True Worship

What is the meaning of the worship service? Is it to entertain the masses or to worship God?

The Jews in Jesus' day took worship very seriously (those that truly worshiped at the temple) and so should we (it is the same God that we worship). How did Jesus react to those who came to the temple with wrong motives (like the money changers)? He ran them out (Matthew 21:12, Mark 11:15, John 2:15)! The reason that Jesus is standing at the door and knocking (Revelation 3:20) is because the church is not letting Him in. Those that will say that this is an individual sinner's invitation need to be reminded that this verse is in the letter to the Church in Laodicea (the lukewarm church) that was neither hot nor cold for Christ.

In regard to the "unchurched" (a term that I detest as this term seems to suggest that people who go to church are all saved and those people who don't go to church are not saved....as if church membership equalled salvation)....have we fallen so far as to think that we must entertain our guests at worship? Must we work so hard to keep them in the congregation? What we need to do is exactly what the apostle Paul did. Speak the truth in love! It is the preaching of the gospel that compels us to come to Christ! Not some ungodly form of entertainment within the sanctuary!

Have we as Christians become "the world" or are we different? If we are different, then our worship should not be "worldly"! The gospel is "good news"...not entertainment! It is also the power of God that brings salvation to those who hear and accept it (Romans 1:15-17).

As for the music that is played in church, I am against any singing about Santa Claus or any secular song being played within the walls of the church. This includes patriotic songs. Are we worshipping the God of the universe, the One who created all things or are we worshipping our country? All we need is the gospel and any music that is played within the church walls should be honoring the One who created all things, not music that honors the "created things"!

As the prophet Isaiah said, "Stop trusting in mere humans, who have but a breath in their nostrils. Why hold them in esteem?" (Isaiah 2:22)

Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike patriotic songs, I just don't think they belong in church.

Faith

If we only believe in what we can see, then we can no longer believe in the wind. "Ah," you say, "but I can feel the wind, so I know that it exists." But if we can believe in that which we can feel without seeing it, then we are in danger of requiring an emotional response as a condition of believing in anything.

Our "vision" can be overvalued because things that are appealing to our eyes may attract and pull us in regardless of its truth and deceive us.

Our "emotions" are overrated because things that make us feel good can control us and carry us away while our logical minds are tossed aside when something presses our emotional buttons.

So, how can we have faith in what we cannot see or feel? How can we have faith and believe in God, Whom we cannot see but can, on occasion feel?

God is Spirit (John 4:23-24) and cannot be seen physically, (John 1:18) but He can be seen in us and through us, if we truly belong to Him (1 John 4:11-13).

Is our faith superficial where "seeing is believing" or does our faith go far beyond the visual, beyond our common sense and intellect?

Is our faith emotional where I have to feel something in order to believe that God is working in me or does our faith exist regardless of circumstance and emotion?

The best definitions of faith that I've seen are "firm belief in something for which there is no proof" and simply "complete trust." So, faith is believing in what you do not and cannot see or feel, knowing beyond any doubt that it is true and having complete confidence in what you have faith in (Hebrews 11:6).

Faith demands no proof, nothing that you can see, feel or touch. Faith only demands our belief. So why believe in God? Because He has given us the proof of His creation all around us to see, feel and enjoy and it is that which should tell us that God exists (Romans 1:18-20). How can one look at the stars at night and not believe in God? How can one see nature; the clouds, the sun, the trees or the mountains and not believe in God? It is because we refuse to believe in anything greater than ourselves (Romans 1:21-23).

What makes us believe that there is nothing greater than ourselves? Why do we only have faith in ourselves and other human beings? Do we not fail? Don't other people often fail us too? How can we have "complete trust" is something that fails? That is where God comes in.

Although we fail, God does not. Yes, He allows suffering, pain and heartache, but these things are because of us, not Him. God created a perfect world, but it is mankind that wanted to be like God (Genesis 3:6-24) and so God punished us. We disobeyed and were punished and now we have consequences to live with such as pain, misery, hard work, sorrow and death.

We suffer because there is a broken relationship between mankind and God. This is where faith comes in. Although mankind severed the relationship with God, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to this world to show us how to live and how to treat each other. Most importantly, Jesus came, sinless, to pay the price of our disobedience by becoming our substitute, our ransom, to satisfy God's wrath against mankind's disobedience (Romans 5:7-9). Jesus suffered and died in our place, but if that were all, our faith would be misplaced. Not only did He suffer and die, He was resurrected from death! Why is this important? Because without the resurrection, we would have a dead God and a dead faith. But this is not the case. No, we have a living God and a living faith and that faith can carry you through the good and the bad times in your life, but only if you repent of your sinful lifestyle, turn away from it and place your faith in Jesus Christ. Can you do that or do you need more proof?

Watch a sunrise, or a sunset and tell me that there's no God. Even if you can do that, can you honestly believe that life has no purpose? Can you believe that we are all here by random chance? Can you believe that nothing made everything and that everything came from nothing? If you can believe the news, can believe in evolution or bigfoot or politician promises, that Elvis is still alive, then tell me who has the wildest beliefs? I'll go with God and with putting my faith in something beyond myself that has the power to save and comfort my soul.