty of the Church (Part 1)

Paul D Mulner — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:52:42 +0000

The true, holy and biblical worship of God is the highest privilege and duty of the Body of Christ.1 “We worship God because God created us to worship him. Worship is at the center of our existence, at the heart of our reason for being.”2 The Church most directly serves her Lord when she worships God in spirit and in truth.3 Therefore, in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, the Church militant on earth gathers with the Church triumphant before the throne of God above to give Christ the glory due His name.4

However, we cannot rightly worship God if we do not understand God and we cannot understand God without the Bible. The late James Boice once remarked, “To worship God we must know who God is, but we cannot know who God is unless God first chooses to reveal himself to us. (more…)

Christians Should Not Choose Evil

Paul D Mulner — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 01:43:45 +0000

Editor’s note: This article is part two of two in a point/counter-point series. In light of the upcoming presidential election the authors were asked to consider the questions “Can a Christian ever vote for a candidate simply because he is the ‘lesser of two evils?’” The opinions expressed in this article are those of author and do not necessarily represent the views of the editor or Reformation Journal.
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You never heard much about “voting for the lesser of two evils” in 2000 when George W. Bush was running for his first term against Al Gore. Bush had the favor of most republicans, and particularly the “Christian wing” of the party. Many Christians argued, in that particular election, that the choice was clear. History later showed that Evangelicals were, in large part, responsible for the election of Bush and Cheney. (more…)

5 Advantages of Church-based Counseling

Paul D Mulner — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:39:56 +0000

“God knows me well,” a friend once said to me. “He knew that, apart from the accountability and love that comes from a Christian community, I would not survive in this world.”

God never meant for Christians to live alone. Through the church on earth, therefore, he created a place where Christians could gather for corporate worship, accountability, fellowship, instruction, and godly exhortation. I would even dare say that the fullest expression of our faith cannot occur apart from loving communion with other believers in a local church.

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