There is an
erroneous idea today that the main reason we attend worship is to
"get something out of the service", rather than going there to give our
worship to God. This is a selfish motive on our part.This is the reason people cannot be satisfied with the worship service
when their emphasis is not on the proper object of worship, God.
People want to "do their own thing" in the worship of the church.
What the Bible has to say about worship for many people is of little
consequence as long as they are happy and feel good. We must be
concerned with what God says on how He is to be worshipped instead of what
we might want to offer Him.
The United States
has produced the most entertainment-oriented people the world has ever
known. We have more forms of amusement than has ever been know to
man, but we still want more. In our age everything is designed to
appeal to our emotions and to entertain us. Our pleasure-mad society
gives little thought about pleasing God in their worship. We seem to
have forgotten our worship service is to bring glory and honor to God, and
not to entertain ourselves.
Much worship today
has digressed to be no more than entertainment for people. When we
have choirs to sing to us and concerts to entertain us, we are not
worshipping God; but we have become the spectators who are being
entertained. Let us not try to call this worship. This is very
disrespectful and demeaning toward God to reduce our worship of God to the
entertaining of ourselves. Worship is not a spectator
event. We dare not become spectators, because in worship it is God
who is the spectator. People have the roles reversed. People expect
divine will to conform to what seems right in their own eyes.
Proverbs 12:15 says, "The way of the fool is right
in his own eyes." The emphasis is how can the worship
service be made more entertaining to people to please themselves and not
God.
The use of drama in
the worship service becomes an entertaining performance with the actors
receiving the praise instead of God. And because they have been
entertained with a spectacular show they respond with applause
(handclapping) to show their appreciation. What do you think God
thinks about this perverted so called worship? Many people seem to
think that God will accept anything they offer and be glad to get
it.
Worship to God is
holy and sacred. To pervert and corrupt it with entertainment and
what we can "get out of the service" in trying to please and gratify
ourselves is nothing short of blasphemy! The sacredness of true
worship must not be sacrificed on altars of entertainment-oriented
quartets, choirs, and other entertainment groups. We are as Hebrews
13:15 says to "Offer the sacrifice of praise to God,
the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name." In
worship we must be the participants, not the observers. We want to
please and entertain ourselves. In Galatians 1:10 the question is
asked, "Do I seek to please men? For if I still
pleased men, I would not be a servant of Christ." Worship is
God-centered not man-centered. When our worship is to please God
instead of ourselves, then and only then will our worship be much more
meaningful and spiritually uplifting to us and acceptable to
God.
When people seek an
"emotional high" from worship and don’t get it, they are disappointed and
start blaming the song service, the preacher, etc. The world wants
their worship service to be "more entertaining", thus they are failing to
worship God in spirit and in truth. Where in the Bible can we go to
show that our worship is designed to please the worshipper. The
desire to have an experience or an encounter along the lines of mysticism
also gives little regard to what God says in the Bible.
Our worship to God
requires commitment on our part. People had rather worship Christ as
a babe in a manger than Christ as their crucified savior. Their
worshipping Christ as a babe in a manger requires no commitment on their
part. They feel they can put Him in a box and live the rest of the
year as they please. But worshipping Christ as our crucified savior
requires commitment, a complete change of our life, and a willingness to
do all that He says. Jesus says in Matthew 10:37, "He
who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he
who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of
Me." God and Christ must be first in our lives, and this
requires that we be committed to them.
Questions Lesson 3
Worship Is Not For Our Entertainment
(click on the button of the answer of your
choice)
1) (Proverbs 12:15) One who does what is right
in his own eyes.
Is wise.
Is a fool.
Is free.
2)
The way of the fool is right in his own eyes.
3) (Hebrews 13:15) The offering of the fruit of our
lips in singing and
prayer in our worship
Should be for our enjoyment.
Should show how well we can sing and pray.
Should be a sacrifice of praise to God.
4)
The purpose of our worship to God is to entertain us.
5) (Galatians 1:10) In trying to please men in
spiritual matters
We cannot be a servant of Christ.
We can be a servant of Christ.
It is always best to try to please men in all things.
6)
In spiritual matters we should please God and not men.
7) (Matthew 10:37) If we love our father and mother
more than Christ
This is good.
God will understand.
We are not worthy of Christ.
8)
We should not try to follow what Christ tells us to do if it is
against
our father’s and mother’s beliefs.