The Real Heresy

 

Let me begin by saying that nothing, I mean nothing, should take the place of God’s presence; not prayer, not service, not the preaching, and certainly not the praise.  However the attack on what is being called worshiptainment seems to attack the wrong thing.  The heresy isn’t the band, the music, the lights, the stage or even the production.  The true heresy is the fact that we think what happens on stage or in the church building is worship.  What happens on stage is really praise, and what happens in the church building is really service.  Real worship is how you live your life daily.  Worship is defined as showing love or adoration towards someone or something.  Jesus clearly defined worship in John 14:15 when he said, “If you love me (if you worship me) keep my commandments”.  The real heresy is that we no longer obey him in our everyday lives.  I will say more about this later, but let me give a different perspective on this idea of worshiptainment.

 

First let me point out that God has always been worthy of the very best we have to offer.  We are attacking houses of worship for their extravagance, their stages and their laser lights, and their performances. And yet we forget that the Temple of Solomon was more extravagant than any of these.  Don’t believe me? Read 1 Kings 6.  Read of the expensive foundation.  The most expensive of woods overlaid with gold, and jewels.  Read of the intricate decorations and carvings, the “costumes” worn, or the celebratory rituals that took place within its walls. I wonder if A.W. Tozer would accuse Solomon of using too many props, performances, and pep rallies. Or what about Moses, who also built an extravagant edifice for his God.  Filled with the same pomp and circumstance.  I am certain that even The Tabernacle, for a tent, was a sight to behold. After all they spared no expense in its construction.  Gold, silver, brass and even precious stones were all used to create this “House of God”.  And before we do condemn these men of God for taking the focus off of God, let us remember that it was God himself who commissioned these houses.

 

Why would God ask for such a place?  Is he vain?  Is he a gold digger, looking to get what he can?  No.  God resides in the vastness of the universe, nothing we could build with our hands impresses him.  So why?  Could it be because even God knows the value that humanity puts on excellence?  People will not cross the street to see an ordinary church building.  But they will travel to another country to see the Cysteine Chapel.  Let us make no mistake, it was the temple and the things that happened in it, that drew the queen of Sheba to visit.  It was the extravagance of the facility, and the service taking place in it, that placed her in awe. 

 

1Ki 10:1  And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions.

1Ki 10:2  And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart.
1Ki 10:3  And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not any thing hid from the king, which he told her not.
1Ki 10:4  And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house that he had built,
1Ki 10:5  And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her.

 

It was not the presence of God that drew her to the temple, it was the temple that her to the presence of God. 

 

And what of the performers; the ones who led the people in praise, those who went before the ark, or those who marched ahead of the armies preparing the way for victory?  Would they be lumped in with those attempting to capture God’s spotlight?  While there may have been some that fell into the sin of Lucifer, the truth is, most understood their place and their role.  And it was a very important role. Praise has always played an important part in God’s presence.  The Bible clearly tells us that God inhabits the praises of Israel (His People).  David himself said, “I will enter into his gates with thanksgiving, into his courts with praise.”  The purpose of praise is to bring us into the presence of God.  And again I am certain that the praise they offered was the very best of their day.  Those who played for God were skilled musicians.  And their instruments were many.

 

Psa 150:1  Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.

Psa 150:2  Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.
Psa 150:3  Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.
Psa 150:4  Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
Psa 150:5  Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.
Psa 150:6  Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.

 

Realizing the importance of praise, and the worthiness of God for excellent praise, why do we then seek to turn from it? We condemn praise as if it is stealing God’s spotlight, and yet we celebrate an equally damnable power grab.  Do we really think that those who seek to stand and preach or teach the Word are any less capable of stealing the spotlight .  We celebrate people such as David Platt and his church who gained tens of thousands of people with Secret Church, but why?  Is it because these people are hungry for the Word or are they just hungry for a different form of entertainment?  Other questions come to mind as well, such as are these masses filled with new converts or are they Christians from other churches who are looking for something to do on a Friday night? Is it revival, or just another trend in the long line of Christian fads?  Only time will tell. 

 

Now I don’t condemn the study of the Word, in fact it is needed, but so is praise.  Both are important in the life of Christian.  But even more than praise, even more than the study of the Word, what we really need is obedience to the Word.  The problem, as is pointed out by the very term worshiptainment, is that most people who attend church are under the impression that worship is what takes place within the walls of the church.  But the truth is neither the praise we offer, nor the teaching of the Word are real worship.  Worship is about loving God in such a way that we live our lives in obedience to him. The real heresy is that we have become modern day Pharisees.  We praise him with our mouths, but our heart is far from him.  We study his word, but we don’t obey it.  We call ourselves follower of Jesus, but we are nothing like Jesus. Jesus spent his life with one mission:

 

Luk 4:18  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

Luk 4:19  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

 

Jesus was about caring for others both physically and spiritually.  He did it daily, and he didn’t have to have a special service to do so.  Often his daily plans were interrupted by the needs of others.  And Jesus would stop.  He would make time for them.  He would meet their need, and in the process, they would encounter the kingdom of God. Most people who attend church only fulfill the mission as part of an organized outreach.  In our daily lives we rarely take time to even notice people around us, let alone want to get involved in their lives.  We fail to address the broken heart, we leave the captives in bondage, we shy away from the blind, we cause bruises, and we ignore the opportunity to preach the gospel.  In other words, we don’t worship.  Jesus lived his life in a way that kept him in touch with the Father, so that when the Father spoke Jesus heard.  And when he heard he obeyed.  We don’t live like this today.  We are too focused on other things to hear.  The real heresy is that we are too busy going to church to be Christian.