{"id":1116,"date":"1994-09-29T07:45:03","date_gmt":"1994-09-29T07:45:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/september-qworshiping-worshipq\/"},"modified":"2015-01-15T21:08:22","modified_gmt":"2015-01-15T21:08:22","slug":"september-qworshiping-worshipq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/september-qworshiping-worshipq\/","title":{"rendered":"Worshiping Worship"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

We who defend Christianity find ourselves constantly opposed not by the irreligion of our hearers but by their real religion. Speak about beauty, truth and goodness, or about a God who is simply the indwelling principle of these three, speak about a great spiritual force pervading all things, a common mind of which we are all parts, a pool of generalised spirituality to which we can all flow, and you will command friendly interest. But the temperature drops as soon as you mention a God who has purposes and performs particular actions, who does one thing and not another, a concrete, choosing, commanding, prohibiting God with a determinate character.<\/span><\/p>\n

C. S. Lewis, Miracles<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It was Napoleon Bonaparte who said, \u2018\u2018If Socrates would enter the room we should rise and do him honor. But if Jesus Christ came into the room we should fall down on our knees and worship Him.\u2019\u2019\u00a0 Perhaps it is for that reason that we often find ourselves entirely uncomfortable in many of our fundamental or evangelical \u2018\u2018worship\u2019\u2019 services today. A. W. Tozer wrote (in God Tells the Man Who Cares), \u2018\u2018In the majority of our meetings there is scarcely a trace of reverent thought, no recognition of the unity of the body, little sense of the divine Presence, no moment of stillness, no solemnity, no wonder, no holy fear.\u2019\u2019 I think if Jesus Christ entered the sanctuary of most churches today He would get a standing ovation. It would be an atrocity!<\/p>\n

But as soon as this lack of reverence is mentioned we hear the pleadings of the defense mounting. In reality, they say, we have recovered worship. We have opened new doors for the expression of the spirit and created new ways in which to meet the needs of each participant.\u00a0 Our singing is made easier by electronic power so that it takes the least effort possible to \u2018\u2018make a joyful noise.\u2019\u2019 As a matter of fact, any average person can now be \u2018\u2018special music.\u2019\u2019 We have lessened the difference between the view inside and outside the sanctuary so that one may enter without realizing he has come to church. The times of services are shorter and much more convenient, the attire is totally unassuming and the message is tailor-made for the lowest common denominator. And to seal the defense, we have only to observe how comfortable the average person is and how good he feels being in our services which is evidenced by the numbers on the attendance board (\u2018\u2018I object!\u2019\u2019 Sustained. Scratch that last remark.).<\/p>\n

Some time ago, I heard that a music professor in a SBC seminary had studied contemporary church services and concluded that, in his opinion, most congregations were \u2018\u2018worshiping worship rather than worshiping God.\u2019\u2019 When I heard that (from one who was in his class) I thought to myself, that\u2019s it! That\u2019s the description of what I have experienced. In a worshiping worship service, everything is in the right place, carefully orchestrated, moments of wide-eyed laughter mixed with moments of closed-eyed sobbing, each mood change perfectly timed by the chorus leader to lead one moment to the next. But when it is finished, though you have stepped off a worshiping roller coaster, you are the same as before. But at least you are out in time to catch the kick-off (\u2018\u2018I object!\u2019\u2019 Sustained.)<\/p>\n

I am simply saying that to many people today it does not matter what the doctrine of the church is, what the church covenant may or may not ask, what the words of the music may actually say or even what the preacher preaches.\u00a0 If the mood is right and the feeling is good then the head can take a rest.\u00a0 And someone reading this right now may ask, “What’s wrong with that?”\u00a0 Because, then, worship is only for the worshiper’s sake, not for God.\u00a0 In that case we have no object to our worship other than ourselves.\u00a0 We become our only audience and we hope that God will find a way to enjoy it.<\/p>\n

Paul told the Athenians in Acts 17 that they were \u2018\u2018ignorantly\u2019\u2019 worshiping. They were worshiping! They were as sincere as any people could be. But they weren\u2019t worshiping God. The same is true of the woman with the spirit of divination in Acts 16 who followed Paul for three days crying, \u2018\u2018These are the men of the Most High God who show us the way of salvation.\u2019\u2019 A truer act of worship could not be had but she was not worshiping God and Paul cast a demon out of her. She was a pagan involved in Zeus worship originating at the oracle at Delphi. Pagans worship worship! They make statues out of wood and stone and devise more elaborate services than Benny Hinn could dream of in a life-time. And people are moved to tears. And offerings (\u2018\u2018Objection!\u2019\u2019 I withdraw the remark.)<\/p>\n

Modern pagans usually center their worship on happiness. Ralph Waldo Emerson, the son of a Unitarian minister and a product of literature\u2019s enlightened period, said, \u2018\u2018the happiest man he is who learns from nature the lesson of worship.\u2019\u2019 Similarly, Robert Louis Stevenson wrote, \u2018\u2018Do not forget that even as \u2018to work is to worship\u2019 so to be cheery is to worship also, and to be happy is the first step to being pious.\u2019\u2019 I say that these two, though literary giants, were content and happy to worship worship, but they were far from worshiping God. A speaker today, however, will impress more modern men by quoting Emerson and Stevenson than, by contrast, John Milton who, two centuries prior, wrote for a \u2018\u2018fit audience, though few.\u2019\u2019\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Gene Veith, writing about our post-modern age said, \u2018\u2018When writers (or speakers!) give their readers exactly what they want, the readers are seldom enriched. They hear only what they already know; their prejudices are confirmed, their weaknesses pandered to. The audience is entertained, but not challenged nor instructed. This is the weakness of so much postmodernist fiction. It may be scintillating, but it is ultimately trivial.\u2019\u2019 But worshiping worship worshipers are happy in this modern triviality. Tozer wrote, \u2018\u2018The Bible was written in tears and to tears it will yield its best treasures. God has nothing to say to the frivolous man.\u2019\u2019 He is not listening anyway, he is too busy worshiping.<\/p>\n

It is unfortunate that the word \u2018\u2018orthodox\u2019\u2019 has gained a negative connotation in regard to our services. Almost every time the word is used to describe a modern service it is with the prefix \u2018\u2018un.\u2019\u2019\u00a0 The style is \u2018\u2018unorthodox.\u2019\u2019 The music is \u2018\u2018unorthodox.\u2019\u2019 The message is \u2018\u2018unorthodox.\u2019\u2019 But the word \u2018\u2018orthodox\u2019\u2019 simply means \u2018\u2018correct praise.\u2019\u2019 Jesus insisted that we must worship God in orthodoxy, in \u2018\u2018spirit and truth.\u2019\u2019 It was because they had learned this lesson well that Jesus\u2019 followers insisted that they must \u2018\u2018please God rather than man\u2019\u2019 when faced with worship (\u2018\u2018objection!” Overruled!).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We who defend Christianity find ourselves constantly opposed not by the irreligion of our hearers but by their real religion. Speak about beauty, truth and goodness, or about a God who is simply the indwelling principle of these three, speak about a great spiritual force pervading all things, a common mind of which we are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[123,225],"tags":[151],"class_list":["post-1116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-featured","tag-worship-music"],"yoast_head":"\nWorshiping Worship - Aletheia Baptist Ministries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/september-qworshiping-worshipq\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Worshiping Worship - Aletheia Baptist Ministries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We who defend Christianity find ourselves constantly opposed not by the irreligion of our hearers but by their real religion. 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