Therein describes the majority of Sunday morning (O, and now Saturday night) evangelical worship services. Is that a bad “order of worship”? I don’t know but it certainly is inadequate. We can do much better than what passes as typical worship today. Isn’t our life regulated by Scripture? It is. Certainly the worship of God is regulated, too. The First and Second Commandment do this. And when you start adding up the instances where God rejected man’s worship because it was based upon man’s ideas and values—every hot-shot worship leader and creative pastor should break into a cold sweat.
Cain thought he got to decide (Genesis 4:3-8); so did Aaron and the Israelites when Moses was gone those 40 days (Exodus 32). Nadab and Abihu thought they could tweak worship but they did so “contrary to His command” (Leviticus 10:1-3) and got lit up for it (literally). Afterward, God explained Himself through Moses: “Among those who approach Me I will show myself holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored” (v. 3). God was disrespected and dishonored by two sons (Aaron’s) who had great lineage but no authority to make changes. Things did not work out real well for Saul, either, when he thought he could take it upon himself to lead God’s people in worship (1 Samuel 15). He lost his throne when he did. The point is that God takes His worship seriously. And so should we. Sunday morning worship isn’t our “play-thing”. “Some Choruses, a Pep-talk, and an Offering”—is a generalized description of evangelical worship today. We can do better. We’ll talk next time how.
Pastor Rich Hamlin October 7, 2010