Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die." (Exo 20:18-19)How did we get from this to the "stormtrooper dance"?
The answer isn't that hard to find. The fundamental problem for humans is described in Romans 1. "Although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him." (Rom 1:21) You see, God has made Himself evident to all humans (Rom 1:19), but as a race we reject that. Remember, the problem is "ungodliness" and "unrighteousness" (Rom 1:18), beginning with the failure to recognize God as God and progressing to unrighteous behavior. "They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator." (Rom 1:25) Biblically, this leads to a moral decay ending in sexual immorality, homosexual behavior, and all manner of sin (Rom 1:26-32). This is the normal, sinful condition of Man.
So how do we get from a genuine fear of the Lord to kids doing dances in church for "worship"? We -- yes, we believers as well -- don't heed the warnings. We fail to honor Him as God or give thanks. We exchange God for a lie -- the worship of the Creature rather than the Creator. We all have this tendency. We all have a real possibility of this path. But this path, according to Scripture, produces futile thinking and foolish hearts (Rom 1:21-22). Sin rots the brain.
When Nadab and Abihu decided to "jazz up" their worship, God struck them dead (Lev 10:1-2). They died, according to Scripture, because they failed to represent a holy God and bring Him glory (Lev 10:3). We must not fall into that trap. Believers are human just like everyone else and prone to sin, but we have the Spirit. We should be paying attention to this problem and earnestly pursue God's glory rather than our entertainment. Worship is important. It's not a game. Treating it as such is dangerous.
8 comments:
I can imagine Jesus coming up on that stage and driving those kids off with a whip. It "might" have been a little better if they'd been dancing to worship music, but the songs they chose... I weep for the churches of America.
While, I would be interested in seeing the context and if they were able to somehow tie it into something relevant, that's just strange.
I've recently started playing at a very mall church and I'm beginning to connect to services that have less production. My home church doesn't do that kind of thing, but does have a minimum level of production. I like the idea of using technology and production to raise the quality of the service, but I see a lot of churches going over the top.
Too much of what I've seen is not aimed at improving the quality of the service. It is aimed at "bringing in the seekers." Make it more "secular" and they'll be more likely to come. Improving worship -- technology or otherwise -- is a good thing. Most of what I've seen is not aimed at bringing God praise.
I agree. We were at a church the other night that does a fair amount of production and despite an excellent sermon, I left with some questions.
I do think that technology has a role in worship, but it should be to support what’s happening not distract.
It was pointed out to me that that may not have been a Sunday service, but like a Friday night family thing. Still, I don't get connection between church function and Star Wars or any of the songs those kids danced to, or the drive-in movie setting with the cars in front.
That would change it somewhat, wouldn't it? Somewhat. If it wasn't aimed at worship, that changes things. On the other hand, what does the Michael Jackson grab-his-crotch-and-flaunt-it move have to do with any positive Christian value? So, okay, there are certainly better examples of flippant "worship" that doesn't glorify God, but I'm still thinking that that dance thing had nothing to offer toward building up the body of Christ.
I don't think it's unreasonable to conclude how seriously God takes worship by looking at the amount of detail He put into describing the appearance and characteristics of the place He wanted built for worship.
That's a great point, Craig! Wish it came up in our previous discussion about Leonard Cohen's song!
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