The Discipline of Worship. To be a person who is a true worshipper of the Lord Jesus Christ requires a substantial commitment to personal discipline. In a day and age when so many things compete for our worship and devotion, believers are often forced to make choices. In the Bible, David resisted the temptation to be consumed with his many duties in leading a nation and chose instead to make God his number one priority. This single-minded pursuit is what made him such an effective leader. Do you remember the run-in David had with Goliath in 1 Samuel 17? While all the other soldiers could only see their situation from a human, and therefore hopeless, perspective, David, the worshipper of God, did not fall victim to such thinking. He was willing to oppose Goliath not because he was stronger or a more experienced soldier, but because he was highly motivated. David was offended by the arrogance of Goliath and his unwillingness to acknowledge the greatness of the God he worshipped (See 1 Samuel 17:45-47). Goliath could have ridiculed the armies of Israel, David himself, and even his mother, but nothing drew the young man’s ire like the unwillingness of the Philistine to respect and honor his God. We could say that David was obsessed with worship. How important it is that we as a church maintain this important discipline. We must be careful not to lose the perspective that we exist to glorify God. I am concerned that in an effort to be relevant the evangelical movement has become man-centered rather than God-centered. The primary question for evangelicalism has become, "How do we get more people and grow our churches?" We have failed to recognize that the paradigm for success in our churches has been set, not by the immutable and infallible Word of God, but by our culture. Big is good and bigger is better. Those with the largest congregations obviously know what they’re doing and so therefore reserve the right to set the agendas for the rest of the church. What we have failed to understand is that because we have bought into our culture’s definition of success, believers are no longer the ones leading the body of Christ to glorify God. The practice of Christian worship, the purpose for which we exist, is being redesigned to suit the desires of those outside the church. If their attendance is contingent on more singing and less teaching, we capitulate to their desires. If they want the teaching to be more about how to live a good life and less about theology and doctrine, we preach to accommodate. If certain doctrinal positions offend, we avoid them! If the services are too long or at too inconvenient of a time, no problem! We’ll adjust. We would be wise to grasp that what is ultimately being removed is not the barriers that have kept the church from reaching the lost, but the worship of God as He is revealed to us in the Scriptures. We cannot worship what we do not know. And we will not know God if our primary ambition is to worship man. May we avoid the tyranny of our times by disciplining our minds to think as David did: "One thing I ask," he prayed, "this is what I seek."
Posted on: Wed, 04 Sep 2013 09:44:17 +0000
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