Thursday, September 25, 2014

Is Church Boring?


You say that you don't gather with a local body of believers because you think the service is boring? In many cases I have to agree. I have attended many so called "corporate worship" services that have been nothing more than "snooze-fests." But what is the real problem?

The gathering together or as the New Testament puts it the assembling of yourselves together, today is far from what it was in the early days of Christianity. 

First of all, the "service" is not about you. At least not in the most direct manner. Ultimately if the gathering follows biblical patterns you will benefit tremendously.

Second, the gathering is to center around Jesus Christ and His glorious work of atonement. Acts 20:7 makes it clear that the early church gathered on the first day of week to commemorate the Lord's Supper. The church gathered to be reminded of, to take strength and inspiration from, and to proclaim the death of Christ. 

Third, in the 10th chapter of the letter to the Hebrews we see that the body gathers to stimulate or encourage each member to love one another and to serve one another. Each believer is to utilize and minister their spiritual gift in order to benefit their fellow believers. Also prayer is to be offered for specific needs and individuals, various physical needs are to be met, and fellowship of the saints is to developed.

The gathering should be an exciting, informal, and God-centered experience. If you attend services thinking that the church "owes" you something or that it ought to entertain you, then you are attending for all the wrong reasons.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've never found church boring, even as a child. As I got older I did find that sometimes the sermon went on too long but none the the less not boring in any shape or form.

laurie said...

Gregg,

I found this piece from A.W. Pink very edifying...
“God is Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” To worship “in spirit” stands contrasted from the fleshly rites and imposing ceremonies of Judaism. To worship “in truth” stands opposed to the superstitions and idolatrous delusions of the heathen. To worship God “in spirit and in truth” means in a manner suited to the full and final revelation which God has now made of Himself in Christ. It means to worship spiritually and truly. It means giving to Him the homage of an enlightened understanding and the love of a regenerated heart.

To worship “in spirit and in truth” stands opposed to a carnal worship which is external and spectacular. It bars out all worshipping of God with the senses. We cannot worship Him who is “Spirit” by gazing on ornate architecture and stained glass windows, by listening to the peals of a costly organ, by smelling sweet incense or “telling” of beads. We cannot worship God with our eyes and ears, or nose and hands, for they are “flesh” not “spirit.” “Must worship in spirit and in truth” excludes everything that is of the natural man.

To worship “in spirit and in truth” bars out all social worship. The soul is the seat of the emotions, and very much of the so-called worship of present-day Christendom is only social. Touching anecdotes, stirring appeals, thrilling oratory of a religious character, are all calculated to produce this very thing. Beautiful anthems by a well-trained choir, rendered in such a way as to move to tears or to ecstasies of joy may stir the soul, but will not and cannot affect the inner man.

True worship is the adoration of a redeemed people, occupied with God Himself The unregenerate look upon “worship” as an obeisance which God exacts from them, and which gives them no joy as they seek to proffer it. Far different is it with those who have been born from above and redeemed with precious blood. The first time the word “redeemed” occurs in Scripture is in Exodus 15, and it is there also, for the first time, we behold a people “singing,” worshipping, adoring God Himself. There, on the far shores of the Red Sea, that Nation which had been brought out from the house of bondage and delivered from all their enemies united in praising Jehovah." from http://www.pbministries.org/books/pink/Miscellaneous/worship.htm

Gregg Metcalf said...

Lyn - Wow! That is a fantastic qo\uote! Thanks.