Our culture has inundated the marketplace with so many choices from sandwiches, coffee, paint, to automobiles that options have become a national obsession in everything. To make a decisive decision quickly nowadays we have to be good at making a mental flowchart to map out a decision on the fly or wind up with a brain chill in public (and don't forget your calculator!). The only way to get the pressure off our backs while standing in line for a purchase anymore is to research on the internet beforetime.
But then there are those reviews concerning the options, and we dare not ignore reading those! Variety has become a sense of entitlement to where we are fixated on satisfying our slightest whim. Give us what we want, when we want it or we will take our business or body elsewhere! This sends businesses and organizations clamoring for new strategies to gain market share.
We are becoming more informed to make educated decisions on more things that are of little importance while neglecting things that are of far greater value. Not willing to sound overly critical, but we will spend more time researching stuff than researching the Scriptures! Learning how to be holy is seen as work and researching stuff is seen as fun. The Scriptures do not please the flesh, things do (cf. I Jn 2:15-17). Possessing things and being possessed of things are two different animals. It is a matter of priority (cf. Col 1:18).
Unfortunately, this self-impetus toward options has entered the churches. We carry it into the church like clothes touched by a Sunday morning rain before entering the sanctuary for worship. Choices are not a bad thing, but like most things, good stuff can go bad; and now the craving for options has become a compulsive disorder – we must have our choices, a variety to choose from! Go to some of the more prominent church websites, and there are options galore. So many churches are pressured into embracing the options obligation as a means to attract and retain membership.
There is a war that continues to rage across evangelical churches in our country today. The carnal conflict is between traditional worship service, contemporary worship service, and a hybrid worship service. Mainly, it focuses on the type of music being played rather than liturgy. Sammy Tippet made a general observation at the Heart Cry Conference Southeast recently that more churches are being started over division rather than vision. The church of Jesus Christ, according to him, is divided into two major categories, charismatic and non-charismatic. The former focuses on emotions and the latter on entertainment. Both share a commonality – trying to do the work of God in the flesh. “We need revival!” Declared the evangelist!
He went on to say that the church is further subdivided into three types of churches, each with a different emphasis: the knowing, the doing, and the being. The idea here is that when a church’s main desire is on being like Christ, there is plenty to know and plenty to do! For revival to take place we need to be a being church. Francois Carr stated in the same conference that the basis of revival is the Word. In quoting 1 Kgs 6:12, he said, “It is not about the work that you do but the walk.”
Listen friend, if we aren’t walking in the truth, true worship is not taking place (Jn 4:24), honestly. We cannot hang on to pet sins and expect our worship to be acceptable to Him even if it is claimed that the presence of God is “felt” (cf. Psa 66:18; Jas 4:17). We all sin, but there is a vast difference between approaching God to worship with an unknown sin and a known sin. God will speak to the heart of the unknown sin to be confessed in order for worship to take place. If we come to worship God knowing we are living in sin, the experience of conviction and not comfort will be “felt.” If comfort in this case is felt over conviction by the Holy Spirit (the worshipper claims to feel God’s presence), this is nothing more than a self-deception and a self-indulgent style of worship and an unwillingness to confront the truth.
Remember one of the criteria for worship is that it is in truth (Jn 4:24). If keeping the sin alive is more important than having a right relationship with God, this is systemic of two possible conditions of the heart - carnal (a believer living in rebellion with known sin) or barren (one who has not received Christ as Lord and Savior). Both are nothing more than a Pharisaical error, honoring God with the lips but the heart is far from Him (Mt 15:8). And Jesus described such an act of worship as vanity, empty, useless, purposeless, fruitless, in vain they worship Me (Mt 15:9). Such worship indicates having a deficiency in the knowledge of God and being deceived by the emotions.
Let me tell you what is very concerning about these worship wars among the churches in America. Do you remember when the first murder was committed according to the Scriptures? Of course you do. It is recorded in Genesis 4:8? Do you recall what the killing was over? Acceptable worship (Gen 4:3-5). Consider these passages relating to Cain.
- In 1 Jn 3:12 Cain is described as a child of the devil and a murderer and the reason he killed his brother Abel, Cain who as of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother's righteous (cf. Heb 11:4).
- In Lk 11:51 when Jesus was indicting the Pharisees, scribes , and lawyers of killing innocent men involved in serving God (cf. Heb 11), beginning with Abel, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple. Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation.
- Jud 1:11 Jude, in his condemnation of apostates, declared, Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain…. This could mean they devised their own way of worship, envious, or possessed a murderous spirit. Anyway you look at it; the way of Cain is evil. Cain-like worship is not in spirit and truth and produces bad fruit – vain worship, envy, and strife.
- Joh 8:44 Jesus linked the Pharisees to the devil which linked the devil to Cain. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. Cain, like his father, was a liar and a murderer.
Do you think God is behind the worship wars? Of course not, that is out of the question. For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints (1Cor 14:33). The only alternative author is the devil. One of the things that Satan loves but God hates is discord among brethren (Prov 6:16-19).
Worship wars are unwise, earthy, unspiritual, and of the devil. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there (Jas 3:16). Are we truly worshipping in spirit and truth (Jn 4:24) or do we have simply a form of godliness but denying its power (2 Tim 3:5)?
There is nothing wrong of a godly pursuit of providing a meaningful worship experience that helps people to connect with God; I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some (1 Cor 9:22), exclaimed Paul. Sounds like options to me! The Apostle Paul was willing to accommodate to the customs and habits of people in order to reach them with the Gospel, but never at the expense of violating Scriptural principle. Don't miss that important piece of information! This is the guideline our worship must follow in whatever options we choose to worship.
If all three worship services (traditional, contemporary, and blend are in spirit and truth, we better cease criticizing the services that don’t appeal to us. In everything that we do should bring glory to God (1 Cor 10:31). Anything that fails to glorify God is not according to His Word and therefore it is sin. Do the services contradict the Word? If it does then it should be addressed; otherwise, we would be wise to let it go (cf. Prov 6:16-19)!
This brings us to John chapter four on this matter of worship, the “feast of Christian hedonism” according to Dr. John Piper (MasterWork, Spring 2010, p. 83). It is simply enjoying the fellowship and favor of God for Who He is rather than what He can do for us, glorifying God by seeking the pleasure of His presence - Delight yourself in the LORD (Psalm 37:4, NIV). But even in this delight there is great reward – And He will give you the desires of your heart.
If you point to the latter part of this verse as to the motive of delight, delight to get, you miss the point of it all. You can’t trump up delight by the flesh; it is an operation involving the spirit of man and the Holy Spirit. Dr. Piper stated in last week’s lesson that “There are many professing Christians who delight in God’s gifts, but not in God.” And then he asked the probing question, “Would you want to go to heaven if God were not there, only His gifts?” (Ibid., p. 79)
We have already established that happiness and joy are linked to holiness, not to circumstances (see Lucottos: 3.28.10 // The Truth Behind Happiness, Psalm 1). Blessed (happy, happy) is the man … whose delight is in the law of the LORD. True happiness is found in God alone. The problem we have is weaning off the false belief that the right kind of circumstances makes us somehow happier in God. Naturally, situations perceived as good bring a temporal enjoyment of life but the vacuum or emptiness in the chamber of the heart remains when happiness is sought in circumstances apart from Christ.
Can our happiness and joy be sustained in Him regardless whether the circumstances are good or bad (cf. the severity of Job’s circumstances, yet he stated an amazing thing in Job 13:15 didn't he.)? Solomon described the pursuit of satisfying the heart’s desires apart from God as vanity of vanities (Eccl 12:8); this is horizontal living, life under the sun. Take away the positive circumstances, and the circumstancer’s joy in God deflates going every which of way like an untied blown up balloon released from the hand, making all kinds of noises in the process. Christian hedonism lives above the sun in an attitude of a vertical relationship – fearing God and keeping His Word (cf. Eccl 12:13). The warning ensues, For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil (Eccl 12:14; 2 Cor 5:10).
As long as things are going great, praise is offered to God. When things are not so great, circumstancers begin to question God’s love which leads to doubt, to anger and finally to a turning away from Him - "God I want only positive options and if you don’t provide them I am opting out!” Circumstancers relate happiness only to positive circumstances, not negative ones. It stands to reason if heathen hedonism is the pursuit of pleasure as the highest good, then pain would be considered the opposite of the spectrum and something to be avoided.
Generally speaking, every philosophy carries with it a conservative, liberal, and moderate viewpoint (with a host of in between points!). Epicureanism was no exception. There was a philosopher by the name of Epicurus (circa 341-270 B.C.) who we associate with the “eat and drink for tomorrow we die” proverb. Actually, the idea is older than him (cf. Isa 22:13 around 700 B.C.). Eppy taught that the essential goal in life was to attain pleasure and happiness through the avoidance of pain or less pleasurable things. Pleasure to some was grossly physical (unbridled lusts, not refusing the appetites of the flesh) while for others it meant avoiding excesses, seeking tranquility and love, freedom from pain and anxiety and the fear of death; it was believed that the soul died with the body. There was no life after death.
Epicureanism embraced existentialism (seeking truth by means of personal experience rather than reason), materialism, atheism (if gods exist they don’t involve themselves with humanity), and sensualism. Since pleasure was considered the highest good, sensualism found expression from irrational excesses to a more rational refined serenity, avoiding the extremes, enjoying life by maintaining a balance. Whatever the viewpoint of Epicureanism (whether conservative, liberal, or moderate), they all, to one degree or another, pursued with passion the doctrine of Epicurus that the number one goal in life was the pursuit of pleasure and happiness above all else.
This paganistic philosophy was prevalent all over the world in Paul’s day and continues in our day on a global scale – eat and drink for tomorrow we die (like a dog)! I can’t recall the source but it was said, “If men but persuade themselves that they shall die like the beasts, they soon will live like beasts too.” The Apostle Paul addressed Epicureanism in Athens (Acts 17:18) and Corinth (1 Cor 15:32).
What is interesting in the Corinthian passage is Paul's remarks alluding to a present day Epicurean passion. If there is no physical resurrection, if there is no life after death, why suffer through all the verbal and physical abuse and die for the cause of Christ? If Christ is not risen then we should do as the Epicureans advocated and pursue pleasure and avoid pain – eat and drink for tomorrow we die, if this is all there is to life.
In 1 Cor 15:32 Paul quoted Isaiah 22:13, Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die. When Jerusalem was under siege by the Assyrians this was their adopted proverb. Rather than repenting from their sins they indulged in the appetites of the flesh. But because Christ was risen from the dead (1 Cor 15:20), all the pain and suffering for the cause of Christ is worth it (1 Cor 15:57-58; Rom 8:18). So rather than Paul adopting an eat and drink for tomorrow we die philosophy, he denied the appetites of the flesh - I die daily (1 Cor 15:31; cf. 1 Jn 3:2-3) to be like the risen Lord.
Jesus alluded to the danger of this Epicurean proverb in Lk 12:19-20 of the rich fool who had built bigger barns to store all his crops and goods, And I [the fool] will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry." ‘(20) But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you. You get the impression that God is not too fond of retirees going into an Epicurean mode.
We know bad things are going to happen, but we are instructed to give thanks in all things (1 Thes 5:18) and to rejoice always (1 Thes 5:16; Php 4:4), not always an easy truth to understand or digest. The feast of Christian hedonism is worship according to Dr. Piper, taking pleasure in God not for what He can do for us but for who He is. But unlike heathen hedonism, Christian hedonism also embraces pain rather than avoiding it (2 Cor 12:9; 2 Cor 4:7; 2 Cor 10:17). Though we may not understand why bad things happen, it does not interfere with worshipping God in spirit and in truth for we know that all things work together for good (Rom 8:28); because we know who God is and what He is all about. We trust in Him (Job 13:15); we love Him, and we show that love by keeping His Word (Jn 14:15); this is where rejoicing and thanking Him in all things and for all things are a byproduct of true worship in spirit and truth.
No matter how rough the hour is, it doesn’t affect our worship. We are steady in Christ though we may be experiencing some stormy stretches; we may suffer heartache and pain for the moment; but because of who He is, our pleasure in Him goes unchanged despite the intensity of the storm.
Next week we will continue, God willing, on Authentic Worship, John 4 - Part 2. We will discuss the historical setting behind the Jacob’s well encounter to enhance our understanding of worshipping in spirit and truth by jumping into the well of water springing up into everlasting life.
