Altars

December 7, 2006

By Gary Rogers

A group of third-year pastoral ministry students came by our church recently. Part of their class assignment is to visit churches, interview the pastors, be exposed to the different ministries of the churches, and then write a paper about those experiences.

One of the students raised his hand and very politely asked, “What are those?”

He was pointing toward the front of the church near where I was standing.

“Are you talking about these?” I laid my hand on our altar, questioning if that was the object of his question.

“Yes, what is that bench?”

“These are altars!”

His question made me reevaluate this piece of furniture in our church. It is good to be put on the spot and be challenged to answer such questions. “What are those benches?” “Should we have them in the church?” “Are they of any value?” “Do they still have a purpose?” “Are they outdated relics from the past?” “Are they religious ornaments that have no real spiritual value?” “Are they part of a tradition that needs to be removed and forgotten?”

A Bible study of the word “altar” shows it appears approximately 378 times in the New King James Version. Consider these references in which God speaks about the altar from a possessive position.

“An altar of earth you shall make for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I record My name I will come to you, and I will bless you. And if you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you use your tool on it, you have profaned it” (Exodus 20:24,25, NKJV).

“Also the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the LORD, to serve Him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be His servants — everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and holds fast My covenant — even them I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations” (Isaiah 56:6,7).

We need a good, honest, God-directed view of the altar. I believe an altar is a place where man and God meet. It is a place reserved for the purpose of pursuing Jesus. It is a place where the focus narrows to making contact with God.

Now the question is, “Is that piece of furniture in the front of our church the only place this can happen?” Thank God the answer is obvious. Thank God we can meet with Him at an altar in our home, workplace, school, the mountains of Colorado, or the woods of Tahlequah, Okla. We can meet with God without the aid of any piece of furniture.

Then the question would be, “Well why have them?”

I believe it is good to have a place in church designed for seeking after God. The Lord is doing such a stirring work in my heart right now, and part of the stirring has me looking at our altars.

In my personal walk with God, time and time again I have met Jesus at the altar. I’ve been afraid of the altar. I’ve avoided the altar. I’ve tried to ignore the altar. But I overcame every barrier and made it to the altar. Over and over again, once I made it to the altar I’ve had a special encounter with Jesus.

My life has been changed at that bench which has sat at the front of every church I’ve attended. I personally believe there is still a place at the front of the church where a wooden bench should sit and invite hurting souls to deeper intimacy with God.

Gary Rogers is senior pastor of First Assembly of God in Coweta, Okla.