Your Seat in Church Is a Seat in Heaven – Keep The Faith ® The UK's Black and multi-ethnic Christian magazine

"Black and Multi-ethnic Christianity" Magazine

The dark wooden stools and red cushions in my church may be 30 or 40 years old, about as old as the congregation. Hymns and bibles are placed on a shelf by the carpet. Holes cut in the wood can accommodate groups of four discarded communion cups.

After many years of use, many benches get scratched, and some even loosen from their holders to the floor. Our seats are familiar, but like the sagging sofas I bought on Craigslist before TV, they are not particularly noteworthy.

For the rest of my life, I belonged to churches with century-old antique benches and churches with vinyl-covered stacked chairs (circa 1970). I have also participated in the purchase of a new church many times. seat. In these churches, the building committee will bring a variety of chairs and single-size Pew sections into the church for members to try. After worship, we will take turns to perch on the sample, arrange the Bible and notebook below, and stand in the imaginary hymn singing. We will comment on the height and width, pay attention to the level of back support, and make suggestions on colors and fabrics. We want to make sure we have a good seat.

Nowadays, elongated benches and social distancing may mean you are sitting in a different place on Sunday, but even your new location may eventually become familiar. And, whether your church has historic seats, custom seats or metal folding chairs, you have more seats in the church than it looks. It is not just a place to put the Bible and greet friends. It is even more than where you often worship with ten, one hundred, or one thousand members of the local church.

If you belong to Christ, then your seat in the church is not just a seat in the church. This is the seat of heaven.

Your seat in the church is not just a seat in the church. This is the seat of heaven.

Hear how the author of Hebrews describes the churches gathered for worship:

You come to Mount Zion, the city of the eternal God, the Jerusalem of heaven, the countless angels who attended the gathering, the eldest sons who came to heaven, and God the judge of all nations, the spirit of the righteous becomes perfect, the mediator of the new covenant Jesus, the sown blood is better than Abel's blood. (12: 22-24)

In these verses, we see that worship of the church brings us to a glorious place. There is no doubt that the Old Testament temple is an admirable and awesome place-carved cedar walls, gold altars, olive wood doors and polished bronze basins (see 

). But the author of Hebrews told us that when we went to the local church to worship, we came to a more outstanding place. We came to "Mount Zion and the City of the Living God, the Jerusalem of Heaven" (

).

The worship of the church brings us into heaven itself. Just like the embassy buildings of foreign countries, their headquarters are located on the soil that actually belongs to their home country, and local churches gather to enshrine the heaven on earth. As a citizen of heaven (

) And the king’s subjects, the church can rightly be called the colony of heaven.

Second, we see that worship makes us glorious companions. Although they look ordinary from the outside, the names of members of our local church are written in heaven (

). However, it is not only these ordinary and extraordinary saints who have joined our worship. When we convened the church, we joined the whole heaven. The author of Hebrews wrote: "You have come, the countless angels who have come to the assembly... Sign up for the eldest son meeting in heaven... To God... to the spirit of the righteous, to Jesus" (12:22) -twenty four).

When I sit in the fifth row of seats, I rarely think of angels. However, they think a lot about our worship (see 

; 

). In fact, "every festival has countless angels participating" (every Sunday

If Jehovah opens our eyes for one second, we will be like Elisha’s servants, surprised and encouraged by the brigade of "people with us" (

). They are happy with the preaching (

), when the sinner repents and believes because of it (

) And prove that even the weakest Christians (

). The angel is ordered by Christ to serve his beloved child so that the angel will never miss the worship event (see 

Our worship meeting not only welcomes angels, but also includes worshipers of all true gods in every previous age. "Participate in the convention of the eldest son in heaven" and "the spirit of the righteous makes perfect"

) Join us and provide us with simple and text-filled worship in a seat familiar to our ordinary church. Just like those who love and worship God while living on earth, "the perfection of the righteous" is the "witness cloud" (

) In our service, it proves the greatness of the one we worship. By faith, when they worship on chairs and benches like ours, they know that he is worthy. Now they claim that he is visually worthy (

When you enter a half-empty shelter on a rainy Sunday night, please encourage! This meeting seemed small and trivial; in reality, it was full of people who worshiped God endlessly.

Worshiping with the dead saints and angels in the sky is as encouraging, 

 Provide greater encouragement for our company worship. Not only are there countless created creatures filling our seats, but God himself is also there.

Not only are there countless heavens on our seats, but God himself is also there.

The "Judge of the Gods" accepts our usual worship every week, and "Jesus, the mediator of the New Testament" completes our trivial praise (

). We worship God only through the work of Christ, our mediator, so Christ must be with us in every service.

He assured us that even in a "two or three" gathering (a very small gathering, we might try to cancel the service altogether), he was there (

). It was the same Jesus, who had left the disciples physically, but was with them because of his spirit (

) Appear in the worship activities of all those who visit his name.

Jesus’ atoning work makes our prayers and praises acceptable to God, his presence encourages our weak faith, and his voice leads our singing. 

 Jesus quoted Jesus as saying: "I want to tell my brothers your name: in the congregation, I want to sing your praise." (verse 12) No matter how ordinary our congregation singing is, it is not to God. It is a priceless treasure, because the Son himself is our worship leader, and our voice is strengthened and beautified by his worship. As a puritan 

, "Christ takes our hand" brings us into company worship.

Dear Christians, in view of these glorious realities, please don’t give up church services (

). Be there when you are happy (

). When you face the big test, be there like Christ himself (

). When you feel tired and suspicious, be there.

Listen to and preach the word of God, sing the song that God’s people have been singing, pray with you, ascend to the throne of God, eat bread and wine, and witness the water of baptism. There is no other place on earth to approach heaven.

There is no other place on earth to approach heaven.

A few years ago, one of our church mothers underwent major surgery. The operation that should have kept her in the hospital for a few days kept her there for several weeks. One complication led to another complication, and the doctor was confused as to why her originally healthy body seemed unable to recover.

Every Sunday, the rest of us go to worship and sadly notice the empty seat on the right front. We sang, but she didn't hear any notes. We prayed, but she did not utter the "Amen" voice; we received the sermons that had been read and preached, but she was no longer there, and whispered her consent. We took the bread and wine, her part has not been moved.

Week after week, she was not there. Then she is. The elder stood up and called the church to worship. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her in her usual place. She was endlessly exhausted in the hospital bed and suffered severe injuries from multiple operations, but she was there-singing, praying, listening and receiving. She opened the Bible on her lap and nodded as the pastor preached. That Sunday, the room became very full again, everyone was in her place, and each of us contributed to the whole thing. Our ordinary local church worshiped together, and the whole heaven also joined us.

The necessary places have been marked

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