Let’s cherish the undistracting excellence by also obeying the leading of the Spirit in the assembly on a Sunday worship. John Reid gave this title to a booklet which outlines the various activities on a perculiar brethren church service on a Sunday. The Lord’s day on sundays is deemed as the “Chief Meeting of the Church”. On the other hand, if everything is glitz, glamour, guitar solos, people will be distracted by that as well. If no one greets newcomers and they are left to wander about the church, they will feel uncomfortable and out of place. If the worship team sounds like a walrus seal massacre, people will have trouble focusing their attention on God. If our service to the Lord is sloppy, disorganized and late it will distract people from communing with God. Lead worshipers aim by the power of God’s Spirit (1 Peter 4:11) to awaken the mind’s attention and the heart’s affections to the truth and beauty of God and the gospel. John Piper once said that the category we have found most helpful is “undistracting excellence.” The adjective “undistracting” means that the quality of an act must help, rather than hinder, the spiritual aims of the ministry. It doesn’t matter how awesome or awful the worship or preaching is, God must still do the work” Unquote. But is also states very clearly that nothing truly good or spiritual can happen apart from the supernatuaral work of God. The Bible does speak of playing skillfully before the Lord, and of filling the sanctuary with beauty. The sanctuary is dingy and cold? It doesn’t matter, because we try to attract people through the things that really matter, like preaching, and the gospel.
The worship band sounds like a steel pipe being put through a wood chipper? It doesn’t matter. The other extreme is the “it’s all about the heart,” don’t try to manufacture God’s presence, extreme. Worship should feel similar to a rock concert, except, of course, we’re singing to Jesus. The first is the over the top, “everything must be awesome”. Quote – “When it comes to doing church we can tend to gravitate toward one of two extremes.
Below is a summarised excerpt from Crosswalk’s Stephen Altrogge when he wrote a recent blog entitled “Church Should Be A Place Of Undistracting Attention “.
0 kommentar(er)
