The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1963-04-19
Worship And Life
Lesson for April 81

There are two sides to re-
hgion. One side is shown when
a man enters his room and
shuts the door and speaks with
God alone. The other side is
seen when the man leaves his
room to take part as Chris
tan in the life. work and Serv-
ice which he shares with others.
On the one side of religion. in
its extreme form. a man for
gets about other people and
turns to God as if he were the
only other being in the universe.
On the other side of religion a
man deals with his fellow men
in devotion and sympathy. as if
they were alone in the universe.
One might say that one extreme
of religion is to deal with God
and forget man: the other ex-
IRENE is to deal with men and
forget God.
The kind of religion which is
called Christian. as well as our
mother religion Judaism, be-
leveS that each of these ex-
tremes is wrong. and that the
right truth is that the kind of
religion God desires and delights
in. combines both worship and
service.
Worship
The subject of these Bible
studies from now through June
is going to be the Psalms of the
Old Testament. Any attentive
reader of the Psalms will find
that they. like all the Bible for
that matter. look both ways ~
toward God in worship and to-
ward this life with its tasks and
troubles. Each of the Psalms
chosen for this week combines
these two sides of religion. Take
the First Psalm as a prime ex-
ample. At first glance it seems
to be all about man. 1t de-
scrlbes two kinds Of men. good
and bad The good man is com
pared to a great tree by a river
side: the bad man is like the
chaff blown from the threshing
floor on the hill. From the first
verse to the last, attention is
focused on these two men, the
freeman and the rubbiSh-man.
And yet a second glance will
show a third Person in the pic
ture: the LORD. The two men
are examined and judged in ref
erence to God,-in reference to
their relation to God and TO His
will.
Isn't it true that we often
judge men Wlthouth thought of
God? Isn't it true that we often
judge other things, events in ma
ture and in the human world,
without ever a thought of God?
The Psalm suggests that what
ever we look at can be seen
more truly if we see it in the
light of God.
If the first Psalm observes
conduct in the atmosphere and
light of religious faith and wor-
ship, the 18th Psalm observes a
WOrShipping man in the light OF
his conduct. The main point OF
Psalm Is is characteristic OF
both Old and New Testaments
You can't worship God Alright il
you are the wrong kind Of per.
son. You can't diSobey and dis
regard God six days a week and
make it up by going to church
on the seventh day. WorShippers
with what the PSalmiSt would
call dirty hands get nowhere
with God. Some of the most Sc
we're denunciationS in the Bible
are against those who make a
speciality of worship but have
forgotten to be just to their fel-
low men. The story of Cain is
a notable example. Cain and
Abel brought sacrifices to the
same God: God did not accept
the sacrifice of Cain - why?
He was not the kind Of man
whose sacrifices would be &C
ceptable.
The Place of Beauty
| So true worship and right hv-
ing blend into and support each
other. But there is another point
the Psalms suggest. The Psalms