Tag Archives: respect

Reverence

Literature, , , ,

by David E. Moss

There is quite a variety of worship styles these days – all the way from very quiet to very excited. Some prefer the more formal atmosphere while others insist that excitement during a worship service is much more appealing. The illustration is offered of a football game.

“If we can shout and cheer and jump up and down and wave our banners in support of a ball team, why shouldn’t we be just as excited about our salvation and our God?”

Is this analogy Biblically correct? If it is, we might have to ask the question then, “What about the tailgate parties before the game? Are our activities before worship like a tail gate party?” Unfortunately, I think they are. Our church auditoriums (or sanctuaries, if we can still call them sanctified places) are often as noisy five minutes before service time as a football stadium during warm-up exercises. I guess we are stirring up the adrenalin so we are ready for our sanctified cheers.

Our focus even in worship has become man centered rather than God centered.

I do not mean to belittle the sincere spiritual sacrifices that people offer to the Lord. My concern is not really one of volume or emotion. Both may very well have appropriate places in a worship context. My concern is one of motive and objectivity. It seems that even our worship has become man centered rather than God centered. So many aspects of worship that are excitable to human emotions are used not because God necessarily benefits from them, but because they help us feel good about ourselves and about what we are doing. On the other hand, what is it that God wants most from our worship?

Is worship about what we humans get out of it, or is worship about what we humans are giving to God?

This is the serious question we must consider: Is worship about what we humans get out of it, or is worship about what we humans are giving to God? The Hebrew word for worship, Shachah, means to “bow down” or “prostrate oneself before.” The Greek word, Proskuneo, means essentially the same thing. It even adds the humble imagery of the bowed individual kissing the hand in the same fashion a dog would lick the hand of his master. Noah Webster said way back in 1828 that worship was

“Chiefly and eminently, the act of paying divine honors to the Supreme Being; or the reverence and homage paid to him in religious exercises, consisting in adoration, confession, prayer, thanksgiving and the like.”

It appears to me that the predominant, if not the exclusive, thought in the concept of worship is giving – not getting.

Key Word

If there is one word that can summarize this for us, it is the word “REVERENCE.” Both the Hebrew and Greek concepts of reverence consist of fear, an overwhelming sense of awe, shamefacedness and bashfulness, none of which lends itself to the showmanship so often a part of contemporary “worship.” Psalm 89:7 says, God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and had in reverence of all them that are about him.

When we come together in one place as the Body of Christ, it is an opportunity for us to demonstrate the unity of our faith to Almighty God who deserves our corporate praise and adoration.

The antithesis to this key word is “ENTERTAINMENT.” As a society, we have become immersed in the desire to be entertained. Our heroes are those who can perform spectacular feats and thrill us with their talent or their courage. This has so completely been soaked up in the Christian community that the church with the greatest “show” gets the biggest crowd. We advertise our newest innovation in the Newspaper or on Radio vying for our portion of the floating congregation waiting to be teased with the most enticing “performance” of the week.

Confession of an Old-Fashioned Preacher

I have a confession to make. I happen to believe that the type of format we use for our Worship Services at the North Hills Bible Church is the kind of format conducive to reverent worship. I am committed to preserving this format. This includes the use of the old hymns that glow with reverence as well as doctrinal substance and wonderful harmony.

Granted, this is not very progressive. It may not be appealing to the unchurched masses and it may not be very entertaining.

But while I am confessing, let me go a step further. I believe it is wrong for the church to change so that we will be more attractive to people who are reluctant to attend church services. It ought to be the other way around. The church ought to be that place of stability, demonstrating the awesome unchangeableness of the Almighty whose name is holy and reverend (Psalm 111:9): to which wayward souls pursuing the restless and unfulfilling pleasures of the flesh can turn for refuge. Instead, the church has chosen to appeal to those same useless instincts of the flesh to draw the unsuspecting in hopes of capturing their hearts.

Conclusion

When we come to church on Sunday, it ought to be our desire that God receive the greatest benefit from all that transpires. Let me suggest some ways we can work to this end.

  1. Begin preparing for worship on Saturday. Pray throughout the day for cleansing so that you can be a vessel capable of beautiful sounds on the Lord’s day. Saturday evening, think about what you will be doing the next day and ask God to prepare you.
  2. Set your alarm early enough for Sunday morning so that you do not have to be frustrated by the rushof getting ready on time. During that pre-church time, concentrate on the worship that is to come and practice spiritual Christian character toward everyone with whom you have contact.
  3. Between Sunday School and church, practice quietness. Go into the auditorium, be seated quietly, read over the Scripture passage for the morning and pray.

Then, when it is time to worship, you may be surprised at the high level of emotion within you. But it will be different – selfless, giving, adoring, reverent. You may discover real fulfillment for the very first time.

Old-Fashioned Church

Literature, , ,

by David E. Moss

An old Doonesbury comic strip portrayed a conversation between one of the characters and a Minister:

Man: “So how’d your new church get started Rev.?”

Minister: “Aerobics.”

Man: “Aerobics?”

Minister: “I needed something to attract folks from the community. The focus group suggested an aerobics class. It worked, so I added yoga and bingo, and then a few 12-step programs, and then we opened a soup kitchen, which led to cooking lessons. Before I knew it, I had my own denomination.”

Man: “Wow… so that’s how religion spreads.”

Before you dismiss this as a mere spoof on the church, consider this. In the early 1970’s, a young man and three friends conducted a door-to-door survey “to find out what people wanted in a church.” With results in hand, they began to construct a church based upon the opinions and interests of unchurched people. This was the beginning of a dramatic change in the way churches “minister” to their communities. With a theater-like atmosphere, and a come-as-you-are invitation, church services are becoming more like television variety shows. This is necessary, it is argued, because traditional forms of worship have become boring and predictable and consequently do not appeal to people where they are.

The flaw in this philosophy is in believing that what goes on inside the church should be driven by the experience of people outside the church. Worship, they say, should include elements of daily cultural experience so that people can relate to a spiritual message in a context they understand.

Proponents of these changes are the ones who do not understand. What good is a church that is patterned after the world? The church should be a place that stands in stark contrast to the world, offering itself as a refuge from all that is wrong. Instead, it is becoming a place in which each person who attends can find some element of compatibility with his personal experience.

  1. The Culture Gospel

    Nearly a century ago, Christians were concerned about the Social Gospel. Instead of being a light house for lost souls, the Church became a soup kitchen.

    Now, in the latter part of the 20th century, Christians need to become concerned about the Culture Gospel. Instead of being an oasis for the spiritually desperate, the Church is becoming a play house of cultural relevancy.

    Traditional forms of worship are disappearing as if they were dinosaurs. An atmosphere of reverence is nearly extinct. An expectation that people attend church services dressed respectfully for the occasion is frowned upon as archaic and old fashioned — as if there is something wrong with being old fashioned.

    Popular wisdom prescribes observing the cultural elements of people’s daily experience, transcribing them into a liturgical format, and presenting a Christian message in a vernacular setting. The more diverse the demographics of the community, the more diverse “worship” becomes. Something must be included to appeal to every segment of society. Baby Boomers, Generation X, Singles, ethnics, and an infinite list of other special interest groups become targets with new innovations. The activities of “worship” are fabricated with great sensitivity to all the people who may enter the refurbished halls of the Church.

    There is a very simple explanation for this phenomenon. The Church used to be focused on God. Now, it is focused on itself.

  2. Real Worship

    Traditional forms of worship are being discarded because of a misconception about their origins. The movement of Multiculturalism contends that European culture is oppressive and chauvinistic, preventing the free expression of other cultures. The carry-over into Christianity leads to a claim that traditional forms of worship are too restrictive because they originated within European culture. The conclusion is that they must be replaced with forms of worship that are more culturally inclusive.

    If truth be told, traditional forms of worship are not rooted in culture at all. It is mere coincidence that they were developed in a European cultural context.

    Traditional forms of worship are actually based upon a set of beliefs. 1. God is holy. 2. Those who approach God should do so in a manner which acknowledges His holiness. 3. This requires reverence, respect, order, mannerliness and a decorum honoring the station of Godliness. 4. Worship is the act of approaching God. 5. Therefore, worship is a sacred activity in which man conducts himself appropriate to the occasion.

    The effect of this is to bring people from all cultures into a uniform approach to the Almighty. Culture becomes irrelevant in worship because worship has nothing to do with where man is, and everything to do with where God is. The objective of worship is not to help man find himself, but to help man find God.

    1. Respect

      Respect is a primary ingredient of worship. It is demonstrated by attitude and appearance.

      One should enter a church service quietly and thoughtfully. This is so, not because the building is a hallowed place on the order of the Old Testament Temple, but because the gathering of the believers for the purpose of worship is a hallowed occasion.

      One should also dress appropriately for such an important event. Clothes communicate our attitude toward our activities. In the secular world people dress up for appropriate occasions. Business men wear suits to work, women wear evening gowns to banquets, and teens rent formal wear for graduation parties. But along comes the church with an invitation for people to attend the most sacred activity imaginable, dressed in clothes more suitable for the playground.

    2. Reverence

      Reverence is another primary ingredient of worship. It is demonstrated by our conduct.

      A worship service should be characterized by activity that shows the Lord God, our Heavenly Father, we understand who He is. One’s deportment in worship should communicate a reverence for the importance of the person to whom sacrifices of praise are being made.

      Entertaining ourselves ought to be the furtherest thing from our minds in a worship service. Sensuous music, lewd gyrations, hilarity and applause have absolutely no value in reverencing a holy and sacred God. They are totally man-centered activities. Worship should be completely focused upon the Lord God.

  3. Old-Fashioned Church

    There is a great deal of pressure on local churches to conform to the new ways. Not only is there competition from the secular world of entertainment, now churches are competing to create the most effective appeal to a demanding, self-indulgent community.

    In spite of this, there may yet be a place in each community for a local church that will resist this tidal wave and maintain an old fashioned form of worship. It can be an oasis for those who are being strangled by the crassness of man-centered worship. It can be a gathering place for the remnant who desire to acknowledge the real God in a worship format that is not based upon a cultural experience, but upon a set of doctrinal convictions. It can be a refuge for those who want to rest in all that God is, instead of relishing in all that man can do. It can be a quiet place of worship, where a soul can rest with other weary pilgrims and escape the disconcerting noise of a confused and disorderly world.

Conclusion

This may sound out of touch. It is. It is out of touch with the wisdom that descends not from above, but is earthly, sensual, and devilish.

But this is in touch with the wisdom that is from above. Such wisdom is first, above all things, pure. It is only with this wisdom that the Church can offer worship to God that is truly acceptable to Him.

The people of every local church face this decision. Will they give in to the demands of a group of people who are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God? Or, will they stay the course, maintain respect and reverence in their worship, and think first about God and last about themselves? Will they be a modern innovation with a man-centered priority, or, will they be an old fashioned church with one simple objective — approach God on His terms, rather than their own?