Worship in the Fast Lane

I have to make an honest confession. Sometimes when I sit in some churches I feel absolutely suffocated by all that is going on. It is as if a pillow is being smothered on my face holding me down as I try to gasp for a single breath. I have never taken amphetamines, but at times I wonder if many of our worship services have been suffering from an addiction to “speed.” Growing up, I hated roller-coasters; however, I loved anything that would spin me around to the point where it felt like I wasn’t going to be able to walk straight for a week. As I have gotten older, I have come to a startling discovery---I can no longer take the constant motion of spinning around! The proceeding migraine, nausea, and stiff neck have made me a huge fan of the simpler things in life. And like a mature adult who can no longer take the gravitational forces of amusement park rides, I have come to a place where I can no longer stomach the repetitive, going through the motions Great America theme park worship setting in the church today! As an occasional participant, I have to ask myself as I did when I stopped going to the theme park, “What’s the point?”

What is the point of what we do in the worship service today? Why do we sing the songs that we do and why do we go to such great lengths to execute every element of the service to flawless perfection? Is it so when the band strikes the last chord and the preacher has articulated his final point we can all go out the church doors going “WOW! Can’t wait to get back on this ride next time?” We hail the creativity of our services that are filled with the latest music, riveting dramas, state of the art videos, and of course, a relevant, felt needs message that is sure to keep you wanting to come back for more. But at the end of the day, what has really changed? Sure, we’ve gone through Sunday’s religious ritual with excellence and have found a way to captivate the local audience but when the curtain closes, has anything really changed? 

       

It seems that many of our worship leaders spend more time emulating the latest worship leaders by trying to mimic every nuance of their latest songs or trying to perfectly fit their weekly song selection as another creative element to seem like the service was led by the Spirit than they do in actually leading people into the throne room of God. I know, as a worship leader, I can hear the arguments of “We’re doing this for the Lord! If the world does things with excellence so should we!” I believe that to be true, but by whose standard of excellence. I’m sure that when Paul said “Be excellent in all you do” he would have much rather preferred that those involved in the worship ministry be much more excellent in prayer and the spiritual disciplines rather than being able to perfect the latest guitar lick that would send the song over the top. If we’re worshiping right, then why is everything staying the same week in and week out?

The answer is simple: We’ve come to accept worship in the fast lane---more energy, more drama, more technicalities, and more creativity which drives worship to being an event of captivation for spiritual thrill seekers. And just as it is so easy to race to the amusement park and enjoy the rides without even thinking about the hundreds of people you pass along the way who are not as fortunate as you to spend a day in the park, we have missed the bigger thrill along the way of giving those less fortunate a taste of what we have taken for granted.

When worship becomes about the worshiper the spirit of religion reigns. Religion seeks only to serve the individual and not the God of the individual. When we come to this point in our worship, the greater blessings of God are missed and the overall power of the church is diminished. We can have what we consider “great worship” in the church but in the end, if it only results on an introverted experience of our faith, then in essence, our expressions of worship means nothing as it has not changed us to the point of changing the world around us.Worship in the fast lane is a dangerous place to be. With all that we are doing in the worship services, have we also forgotten the bigger picture that screams out to us that “There is something much more than ourselves!” We can continue to live under the impression that we are touching the heart of God, when in reality, if through our lives His heart is not touching those around us---the sick, the poor, the lonely, the afflicted, and oppressed----we’ve missed the exit to where the ride of worship was intended to take us. I’m sure that in their habitual fasting God’s people in Jerusalem in Isaiah's day(see Isaiah 58) felt as if they were accomplishing something great. And just as there is “nothing new under the sun,” I cannot help to think that we also step back and relish at the heights of what our attempt to make worship better has made us feel like. I believe the real question mimics that of the prophet’s:

“Is this the kind of worship which I have chosen? That a man would delight himself for a Sunday in the midst of exceptional music, professional multi-media, riveting drama, and relevant felt-needs messages in order to sing the praises of his church and be ‘wowed” in the name of excellence?”

And just like the prophet Isaiah, I will “shout it aloud” and “raise my voice like a trumpet” to declare that the day of introverted, self-centered, amusement-based worship practices must come to an end as they are not acceptable to the Lord! We need to return to the heart of worship that will return to us the purposes of God for His church. We are to finish the work the Lord began while we wait for our day of deliverance--- and that work is to live out our worship before the Lord so that we declare to the world that is missing out on the pleasure which we have been privileged to enjoy: 

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Luke 4:18-19

Is Jesus Better?

The Song of Solomon is an often neglected and mistreated book of the Old Testament. Theologians have labored in finding its significance and preachers have abused its context in making it mean what it does not. Some have even developed end-times theologies based upon the “bride paradigm” and believe that the book unlocks mysteries that promote a deeper and more intimate relationship with Christ. In reality, the Song of Solomon is a poem about two lovers who celebrate the joy their marital relationship. This however, does not mean that there are no parallels that reflect upon our relationship with Christ. After all, we are the Bride of Christ and He is the Lover of Our Souls. Paul explained in Ephesians 5 that marriage is a reflection of one’s relationship with Christ. It is our earthy institution that best explains our heavenly relationship with Christ (v.31-32). With this in mind, the Song of Solomon provides some challenges for the reader in the area of evaluating one’s passion for Christ.

One verse in particular, brings a great deal of conviction when I ponder its implications in my relationship with Christ. The author writes, “How is your beloved better than others, most beautiful of women? How is your beloved better than others that you charge us so?” (Song of Solomon 5:9). The woman in this passage was passionately seeking after her lover and begged for her friends to join her in the pursuit of finding him. Their response in our vernacular would have sounded more like, “What makes him so great? What makes him so different that you’re asking us to join you in your pursuit?” I believe that this is a fair question for those friends to ask. After all, it is the middle of the night and the woman is asking her friends for quite a commitment on their part. Although we would most likely not ask our friends to help us chase down someone who we are madly in love with, we would ask others to consider following us as we follow after the Lover of Our Soul----and this is where this passage begins to convict.

As Christians, we make certain claims about Jesus. We believe Him to be the most important part of our lives. We believe His Word to be true and that He keeps that Word. We believe Him to be our strength, sufficiency, comfort, joy, and even our Healer. We believe that He is God Almighty and that He is to be worshiped with all of our heart. The problem lies that when others look at our lives, does our example answer the question of “How is your beloved better than others…how is your beloved better than others that you charge us so?” We make claims that we are worshipers of Jesus, but do the actions, attitudes, and activities we choose to participate in reflect those claims? I can say that living for Jesus is “better” than choosing to live for this world but if my life does not look any different from those choosing to NOT live for Christ, then who am I kidding? This extends well past the idea that “because I go to church” I show how much Jesus means to me mentality. A passion for Christ that screams “HE IS BETTER THAN ALL ELSE” is something that needs to be a part of every fabric of my life---otherwise I live as a hypocrite. Jesus did not claim that He was “the way for some of life, the truth for only what I choose to believe, and the life when only I want to act like someone who loves Christ.” No, He said He is “THE way, THE truth, and THE life!” (John 14:6).

In George Barna’s book Growing True Disciples, he conducted a study which discovered that for the most part, professing Christians are no different in beliefs, actions, and attitudes in life than non-believers. And yet, these same Christians also make the claim that “Jesus is better than all else.” The simple truth is that we cannot claim to be “following after Jesus” while living as those who do not follow after Jesus. If Jesus is “more” than all else in this life, then our example would fully promote that. We would not be focused upon the priorities of pursuing wealth, materialism, fashion, entertainment, success, and questionable indulging that identifies us with worldly living. Rather, we would show with our lives that Jesus has “another way” of living. Those who choose to follow that way will easily be able to answer the question of “What makes Jesus better than the life I already have?” In fact, they won’t have to speak a word to answer that question as the life that passionately pursues Jesus will be evident and DIFFERENT from anything this world has to offer!