One of the great tragedies of our modern American Christian culture is we have totally lost the sight of God in regard to worship. We no longer do things the way God wants them to be done but rather how we’d prefer to have them. In a way, we have turned our Sunday services into something little different than the pagan rituals of the Ancient Near East, where we seek to “appease a god” with our works, our singing, and our words (messages). We seek church congregations that offer what we are looking for and for what will satisfy our wishes and desires. Then if the church no longer provides that, we leave and move on.
I was raised in a home that taught loyalty. When you went to a church or a job or a ministry, you stuck with it until it was clear you were to move on. I have been part of 4 churches in my life now and don’t even know the beginning of how to go about church hunting. I’ve been at my current church for about a year now, and I love it. We are called “The Old Paths Christian Church.” This church, after seeing all the modernized attempts to be “seeker-friendly,” decided to go back to the old ways of doing things and get back to being what God wants us to do.
Now, God is not so specific that you have to do absolutely everything the exact same way in a legalistic manner no matter the time, culture, or language, but at the same time He does have guidelines on what genuine faith, genuine worship, and genuine religion are to look like. When Jesus spoke with the woman at the well, she complained that everyone had to go to Jerusalem to worship whereas she, as a Samaritan, had been raised that you could worship God on the mountains (the high places where the golden calves of Jeroboam were placed). Jesus said the day would come where both Jew and Samaritan could worship in spirit and truth. The problem today is that we have taken the first part of this teaching (worshiping in spirit) but we often ignore the truth part.
When I was on the mission field, we had a team from Houston, TX that was from a very legalistic church. Every boy wore a tie, and every girl wore a dress, regardless of the circumstance. As a staff, we debated if we would do the same just so we would not offend them. They were offended by the training videos we used because they had a guitar for background music. They wanted only organs for music. We actually thought they would not come, but they did. When they came out of that week, they learned that it was possible to worship God in a different way than they were used to and even if it wasn’t their preference, that it was okay to not do things exactly that way. It turned out, many from that team soon left that church.
Legalism is definitely not the way to go regarding living the Christian life, but neither is its equal and opposite twin: antinomianism. While legalism would say, “You have to absolutely everything exactly my way,” antinomianism would say, “You can do whatever you want to do.” Both extremes are very dangerous. When a man began doing ministry using Jesus’ name, the disciples wanted him to stop because he wasn’t “one of them.” Jesus said, “This guy is acting in faith and believes Me. Don’t stop him. He’s on our side.” The disciples were an example of legalism. We often think of the Pharisees for their legalistic approach, however Jesus rarely chided them for legalism. Rather, He chided them for hypocrisy. In their attempt to over-control things so people would not sin, they themselves frequently did not do the very things they preached.
But the Bible lists the problems with antinomianism even more than it does legalism. We have to worship God the way God wants to be worshiped, and we cannot do things our own way and think God will approve of them. The first time man sought to do his own thing was in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve made their own clothes, covering themselves with fig leaves. Not long after, after God showed them the correct way for a sinful person to worship, their sons made their first sacrifices. Abel brough the best of his flock, a blood sacrifice, and Cain brought fruit of his own labor. It wasn’t merely the heart attitude that made God reject Cain but also the type of sacrifice. It wasn’t what God wanted and how God wanted it. God wasn’t being picky; He was making a point. You can’t worship God just however you want.
Nadab and Abihu, the eldest sons of Moses’ brother Aaron, had been commissioned as priests. As the first born, Nadab was in line to take Aaron’s place as High Priest. They did not follow God’s instructions and offered strange fire before the Lord. God burned them to death and did not allow Aaron to even mourn for them.
King Saul saw the worship of God just as the pagans around him did – a means of appeasing the gods, which is why he felt he could justify offering the sacrifice when Samuel tarried. This cost him his throne. David, the man who sought after the things of God and the heart of God, knew God’s heart regarding sacrifice and refused to offer that which cost him nothing. However, when bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, in his excitement, David did not obey the Lord in how the Ark was to be carried. He put it on a cart rather than on the shoulders of Levites, and when the oxen stumbled and the cart was about to tip over, Uzzah, in his zeal to protect the Ark, touched it and God smote him on the spot.
If you think this is just for Old Testament times, read the book of Acts. Ananias and Sapphira thought they could worship God by joining in the giving to the pot by selling their own property. But they kept some of it and declared they gave everything. They lied to God and to the church, and God smote them for it. Simon the sorcerer saw what God was doing and asked for the Holy Spirit’s baptism so he could have this power, too. Peter pronounced a curse on him, too, but Simon at least somewhat repented of that.
Today, worship is often no longer worship as God defined it. The singing is more of a concert than it is actual worship. The sermon is not about proclaiming God’s word but rather about giving a motivational speech. And the church is seeking to draw people in instead of seeking the worship of God. If we believe Christ is the head of the church, then He should operate as the head of the church, meaning Jesus should dictate what our worship should look like. It’s not about appeasing what each of us wants; our opinions have no weight here whatsoever. But when was the last time that your church actually sought the will and mind of Christ in how the congregation is to worship God? Or did they rather seek what the congregation wanted or what church leaders wanted?
Church is to be done God’s way and not based on our preferences. My church does its singing differently than what I am used to and even different from my general preferences in terms of style. If I had my way, I’d prefer the modern contemporary style, but fit with better doctrine. But my former church and current church don’t do that. And guess what? That’s fine. Because they aren’t worshiping me in either case.
But where is God in our worship? What role does He play? How have we consulted Him in what He wants? Few churches are asking these questions. My current church has, and they are going after what they believe should be the best for their congregation. Is it perfect? Of course not. But at least we are pointing the right direction. Worship is to be done God’s way. He has told us how He prefers to be worshipped, and we need to be obedient to those principles.
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