Carelessness and Casualness in worship

The Middletown Bible Church ^ | 08/19/03 | various authors

[j_k_l]

We are both correct...

Mark 16:14-18 Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.

He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."

Some of our posters would prefer...

"...And these signs will accompany those who believe: they will dress like someone out of GQ magazine, listen to music that is at least 100 years old, judge others who have different cultural preferences..."

[kegler4]

I don't have time to read all of this, but I can tell you that I do NOT dress up to show respect. I dress up when -- and only when -- it is the norm and seems to be expected of me, especially by my wife. If I wear jeans and decent church to shirt I am not disrespecting my pastor or the Lord. I seriously don't think the Lord gives one gosh darn.

As for the music, I'll warrant that some music we now consider great sacred music was considered terribly heathen way back. I do know teenagers who listen to CCM but wouldn't listen to other religious music.

[PleaseNoMore]

------Verse 1------ Above all powers
Above all kings
Above all nature
And all created things
Above all wisdom
And all the ways of man
You were here
Before the world began
------Verse 2------ Above all kingdoms Above all thrones Above all wonders The world has ever known Above all wealth And treasures of the earth There's no way to measure What You're worth ------CHORUS------- Crucified
Laid behind the stone
You lived to die
Rejected and alone
Like the rose
Trampled on the ground
You took the fall
And thought of me
Above all
(Verse 1) (Verse 2) (Chorus) (Chorus) Like the rose
Trampled on the ground
You took the fall
And thought of me
Above all

I see this as a very personal song. The "me" meaning that Jesus died for my sins ( as He did for yours ). There is an older hymn that says..."when He was on the cross, I was on His mind". This is the context in which my spirit perceives the lyrics to this song.

[Quix]

Christ after they got saved, they are supposed to shave to show it, they are supposed to bathe to show it, they are supposed to dress appropiately to show it

HOGWASH, IMHO.

". . . what is that to thee, follow thou, me," Christ said to Peter?

WHO is defining "appropriately" for whom?

Did you read post 144????

"supposed to shave to show it" ???

Silliness. Externals.

For all I know, Christ is grooming them to minister in contexts where they will NEED their beards and their clothes etc.

If we want to go down your road, perhaps we should take lessons from the Mormons who insist people wear special temple underwear to live for and worship God!!!!

The "uniform" you are talking about is no less silly and restrictive and certainly is part and parcel contributive to pride and haughtiness.

Your attitude is but yet more evidence of that, IMHO.

And I used to share it.

God humbled me.

In coming months/years, folks will not have the luxury of worshipping in any clothes other than the clothes they are fleeing in.

This moment--Believers around the world do not have the luxury to "put on aires" to go to church in.

THE ATTITUDE/DRESS OF THE HEART IS INFINITELY MORE IMPORTANT. And when that's square--God is well pleased. Little else matters in this ball park.

I have learned that the seductions of pride in religious circles are legion and merciless as well as seductively pervasive.

And I have become wholesale against religious pride. . . and a lot else "religious" vs relationship.

Christ, if anything chided, derided "fine clothes" on the part of the religious rulers, at least. But you can stubbornlyl insist on standing on the side of the pharisees, if you wish.

[Theo]

To me, the cross represents the ultimate in worship. We are called to love the Lord with all our hearts, mind, and strength. No better example of it at that moment. The Son giving Himself over to the Father so that the Father could fulfill His will

Yes! I love singing songs that focus on what our Lord has accomplished through the cross. I'd argue that there's no greater way that He's demonstrated His love than through the cross. And no greater thing that can spark our worship of the Lord than the cross.

We Christians could ponder the cross for our entire life and still never exhaust the wonder of what the Creator has done through Jesus' work on the cross....

[Quix]

AMEN!

[Quix]

AMEN!

And a pastor all fussed up about what people are wearing is likely to be missing some very much higher priority in the area of Loving as Jesus Loves.

[L,TOWM]

I might want a piece of this after work.

[kegler4]

"church to shirt"

Make that shirt to church. Must be dyslexic today.

[Rebelbase]

Alive Festial in Canal Fulton, OH.

[j_k_l]

We Christians could ponder the cross for our entire life and still never exhaust the wonder of what the Creator has done through Jesus' work on the cross....

May we lift our eyes from the creation to the creator for in HIM and HIM alone is our salvation.

[Quix]

RACE B: The Charismatic ones are way out in left field, all the phoney gold dust revivals, the laughing revival, the casual dress in shorts, t-shirts, dressed to go to a party instead of church.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh . . .

REALLY?

HAVE YOU EVER been standing next to someone in a blessed service and EXPERIENCED them having a tooth filled instantly? Seen gold dust appear? Observed the clearly demonstrated anointing and heavy PRESENCE OF GOD'S HOLY SPIRIT on people and in a space? Heard angels sing?

I have experienced such though not all the above.

Throw rocks at WHAT GOD DOES if you wish. But I wouldn't recommend it.

HINT--GOD HAS BEEN UPSETTING PEOPLE'S RELIGIOUS SENSIBILITIES ever sense Cain felt justified proudly bringing fruit vs what God asked for.

Perhaps you'd do well to look up the Scripture about pure religion undefiled etc. in the Old Testament.

God is very much NOT into RELIGIOUS sensibilities. He IS into intimate RELATIONSHIP.

He's very much into SUBSTANCE over FORM.

If you don't know this, I'm suspicious about the level of your own intimacy with God.

[Quix]

Absolutely correct!

[Quix]

i RATHER DEPLORE Rock music. And have a real problem with unnecessarily loud Church music.

AND, I used to feel exactly as you expressed it in this post.

I went to see GODSPEL ready to walk out of the blasphemous movie--very skeptical or worse.

God overhauled my heart and mind in that movie. The author was right.

Going to church as going to a party is much more in line with David dancing before the Lord than is your seemingly haughty, prissy attitude.

God IS HOLY.

He is NOT prissy.

[Quix]

As Scriptures abundantly demonstrate,

God is much closer to being earthy than prissy.

Actually, God IS rather earthy. There are plenty of examples in the OT.

He actually uses the equivalent of "shit" a number of times.

[MEGoody]

Great! Been there too. Wonderful location, great festival.

[Quix]

And Christ calling the pharisees "vipers" was not exactly prissy language.

[MEGoody]

"Perhaps you'd do well to look up the Scripture about pure religion undefiled etc. in the Old Testament."

Old Testament? Are you sure you aren't talking about James 1:27?

[HiTech RedNeck]

You do realize that, if the Lord tarries, 50 years from now RaceBannon's spiritual grandchildren will be holding that very song up as an exemplar of the properly dignified music for church, and decrying the "casual" compositions which are threatening to displace it.

Yeah :-). It is funny how many seeming mountains dissolve into molehills as one gains years and wisdom.

[MEGoody]

"HAVE YOU EVER been standing next to someone in a blessed service and EXPERIENCED them having a tooth filled instantly?"

No, I haven't. But God is into actual healing, not patching. He would give the person a perfectly healed tooth, not a filled one.

"Seen gold dust appear?"

Haven't seen this either. What would be the purpose of God spreading gold dust around?