Did You Ask Him to Worship With You?

 Bobby K. Thompson

We might not feel we can accomplish great tasks, but there is something all of us can do. We can invite those with whom we have contact during the week to worship with us on the Lord’s day. This certainly does not require a great deal of effort and the ability to invite others is within the capability of all of us. There is power in suggestion and suggesting that one worship with you may bring about wonderful results. We should never underrate the power of suggestion. Think about the suggestion that the captive maid made regarding a prophet in Samaria who could heal Naaman of his leprosy. “And she said unto her mistress, Would God my Lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! For he would recover him of his leprosy” (2 Kings 5:3). This suggestion set the wheels in motion that eventually led to the healing of Naaman, who was a leper. I personally have known of a simple invitation to worship that was accepted and in time brought about a conversion of a precious soul to Christ. The prevalent attitude of many is that it will do no good to invite another to worship with them. With most people, the invitation will be ignored, but that should not keep us from continuing to make the effort. To feel it will do no good is to admit defeat! That is just exactly what Satan desires for all of God’s children to feel.

Rather than thinking of inviting someone to worship with us, we have thoughts and actions that often conflict with our doing so. On numerous occasions, I have mentioned the account of a Christian boasting about how he with anger spoke to an individual and as he described it, “telling him off and putting the person in his place.” They took delight in relating the circumstances. A Christian hearing what was said calmly made the observation: “In the scenario, did you invite the person to worship with you on Sunday?” You know the answer! That was no doubt the farthest from the mind of the person speaking in anger. The concern was for telling the person off without any thought of his spiritual welfare. The moral of this story is that we should labor to keep our behavior in such a manner that it might be consistent with us inviting others to worship with us. Think of the statement made by Paul in Galatians 2:20: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Again from Philippians: “According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body whether it be by life or by death” (Philippians 1:20). He speaks of magnifying Christ in his body. We should strive to live in such a way that others can see Christ in us. We should live in such a way that our behavior would be consistent with asking someone to worship with us. We may gloat in having told someone off, but something else usually happens. We have turned someone off in influencing that one to worship with us, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

A young Christian was stopped for a traffic violation. You may be assured that this was not a joyful incident in her day’s activity. No one gets a thrill at being apprehended for a traffic violation. When the officer gave her the citation, she was humble and apologetic. She knew that she was wrong and accepted the consequences. When she received the ticket, she replied by giving the officer an invitation to attend a gospel meeting that was in progress. Who would have thought of her at such a time doing this? But she did it! Guess what followed? The officer accepted the invitation and came to the meeting. It wasn’t long until he and his family were converted to Christ. This happened because a Christian thought of a person’s soul and acted in such a way in a trying circumstance to adorn the gospel. What if she had angrily told the officer off and acted in an unbecoming manner? Doubtlessly, in such a mood she would never thought of inviting him to attend the meeting. Furthermore, what would he have thought of one behaving in such a manner as being spiritually minded? “Only let your conversation be as becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27).

A couple was in close embrace dancing in the nightclub. The girl asked the boy if he were a Christian. He replied in the negative and added, “If I were a Christian, I would not be here doing this.” If Christians were being arrested, would there be enough evidence in your life to find you guilty? We need to keep our lives pure that we can consistently show that Jesus dwells within us and invite others to worship with us!

From The Old Hickory Bulletin, Jackson, TN