Time for some proper thoughts on this site:
What’s church all about? What’s the purpose of going through the weekly ritual? Is it not solely for the purpose of pleasing the God who we claim to worship? If not, then we might as well craft our Sunday services to please ourselves: some nice upbeat music, something simple for the children and a sermon that encourages without demanding any response.
But, if church is solely to please almighty God and to do service to Him then all we do is not to be judged by what pleases us, but by what we believe will be acceptable in His sight. The Psalmist in Psalm 19 prays this prayer: “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord my Rock and my Redeemer.” Can we honestly pray this as we come together?
Our singing, then must be to honour Him, not to excite our emotions. Our preaching must be preaching that transforms the mind and induces acceptable service – mind reaching heart, which in turn responds to the command with obedience.
The question I ask is simply this: Can you honestly say that this characterises your worship, your church? If not, and if we are truly seeking to please Him, then we must repent of our attitudes and inaction and once more seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness.
