Come Into His House
Have you ever had a song stuck in your mind? You find yourself humming the tune, singing the words and thinking about the song over and over? For the past few days, I have been unable to get the song, "We Have Come Into His House" out of my mind. It is a newer song, written by Bruce Ballinger. It is a song of few words with much meaning. The first verse is made up of several repetitions of "we have come into His house and gathered in His name to worship Him". The second verse is "let's forget about ourselves and magnify His name and worship Him." This is what "church" is all about.
We live in an entertainment driven society and the craving for excitement and thrill has made its way into our worship. I am disturbed by this trend. In trying to make our worship more entertaining, we have compromised its purpose. Do we read anywhere that the worship practice of animal sacrifice was fun? Can you imagine few things less entertaining? Yet, God commanded His people to worship Him by bringing the beast to the altar of sacrifice. The Israelites seemed to understand that worship was not entertainment.
Worship is not for us, although we are commanded to edify one another while we worship. It is not about how eloquent the minister is. It is not about how beautiful the harmony in the song services. It is not about stimulating discussion in Bible class. Worship is about God. The very word "worship" means "to kiss forth". We are blowing a kiss toward God in our worship. Worship is about God, its all about God and our love and adoration for Him. It is in His name, we gather. It is His supplication we pray for. It is for His blessings we are gratful. If we search the scriptures, it seems God is concerned about the state of our hearts rather than being entertained. We come to worship to glorify and magnify God. As we blow our kisses toward Him, and those around us do the same, we are edified and encouraged. That is so much better than being entertained!
The One who created us, the One who provides for us, the One who loved us enough to die for us, the One who is preparing to come and take us to life eternal,-----that One, He asks us to worship HIM. When He is pleased, we are blessed!!!!
Neva
Jn. 4:24 " . . .His worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth."
We live in an entertainment driven society and the craving for excitement and thrill has made its way into our worship. I am disturbed by this trend. In trying to make our worship more entertaining, we have compromised its purpose. Do we read anywhere that the worship practice of animal sacrifice was fun? Can you imagine few things less entertaining? Yet, God commanded His people to worship Him by bringing the beast to the altar of sacrifice. The Israelites seemed to understand that worship was not entertainment.
Worship is not for us, although we are commanded to edify one another while we worship. It is not about how eloquent the minister is. It is not about how beautiful the harmony in the song services. It is not about stimulating discussion in Bible class. Worship is about God. The very word "worship" means "to kiss forth". We are blowing a kiss toward God in our worship. Worship is about God, its all about God and our love and adoration for Him. It is in His name, we gather. It is His supplication we pray for. It is for His blessings we are gratful. If we search the scriptures, it seems God is concerned about the state of our hearts rather than being entertained. We come to worship to glorify and magnify God. As we blow our kisses toward Him, and those around us do the same, we are edified and encouraged. That is so much better than being entertained!
The One who created us, the One who provides for us, the One who loved us enough to die for us, the One who is preparing to come and take us to life eternal,-----that One, He asks us to worship HIM. When He is pleased, we are blessed!!!!
Neva
Jn. 4:24 " . . .His worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth."
posted by Neva | 6:04 AM
11 Comments:
Thank you for this post. We need to remember what the purpose of worship is. I like the "kiss toward" deal. Very cool.
Dan
Neva - Great thoughts -- I have read your last couple of posts (as wellasthe "Prodigal"one) - You have a real heart for God and for sharing your faith -- Thank you.
I agree withyou comments on worship but I wonderifit is "either-or" or "and-both" --As we"kiss forth" to God can we not experience joy and inspiration in our doing it.
And if we aren't joyful, if we aren't inspired how can wetruly blow those kisses to God praising him and honoring him.
So I think it is about balance. In our assemblies we need to create an atmosphere were we all can experience joy and be inspired as we "blow kisses" to God.
It seems tomethe root issue here is selfishness.If we assemble with the idea that our participation is aimed and honoring God and helping others have a joyful inspirational experience we will likely have that happen.
If we approach it with that attitude that it;s about me and I'm here tobe "entertained" orifI approach it with the idea that my way - my tradition is the only way and I get bent out of shape when others express their love for God("blow kisses") in a way thatis different from what I think is right then it isn't proper worship \\Hope this make sense
God Bless
Charlie
Well said. Thanks for the insight.
Love,
Tammy
I too like the "kiss forward". I had never heard of that.
So, do you think David was having fun when he was dancing naked in the streets? (2 Samuel 6)
Worshiping with thanksgiving,
Kathy
In response, I don't think it is an either/or situation. I just think our satisfaction and joy is a result of not the purpose for worship.That was why David was so joyful, dancing naked in the streets. That is how we edify and encourage. I loved watching my kids open birthday presents and got much joy from that, but my joy was not the purpose of the gift. Hopefully that makes sense. Thank you for the comments.
Glad to know there are so many others on this quest to please God.
Neva
Aren't you glad something commanded by God is also so encouraging to us and that our kissing toward Him also brings us such joy? I agree with Dan, very cool.
Jean
I like reading your blog and I always read the comments. I agree with some of them and todays, in premise. However I think the church as God would have it sometimes compromises too much in order to be inspiring and joyful. If it doesn't please God, it really doesn't matter how much it pleases us. Just a thought.
Dean
I like it when your post makes me think--this one did. I think I agree with you.
Yvonne
Do you really think this is a problem in church today? It seemts to me they are not concerned about entertaining at all and the service is dry and boring. That's why numbers are going down.
Dont you think?
Karli
Good post, very insightful. I like the way you think.
Eileen.
I think some churches focus too much on the entertainment and not enough on the premise behind it. If you go to church with the sole purpose of worshipping God it should never be boring.
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