Last week I reviewed the mystical, actual-Bible-quenching (despite good motives, that’s the sobering result) devotional Jesus Calling, a top-ten Christian bestseller of last year.

This week I found myself agreeing with rightful criticism of C.S. Lewis for not taking the Biblical reason for Christ’s atonement seriously enough. But then came wrongful criticisms of Lewis with charges of “heretic” and lies claiming he was a universalist, that Narnia is not only allegory but anti-Biblical allegory, and all kinds of other myths and even intentional-ignorant deceits — all of which apply horrible hermeneutics both to what Lewis wrote, and even to what God wrote.

And this morning I’d flipped again, writing on NarniaWeb about how we don’t need to insist Lewis — or much less, the mostly horrible Voyage of the Dawn Treader movie scriptwriters — was actually inspired in the same way as Scripture to enjoy their works.

Why treat His actual revealed Word so casually? How do you think Jesus feels about that? Your Word isn’t sufficient, Lord — I think I’ll go find more from a devotional, or a poorly written movie script … And if you doubt that the script was not only poorly written but horribly flawed in its “theology,” not only compared with the Bible but with the Dawn Treader story itself, I can explain that here, or point to other threads.

Naturally, the perfect supplement to this common argument in favor of the actual Word of God’s power and sufficiency for our every need is a perfect song by artist Sara Groves.

Her lyrics here are not inspired like the Bible. They don’t need to be, to point us back to truth. Her words also don’t need to be absolutely, 100-percent-written-like-a-creed-or-confessional perfect, to move us back to the actual revealed Word of God. Yet thank God for her wisdom.

I’ve done every devotional,
Been every place emotional,
Trying to hear a new word from God;
And I think it’s very odd
That while I attempt to help myself,
My Bible sits upon the shelf
With every promise I could ever need.

And the Word was,
And the Word is,
And the Word will be.

And the Word was,
And the Word is,
And the Word will be.

People are getting fit for truth
Like they’re buying a new tailored suit:
“Does it fit across the shoulders?
Will it fade when it get older?”
We throw ideas that aren’t in style
In the Salvation Army pile,
And search for something more to meet our needs.

And the Word was,
And the Word is,
And the Word will be.

And the Word was,
And the Word is,
And the Word will be …

(The old Word is the new Word is the old Word is the new Word …)

I think it’s time I rediscover
All the ground that I have covered
Like “Seek ye first” — what a verse!
“We are pressed but not crushed,
Perplexed but don’t despair,”
“We are persecuted but not abandoned”
“We are no longer slaves; we are daughters and sons”
“And when we are weak we are very strong”
And “neither death nor life nor present nor future nor depth nor height can keep us from the love of Christ”!

And the Word I need
Is the Word that was,
Who put on flesh to dwell with us
In the beginning!

And the Word was!
And the Word is!
And the Word will be

And the Word was!
And the Word is!
And the Word will be …

How I wish all true churches would end what Tullian “@PastorTullian” Tchividjian calls ” ‘chronological snobbery’ in worship.” His enthusiasm was so contagious on Monday when he joyfully proclaimed the days of split services at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, where he is the new pastor, are now over.

For many years Coral Ridge had two very distinct worship services–one contemporary and one traditional. The result was the unintentional development of two different churches under one roof. It wasn’t healthy.

[...] The truth is, however, that if the only type of music you employ in a worship service is old, you inadvertently communicate that God was more active in the past than he is in the present. On the other hand, if the only type of music you employ in a worship service is new, you inadvertently communicate that God is more active in the present than he was in the past.

So just this past Sunday, Coral Ridge (founded and formerly pastored by the late Dr. D. James Kennedy) reunited its services.

As I wrote on Facebook, referencing conversation between myself and my wife:

I absolutely love the thought behind this. Last night Lacy and I were talking about the sad sort of division that “…split services” (perhaps unintentionally) generate in a church. The older members miss out on the younger people’s enthusiasm and energy, and the younger members miss out on the older members’ wisdom and experiences. In effect it’s saying “I have no need of you” to either “group” and its styles. So glad for Pastor Tullian and others, who are not just urging people to be nicer to each other, but to focus on Christ and the Gospel.

Ray Fowler was there, and on Tuesday provided a more-detailed account of what the reunified service was like:

As the congregation gathered, the orchestra played a worshipful rendition of the hymn, “This Is My Father’s World.” This was followed by a video presentation of the church’s new vision for worship appropriately titled, “One.” Next the majestic organ swelled as we all stood for the opening hymn. But then, surprise, the organ traded off for the drum kit, the orchestra and praise band joined in, and we sang “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” to a truly blended accompaniment of all the instruments together.

The service continued with traditional and contemporary elements blended together. We sang hymns and praise choruses with various instrumentation. During the offering the choir and orchestra presented a stirring rendition of Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus.” Pastor Tullian preached a convicting message on the importance of unity in the church from Ephesians 4:1-6. All things were done to God’s glory with excellence in keeping with Coral Ridge’s philosophy of ministry.

As I also wrote, in response to the above description:

I imagine the Throne Room of the New Jerusalem, on the New Heavens and New Earth, to be a little like this: a snapshot of the incredible diversity, across ages, cultures and genres, of true worship.

So Megachurches have repetitive, silly liturgies too. Who would have thought?

“Opening song!
Opening song!
Opening song
Lights and big drums.
You know it’s cool because
You heard it on the radio …”

[. . .]

(With gratuitous use of Chorus Brow:)
“This is the song that everyone knows
It’s the song that everyone knows …”

[. . .]

“My new song
That nobody knows
Nobody knows this song.
I want you to learn this song
And buy my record in the bookstore
(After the service) …”

[. . .]

“This is the closing song!
With strings that’ll make you cry …”

Worship pastor Bob Kauflin has some thoughts here. I’d love to hear yours …

(Let’s see how a semi-daily schedule works for this site …)

She may not have meant it this way, but an online forum netizen I know recently said, without disclaimer:

When we praise God, we should lift up our hands to Him.

Always? Is this “required”? It’s certainly possible for a believer to give true worship to God with hands held elsewhere.

From my brief response:

For now I’m dodging the raising-of-hands issue — that is, I won’t write a giant essay about it or something. However, here are a few points, and I think others have already been making some of them:

1) One must not have to raise hands to worship.
2) Raising hands in worship can be okay.
3) What is not okay is automatically looking down on someone who raises hands in worship, or looking down on someone who doesn’t.
4) Worship should encompass everything a Christian does (Colossians 3:23).
5) Raising hands in worship can unfortunately be abused to draw attention to one’s self — just like anything a Christian uses in worship (ministry, art, music, writing, internet debate!). What matters is one’s heart. But any discussion of the virtues of raising hands, its Biblical precedent, and that sort of thing, should also include the risks associated with it — and the aforementioned other ways of worshiping God.
6) I’m married to a girl who would love to be able to worship God again with tambourines and even Messianic Jewish dance. However, I am not myself naturally expressive, and yet can worship God just as much as anyone who is more external. I hope I’m worshiping God now, even while not saying a thing, but only thinking as I write these words, hoping He uses them for His glory.

And while I know some raise (ha ha!) the objection that if we’re worshiping, it doesn’t matter what people think around us … yes, it does.

If you’re worshiping by yourself, it may not matter as much what “style” you have, more-charismatic or otherwise.

Yet believers worshiping together must be loving and sensitive to others. If this were not necessary, Paul would not have written so much, especially in 1 Corinthians 12-14, about the need to worship with different spiritual gifts “decently and in order”¹

Christians can and should worship by themselves. Yet worship with other believers bring many more needs into play. And applying the Romans 14 principles of not wrongly offending “weaker brothers” would also mean we should be careful about what even our heartfelt expressions of worship might mean to those around us. Clearly, Paul thought this was true about tongues and other means of spiritual gift-practice.²

What do you think?

Yesterday, Adam preached the sermon at my church. He is a great guy, normally with shaggy brown hair, but recently he had a haircut and it took a moment before I recognized him. It was a great message, thematically tied to the previous two (also posted on this site). And somehow, even more truths in this Biblical message related to this site’s current God’s will hunting series.

Another truth I haven’t included below: I can do quite a decent Adam voice impersonation. Yet I’m not sure whether continuing this is God’s will, because the Spirit hasn’t “nudged” me one way or the other (like He does every time we have a decision to make, right?).

So, discussion question: can I imitate Adam’s voice to the glory of God? It’s not forbidden in the Bible, and I believe my intention is not mockery. So in this instance, that might be permissible.

01.24.2010 — 1 Corinthians 10:23 – 11:1 (Adam)

• What is idolatry? It is whatever we serve and worship that is not God — false worship.
• This can be seen as corporate worship and individual worship. Corporate worship, with believers in a church, should not in effect worship itself or its own method, but be done for the good of glorifying God. However, we will spent our time this morning talking about individual worship — which is much more difficult. Again, human beings are hard-wired to worship, all the time.
• If the world belongs to God, everything we do in it says something about what we think about Him.
• God has set us free to worship Him, not “freedom” to have chaos. The human need to have organization in life is even reflected in the TV show “Lost,” which shows the survivors when they land on the Island getting together to form a structure of self-government.
• But not all our free choices lead to more freedom! What if we climbed on top of a roof and began dumping all our cash off it, then jumped off? That would not result in more freedom.

• Background: at this point, the Corinthian church is a mess. Members have been defending blatant sin in their members, class warfare, believers suing each other.
• When we’re asking what things are okay for us to do as Christians, we should ask two primary questions: first, is it directly condemned in the Bible? Drunkenness is wrong, for example, or gossip. But what about the harder choices? Questions for those: are even the not-wrong actions beneficial, and do they build up? Examples: deep-friend Spalding’s donuts, or hanging out with friends every single weekend. So we can see that these seeming gray-area choices are actually wrong.
• We must also consider how others will be affected before our own good. Can you buy an expensive car while friends are out of a job? Maybe, but what would they say about Jesus and Christianity to them? What about going to Haiti on a vacation cruise while people are dying? What would others, especially nonbelievers, think if you told them you did?
• The Bible doesn’t say specifically that these are wrong. But do we think foremost about the preeminence of Christ and how He would look to those we know?
• Verse 25: things in and of themselves are not evil. Instead, our own sin and what we choose to do with things make them our idols — it is our fault. We offer worship to fake gods, such as our good work or jobs, as if those things gave blessings to us. Money, food, comfort and safety can be turned into evil. A poppy plant can used to make heroin for the abuse of one’s body. Even our own bodies can become objects of lustful worship.
• So, what if we are invited somewhere, as in verse 27? Even if our conscience is clear, our goal should be not to harm the conscience of another, and represent Jesus to others.
• How does this play out in some typical life scenarios? Example: should you work for a political candidate, when many people already assume that Christian = Republican? Would doing that result in harming the Gospel and people’s perceptions of you?
• What about joining a college fraternity? What if you are a preacher and want to cut a Sunday morning sermon short so you can get home to watch the college basketball game?
• I’m not saying we should pull away from the world entirely because this is all too hard. Neither am I saying that the answer to such questions is always no, don’t do it. We don’t need to get together and buy property to Montana, move there and set up a walled commune. But even these seemingly unimportant life decisions do matter.
• Verse 31: true worship includes everything. Nothing is outside this definition. And glorifying God should be something we enjoy to do!
• When we much such decisions with God’s glory and worship in mind, sometimes we must disagree with people, even family members, and in so doing love them more than we would if we just went along with them, for the sake of Jesus. But simply not showing up when invited somewhere doesn’t help them — they won’t know the reasons for our objection if we just fail to attend something. Instead, we must lovingly give our Christ-honoring reasons.
• Again, we were made to glorify God! He is better than everything else!