“You Can Be Serious” - Tim Phillips

 

Some may think there were fireworks at this year’s meeting of General Synod, but the ARP Church has nothing on theSouthern Baptists. One of the sensationalistic stories emerging from this summer’s meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention was the ousting of Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church, primarily over the issue of female pastors. Just yesterday, however, I was directed to a separate article, written by Carl Trueman, that highlights potentially bigger issues at Saddleback Church (and the church in general). Like so many other things theological, the issue of women’s ordination is not an issue in isolation, but a symptom of another, more central concern.

In the latter article, Dr. Trueman’s concern stems from a recent worship service at Saddleback, where the two pastors leading the service (a husband and wife) dressed like characters from the movie Toy Story. He notes that this was childish and a trivialization of worship. He writes:

“Such trivialization of worship rests ultimately upon a trivialization of God Himself. It is a function of the same culture where sports stars refer to the Lord as ‘the big man upstairs,’ as if God was just one of their drinking buddies …. It is, in other words, just one more example of a world that does not take the holiness and transcendence of God seriously.”

Later in the article, he observes:

“Women in ministry was the focal point of the SBC controversy this year, but this inane childishness parading as church seems to indicate that there are problems much deeper than that of who leads worship. It raises the fundamental question of whether some pastors even understand what the nature of worship is and why the church exists. When worship is turned into a clown show with a religious patina, Christianity and Christians are infantilized and God is mocked.”

It is easy to see the problems with worship at Saddleback, but before we rush too quickly to judgment, perhaps we need to examine our own motivations and our own understanding of worship. I highly doubt anyone within the ARP Church is having worship services patterned after children’s movies, but are we careless in other ways?

Our own Confession of Faith explains religious worship in this way:

“The light of nature showeth that there is a God, who hath lordship and sovereignty over all: is good, and doeth good unto all; and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served, with all the heart, and with all the soul, and with all the might. But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scripture.” (Westminster Confession of Faith, 21:1).

Such a statement as this would obviously lead us to a greater reverence for God and a seriousness in worship. It would also limit the way in which we are to worship Him. Personal preferences and worldly entertainment would take a back seat to what God actually desires of us in worship.

I remember reading an illustration from Michael Horton several years ago as to why this is so important. When he first married his wife, he would buy presents for her on birthdays and anniversaries that he thought she would like. Unfortunately, he almost always guessed wrong, and she didn’t like the gift. Finally, she began giving him lists of potential gifts – in other words, she told him what she actually wanted and liked. And God has done that for us in His word. We don’t have to guess how to worship Him or copy the world’s methods and call it “worship.”

The ARP Directory of Public Worship includes this statement about the nature of worship:

“Public worship is a holy convocation in which the Triune God meets with and ministers to His assembled covenant people through Word and sacrament, and His people respond with praise, thanksgiving, repentance, confession of sin, supplication, and confession of faith. Therefore, public worship is to be centered on glorifying God, showing forth the worth and excellence of God. It should be exalting of Christ and empowered by the Spirit. It is to be participatory, reverent, orderly, and edifying, in a spirit of simplicity and sincerity.” (DoPW III.6)

Again, while I do not think any ARP Churches are having cartoon services on Sundays, there are still some serious questions we need to ask ourselves when it comes to our motives for worship. Do we seek to glorify God, or are we seeking to please people? Do we want to see God treated as holy in worship, or do we have a greater desire to see large numbersof attendees by making people feel comfortable? Are we willing to be directed (and limited) by what God has revealed in His word, or do innovation and imagination play the major role in directing our worship services? Is making Christ known and seeing Him preached a greater concern than our own personal feelings (or the feelings of others)?

It is a glorious privilege to lead the dear saints of my own local congregation in worship each Lord’s Day. It is exciting (and certainly not boring) to read the word, to sing hymns andpsalms, to lead in prayer, and to preach Christ and Him crucified. And it is a blessing to take these things seriously. It may not be a revival of Toy Story, but if God is glorified, it is far, far better.