Sermon Central
-
True ...
Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 10, 2009 (message contributor)
TRUE WORSHIP
I want to read to you an excerpt from James Montgomery Boice’s book, "Whatever Happened to the Gospel of Grace?" to preface my opening statements.
This is from his chapter entitled, "Reforming Our Worship". In it he cites two sources from which he got his information. I cite my resource, which is Boice’s book. If anyone wants to know what his sources were I would suggest that they procure his book and look his sources up in the chapter notes at the back. In the meantime, it would be wise to also read the book.
Here is how Boice began this chapter:
"Several years ago I was invited to take part in a worship service in Geneva, Switzerland, that was about an hour and a half long. Four English-speaking congregations had combined to hold this service, and it had been promoted as a time when the congregations could all worship together, which was good.
About half of the service was music led by a youthful worship team. They used overheads, and we sang choruses, most of them repeated three or more times. There was even one hymn. My part, the sermon, was about forty minutes long.
"The service was not bad, as services like this go. But what struck me about it was its lack of traditional worship elements, especially since it was on a Sunday morning and had been promoted as a united worship service. There was no invocation, no confession of sin, no pastoral prayer, and although there was a Scripture reading, it was there only because I had chosen it as the passage from which I was to teach later.
"I say again: This was not a particularly bad service. But it was part of a contemporary trend which shows how far most churches have moved from an older, better worship style that was thoughtful and genuinely God-centered, as all true worship should be.
"Of course, some services are much worse. The Los Angeles Times Magazine reported on a church in southern California that advertises its service as ’God’s Country Goodtime Hour’ and promises ’line dancing following worship’. Their band is called the Honkytonk Angels, and the pastor takes part. The Wall Street Journal described a church in America’s Bible-belt that calls itself ’The Fellowship of Excitement.’ It ran an advertisement for a Sunday evening service that read:
Circus! See Barnum and Bailey bested as the magic of the
big top circus comes to The Fellowship of Excitement!
Clowns! Acrobats! Popcorn! What a great night!
"The same church once had the pastoral staff put on a wrestling match during a Sunday service, having hired a professional wrestler to train them how to throw one another around the ring, pull hair, and kick shins without actually hurting one another.
"What are we to think of these sad trends? Whatever they are, they are not worship. How can they be if they have abandoned the use of Scripture, in which God speaks to us, and have eliminated prayer, in which we speak to God? True worship is praise of God for who he truly is and for what he has done, and if that is not the very center and heart of what we are doing, our so-called worship is not true worship at all."
Source: From James Montgomery Boice -- WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE GOSPEL OF GRACE? -- Crossway Books, 2001. From a sermon by Clark Tanner, "If Truth Be Told" 2/19/2009
Related Sermon Illustrations
-
Tom Recently Told Me A Story About A Man Who Went ... PRO
Contributed by Gene Gregory on Dec 7, 2004
Tom recently told me a story about a man who went to a priest and confessed that the Lord had recently convicted him of gossip. He wanted to know what he could do to make it right. The priest told him to go to the top of a mountain, rip open a feather pillow, turn the feathers loose in the wind, ...read more
-
I Love Phillip Keller's Details About A ... PRO
Contributed by Timothy Smith on Sep 26, 2004
I love Phillip Keller’s details about a “cast-down” sheep and what the shepherd does to get him back on his feet. “When sheep lay on their back, gas begins to collect in their stomach. It hardens the stomach, cuts off the air passage and they suffocate. Not only that, their legs go numb in that ...read more
-
Caspar Ten Boon PRO
Contributed by Revd. Martin Dale on Jan 7, 2004
Caspar ten Boon In her famous book and film, “The Hiding Place” Corrie ten Boom tells the story of a Dutch Christian family, her family, who had a heart for the Jewish people Her grandfather Wilhelm started a weekly prayer group in 1844 in the city of Haarlem, near Amsterdam for the ...read more
-
In A Recent Column In Leadership Weekly, Gordon ... PRO
Contributed by Jim Kane on Aug 7, 2004
In a recent column in Leadership Weekly, Gordon MacDonald, a retired pastor and editor at large for Leadership, a journal for pastors, reflected on a comment from Louis Berkhof who said, "God does not want us as objects but as covenant partners, partners who can converse. He desires our ...read more
-
William Herbert Carruth's Poem, "Dreamer Of ...
Contributed by Bruce Willis on Jan 25, 2007
William Herbert Carruth’s poem, “Dreamer of Dreams,” shows how the rise and fall of dreams shapes our lives as well as creating congregational health. We are all of us dreamers of dreams, On visions our childhood is fed; And the heart of the child is unhaunted, it seems, By the ghosts of ...read more
Related Sermons
-
Falling Out Of Church
Contributed by Kevin L. Jones on Mar 23, 2014
Examining the importance of church attendance.
-
God Will Fix It For You
Contributed by Richard Tow on Jul 7, 2017
Using Psalm 107, this sermon explores how God's love is expressed to us in the context of our troubles in life; then, how worship is birthed in our hearts out of these experiences.
-
True Worship, A Call To Worship
Contributed by Horace Wimpey on Apr 25, 2013
In Nehemiah 8, we see true worship by the people. We see a longing for God's word; Listening to God's word and we see that we must let God speak to us through His word.
-
I Am Created To Praise Series
Contributed by David Lange on Sep 20, 2013
God created us to praise Him! There is power in praise!
-
A "Come To Jesus" Moment Series
Contributed by Jeff Strite on Mar 5, 2017
A grieving father comes to Jesus to ask him to heal his dying son, and yet Jesus rebukes him. Why? What possible reason could Jesus have to be so harsh with this man?
