i am an offering

This week we’re going to be looking at quotes on worship from the great reformer, Martin Luther. As I mentioned last week, while I am a Lutheran I am first and foremost an evangelical Christian and have great respect for other great reformers such as Calvin, Wesley and others. We can learn so much from reading historic writings. So let’s dive in!

“God at first gives faith through the Word, so He thereafter also exercises, increases, confirms, and perfects it through the Word. Therefore the worship of God at its best and the finest keeping of the Sabbath consist in exercising oneself in piety and in dealing with the Word and hearing it. On the other hand, nothing is more dangerous than a dislike of the Word.”

If the Word of God is not completely central in our worship times, both individually and corporately with the body of believers, than what are our worship times centered around? The more saturated with the Word our worship times are, the more saturated with the Word we will become. And, what a great warning to us that “nothing is more dangerous than a dislike of the Word.”

It is really refreshing to see a church that to some people might look like a thouroughly “seeker-sensitive” church have a pastor that writes this.

In an increasingly relativistic society, many churches have and are (scarily) moving away from teaching the Bible as an ultimate source of absolute truth.  However, it seems that there is a shift for many other churches to move back to that teaching and promote it hard and hold fast.  I want to always be a part of the second church, not one that has moved back, but one that has preached God’s Word from the beginning and never looked back.

I completely agree with Craig that environments can enhance an experience of worship for people, but they are not a necessity at all.  What of the worshiper in Honduras who worships on a dirt floor with barely any walls around him?  What of the worshiper who worships underground in China, afraid for her life?  One thing is the same in America, Honduras, China, anywhere: God’s Word in the Bible will stand, no matter what.

I love these words from Craig:

The churches that thrive will be Biblical churches. God’s Word will be preached. People will feel uncomfortable, challenged, convicted. The future church will be more about preaching and living God’s Word than about attracting people with clever sermon titles, videos, and programs. Sure, we might use those things (or maybe not - GASP!). But only those who preach God’s Word will thrive. The rest will die.

I am excited to be able to begin posting again after a busy week last week.  It was an honor and a privilege to be able to preach yesterday at Living Word.  I hope that lives were touched.  I am confident that God’s Word will not return empty.

This week I want to spend some time talking about incorporating other arts into worship.  God’s been placing some thoughts on my heart about why artists would rather spend their time with other artists instead of in the church, and I’d love to share some of those thoughts starting tomorrow.