Worship For Whom?

I was in my quiet time today and was hit hard by a simple verse that I've read a bunch of times. It's found in Joshua 24:15, but let me back up to verse 14:

"Now fear the Lord and serve him with all your faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."

As I'm reading this, I'm getting smacked in the head about how I lead here in His church. What would the 'gods of our forefathers' look like today in the church? Do I, as the leader of the worship ministry, lead and serve from a place of total and complete surrender to Him and what He wants? Do I consciously chose to serve God? Or do I fall into the trap of trying to please people more than Him, thus making what they want the focus of worship?

This happens more than any of us care to admit in most of our churches. How? We call it a nice thing (and hide behind it) - tradition. In the music end of things, traditional music/services.

We tend to 'worship' a particular service over another, because that's the way it's always been done and that's what works for us. Good, if you never want to connect with the people outside your church. That also means you won't accept/allow art to be used in worship, cause you never did it that way before. You'll never allow dance or drama or readings either, cause you never did it that way before. That's what your 'forefathers' did before you. That worked for them in their time. But ask yourself this question - how's it working for you now?

• Is it drawing people in so that they can meet Christ?
• Is what you're doing more pleasing to a group of people more than it is to God?

If you said yes to the last one, you're not interested in or have a desire to please the Lord, not according to this verse. You are more concerned about what you want instead of what God intended the church to be for. It was NEVER meant to be a 'country club' kind of place, where we let only the 'right people' in. The other less desirable people can just go find another place. The church is here to 'serve us' instead of here for service. That's a selfish, self-serving mindset that I want nothing do to with.

That is why I push back so hard when people try to get me to paint our worship in a neat little box. It doesn't happen that way. If we, the church, really want to impact our communities for the Kingdom of God, then we need to:

• Provide a place where broken, hurting people can come and get the help and encouragement they need - not the crap we THINK they need. The real, tangible kind of help such as food, shelter, good Christian counseling/coaching.
• Provide an environment where the message makes sense in TODAY'S language, not something from 50 years ago. Contemporary sounds DONE WELL, in an environment that reflects the CURRENT AGE, with people who love Jesus!
• Be willing to be uncomfortable for the sake of the lost. We were NEVER called to a comfortable Christianity. I've read the book - no where does it say it is to be comfy! In fact, it's promised that it's gonna be TOUGH! Bring it on!
• Decide WHO you're doing church for in the first place. Seriously, if you want to do church for you the way that YOU want with no regard for anyone else, CLOSE THE DOORS! Post the sign on the front door that says, "Closed due to selfishness. Everyone else can go to hell! Have a nice day." That's what your saying, so don't mince words. Just be honest!

On the other hand, if you decide to serve God and do church for Him, then you're going to have to make some changes and answer some tough questions. What kind of music would connect best with the people we're trying to reach? What type of service would relate best to those same people? How can we use the music and service to communicate the radical love of Jesus to them? What will we need to do to make it happen?
Tough questions that lead to radical change for the Kingdom. It's worth every battle, and worth every loss if even just one soul finds Jesus. So, what's holding you back? Who will you do your worship for? Chose this day whom you will serve...

K