|
What Exactly Is A
"Worship Service"?
Most conventional churches practice something called a
"worship service". It is nowhere described in the Bible but it is
carried out every Sunday in just about every so-called Christian church around
the world, except perhaps in some persecuted, underground churches and a few
other churches that have broken away from the "status quo". What
most folks call a "worship service' is a
routine that is most likely patterned after the Catholic church or other ancient
pagan religions. The
purpose of this article is not to offend the many dedicated pastors and elders
who work tirelessly to serve their congregations. But it is meant to get
people to see the unbiblical
nature of this very common practice that few folks ever seem to question - in
order that the saints of God may learn a better way of "doing church".
And so here we go...
An analogy of a "worship service"
Usually on one specific day of
the week (typically Sunday) and usually in the morning, shareholders (church
members) and chairmen (church leaders) gather at corporate headquarters (conventional institutional church) for a weekly meeting (worship service).
Headquarters is usually a fairly good sized special purpose building that the
shareholders have scrimped and saved to purchase for the sacred corporate
ceremony carried on every Sunday. This building usually represents a huge
investment in time and money. The chairmen of the corporation frequently
remind the shareholders to not forget to invest in this money-pit (I mean... the
impressive headquarters building). In fact, based on the proportion of
time and money spent, the support of the headquarters building is often given
far more preeminence than the lost souls in the neighborhood and the needy in
the local congregation.
When "worship" day rolls around, all shareholders (attendees)
file neatly into rows of seats (pews) politely greeting other shareholders
(parishioners or congregants) yet being careful to not go beyond
superficial statements about the weather and such, so as not to disrupt the
atmosphere of the upcoming solemn - and strictly business - shareholder meeting
(worship service). The CEO
(pastor) arrives and stands up at the podium (pulpit) in the front of the
shareholders and begins a ceremony known as "corporate Simon
Says". This is an roughly an hour long activity where the CEO tells
the shareholders what to say, what to do, when to sit, when to stand, when to
sing, and steps aside occasionally to allow chairpersons (duly elected elders or
deacons) and a few designated spokespersons to entertain the shareholders.
At some point during these weekly shareholder meetings the CEO
requests visitors to fill out a small printed form ("visitor card") so
the chairpersons can contact the visitors during the week to see if they wish to become
shareholders. The chairman then invites all shareholders and visitors to
engage in momentary greetings and handshakes (pretend fellowship) by standing up and saying hello to all
the people in the immediate vicinity around them, whose names they probably
don't know and whose names they probably will never know. This greeting
process is conducted as rapidly as possible, so that shareholders do not have to
wait for a reply to "How are you?" before moving on to the next person being
greeted. The anonymity afforded by this arrangement is
a wonderful feature of these corporations, protecting shareholders and
chairpersons alike from nasty things like accountability and involvement in the lives
of other shareholders and from having to get too personal with any "visitors". If
the process begins to take too much time, the CEO will make a motion to the
piano player or organist to start playing some music to get people to snap out
of whatever state of friendliness they have gotten into... that is, if they have
gotten too friendly and talked too long to any particular individual. If
the corporation does not have a piano player or organist, the CEO will simply step up to his microphone and start talking
about something (anything) so that the shareholders will not get too carried
away with their pretend fellowship. Thanks to the fake
fellowship, the shareholders remember
they are all part of one big happy corporate team, which makes a perfect time
for the CEO to encourage shareholders to invest in the corporation. At
which point a special container is passed around and the shareholders gladly
deposit their investments (tithes & offerings) into the container.
Assuming the corporation is big enough to afford specialized vocalists, the corporate entertainers (the choir) may be called upon at this point to do
their musical routine to liven up the meeting and to make the shareholders feel
like they are getting their money’s worth for the time and money they invest
in the weekly corporate meetings.
The CEO usually spends about a half hour telling the shareholders what the
corporate instruction manual (the Bible) says so the shareholders don’t have
to read it and don’t have to figure out for themselves what the writings in
the manual really mean. Also, it would not be good for the harmony of the
corporation if shareholders found out that the CEO was wrong about something in
the instruction manual. So week in and week out the CEO gives his spiel
(pretend discipleship) where no one is allowed to ask questions or challenge the
CEO, lest we rock the corporate boat or make the CEO look too mortal, or even
worse... lest we have to rewrite the corporate bylaws (denominational creeds).
There is a periodic variation to the format of the corporate
worship services. Once a month a special event is included in the corporate
meeting agenda. A
"pretend meal" is served. This is also known as corporate
"communion". This pretend meal consists of corporate cubes of bread -
washed down with corporate shot glasses filled with precisely metered samples of
corporate grape juice. Everyone is very quiet and solemn during this
ritual, thinking that this is how their supreme CEO in the
sky wants them to behave on his behalf, when in truth, HE really wants them to
know each other as if they were brothers and sisters, which might actually
require that they visit each other's homes and have real meals together.
Sounds awfully "quaint" nowadays does it not? Probably stifles "growth"
too, right? After all, if the shareholders actually got to know each
other, they probably wouldn't like each other and wouldn't come to anymore
"shareholder meetings"... oops... I mean "worship services".
The shareholders know precisely when their corporate meeting ends... The CEO
recites a few solemn sounding sentences, and
the shareholders sing the corporate song and then file out of the corporate
building making trite comments to people whose names they may or may not know
and whose houses they have never visited and whose problems and concerns they
know nothing about and probably care nothing about since such information is of
no real value to the bottom line - the perpetuation and prosperity of the
CORPORATION!
Finally, the CEO or some other chairperson turns off the heat or AC and
then shuts off the lights, ensuring that shareholder funds are not squandered on
keeping the shareholders too comfortable otherwise they may end up staying too
long and have meaningful conversations that might lead to real relationships,
which would probably cause all kinds of havoc for the CEO and chairpersons...
they might even end up without a job (at least one that draws a paycheck) if the
shareholders got too friendly and too independent from the chairman.
And so ends a typical "worship service".
Somehow the shareholders never read their corporate instruction manual (the
Bible), else they would have learned that they were never supposed to form a
corporation and never supposed to play "corporate Simon Says" each
week. But rather they were supposed to conduct their meetings like family
reunions and their ritual meals should have instead been patterned after the
kinds of dinners they have with intimate friends.
What is really "worshipped" during these "services"? The
commandments and doctrines of men, man-made ritual, the flesh and its desire to
feel it has done its religious duty... none of which has anything to do with
what Christ was referring to in John chapter 4 about worshipping God in spirit
and truth:
John 4:22 "YE WORSHIP YE KNOW NOT WHAT: we know what we worship: for
salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true
worshipper shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father
seeketh such to worship him. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must
worship him in spirit and in truth."
What are believers supposed to do when they gather together? How about: doing
things that engender meaningful relationships, such as the things we see
mentioned here in scripture:
Galatians 6:2 "Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of
Christ."
Colossians 3:16 "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all
wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord."
Acts 2:42 "And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine
and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43 And fear came upon
every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. 44 And all
that believed were together, and had all things common; 45 And sold their
possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. 46 And
they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from
house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, 47
Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the
church daily such as should be saved."
If I have stepped on toes or incited a riot, good! That is usually what it
takes (i.e. a lot of prodding and cage rattling) for Christ’s sheep to get
back on track to where they are really supposed to be when they are far off
track.
Jeremiah 50:6 "My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have
caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have
gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace."
1Cor 1:1-2 - "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. 2 Now
I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the
ordinances, as I delivered them to you."
We are to shun the profane rituals of the world and its religiosity and
man-pleasing pomp:
2 Corinthians 11:3 "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent
beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the
simplicity that is in Christ."
In fact, by *properly* adhering to the "regulative principle" of
worship, Christ’s bride should find itself acting a whole lot different from
the world, not only when they gather together to break bread and fellowship, but
also when out in the world among those who are unsaved. Also Christ’s bride
should not be satisfied with the superficiality of "churchianity" (i.e.
counterfeit religion). But there is MUCH to unlearn for those of us who have
been in that system most or all of our lives. Old habits die hard! May God
richly bless YOU as you seek to worship Him in spirit and in truth!
Ray Kane
http://comingintheclouds.org
For more articles related to the subject
of "Doing Church", click HERE |
