In the early 70’s comedian Flip Wilson played the part of a character named Reverend Leroy, who pastored The Church of What's Happenin' Now. But today our cities and counties are swarming with “Reverend Leroys'' and churches that might rightly be called The Church of What's Happenin' Now.
In their efforts to “pack ‘em in” many churches have worship services that are rapidly becoming outlandish and even bizarre. There is little or no reverence for God or respect for the people of God and the unbeliever the church is commissioned to reach.
In the mid 90’s, a phenomenon spread through the Christian community of churches. Some called it “Holy Laughter” and saw it manifested, especially in word-faith churches, and within the Vineyard movement, as well as charismatic mainline churches such as Episcopalian and Anglican. Individuals who flocked to holy laughter meetings came from every denomination from Baptist to Roman Catholic.
The February 1995 edition of Charisma magazine (pp. 20, 21) reported that "... Worshipers are overcome by laughing, weeping, groaning, shaking, falling and, to the chagrin of some, noise-making that has been described as 'a cross between a jungle and a farmyard.' But of greater significance are the reports of changed lives: healings, restored relationships and increased fervor for God."
An Internet search reported that churches around the nation are reporting that in their worship services people have been receiving either gold or silver teeth from the Lord. One thread of messages had this to say:
A very close friend of ours has been a regular at City Church St Albans for years and he relates how in a recent service several people, including the pastor Dave Campbell I believe, received either gold or silver teeth. My friend said that his own mouth went 'numb, as if with a dentists injection' for a long time during the service after Dave Campbell prayed for this manifestation. His teeth very soon felt back to normal and, upon inspection afterwards, both he and his wife had several silver fillings in his teeth where previously there had been only old black amalgam. Several other people also reported this and two or three were able to show gold teeth as well. Perhaps uniquely here, since the event, some people's teeth which started silver are now turning to gold !!!
A church in Baltimore has this to say on their website: Our church by definition is one that allows the free flow of the Holy Spirit in the services. We embrace the "Gifts" and "Manifestations" of the Holy Spirit. Our services are "Spirit-led", and the Pastors function as the "conductor" facilitating the move and leading of the Spirit.
In many of our churches, the preaching of Scripture, which at one time used to be central to the worship experience is now in the second or third place of prominence to singing and “praise breaks.”
In many churches the handling of the Word of God is done disrespectfully. The other day I was listening to a church service on Heaven 600 and the preacher was introducing his message. He referred his listeners to Genesis 22 where Abraham, Isaac and two servants saddled their donkey and traveled to Mt. Moriah where God instructed Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac. Gen 22:5 of the KJV says, “And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.” At this point the preacher said that “Sometimes God calls you and me to go forward and leave the donkeys at the foot of the mountain.” The title for my sermon is: ‘Leaving the Donkeys at the Foot of the Mountain.’” He didn’t use the word “donkeys.”
This conducts flies right in the face of the command the Apostle Paul gives to Timothy, a young preacher, in 2 Timothy 2:15: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”
Dr. John MacArthur, speaking on this topic says, “There is almost no limit to how far some churches will go to be "relevant" and "contemporary" in their worship services. And nothing, it seems, is too profane or too outrageous to be fused with "worship."
The Los Angeles Times Magazine had a story on a Lutheran church in Southern California that distributes flyers advertising their church service as "God's Country Goodtime Hour." The flyers proudly advertise "line dancing following worship." According to the magazine article the church unashamedly touts that, "the pastor is dancing, too, decked out in Wrangler boots and Levis." The pastor credits the campaign with revitalizing his church.
In fact, the following ad for a Sunday evening service appeared in the bulletin of one of the largest and best-known churches in the heart of America's "Bible belt":
Circus
See Barnum and Bailey bested as the magic of the big top circus comes to The Fellowship of Excitement! Clowns! Acrobats! Animals! Popcorn! What a great night!
This same church once had their pastoral staff put on a wrestling match during a Sunday service, even going so far as to have a professional wrestler train the pastors to throw one another around the ring, pull hair, and kick shins without actually hurting one another.
These are not really unusual incidents. Many churches are following similar methods, employing every means available to add a “kick” to their services.
In many churches across this nation today, the Sunday worship service ain’t your Grandparents Sunday worship service.
* People coming to church on Sunday with a “what can I get from this” mindset
* People who are enamored with or captivated by the performers rather than God
* Preaching designed to appeal to the emotions rather than the mind and the will.
This is what we are seeing today in many churches when it comes to worship
Diagnosis – What does the Bible say?
In the Gospel of John, chapter four, Jesus has a conversation with a woman who has some issues with men. When Jesus lets her know that He knows what was going on in her life, she quickly changes the subject to a topic of controversy between the Jews and the Samaritans—that topic was worship.
The Samaritan woman says in John 4:20, “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.” Jesus responds saying, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father…the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Jesus tells us that the Father is looking for “true worshippers.” True worshippers, according to Jesus in John 4:24, are those who worship the Father “in spirit and truth.”
What is worship? Worship is “honor paid to a superior being.” It means “to give homage, honor, reverence, respect, adoration, praise, or glory to a superior being.”
The English word "worship" was originally spelled "worthship" and means to acknowledge the worth of the object worshiped.
The word “spirit” in John 4:24 is the Greek word, pneuma, pnyoo'-mah; and means a current of air, i.e. breath (blast) or a breeze. Many places in Scripture it refers to God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit. In John chapter 4 it is referring to the human spirit or the rational soul…one’s mental disposition.
Jesus says that the Father is looking for “true worshippers.” True worshippers are those who worship the Father “in spirit and truth.” True worshippers worship God with all their being and according to the truth. We will get into what “truth” means in a moment.
The common New Testament word for worship is proskuneo, which means “to kiss toward, to kiss the hand, to bow down, to prostrate oneself.” The idea of worship is that one prostrates himself before a superior being with a sense of respect, awe, reverence, honor, and homage. In a Christian context, we simply apply this to God and prostrate ourselves before Him in respect and honor, paying Him the glory due His superior character.
Essentially, then, worship is giving - giving honor and respect to God. That is why we, as Christians, gather together on Sunday. We don’t gather to give respect to the preacher or those in the choir, we gather to give honor to God. The sermon and the music are just to be the stimuli that create the desire in our hearts to honor Him.
So in John chapter four, Jesus tells us that the Father is looking for “true worshippers.” True worshippers are those who worship the Father “in spirit and truth.”
What exactly does Jesus mean when He says true worshippers are those who worship God in “truth?”
One of my favorite passages of Scripture that answer this question can be found in the twelfth chapter of the book of Romans.
Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
Paul says in verse one, “I beseech you or beg you or urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God…”
One principal of hermeneutics, (the rules of interpreting the Bible) is to watch out for "therefore". Whenever see a "therefore" you should try to discover what it is there for
When Paul uses the word “therefore” he forces the reader to look back to the previous verses or in this case, the previous chapters.
As in many of Paul's writings he begins by laying down biblical doctrine for our instruction and then follows the doctrine with the Christian’s duty or responsibility that is based on what he just taught.
The word "therefore" in Romans 12:1 tells us that our duty is based on the first eleven chapters of doctrine. Before Paul said anything about what a believer ought to do, he gave eleven chapters of theology.
Rom 12:1 (NASB) I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
Rom 12:1 (NIV) Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.
What are the “mercies of God?” The mercies of God are the great theological truths Paul related in the first eleven chapters.
On the basis of the great truths God has mercifully extended to us, Paul tells us how to worship. This worship is based on what he has just taught us in chapters 1 through 11 in the book of Romans.
Paul has just taught his readers about the righteousness of God.
Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
Rom 1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."
Paul goes on from here to explain the righteousness of God by contrasting it with the lawlessness and wickedness of men.
Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
Later on in chapter five Paul teaches his readers about the saving power of faith and how they come to have peace with God and stand in His grace
Rom 5:1-2 - Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Further along in chapter five Paul highlights the doctrine of reconciliation.
Rom 5:10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
Rom 5:11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
In chapter six Paul lets his readers know that they were in union with Christ.
Rom 6:2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
Rom 6:3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
Rom 6:4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
In chapter eight Paul teaches his readers about the uselessness of trying to keep the law and works in order to get saved.
Rom 8:3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,
Rom 8:4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
He teaches his readers of the indwelling Spirit.
Rom 8:10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
Rom 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
Paul nails down the doctrine of adoption,
Rom 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
Rom 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."
Rom 8:16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
Paul encourages his readers concerning the promise of glory the Christian can look forward to.
Rom 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Paul teaches his readers about the power of love.
Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36 As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."
Rom 8:37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
Rom 8:38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
Rom 8:39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In chapter ten Paul declares how one can be delivered from sin by simple faith in the resurrected Christ.
Rom 10:8 But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach):
Rom 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
Rom 10:10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Rom 10:11 For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."
In chapter 12 Paul looks back on all this doctrine and all this biblical teaching and pleads with his readers on the basis of these things…on the basis of all of this “truth,” to worship God!
False Worship?
In Romans chapter one, the Holy Spirit does not indict and pronounce guilt on humanity for worshipping. Everyone is a worshipper. Everyone has this internal motivation to pay honor to, and adore something.
The guilt that is pronounced on humanity in this chapter is that they “exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.”
The problem with humanity even today, both in and outside the church, is that many have laid aside the truth of God for the lie and worshipped and served people and things rather than God.
Worship today is “What I can get out of church.” Worship today is doing something that “makes me feel good.” Worship today has become more of a pursuit for an emotional fix rather than receiving the truth about who God is, what He has done and is doing and what He expects for His creation and responding in reverence and obedience to God.
Worship is much like breathing. Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” The word inspiration is the Greek word theopneutos and means “God-breathed.”
As we place ourselves under the teaching of the Word of God and learn of God’s character, His Ways, His promises, His power…we breathe in or draw in the sweetness of God and then we exhale praise, adoration, and thanksgiving to God.
Worship is the respiratory system of the church and worship is always in response to truth. Remember the definition of true worship? True worshippers, according to Jesus, are those who worship the Father “in spirit and in truth.”
This begs the question: “Are people really worshipping in many of our churches today?” Someone may answer, “Pastor Chuck you really can’t judge people at that level because you don’t know their heart.”
You and I may not be able to judge someone’s heart but we can judge a sermon; we can judge someone’s preaching to see if they are “rightly dividing or handling accurately the Word of God.” (2 Tim 2:15)
If worship is supposed to be based on the truth of Scripture, and the truth of Scripture is missing from a church service or from a worship chorus, how can we call the response to the sermon or the song “worship?”
The truth of Scripture is vital and necessary to the worship service. Why is the truth of Scripture so vital and necessary in the worship service?
1.) God Revealed Himself as the Word and by the Word (Outline by John Piper)
The first reason is that God has chosen to reveal himself as the Word and by the Word. John 1:1 says, "In the beginning was the Word." Not in the beginning was the song, or in the beginning was the drama. God identifies his Son, who himself is God, as the Word. This is tremendously important. "In the beginning was the Word." The Son of God is the Word of God. He is God's communication to the world.
God has also chosen to reveal himself not only as the Word but also by the Word. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, "All Scripture is inspired by God." This means that God ordained to speak to us and reveal Himself to us and interpret His deeds in history for us by inspiring written words. That's what "Scripture" means: writings. All the Scripture - all the writings in the Jewish-Christian canon - are inspired, God-breathed. Or as 2 Peter 1:21 says, "No prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men, moved by the Holy Spirit, spoke from God." The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are God's revelation of Himself to us.
So the first two answers to why the Word is so vital and should be so prominent in worship is that God revealed Himself as the Word and by the Word. If worship is meant to be a spiritual communion with God and a reverent, loving response to God, then at the heart of worship must be the revelation of God Himself, and He has ordained to be known mainly by his Word.
2.) God Performs His Work by His Word
The Scriptures are vital to worship because worship is a response to God's work, and the Word of God is the means by which God works in the world.
This is the way it was in the beginning when God created by his Word—“by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God.” (Hebrews 11:3). And this is the way it has been ever since as God performs great acts by his Word. For example, we know that Jesus simply spoke and seas were calmed (Mark 4:39), fevers were cooled (Luke 4:39), demons were cast out (Mark 1:25), sins were forgiven (Mark 2:10), the blind received their sight (Luke 18:42), the dead were raised (Luke 7:14). God worked by means of his Word!
But we also know that God goes on working by his Word. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." In other words, the way God brings about good works in the lives of His people is by the Word. This is why Jesus said in Matthew 5:16 that men will see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
You can see this principal given many times in the Bible. In Psalm 1:3 God says that the man who meditates on the Word of God day and night will "be like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers."
Hebrews 4:12, "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." The Word of God brings conviction and judges the heart.
In John 17:17, Jesus prays to his Father, "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth." Here we find that the great work of sanctification God does is by the Word of God.
The point is that worship is about knowing and admiring God through His works. And these works are seen in his Word and performed by his Word. Therefore the Word is vital to true worship.
God reveals Himself by the Word and He performs His mighty works by His Word.
3.) God Brings About New Birth or Salvation by His Word
Worship depends entirely on the spiritual miracle of the new birth. Without salvation from sin there would be no true worshippers.
I didn’t say there would be no worshippers; I said there would be no “true worshippers.” Jesus spoke about people who worshipped with their mouths but not truly in their hearts in Matthew 15:
Mat 15:8-9 – “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”
In order to be a “true worshipper” you need a new heart and this only comes when one is born again and the new birth comes only by the Word. Peter 1:23 says, "You have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God." New birth is worked by God through the Word. This means that the life we need to worship authentically comes by the Word. No life, no worship. No Word, no life.
Once you are born again, you need the Word of God to keep you growing. 1 Peter 2:2 says, “as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby…”
Not only that, the constant reawakening or revitalization of our faith Sunday after Sunday comes by hearing the Word of Christ. Paul writes in Romans 10:17, "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." Sunday after Sunday our faith is renewed and strengthened by hearing the Word.
Historically, the Protestant church has put the Word of God at the most prominent place in corporate worship because worship is a “tasting and seeing” of God Himself and God reveals Himself as the Word, and by the Word. (Ps 34:8; 119:103)
So God does His works in the world by His Word and gives new life by His Word and awakens and strengthens our faith by His Word. Without the Word of God, there would be no life, no faith, no work, no revelation, no growth and no worship.
Pastor John Piper says, “The Word of God is to worship as air is to breathing.”
There is a song called, When I Look Into Your Holiness that communicates this truth.
When I look into Your holiness – You are holy, set apart from us; Your ways are not our ways, they are higher than our ways; You O’ God are all-powerful, all-knowing, omni-present. You do not change. You are righteous and just—without sin; You do no wrong. All you do is perfect; all You create is good. There is none like You.
When I gaze into Your loveliness – You are love; You are gracious—giving us more than we deserve; You O’ God are merciful—withholding the wrath from us that we rightfully deserve.
When all things that surround become shadows in the light of You, I worship You.
Prescription – How does this apply to GraceWay?
How are we to “do worship?”
Luke 19:37-38 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"
Jesus' disciples were quoting Psalm 118:26. They were claiming Jesus as their Messiah on the basis of what the Scriptures foretold.
Luke 19:39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!"
Now hear what Jesus says in response to the Pharisees:
Luke 19:40 "I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
These same Pharisees had by this time already plotted to kill Jesus. In John chapter 5 as they plotted this Jesus knew their thoughts and said this:
John 5:37-39 "And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.”
Today there are many in our churches who do not know and believe the Lord Jesus because they do not know the Scriptures. The reason they do not believe is because they do not have the Word of God abiding in them.
If they do not have the Word of God abiding in them, they cannot be true worshippers because true worshippers worship the Father in spirit and truth.
There are also in the church many who have heard only enough of the Word to get them saved. They’ve heard enough about God to know that He is a provider. But the sad fact is that is all they can worship God for is their salvation and their stuff.
If I were to ask you “Do you know God as Savior” you would say “Amen!” If I were to ask you “Do you know God as a provider?” you would say “Praise the Lord!”
Some of us know God as a deliverer.
God has been for some of us a peace-maker and a marriage-fixer and a bill payer.
Others of us know God as a mind-regulator and a doctor and a lawyer. Hallelujah!
If I were to ask you if God was all these things and more, most of us would say “Yes!” But if I asked you to show me where the Bible says that God is all these things, many of us would not be able to because we have not been abiding in the Word. If His Word has not been abiding in us, our worship is not based on truth, it is based solely on experience.
If God should decide not to be a provider and not to fix your marriage and not to heal you or your loved one, would He cease to be God and would you still worship Him?
Five Prescriptions for our church:
Abide in the Word of God and let His Word abide in you. Jesus says in John 8:31-32, “…If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Read the Word of God, meditate on the Word of God, and memorize the Word of God. You will then begin to lay a foundation upon which you can worship in spirit and in truth.
Talk to Pastor John, our Pastor of Discipleship and he will place tools into your hand to help you acquaint yourself with God.
The next time we offer CLASS 100, register for it. In this class you will learn the foundational doctrines or teaching of the Christian faith. Register for the next semester of LIFE Groups beginning in June. LIFE Groups are groups of people who meet in homes to learn more about the Christian life as they study the Scriptures together.
Lastly, come to church with a Bible and a notebook. If you are not a note-taker, get a copy of the message on CD.
If you do not know Jesus Christ as Savior, here is a prescription for you too: Romans chapter ten says,
“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” (verses 9-11)
Take a dose of the Scripture today and be saved!
