Matthew 21
The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.
What would Sunday morning worship look like if we truly took this verse to heart? We have learned, have been taught to see worship as we being served as we sit and listen to someone speak to us. We have even come to think of singing to the Lord, giving him praise, as a sacrifice on our part (as in the song we bring a sacrifice of praise). So when I stand up to serve God by singing a song, that is a sacrifice on my part. The bar for service is set so low for my service that if I sing a song, I am giving a sacrifice. Overall, worship is so undemanding that I literally come to be served by worship. Music must be the type I like, the volume I like, the instruments I like and on and on. Preaching must be what I like. My worship service must be silent because I can't worship if there is noise. Because of some folk's social skills, there are people I don't want at the worship service because they detract from the worship experience that I want. Philippians 2:4-8 basically says that "sin makes us stupid" and this type of attitude is stupid. But unfortunately I have been trained by my leaders this way.
It is interesting that I was in a performance style worship service recently, and literally NO ONE in the room was singing. Their voices really didn't matter either it seemed, because of the loudness of the presentation from the stage. This is NOT a complaint about the loudness of the music from the stage, per se, it is about how the loudness of the music from the stage contributes to people becoming lazy worshipers. The worship leaders were undaunted by the lack of participation. They seemed even unaware of the lack of participation. Congregational participation didn't seem to matter.
But what if service, during worship, were valued in us as it was for Jesus? What if we "Have this mind in you that was in Christ Jesus" where we "consider others as better than yourselves"? What if the parts that seemed weaker were indispensable? Some other people we do consider as better than ourselves. But some others we are confident we are better than. The absence of those people is reflected in our worship and in the way we do worship.
McNair
The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.
What would Sunday morning worship look like if we truly took this verse to heart? We have learned, have been taught to see worship as we being served as we sit and listen to someone speak to us. We have even come to think of singing to the Lord, giving him praise, as a sacrifice on our part (as in the song we bring a sacrifice of praise). So when I stand up to serve God by singing a song, that is a sacrifice on my part. The bar for service is set so low for my service that if I sing a song, I am giving a sacrifice. Overall, worship is so undemanding that I literally come to be served by worship. Music must be the type I like, the volume I like, the instruments I like and on and on. Preaching must be what I like. My worship service must be silent because I can't worship if there is noise. Because of some folk's social skills, there are people I don't want at the worship service because they detract from the worship experience that I want. Philippians 2:4-8 basically says that "sin makes us stupid" and this type of attitude is stupid. But unfortunately I have been trained by my leaders this way.
It is interesting that I was in a performance style worship service recently, and literally NO ONE in the room was singing. Their voices really didn't matter either it seemed, because of the loudness of the presentation from the stage. This is NOT a complaint about the loudness of the music from the stage, per se, it is about how the loudness of the music from the stage contributes to people becoming lazy worshipers. The worship leaders were undaunted by the lack of participation. They seemed even unaware of the lack of participation. Congregational participation didn't seem to matter.
But what if service, during worship, were valued in us as it was for Jesus? What if we "Have this mind in you that was in Christ Jesus" where we "consider others as better than yourselves"? What if the parts that seemed weaker were indispensable? Some other people we do consider as better than ourselves. But some others we are confident we are better than. The absence of those people is reflected in our worship and in the way we do worship.
McNair
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