Raising your hands or not?

Loud music or quiet?

Instruments or A capella?

Hymn books or a projector screen?

Who’s right and who’s wrong?

Or maybe we are simply missing the point?

Why does such a simple thing as ‘worship’ cause so much contradiction among churches? The many different churches are not the bodies of Christ, but the body of Christ.

Got that?

There’s only one body not multiple ones, so why can we not get along? Why do we so often think that our church is better then theirs?

Don’t worry.

I really am talking to myself here.

I would love to use the popular phrase: ‘Let’s just agree to disagree.’

In this situation, however, I don’t think that’s the best plan of action.

Honestly though, that would be a much better solution then looking down our noses at other churches.

Or would it? Are you seeing the problem here?

Once again, it’s not so much an issue of if its right or wrong but rather it is a heart issue. We think this is how it needs to be done without taking into account that another church is doing the exact opposite but is bearing much more fruit!

It is the enemy trying to tear apart the body of Christ because united we can do great things in his name but divided we lose our ‘force.’ Picture the ocean, a tsunami wave can do some serious damage while the mini waves are harmless.

Imagine if the church(es) stood together like a tsunami wave, imagine the damage we could do to the kingdom of darkness!

Instead we’re just over here trying to decide if we should wear boots or flip flops.

Each church will have a different calling.

1 Corinthians 12 is talking about individual people in a church but in my opinion it also works to describe the ‘different churches in one body.’ Reading the whole chapter would be so worth your time if you have a few extra minutes, but in the meantime here’s a few snippets of it starting at verse 12.

The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ.

Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. If the foot says: “I am not part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body.

If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear?

But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part where he wants it. How strange a body would be if it had only one part! Yes, there are many parts but only one body. The eye can never say to the hand:  I don’t need you.

So, you see each church has their own part to play and it might look a bit different then a neighboring church, but thats ok because they might be two different parts of the body. Instead of accusing them of getting it wrong, maybe we should focus on the part where they might simply be called to a different mission.

This is not to say, though, that a church can’t get it wrong, because they can. And they will.

And sometimes it matters.

Matthew 7:16 says: ‘By their fruits you will recognize them…’

So be cautious, dare to question and consider ‘what fruits are they producing?’ Don’t just fall for anything but at the same time…

Can we just stop making mountains out of molehills and not make such a big deal out of little things?

Like Worship. (I’m finally getting around to the actual topic of this blog 🙂 )

Since there’s such strong opinions on both sides here, I could never quite decide what to think about it. I read a book written by a guy who had been a worship leader but ended up leaving his position and finding a church that practiced the traditional hymn singing.

He had seen both sides so his theory was pretty convincing, but the one thing that bothered me was the fact that he had no biblical back up. In his book he even wrote a couple different time that he can’t back it up with the Bible.

And this bothered me.

Because if Jesus didn’t say it and the Bible doesn’t back it up…

It hold’s no weight! 🙂

It’s then just man’s opinion, and there will always be someone else with a different opinion.

This was one of those lightbulb moments for me, when I suddenly realized:

We are missing the point!

It’s not about which way is right because worship is not a physical act, it’s a heart condition.

Sure you can use your physical body to worship. Psalm 134:2 says: ‘Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the lord.’ but you can also lift your hands and not worship, so the lifting of hands isn’t actually worship in itself.

However, you can worship without lifting your hands.

You can worship anywhere, anytime no matter what the atmosphere is. You can worship God as you simply go about your day.

You can stand in a mega-church with flashing neon lights and extremely loud music and you can worship.

You can sit in a small, quiet church and sing from a hymn book and you can worship.

Because worship comes from the heart, not from our actions.

Does God prefer one over the other?

God cares about our hearts.

I think, he’s probably more offended by the person who sits in church dreaming about other things, then he is about the style of a true ‘from the heart’ worshipper.

I’ll leave you with this little quote I read awhile back that I thought was really cool. 🙂

A religious person sits in church thinking about kayaking, while a spirit-filled person sits in a kayak thinking about God.