Avoiding Evil

On any given Sunday morning hundreds of people pull into their nicely paved parking spots that overlook a beautifully landscaped area with blooming flowers, trimmed bushes and freshly cut grass. They walk up the sidewalk, barely noticing the last of three brand new vans finishing their rounds and pulling into the bus garage across the street. A smiling face greets them at the door and hands them a fancy church bulletin, printed in color, as they proceed to enter the auditorium. Immediately two large screens, one on each side of the room, grab their attention as two projectors flash fancy PowerPoint slides and video images, from a brand new computer, onto the screens. They finally sit down on their soft, comfortable pew and begin staring at the fresh flowers that line the stage every week. Shortly after the people get comfortable, a beautiful arrangement of music begins to flow out of a new baby grand piano and a matching electronic keyboard sitting on both sides of the stage. When the music comes to an end the handsomely dressed pastor quickly steps up to the podium to welcome the crowd to the morning worship service. Week after week seems the same, they sing a few songs, listen to a message, stand quietly during the invitation and then return to their cars exactly the same as when they came in. If I were to describe some of these people I would have to say they are neither not, nor cold, but lukewarm. There are many churches that look as if they have everything they need, and if they don’t have it they can get it. The problem is, most of our church members don’t realize they lack something that is vital to the life of a Christian, true, life changing Worship.

“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” (Revelation 3:14-17)

The church spends a large amount of time and resources working for God. It is a big deal when we have people volunteering their time to do ministry for the sake of God’s kingdom. I support that one hundred percent because I think Christians should be involved in ministry and doing the work the Lord has given them, within the right context. In his book, Whatever Happened To Worship, A. W. Tozer points out, and I agree, that we should not be concerned about working for God until we have learned the meaning and the delight of worshiping Him. This is why we are here, we were created to worship. God is not in desperate need of faulty humans trying to do His work for Him, but He does desperately want His people to worship Him and enjoy Him forever. Our desire to do ministry and work for God should come out of our worship and adoration of Him. To the true worshiper, carnal and worldly religious projects pale in comparison to devoted and reverent worship. It is in worship that we find irresistible joy and unquenchable peace, it is in worship that we rejoice and take great pleasure in God, and it is in worship that we are doing what we were created to do. We may have great churches and beautiful sanctuaries but we are in desperate need of worshipers.

“There are a lot of people who are willing to sit on our church boards who have no desire for spiritual joy and radiance and never show up for the church prayer meeting. These are the men who often make the decisions about the church budget and the church expenses and where the frills will go in the new edifice.” There are many cases where the people running the church do not pray or worship, but simply spend their time determining where the church will go and completely miss their purpose in the body of Christ. We were created to worship God and unfortunately it seems as if we are just attempting to be a part of some “ecclesiastical machine.” According to the Westminster Catechism; “the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” To worship and glorify God is our purpose. A Christian who does not know why they are here has lost their identity. My desire is to see us reclaim our own identity and as a result, see my church get back to worship again. I desire to see people come into our doors and instantly sense the presence of a holy God among His holy people.

“God’s highest desire is that every one of His believing children should so love and so adore Him that we are continuously in His presence, in Spirit and in truth.” Tozer points out the first requirement for being in the presence of God in such a manner, which is to be a converted believer in Jesus Christ. When Jesus changes our lives we are being restored to the place of worship which was intended from the beginning of creation. We were created in His image, created with the capacity to know God and the instincts to worship Him. When the Spirit regenerates us our whole being senses the connection to God and leaps in joyous recognition! It can be concluded that those who have never experienced the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit cannot truly worship God. Even if the church can get over the hurdle of having a large percentage of church members who cannot worship God because they do not know Him, there is still the problem with believers who are not experiencing true spiritual worship. How is it that the true children of God have reached such a state? Tozer believers it is because the people who lead us in the pulpit and in the pew do not give much indication that fellowship with God is delightful beyond telling. In other words, it is our lack of understanding who God really is and what worship is really about that keeps us from the true spiritual worship that God desires. To correct this problem we must correct our understanding of who God is and who we are in Him.

God is the most enchanting and glorious being of all, and in our worship of Him we should find unspeakable pleasure. God is pleased to reveal Himself to those who seek Him so that we would know and understand who He really is and what that means to our lives. It is in our knowledge of God that we find great purpose and motivation for worship. Unfortunately the church is in the habit of offering up an artificial means to try and induce some kind of worship, when all we need is true believers soaking up God’s revelation of Himself which creates a response of incredible worship.

Tozer believes there are forms of worship that God will not accept. Christians may worship in many different ways and offer their worship to God, however it may not be an acceptable form of worship. The reality is, true worship must be in spirit and in truth even though it is plainly possible to have a religious experience apart from Christ. It is impossible for any of us to worship God without the impartation of the Holy Spirit. It is the operation of the Spirit of God within us that enables us to worship God acceptably, which means worship originates with God, it’s led by God, and carried out to God. No other form of worship is acceptable. “When a person, yielding to God and believing the truth of God, is filled with the Spirit of God, even his faintest whisper will be worship.”

God is complete in purity and holiness. He is far more holy than anything man would consider good on earth. God is righteous beyond measure, completely divine in His nature and He is one who’s character and nature signal perfection. Our reaction to the divine attributes of God should be like Isaiah’s reaction when he found himself in the presence of the almighty. “He was struck with awe, his whole world quickly dissolving into a vast, eternal brightness.” There is something about God that is different, that is beyond us, that is above us. When a believer encounters the presence of the living God there are several unavoidable reactions. First of all the believer is struck with awe at the magnificence of God. Secondly the believer is trapped with complete horror of his own sin and unrighteousness as he sees his life in stark contrast to that of complete holiness. Thirdly the believer is enflamed with deep sorrow and conviction over their present state of sinfulness. Lastly the believer is thrust into a state of confession and repentance before God in an act of complete obedience and worship of His divine nature and immense holiness. Unfortunately this does not look like the worship services in our church today. Confession, repentance, and conviction over sin seem to be lost in our failed attempts at creating a worship that is comfortable for everyone. There is still great depravity among the people who are called to be saints, and sadly they seem to be totally unaware of it. I believe that the man who has seen the true beauty of God is completely broken and undone before Him, and it is at the point of being undone that God raises us up to worship Him and praise Him like never before. Worship is a response to God’s revelation of Himself, a revelation that should shed light on the darkness that fills man. Tozer believes that “God has saved us to be worshipers.” It is Tozer’s desire, and it should be ours, that God would show us a vision of ourselves that will dis-value us to the point of total devaluation. From there He can raise us up to worship Him and praise Him and to witness.

It seems as though Christians are losing their awareness of God. We have so secularized God, secularized the gospel, and secularized worship that we no longer know what it means to love and worship God because in the route that has brought us into the church there has been no personal encounter, no personal crisis, no need of repentance. Week after week we pile into multi-million dollar establishments, experience a religious service, and leave no different that when we went in. The splendor of God that we sing, read, and hear about on a Sunday morning is quick to leave us when we walk out of the doors and into ‘real’ life again. True worship, however, does not stop at the door of the church. It is a part of our daily lives, in everything we do, as we recognize the grandeur of God in all creation, at every moment in our day. “Our total lives, our entire attitude as persons, must be toward the worship of God.”

A believer fully determined to seek, yield, and believe that which God has revealed to us has a heart fully devoted to unbroken fellowship and communion with God in our day to day lives. When we pull into our nicely paved parking spots, gaze at the beauty of our churches, and walk through the doors into a place of worship each Sunday, it is to the glory of our risen savior. Having worshiped God all week with our lives, we now celebrate with one another and confess and repent before God standing in awe of his holiness as his presence fills our hearts. When we walk out of those doors we will be different, renewed, and ready for another full week of worshiping God with our lives. Why? Because we were created to worship.