Call on the Name of the Lord

In our service one day, we heard a story from a group of people who had witnessed, what they called, a spiritual moment.  I was not there.  I did not experience it, but something was not quite right with the story.  In the story, a man came into a church service and attempted to strangle a woman.  The pastor, who was a woman, came to stop the man.  She told the congregation to "call on the name of Jesus" while she was trying to defuse the situation.  According to the group, what happened was the congregation literally repeated "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus" over and over.  Eventually the man stopped choking the woman and left.  The group felt that just by saying Jesus over and over was the reason the man eventually left and the woman was out of harms way.  

I have a hard time accepting this.  Just saying Jesus over and over has very little value or meaning.  Now, if it were a situation where someone was so scared or distraught that all they could utter was Jesus, then I know that their prayer will be interceded for and be heard, but it seems, from the way the story was told, that no one, but perhaps the woman being hurt, was in such an emotional state where they could not actually pray. 

Here is an illustration on how it would seem if you only said Jesus over and over. 

Person:  Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!
Jesus:  Yes, I am here.
Person:  Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!
Jesus:  I'm here.
Person:  Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!
Jesus:  Yes?

How should we expect an answer to our prayers if all we say is Jesus.  Yes, the Lord knows our thoughts and our prayers even before we say them, but it is through our prayers that the Lord chooses to work.  Simply saying Jesus is not a prayer.  It is just a name.  The name, Jesus, was a very common name in ancient Israel.  It was not a name unique to Christ.  Just saying Jesus could mean you are talking to almost anyone.

The group brought out this verse to back up their story:

Philippians 2:10 at the name of Jesus every knee will bow.

While I agree this is true, I do feel that it was taken out of context, they did not even use the whole verse.  For one thing, the man did not 'bow' or humble himself in front of this congregation.  He just left, probably still hot and mad.  The full section of this scripture is:

Philippians 2:5 Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus,
6 who, existing in the form of God,
did not consider equality with God
as something to be used for His own advantage.
7 Instead He emptied Himself
by assuming the form of a slave,
taking on the likeness of men.
And when He had come as a man
in His external form,
8 He humbled Himself by becoming obedient
to the point of death—
even to death on a cross.
9 For this reason God highly exalted Him
and gave Him the name
that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow—
of those who are in heaven and on earth
and under the earth—
11 and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

We know that not every knee has bowed to Christ, but they will.  When he returns.  This section of scripture is showing us how we should be humble and obedient like Christ.  It was for this reason that God exalted Christ so that every knee would bow and every tongue confess in Him.  All this for the Father's glory. 

Notice, that Jesus was given a name that is above every name.  His name is holy and special.  Not just the name Jesus, but who Jesus is.  Like I said earlier, Jesus was a common name in His time, so many people had that name, but none of the others were the Christ.  In Israel, many times, the name of a person reflected who he was or what he did.  So, by making Jesus Christ's name unique and above other names, speaks about his character and actions, not about what his actual name was.

Another disappointing thing about this particular service was the closing song.  We sang "Call on the name of the Lord."  Not the whole song, just the chorus.  Just "call on the name of the Lord and be saved."

Yes, the Bible does say this:

Romans 10:13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

However, the Bible also says:

Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven.

2 Timothy 2:19 Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, having this inscription: The Lord knows those who are His, and Everyone who names the name of the Lord must turn away from unrighteousness.

Yes, calling on the name of the Lord will save you, but you must also do the will of God and turn away from unrighteousness and sin.  I know that no person will ever completely turn away from sin in this life, but it is what we are striving to do in our sanctification.  No, your works will not save you.  If you are saved, then you will want to do the good works, which are the will of God. 

Genesis 49 -- The Death and Burial of Jacob

Genesis 49:1 Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather around, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the days to come.
2 Come together and listen, sons of Jacob;
listen to your father Israel:
3 Reuben, you are my firstborn,
my strength and the first fruits of my virility,
excelling in prominence, excelling in power.
4 Turbulent as water, you will no longer excel,
because you got into your father’s bed
and you defiled it—he got into my bed.

Because of his sin, Reuben will no longer be powerful. He slept with his father's concubine in his father's own bed.

Genesis 49:5 Simeon and Levi are brothers;
their knives are vicious weapons.
6 May I never enter their council;
may I never join their assembly.
For in their anger they kill men,
and on a whim they hamstring oxen.
7 Their anger is cursed, for it is strong,
and their fury, for it is cruel!
I will disperse them throughout Jacob
and scatter them throughout Israel.

Remember back when their sister was defiled?  It was Simeon and Levi who went to kill all the men in the city.

Genesis 49:8 Judah, your brothers will praise you.
Your hand will be on the necks of your enemies;
your father’s sons will bow down to you.
9 Judah is a young lion—
my son, you return from the kill.
He crouches; he lies down like a lion
or a lioness—who dares to rouse him?
10 The scepter will not depart from Judah
or the staff from between his feet
until He whose right it is comes
and the obedience of the peoples belongs to Him.
11 He ties his donkey to a vine,
and the colt of his donkey to the choice vine.
He washes his clothes in wine
and his robes in the blood of grapes.
12 His eyes are darker than wine,
and his teeth are whiter than milk.

We know that our Messiah will come from Judah.  Judah is often refered to as a lion.  Our Savior is often refered to as the Lion of Judah.  All his brothers will bow down to him.  All the descendants of Israel will eventually bow to the authority of Christ, as well as everyone else on earth.

Philipians 2:9 For this reason God highly exalted Him
and gave Him the name
that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow—
of those who are in heaven and on earth
and under the earth—
11 and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

"The scepter will not depart from Judah or the staff from between his feet until He whose right it is comes and the obedience of the peoples belongs to Him." This is Christ.  He comes from the line of Judah and will reign forever.  You could also speak of David here and God's promise that an heir of David would always sit on the thrown of Israel.  Christ is our great King and is from the line of David, so even if there is currently no Earthly king of Israel, Christ is the King of us all, whether we choose to acknoledge him or not.

13 Zebulun will live by the seashore
and will be a harbor for ships,
and his territory will be next to Sidon.

We learn more about the tribe of Zebulun in Deuteronomy:

Deuteronomy 33:18 He said about Zebulun:
Rejoice, Zebulun, in your journeys,
and Issachar, in your tents.
19 They summon the peoples to a mountain;
there they offer acceptable sacrifices.
For they draw from the wealth of the seas
and the hidden treasures of the sand.

In this chapter of Deuteronomy, Moses blesses each of the tribes of Judah, much like Jacob blessed each of his sons.  Go here to read all of Deuteronomy 33.

Genesis 49:14 Issachar is a strong donkey
lying down between the saddlebags.
15 He saw that his resting place was good
and that the land was pleasant,
so he leaned his shoulder to bear a load
and became a forced laborer.
16 Dan will judge his people
as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 He will be a snake by the road,
a viper beside the path,
that bites the horses’ heels
so that its rider falls backward.
18 I wait for Your salvation, Lord.
19 Gad will be attacked by raiders,
but he will attack their heels.
20 Asher’s food will be rich,
and he will produce royal delicacies.
21 Naphtali is a doe set free
that bears beautiful fawns.
22 Joseph is a fruitful vine,
a fruitful vine beside a spring;
its branches climb over the wall.
23 The archers attacked him,
shot at him, and were hostile toward him.
24 Yet his bow remained steady,
and his strong arms were made agile
by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,
by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
25 by the God of your father who helps you,
and by the Almighty who blesses you
with blessings of the heavens above,
blessings of the deep that lies below,
and blessings of the breasts and the womb.
26 The blessings of your father excel
the blessings of my ancestors
and the bounty of the eternal hills.
May they rest on the head of Joseph,
on the crown of the prince of his brothers.
27 Benjamin is a wolf; he tears his prey.
In the morning he devours the prey,
and in the evening he divides the plunder.”
28 These are the tribes of Israel, 12 in all, and this was what their father said to them. He blessed them, and he blessed each one with a suitable blessing.

 Jacob blessed each of his sons.  He gave each one a specific blessing.  I have expounded on a few of them and brought in some other verses or shown the reason for some of the statements, but I just do not know enough about the other tribes to make further comments.

Genesis 49:29 Then he commanded them: “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite. 30 The cave is in the field of Machpelah near Mamre, in the land of Canaan. This is the field Abraham purchased from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site. 31 Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried there, Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried there, and I buried Leah there. 32 The field and the cave in it were purchased from the Hittites.” 33 When Jacob had finished instructing his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and died. He was gathered to his people.

Jacob wanted to be buried with his ancestors.  You may ask, where is Rachel?  Why was his beloved wife not buried in the plot with the rest of the family?  Remember, she died in childbirth with Benjamin and was buried "on the way to Ephrath."

Why should we go to church?

So, this question has been posed twice in the last week and has been nagging at me every day for the last several days.  I am going to try and answer this question in a way that shows we SHOULD be going to church and why some of the reasons and excuses that are given are invalid even when the argument is compelling.

First off, I think many people (Christian and not) have an incorrect definition of what the church is.  The church is not a building.  It is not a place we go.  It is the gathering of believers.  It does not matter if we are in a building that is called a "church" or in a park or wherever.  Wherever the body of believers are gathered in the name of Christ, where they are worshiping and fellowshipping together is the church.  Also, the church can refer to a small gathering of believers or it can refer to the church as a whole (every Christian on the planet).  For this post, I will mostly be referring to a small gathering of believers.

The people who attend church are a bunch of hypocrites.
One of the most common reasons I hear of people not wanting to attend church is that the church if full of hypocrites.  Aren't we all hypocrites one way or another.  Haven't we all said things then turned around and did something completely different?  One BIG example of that is all the people who say murder is wrong, but then say a woman should be given a free choice about having an abortion.  I heard it summed up like this "The church is a hospital for the sinner, not a museum for the saints."  The ONLY place where no one sins and is not a hypocrite is in heaven.  And we only get there by the grace of God!

Matthew 9:9 As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office, and He said to him, “Follow Me!” So he got up and followed Him.
10 While He was reclining at the table in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came as guests to eat with Jesus and His disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
12 But when He heard this, He said, “Those who are well don’t need a doctor, but the sick do. 13 Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Here, Jesus calls Matthew, a tax collection (tax collections were hated and were often greedy and money hungry and often took more than they were required to line their own pockets).  When people see Jesus associating with a sinner, they immediately question, and get this response:  For I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.  If you do not sin, you do not need a savior.  Jesus did not come for you if you are already perfect.  Jesus came to make you perfect.  (Though we will not see that until heaven!)

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Every man is a sinner.  Every man who has ever lived (except Christ) has sinned.  So, is the church full of hypocrites?  Yes, absolutely.  However, the difference between a true Christian and a true hypocrite is that the Christian is trying to do something about it.  They are trying to live according to the will of God.  A true hypocrite does not.  In a true Christian, you will see changes and improvements over time, in a true hypocrite you will not.

I can have church at my own home, by myself.
Well, no, you can't.  You can worship at home, you are not a church by yourself.  The Bible is clear that you should be gathering with your fellow believers regularly.  The "church" makes this very convenient in that they have specific times where the body of believers gather so you can come together with fellow believers without having to plan it all yourself!

Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works, 25 not staying away from our worship meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

The purpose of coming together as a body of believers is to encourage one another, to promote love and good works.  How can you encourage your brothers and sisters while never visiting with them?  How can you promote love and good works if you are never there to help your fellow brothers and sisters in ministry? Christians need accountability.  God does not want us to do this alone.  He gave us brothers and sisters who care for us to help us on our journey and if we fail to meet with then regularly, then how are we to help them or how are they to help us when we have a time of need?

Another reason it is difficult to do church at home by ones self is that coming together with many different Christians can help you grow and mature in your understanding of scriptures.  If you are reading your Bible alone, you only have your thoughts.  By fellowshipping with other believers, you can learn more about different passages and learn of new connections and concepts.

I do not need to go to church to get to heaven.
This is the statement that really prompted all this.  While it is true, going to church does not save you, I feel that if you are a Christian, then you should WANT to go to church.  If you are a true believer, then the Lord should be your main focus in life.  You live for Him.  As Paul says in Philippians:

1:21 For me, living is Christ and dying is gain.

Where the church is gathered is where you should want to be.  If you have no desire to attend church, then I fear you may not be a Christian.  If you hate to go to church or it is too much of a hassle, then where are your priorities?  You are not focused on Christ, so what are you focused on?

I fear that many people do not know what it really means to be a Christian.  They feel that since they "said a prayer" or  believe they "are a good person" then they will get to heaven.  Well, being a Christian is more than saying a prayer and being a good person.  Having fire insurance does not mean you will not get burned!  Being a Christian is about having a personal relationship with God.  The church is God dwelling with man.  Yes, his spirit dwells with in each of us, but it is when we are all gathered together as one body of Christ that we can really see the love and power of God.  While you do not need church to get to heaven, you do need Christ.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now closing this post I want to add that this post is written to Christians.  If you are not a believer, then there is no reason for you to attend church.  Going to church does not save you or get you any brownie points with God.  Many "churches" get this wrong.  They plan services to bring in the sinners and save them, but what they should be doing is making disciples and sending them out to sinners.  God saves people where they are and brings them to the church to grow and change.