In a moment of nostalgia this past weekend, I gathered my family around the television to watch an old video tape of my youth pastoring days in Hillsdale Michigan. It wasn't that I wanted them to take pride in the person I once was but I wanted them to have a taste of the experience I had in being a part of a genuine move of God. This particular video tape which we viewed contained a Sunday night service in which my youth group had just returned from the Brownsville revival in Pensacola, Florida. At this time in this church, God had already lit the fire of revival and with the return of thirty-five young people from being set ablaze by the Holy Spirit, things were about explode! As I watched, something stirred in my spirit and I was once again filled with an insatiable desire to have that same kind of passion and hunger I had for the presence of God. Although it was a joyful time for me to remember the incredible times I had at that church in seeing the Spirit of God move upon so many lives, there was also a sense of grieving for those in that church who rejected what God was attempting to do in that body.
As I fast forward almost fifteen years later, I cannot help to have to same concerns for the church today. We may not all agree upon all of the things which took place in Brownsville during the years of revival, but from the standpoint of people have a pure, intense hunger for knowing the Living God, the revival indisputably confirmed that there were people from all around who longed for His presence. The contrary was true as well. Brownsville proved that there were also believers all around the world who opposed the strange and bizarre happenings in Pensacola. As it stands in our day, there are many things happening in the realm of the supernatural in the Name of the Lord, which are much different than the manifestations that were observed in Brownsville. I have already discussed some of these issues in my post " A Worship that Deceives Part 1." The different in emphasis upon many of today's manifestations via the "New Apostolic Reformation" is the promotion of today's movement is centered upon "what WE can do and what WE can have and what WE obtain" from encountering a certain level of spirituality. A revival like Brownsville, with all of it's bizarre manifestations, simply explained it as "GOD doing something in man's life." I still stand by my simple example I used to explain "manifestations" of the Holy Spirit upon those who come encounter with His awesome presence: if you stick your finger in a light socket, you'll know you have come in contact with some sort of power. If you come in contact with the Spirit of the Living God, your life will reflect that you have indeed come into contact with some very real power! And this is where the problem exists in the church today---we have become afraid of that power.
In Deuteronomy 5:22-27, Moses recalls to the children of Israel an event in which they had the opportunity to come into the presence of the Lord and yet, because they claimed that they were "afraid" they would rather of had Moses approach God on their behalf. God's response was interesting as He said to Moses "I have heard what this people said to you. Everything they said was good. Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to FEAR me...."(Deut. 5:28-29). For the children of Israel, coming into contact with the glory of God was too much for them to handle. They saw the manifestation of His power and rejected the privilege to enter it because they were "afraid." God however, blamed it on the fact that they did not "fear" Him. The result is the same thing which is transpiring in churches today. We have asked a man (or woman) to be the one to enter into that glorious presence for us so that we can "observe" rather than participate. This individual who does this has been give a special name in the church----the worship leader!
I write this on the heels of yesterday's service where I was leading a portion of the praise and worship at my church. I have the privilege of being a part of a church where God is moving in a very real and powerful way. Something is being stirred and the people in this tiny country church are passionate and hungry for God to do something special in their midst. As we neared the end of the worship set, the team moved into a time of spontaneous worship---which is somewhat uncharted territory in this congregation. Beyond that, the spontaneous worship began to develop a prophetic edge which was propelled us into even more uncharted territory. To be honest, I'm not sure how it was received. Last night a wave of discouragement came over me and I began to question if what I felt led to do was the right thing or not. This in turn allowed me to reflect upon this one thought: Why are we so afraid of the presence of the Lord?
Churches take great measures these days to ensure that their congregants are completely "comfortable" with what is going on within the four walls of the church. We strive to create an environment which makes people feel welcome, secure, and "happy" to be in service. Not that these things are not necessary in some ways, but how has that affected our worship experience? Sure we want the "presence of God" but it seems we are much like the children of Israel only wanting His presence on our terms. We say with all respect, "God we love that fact that you are doing something here, but we don't want all of the smoke, lightning, and thunder, that accompanies your awesome presence; instead, let the worship leader experience that and tell us what it is like!" If we break that form, we tend to find reasons why we simply cannot have "those kinds of things" happening in the church. Just as the excuses flowed from the mouths of the people of Israel, we have our pat excuses as well. Among my favorites are "God is a God of order, things need to be decently done in order, and we need to be considerate of the weaker brother." Can we be a church that cries out for wanting the presence of God and then put stipulations upon how much of His presence that He desires to reveal to us? If we are honest, it comes down to a lack of "fear" of the Lord.
The context of Deuteronomy 5, centers upon the idea that God wanted to reveal something to His people. But because of their lack of "respect" for what God wanted to do in changing their lives, the people rejected what God wanted to do in favor for what THEY wanted God to do. Think about how many churches continually pray on a regular basis, "God do something in this place" and yet, when He tries to bestow upon them the very thing that they need, they reject it! The more troubling aspect of this type of response is they reject it on the basis of their flesh ( as the flesh will ALWAYS feel uncomfortable in God's presence) and then try to justify their reasoning based upon spiritual premises. If we're asking for God to do something in our church, do we ever have the right to tell Him "how, what, when, and where" He can do these things? As my title suggests, I am afraid that we have no fear of God. We are much more comfortable having our worship leader be the "radical" who visits the mountain and gives us the crumbs of his experience with God rather than actually tasting for ourselves to see that the "Lord is good." Unless we allow the uncomfortable darkness, the loudness of His voice to boom like thunder in our hearts, and the lightning-like power to flash in our churches, I fear that we will never enter into the promised land that God has waiting for us to take possession of for His glory.
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