Lesson 3
Worship Is Not For Our Entertainment
There is an erroneous idea today that the main reason we attend
worship is to "get something out of the service", rather than going
there to give our worship to God. This is a selfish motive on our part. This
is the reason people cannot be satisfied with the worship service when their
emphasis is not on the proper object of worship, God. People want to
"do their own thing" in the worship of the church. What the Bible has to say
about worship for many people is of little consequence as long as they are
happy and feel good. We must be concerned with what God says on how He is
to be worshipped instead of what we might want to offer Him.
The United States has produced the most entertainment-oriented people the
world has ever known. We have more forms of amusement than has ever been know to
man, but we still want more. In our age everything is designed to appeal to our
emotions and to entertain us. We seem to have forgotten our worship service is
to bring glory and honor to God, and not to entertain ourselves. When we have
choirs to sing to us and concerts to entertain us, we are not worshipping God;
but we have become the spectators who are being entertained. Worship is not a
spectator event. We dare not become
spectators, because in worship it is God who is the spectator. People have the
roles reversed. People expect divine will to conform to what seems right in
their own eyes. Proverbs 12:15 says, "The way of the fool is right in
his own eyes." The emphasis is how can the worship service be made more
entertaining to people to please themselves and not God.
Worship to God is holy and sacred. To pervert and corrupt it with
entertainment and what we can "get out of the service" in trying to
please and gratify ourselves is nothing short of blasphemy! The sacredness of
true worship must not be sacrificed on altars of entertainment-oriented
quartets, choirs, and other entertainment groups. We are as Hebrews 13:15 says
to "Offer the sacrifice of praise to God, the fruit of our lips,
giving thanks to His name." In worship we must be the participants, not the
observers. We want to please and entertain ourselves. In Galatians 1:10 the
question is asked, "Do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I
would not be a servant of Christ." Worship is God-centered not
man-centered. When our worship is to please God
instead of ourselves, then and only then will our worship be much more
meaningful and spiritually uplifting to us and acceptable to God.
When people seek an "emotional high" from worship and don't get
it, they are disappointed and start blaming the song service, the preacher, etc.
The world wants their worship service to be "more entertaining", thus
they are failing to worship God in spirit and in truth. Where in the Bible can
we go to show that our worship is designed to please the worshipper. The desire
to have an experience or an encounter along the lines of mysticism also gives
little regard to what God says in the Bible.
Our worship to God requires commitment on our part. People had rather worship
Christ as a babe in a manger than Christ as their crucified savior. Their
worshipping Christ as a babe in a manger requires no commitment on their part.
They feel they can put Him in a box and live the rest of the year as they
please. But worshipping Christ as our crucified savior requires commitment, a
complete change of our life, and a willingness to do all that He says. Jesus
says in Matthew 10:37, "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not
worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of
Me." God and Christ must be first in our lives, and this requires that
we be committed to them.
Questions Lesson 3
Worship Is Not For Our Entertainment
(click on the button of the answer of your
choice)
1) (Proverbs 12:15) One who does what is right in his own eyes
Is wise.
Is a fool.
Is free.
2)
The way of the fool is right in his own eyes.
3) (Hebrews 13:15) The offering of the fruit of our lips in singing and prayer
in our worship
Should be for our enjoyment.
Should show how well we can sing and pray.
Should be a sacrifice of praise to God.
4)
Our worship to God should be entertaining to us.
5) (Galatians 1:10) In trying to please men in spiritual matters
We cannot be a servant of Christ.
We can be a servant of Christ.
It is always best to try to please men in all things.
6)
In spiritual matters we should please God and not men.
7) (Matthew 10:37) If we love our father and mother more than Christ
This is good.
God will understand.
We are not worthy of
Christ.
8)
We should not try to follow what Christ tells us to do if it is against
our father's and mother's beliefs.
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