Have you ever heard that? I'd guess that if you have (or have had) teenage kids, you've heard it. If not, it's all around. It's often the reason for creating the "seeker sensitive" atmosphere that so many churches go for. It's generally the reason that they've dropped "those old boring hymns" and lept into a morning-rock-concert approach. (Seriously, one church I visited this past summer offered earplugs, warning that "the music may be a bit too loud for you." Isn't that a hint that there is something not quite right?) (Note: They were right; it was too loud.)
So, let's see if I have this straight. God is Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresent. He doesn't change, but remains constantly holy and righteous. He defines "Love" and "Good". He is gracious and merciful while also remaining just. God is Sovereign. Not just sovereign, but Sovereign, as in the only Sovereign (1 Tim 6:15). He is awesome (that kind that includes marvel and dread). He is the Maker of all things, from the sun and stars to the amazing scenery we experience all the way down the the single-celled organisms. God is eternal. That is, God is, always was, and always will be. He is self-existent (the uncaused cause), the very essence of all existence. He is steadfast, utterly faithful, cannot lie. He is all-sufficient. He is infinite. He is both immediately present and far transcendent above all that we are. In Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). In Him all things hold together (Col 1:17). "From Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever." (Rom 11:36)
If church is our opportunity to gather together to learn of Him and worship Him and celebrate Him and that is "boring" ... you're doing it wrong.
10 comments:
I'd have to say, the only place I've heard any of those descriptions of God are in blogs, books, theology classes, and conferences. I don't think I have ever once heard a sermon about the omniscience of God. They're all about how we should behave, not why. I can imagine a half hour of morality tales being boring. Maybe more sermons about God and less sermons about "application" would make things more appealing.
That would come under "doing it wrong", wouldn't it?
I think one is the church leadership doing it wrong and the other is the leity doing it wrong. Your post seemed to indicate that people were bored because of God, and I think it's because of a lack of God.
Yes, when I said, "You're doing it wrong", that "you" was generic. The pastor, the individual, the congregation, whoever was either failing to see or glorify God. As a side note, you should have heard yesterday's sermon at my church. It was titled "Soli Deo Gloria" and was all about God. I can send you the link if you'd like to download it. :)
What!? Pastors talking about God without some sort of "life application"? This I must hear.
Last night our Sunday night service was looking at the solas of the reformation. I couldn’t go but will probably stream it at some point.
David, you make it sound wrong to apply God's Word (God's character, whatever) to one's life.
Not that it's wrong, just insufficient. When the goal of the sermon is a life application, not the glorification of God, that's when I think the mark is missed. It ties into the idea that worship is only that time that we are singing, not the entire service.
Okay, so if the application of a sermon on the character of God is "We should focus our whole being on glorifying God," that would work for you.
I once heard that in seminary, pastors are big taught that they must have a life application portion of their sermon. What would happen if every Sunday was a theology conference. I don't believe that most Christians know what their theology is because you only hear about it in conferences or extra classes. Theology is reserved for the few for some reason. But I believe every Christian should be a theologian and an apologist. But we're not given those tools by our pastors. Sure, we should strive to live better, but if we're not given a reason to, the rest of the week just becomes secular and Sunday is only a short refresher. We should be mulling over what we were taught on Sunday all week, instead we're given a Bible verse(s), an anecdote or two, and how we should behave. The Gospel is lost. It's too "harsh" for most believers. Make them feel good about God. We could have another Awakening if we were taught about God. Imagine if believers knew what they believed and why. Theological terms shouldn't be confusing because they get explained and explored by our pastors. The only places I hear about theologies is blogs and conferences. I bet most people don't even know what Open Theism is or that they believe it. They have some vague notion of their theology, but they don't know how to express it or explain why they believe from Scripture, only some feeling they have about how they think God should be. Teach us about God, make us actually think about Him, and our lives will change.
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