The Lord Wants Pure Worship

Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the merchants and their customers. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the stalls of those selling doves. He said, "The Scriptures declare, 'My Temple will be called a place of prayer,' but you have turned it into a den of thieves!" (Matthew 21:12-13)(NLT)


In an outburst of righteous anger, Jesus chased the merchants and money changers out of the Temple. They had been defiling the Temple by turning it into a marketplace and cheating those who had come to make offerings. Jesus' rebuke of such sinful Temple practices reminds us to guard our own worship against corruption. We must always keep God and his desires at the center of worship and never allow other motives to lead us astray.


HOLY GOD, thank you for calling and enabling us to worship you. Forgive us when we corrupt our worship with selfish motives, and give us the desire to please you. Amen.

(from the Praise and Worship Study Bible)

A Prayer of Repentance

O Lord, help us to turn and seek you; for you have not forsaken your creatures as we have forsaken you, our Creator. Let us turn and seek you, for we know you are here in our heart when we confess to you, when we cast ourselves upon you and weep in your bosom after all our rugged ways; and you gently wipe away our tears, and we weep more for joy; for you, Lord, who made us, do remake and comfort us.

-Saint Augustine (354-430)

God Accepts Genuine Worship

When Phinehas the priest and the high officials heard this from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, they were satisfied. Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, replied to them, "Today we know the Lord is among us because you have not sinned against the Lord as we thought. Instead, you have rescued Israel from being destroyed by the Lord." (Joshua 22:30-31)(NLT)

Israel's three tribes that lived east of the Jordan river built an altar at the edge of the Promised Land, just west of the river. This altar was not intended to separate the tribes but rather to bear witness that all the tribes served the same God. Still, there was misunderstanding. So it is today. Sometimes misunderstandings over worship practices can cause God's people to become divided. Even when the Lord is genuinely worshiped by several groups, disputes can flare up. Let us follow Israel's wise example and recognize that the Lord accepts genuine worship from his people even though it may be different from other believers' worship.

O GOD, you delight in all who worship you with pure hearts. We confess that many times we have allowed differing styles of worship to divide your church. Purify our heart so that we might offer worship that pleases you. We thank you for the diversity of your people, which opens our eyes to a greater vision of you. Amen.

(from the Praise and Worship Study Bible)

A Prayer for a Steadfast Heart

Give us, O Lord, a steadfast heart, which no unworthy affection may drag downward; give us an unconquered heart, which no tribulation can wear out; give us an upright heart, which no unworthy purpose may tempt aside. Bestow upon us also, O Lord our God, understanding to know you, diligence to seek you, wisdom to find you, and a faithfulness that may finally embrace you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

--Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)

Captain of Our Souls

One day Jesus said to his disciples, "Let's go over to the other side of the lake." So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Master, Master, we're going to drown!" He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. (Luke 8:22-24)(NIV84)

"What a blessed thing it is to have Him with us on our voyage across life's sea! There is, however, something even more blessed. It seems to me that the disciples said as it were: "Here is where we can do without His help....We certainly know more about seafaring than He does...so we'll just fix a nice, comfortable spot, here at the stern of the boat, and let Him have a much needed sleep." And so they did. They were having Him with them alright, but only as a passenger. They had yet to learn that He must be the Captain..."All went well with the disciples, and they got on splendidly without Him while the sea was smooth...That is why God sent the storm. ...The storm drove the disciples to Him" (Van Ryn).

Out of the night that covered me

Freed from the fear of sin's dark scroll;

I thank my Savior, for 'twas He

Rescued for aye my precious soul.

Caught in the storms of circumstance,

I oft have winced and cried aloud,

Yet e'er His mighty, loving hands,

Have calmed the soul before Him bowed.

Amid life's sea of bitter tears,

His words of hope, like beacons, stand;

And how His love my being cheers,

As on I sail to Glory-land;

It matters not how soon the end,

My bark will safely reach its goal.

Christ is my Pilot, Master, Friend,

He is the Captain of my soul!

(devotional by Dr. J. Howard Goddard)

The Path of Self-Control

"He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city...broken down" (Proverbs 25:28)


"He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city" (Prov. 16:32).

The Christian experience of salvation does not destroy personality or shrink personal responsibility. The Baptist said, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30). But he did not mean that he, himself, was to act less and less like a man and more and more like a thing without a mind or a will. He was talking about the limelight. When Christ comes into the life, the truly converted want Him to be seen. That is what it means for Him to increase. He will increase in visibility in our lives as we more and more learn to be full men. The least gift that Christ can give is salvation. He wants to give us much, much more than a new birth, even a new life.

All human beings should practice self-control. But Christians must do it or pay a terrible price in blessings missed. Self-discipline is essential to godly living. There are probably more failures in God's service for this reason than for any other.

The intelligent self-control possible to the believer is synonymous with a Christ-regulated life or a Spirit-filled life. None of these terms contradicts or rules out the others.

There is no victory possible to us that is as great as victory over our tendency toward undisciplined living.

"Self-government is indeed, the noblest rule on earth; the object of a loftier ambition than the possession of crowns or scepters. The truest conquest is when the soul is bringing every thought into captivity to Christ. The monarch of his own mind is the only real potentate."---Caird

Out of myself into Him I adore,

There to abide in His love evermore;

Through endless ages His glory to see,

My Jesus has lifted me!

---Avis B. Christiansen

(Rev. Roger J. Andrus)

A Prayer to Be Used by God

Lord, help us to love you; teach us to serve you. Give us your strength that we may overcome our corrupt nature. Grant this day that we may have power from on high to resist every temptation; to confess Christ before men and women; to labor steadfastly with a single eye to your glory; to live in the spirit of prayer, in faith, humility, self-denial, and love; and to walk before you in that narrow way that leads to eternal life. Fill us with love for others. Teach us to do good to all people, to visit and relieve the fatherless and the widows in their affliction. Lord, for your name's sake, hear us. Amen.

--Edward Bickersteth (1786-1850)

The Path of Anger

"A man of great wrath shall suffer punishment" (Proverbs 19:19)


The man of habitual temper is both sick and sinful. He has developed a pattern of behavior and in a sense he has done it deliberately. Good psychology and good theology both hold him responsible. No one angers us. We respond to people and situations by taking a position or attitude of anger.

Along with fear, frustration, and guilt, anger (or temper, as it should be called) is one of the prominent causes of emotional and mental illness. Seldom is any neurosis simple. Usually it is somewhat complex. And nearly always anger is part of the complex cause. It is always foolish to court sickness, and temper is no exception. "Anger resteth in the bosom of fools" (Eccl. 7:9). That means that a wise man will seek help from God to control his feelings, he will never deliberately promote a "habit of temper."

The man of temper is in line for both trouble and punishment. "A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife" (Prov. 15:18).

The last half of our text warns us that "if thou deliver him, yet thou must do it again." He gets into trouble and if you come along and get him out of it, you haven't really helped because he will just get angry again in a few minutes and get into more trouble. His real trouble is not the trouble that comes to him because he has shown anger promiscuously. His real trouble is his anger itself. He needs deliverance from his temper. In other words, he needs salvation and a new nature with a new set of attitudes and new emotional patterns.

"The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression" (Prov. 19:11).

"Put off...anger" (Col. 3:8).

(Rev. Roger J. Andrus)

The Path of Understanding

"Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding" (Prov. 9:6)


The Path of Understanding

Wisdom calls and folly calls.
Both call to the "simple" (Prov. 9:4,16).
Wisdom says, "Come, eat of my bread" (9:5).
Folly says, "Turn in hither...bread eaten in secret is pleasant" (9:16,17).


Understanding begins where wisdom begins. "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding" (9:10). We enter the path of understanding when we receive the Word of God to be the Word of God, with all that that implies. Some knowledge is delightful, some is useful, but knowledge of things holy is essential to true understanding of ourselves and our environment.

This is the age of psychology with its emphasis on insights. This path of understanding of which our text speaks is a path of truest insights. It leads to genuine self-understanding. The instructed believer is not a simpleton nor a fool going blindly he knows not where. He knows his origin as a creature of God who was taken into sin by his first father. He knows his position as a redeemed child of God including the privileges of His household. And, he also knows his eternal future with its unlimited opportunities of personal growth and development. Maturation has begun.

Understanding is also social, that is, the believer grows into an understanding of others. In learning the things of God, and understanding himself in great measure, his strengths and his weaknesses, he is prepared for a realistic relationship to others. He knows them not as completely "other" but as bone of his bone. He understands them because they are so much like himself. And knowing and understanding he cares.

The path of understanding brings glory to God and good to man. "For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased" (Prov. 9:11).

(Rev. Roger J. Andrus)

The Path of Life

"Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, [the tempter's] ways are moveable" (Prov. 5:6)

The Path of Life

The path of life is a Bible-centered life. "He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction" (Prov. 10:17). It stands written, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matt. 4:4).

Feeding on the Word of God we avoid the path of the tempter.  In this fifth chapter, as in the Proverbs generally, the tempter is a temptress, a "strange woman." "Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house" (5:8). We will not needlessly expose ourselves to any temptation or device of Satan. "Shun evil companions."

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet. 5:8).

The path of life is also a path of obedience to God. "For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings" (Prov. 5:21).

Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth (Prov. 5:7).

Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet

Or we'll walk by His side in the way;

What He says we will do, where He sends we will go,

Never fear, only trust and obey.

--J. H. Sammis

Further, the path of life is one of satisfaction. It is the richest life possible. "Drink waters our of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well" (Prov. 5:15).

"I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life" (Deut. 30:19).

(by Rev. Roger J. Andrus)