Losing God In The Church

“Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’ And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” [1]

Christian Faith is not about finding personal fulfilment or personal wholeness; Christian Faith should lead all who embrace Christ to a holy life. If that is not the case, the faithful have become worldly. There are multiple forms of worldliness that are comfortably at home among Evangelical Christians. When professing followers of the Risen Saviour substitute feelings for biblical truth, what can we call this other than worldliness? When those who name the Name of Christ cultivate an appetite for vapid discourses and for entertainment rather than the strong meat of the Word, that is assuredly worldly. When churches restructure the services to meet the expectations of consumers, that is certainly worldly. When the supposed people of God are on a quest for self-satisfaction rather than seeking repentance, they are worldly.

Seeking success rather than striving after faithfulness is worldly. Worrying more about size of the congregation than being concerned for the spiritual health of the assembly is worldly. When the Living God is no longer central to what we call worship as we endeavour to accommodate ourselves to the culture of this dying world, we have become worldly. Regardless of what we say or whom we claim to seek, if we are more concerned about the act of worship than we are concerned about meeting the Saviour, we have become worldly. And it is frightening to think that we have become worldly.

Do you not find it odd that among many of the churches of our Saviour, those attending the services can go about the business of “worshipping” without ever thinking of God’s greatness, without contemplating His grace, or without even considering His commandments? What has happened that we who claim to worship are no longer thrilled at the thought of actually meeting the Living God in the rituals we perform?

How is it that we can go about our business on a Sunday morning and never experience awe in the presence of the Lord God? Is He no longer present? Or are we so dull that we are incapable of recognising Him in our midst? Where is the wonder that should always flood over us when we witness His majesty? Or what has happened to the overwhelming adoration that inevitably comes when we think of His love and mercy? Here is the great question: Does our worship actually lead us to meet God? Or is our worship all about the act of worship and not about Who we meet? Our honest answer to questions such as these will reveal whether we are becoming worldly.

The message is intended to be foundational for Christians seeking to worship in Spirit and in truth. We were created to worship, and we will worship. Either we will worship the Lord God Who gave us our being, or we will worship the creature. Increasingly, we live in the world that insists that we worship our own desires. However, when we do worship before our own desires, disaster inevitably results for us. Without apology, I urge each one who hears me to worship Christ the Lord, He alone is God. However I caution each Christian that we must not worship our worship. We must never permit ourselves to be so caught up in the act of worship that we fail to meet the very One Whom we say we are worshipping. If we fail to meet the Risen Christ, we will not have worshipped, however ecstatic we may feel!

WORSHIP INDICATES TRANSFORMATION — “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’” [1 PETER 1:13-16].

Note that the text for this day begins with a common conjunction, “Therefore.” As you’ve heard me say in multiple messages during my ministry to the members of this congregation, “Any time you see a ‘therefore,’ ask what it is there for.” Of course, the word “therefore” is a literary device compelling us to look back to see what has just been provided in this brief letter that Peter penned to saints scattered in the Diaspora.