Do This. Don't Do That.
Can't you read the sign? Sorry...'70's music reference.We talked about Hezekiah and the reinstitution of Passover this morning. I love that story for lots of different reasons (II Chronicles 30, go read it, it's good). Today we focused on how, even though the people didn't follow all of the rules correctly, God recognized what was in their hearts. We compared this to our worship services today and I asked the question, "Are there right and wrong ways to worship?" We talked about how our worship practices have changed over the years, focusing on Communion and how differently we take it now. Everyone laughed and enjoyed reminiscing about how things change. But then, as we talked about what else might be done differently in the future, you could see some people tensing up, the atmosphere becoming slightly more brittle. Somebody mentioned that everybody has different boundaries of what's okay and what's not. Sombody else said that we need to be careful not to offend our brothers and sisters. But nobody really answered the question...if our heart is right, is there a wrong way to worship?"
I have to confess that I'm very tired of worrying about offending people through worship practices. Part of that is impatience...the progress we make is so painfully slow. But part of it is also that in paying so much attention to those who we are afraid of offending, we pay little or no attention to those who are missing out on a genuine experience with God. We rely on tradition so nobody will get hurt, but where are our hearts? There's an old saying: God hates a coward.
I believe that we must be sensitive to each other and move forward with prayer and love and careful communication. I also believe that God has put us under a covenant of love and grace. The more authentic experiences of genuine worship we have, the closer to Him we grow.
I believe that God knows what is in our hearts.
posted by Thurman8er @ 1:06 PM
3 Comments:
Thanks for writing, Steve, and for taking the time to teach meaningful Bible classes.
If the heart is right… The question could be posed another way: Does a heart that’s right desire to worship in any way it decides (no limits) or might a heart that’s right also look to God and see if there is a way to worship Him that pleases more than another way, and therefore limit itself before God?
Hezekiah prayed for a people who needed to be healed and who had forgotten one of the mighty acts of God. He did not set a precedent for any specific form of worship, i.e. everyone could forget all of the purification laws before eating Passover. His actions revealed his heart, and the heart of God.
When Jesus met the Samaritan woman and spoke of worship, while opening the way to true adoration, he also revealed that her people worshiped what they did not know. Her heart was, or became, definitely right through her encounter with the Messiah. Her worship had been, perhaps, sincere, but off target.
My Orthodox friends worship God through an ancient language they don’t understand. Their heart may be right as far as motivation and sincerity are concerned, but as far as knowledge (praying with the mind and spirit) they are off target, and could offer more acceptable worship. Healing is available to them as to the Ancient People of God. At the same time, there is a better way.
BTW, I am absolutely convinced that God loves cowards. He’s spent a lot of energy bringing out the best in us guys throughout history.
I'm with Brady in expressing appreciation for the effort and thought you put into writing, teaching and preaching.
I'm so tired of the worship wars. I'm so tired of what the pursuit has become and what it has left behind in it's wake.
We are selfish people that are not content with personal expression. No, we must insist that everyone expresses the way we do or else.
I hear you calling us to embrace the ideal, a community of grace bound by a covenant of love that allows freedom to make mistakes.
I hope those in your class hear and respond to that call.
Hello my “Mathematical Brother.” What a timely blog. At my home church yesterday, we did something different during the Lord’s Supper. While the men were passing out the Bread and then the “wine,” (southern English code word for grape juice) we played a tape of an acapella song.
Most people came up to me afterwards and said that the music helped them to filter out the usual distractions and really concentrate on what the Lord had done for all of us through his death.
And then there were a few folks who told me that we were messing with something that God had ordained! I asked these individuals if they really believed that the way that we “normally” (men standing in front of a congregation in a church building, behind a table, some wearing ties) observed the Lord’s Supper was exactly the same way as “they” did in the First Century, at what ever location in the First Century world they wanted to choose. Believe it or not, most said “yes.”
As a good teacher might say, “We have some remediation to do on the brethren.”
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