Oklahombres

ow this may offend some of you Praise-n-Worship brothers, but think about it before you write it off as an old crank who dislikes contemporary worship styles. This illustration was not totally my idea. I have to tip my hat to the crew over at The Whitehorse Inn—from the August 10th episode—for providing the seed for this. That particular podcast had so many priceless gems scattered throughout it you will be doing yourself a favor by finding it and listening to it. Well, here goes.

The Praise-n-Worship philosophy of worship is “Don’t just sit there. Do something.” Where can we find an example of this in Scriptures?

Exodus 32:17-19

The orthodox philosophy of worship is “Don’t just do something. Sit there…and worship.” And where might you find an object lesson for this position?

Luke 10:38-42

What do you think? I know this wouldn’t pass for solid argumentation, but maybe the parody value will make you stop and ask yourself some serious questions. The problem I have is that I can’t seem to get that scene out of my head where Charlton Heston plays Moses and the children of Israel are all tom-cattin’ around that golden calf, and the fact that God is not a God of confusion, but of peace (1 Corinthians 14:33), and that he says “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)

Like I said, before you write it all off, think about what you do in a “worship” service, and ask your self why you do what you do, the way you do it. Is it because that is what you like, or is it because you believe it best honors God?

ometimes the force of a quotation is delivered as much by who made it as what it was they said. Here is a good example.

“With music one can seduce men to every error—and every truth.”

—Friedrich Nietszche

My lands, if an atheist understands the power of music, how is it that the church does not?

So, pastor and/or song leader:

• What is your philosophy of the role of music in your church service?
• Is the preaching of the word of God central to your service, or is the music the main attraction?
• Do you coordinate the music in your service to compliment the preaching of God’s word?
• Do the words you sing build the body of Christ up in the same way as the preached word (Colossians 3:16), or is it just for entertainment value?
• To what are you seducing your congregation: truth or error?

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. . . . By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.

Hebrews 11:8, 11 - ESV

Here’s a new(ish) song I heard the other day that tells part of the biblical story of Abraham and Sarah. Careful, it’ll make you cry. If it doesn’t, you’re probably not regenerate. But then maybe the tune was a factor when I heard it, so just reading the words may not do you like it did me the other day when I heard it sung. The tune is one of those lonesome Irish/Celtic type tunes. The author/artist is Andrew Peterson and you can find the song at the iTunes Store, where you can hear a short sample for free and buy the song for ninety-nine cents; it’s called Canaan Bound. Here’s the words:

Sarah, take me by my arm
Tomorrow we are Canaan bound
Where westward sails the golden sun
And Hebron’s hills are amber crowned

So bid your troubled heart be still
The grass, they say, is soft and green
The trees are tall and honey-filled
So, Sarah, come and walk with me

Like the stars across the heavens flung
Like water in the desert sprung
Like the grains of sand, our many sons
Oh, Sarah, fair and barren one
Come to Canaan, come

I trembled at the voice of God
A voice of love and thunder deep
With love He means to save us all
And Love has chosen you and me

Long after we are dead and gone
A thousand years our tale be sung
How faith compelled and bore us on
How barren Sarah bore a son
So come to Canaan, come

Where westward sails the golden sun
And Hebron’s hills are amber crowned
Oh, Sarah, take me by my arm
Tomorrow we are Canaan Bound

Good stuff, huh? It made me think of our relationship to Abraham, and how we are part of that blessing of being sons and daughters of Abraham by faith, the same kind of faith that they had all those many, many years ago.

That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.”

Romans 4:16-18 - ESV