I am amazed at the way in which our world gravitates to "trends." In fear of dating myself, I admit that I remember things like "flight-pants,swatches,Gass shoes, drive-in movies, 8-tracks, and pong." Some fads simply fade away without any significant affect upon society. Others, however, can dangerously affect the lives of people who give into the superficial excitement that drives the fad. Remember the Atkin's Diet? Thalidomide? Saccharine? These revolutionary ideas that helped us to lose weight, eliminate morning sickness, and to be able to enjoy a soft drink without sugar has resulted in serious health consequences for many. Beyond the things which have robbed our pockets and stolen from our health, there are trends of an even more dangerous nature----the trend to redefine worship.
Currently, Christianity is facing a crisis in the area of Evangelical belief as it is being challenged by two predominate movements of theology. The first, called the New Apostolic Reformation, places an ultimate emphasis on man being able to ascend to godhood by subscribing to the deeper teachings of the new "apostles" who have been given new revelation from God (or angels). These are the C.Peter Wagners, Rick Joyners, Mike Bickles , and Bob Jones' of the church world. Their theology is heavily gnostic and concentrates on a new age methodology of worship. Perhaps in the future, I will discuss the affect that this movement is having upon the church.
The other, which is perhaps the more dangerous of the two, is the Emergent church. The two biggest proponents of this movement are Brian McClaren and Rob Bell. These men have sought to redefine the essence of Christian worship. Rob Bell has recently written the book Love Wins which has received much press including a cover piece for Time Magazine. The crux of the Emergent church's theology is based upon "relevant truth" as opposed the traditional view of "absolute truth" of God's Word. An example of this is in Bell's comments in Time where he believes that God is so loving that He could not possibly send anyone to hell. He speculates the idea that all of humanity will be in heaven regardless of what they have believed in this life. The Bible for Rob Bell is to be taken as a "what it means to me" mentality as opposed to "what it means to God" mentality. In Bell's book Velvet Elvis, Rob explains that "truth" is like a trampoline that can be stretched in order to fit our context of life. In essence, worship for the emergent church is based upon one's own idea of God, what one believes to be truth for one's life to be, and that the idea of "hell" is nothing more that a scare tactic or the bad consequences of life. Is it no wonder why the Emergent Church is growing at an incredible rate?
I shudder to think of where this will eventually lead thousands of well intending people who have followed a religion based on the fancy opinions of a few men rather than the truth of the Word of God. The very premise of worship is that "true worshipers" are ones that worship the Lord "in spirit" and "in truth" (John 4:23-24). Has Bell not read the accounts of the Old Testament which shows the wrath of God upon Israel for subscribing to their own ideas for worship? Beyond that, what has the Emergent church done with the cross of Christ? Paul warned against the attempt to use "human wisdom" in preaching the Gospel, "lest the cross be emptied of its power" (1 Corinthians 1:17). And yet, this is exactly what Bell has done. In his eyes, the love of God would not and could not create people to only send them to hell. The cross only serves as a "get out of hell free card" for all of humanity. The problem with that reasoning is that it is impossible for us to truly worship God. If God has already made it so that everyone will ultimately choose Him, then we have been stripped of the very thing that fuels our worship-----the choice to choose God. If all of humanity cannot forsake God, have all of our sins automatically forgiven, and live as we please on this earth, why would God even bother creating a humanity to inhabit a fallen world? So what if I don't choose God now? After all, according to Bell, I can choose Him after I die where I will find that I have been forced to love Him. If God forces His salvation and worship of Him upon us, then is God truly "loving us?" Can't you picture it now? Every Muslim who committed an act of terrorism in the name of Allah is now enjoying the peaceful afterlife in the arms of Jesus, even though they never acknowledged His sacrifice and hated the very thought of what He came to do? Yet, this is the trend of the day. A worship of a God that fits our way of thinking. If this is the case, what exactly did Jesus come to do and why did he have to die on a cross if there was no threat of us being eternally separated from the One who loves us?
Worship is based on a relationship of choosing. God chose us but did not have to. We can choose God but we do not have to. This is the "love" that is present in the relationship. Two individuals who are worlds apart and at odds with each other have chosen to intimately unite. We became separated from God as his enemy and objects of his wrath (Ephesians 2) due to our sin. Yet God, knowing the impossible distance of reconciliation, paid the price to open the way for us to cross the bridge of impossibility. His "love" is the fact that He gave His Son so that I could come back into relationship with Him. My love, is making the choice while still in this world where I can either choose to worship Him or reject Him. The Gospel according to Rob just doesn't ring a bell when I look at the idea of love as it relates to a worship relationship with Jesus Christ.
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