The Real Worship Wars
Philippians 2:1-5
Rev. Brian Bill
9/23/07
www.pontiacbible.org
Drama: “Dueling iPods”
What were your thoughts during this drama? How did it make you feel? Did it make you uncomfortable? Where are you sitting? Which character are you? Did it make you sad as they moved farther and farther apart? [Write thoughts down on white board]
The words of Jesus from John 17:20-23: “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
Ephesians 4:2-6: “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit- just as you were called to one hope when you were called- one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” and verse 13: “Until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”
Philippians 2:1-5: “If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.”
Paul gives us four essentials in this passage to help us become more oriented toward others. Please turn to Philippians 2.
1. Fathom the excellence of what we have (2:1). Many of us forget what we’ve been given. Look at verse 1: “If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion.” Normally the word “if” conveys doubt. But here Paul is using a Greek grammatical form that actually expresses certainty. He’s really saying, “If such-and-such is true – and I know that it is.” A better translation would be “since.”
Every Christian, regardless of their praise preferences, has received these blessings. Paul’s point is this: Since you’ve been given all this, shouldn’t you grant grace to others and do whatever it takes to promote peace and embrace unity?
2. Fulfill the expectations of what we must do (2:2-4). We must do something with what we have. Notice the word “then” in the first part of verse 2. If (since) you have all these blessings, then do the following. And when believers fulfill these expectations, Paul says that this will “make my joy complete.” The tense of this means we are to do so immediately and without delay.
* Resolve to pull together (2). This is a very strong appeal to unity. Look with me at verse 2: “…by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.” To be like-minded literally means, “To think the same thing.” To have the “same love” gets to our feelings and our unconditional commitment to every Christian, whether we like them or not – and whether we like their music or not. To be “one in spirit and purpose” touches on how we relate to one another. The Greek is helpful here because this phrase literally means, “same-souled.”
* Resist selfishness (3a). “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit…” The phrase “selfish ambition” means strife that comes from ugly self-promotion and a competitive spirit that destroys unity by dividing the church into groups and cliques. Selfishness and pride are at the root of every sin.
* Regard others as more important (3b). “…but in humility consider others better than yourselves.” This is a tough one because most of us secretly believe that we’re better than those around us and that our music preference should be prescribed for everyone. But humility is a prerequisite for unity. “To consider others better” is a mathematical term which means, “Think about it and come to a conclusion.” We are to count what is really there, add it up, and find out what is true. A wonderful biblical example is found in Genesis 13 where we read that Abraham allowed Lot to choose whatever land he wanted. He thought more highly of his nephew than he thought of himself and verse 8 says Abraham did it for the sake of unity: “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers.” When’s the last time you specifically did something to avoid an argument?
* Remember the needs of others (4): “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” To “look” is to fix one’s attention on, with great interest in. Some of us need to take our eyes off ourselves and literally lift them to look at others.
3. Follow the example of Christ (2:5-8). Aren’t you glad that we don’t have to make our own roadmap to maturity? We don’t have to wonder how God wants us to live because the Messiah is our model. Look at verse 5: “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” This means that we are to set our minds on the Master and emulate His example.
As we continue in our series called “Worship Matters” I almost wanted to change the topic of today’s sermon because I see so much grace and unity here. But I decided to preach on “The Real Worship Wars” anyway because this topic can bring out a musical maelstrom and has led to wars in many churches. Conversations about worship often produce more heat than light and instead of bringing us closer, as we saw in the drama; our praise preferences can actually polarize us.
Historical Music Madness
I find it helpful to know that skirmishes over musical styles in the church are not a new thing. In fact, it’s been going on for a long time. I’m certainly no expert in church history so I’m thankful to Pastor Stephen Schwambach for his insights (www.sermoncentral.com). If you’re in a small group you’ll study more about this in your lesson for this week.
For the first several hundred years of Christianity there was great freedom in the area of music but that all changed in the early 300’s when congregational singing was discouraged and only professional “praisers” were allowed to sing. In addition, musical instruments were not allowed in the church. Chanting became the accepted way to adore God.
It stayed that way for the next thousand years or so until a young monk named Martin Luther launched the Protestant Reformation. Having a musical background, Luther began writing songs that reflected personal experiences with God and brought the instruments back into church. And, the congregation was invited to sing along to songs like “A Mighty Fortress is our God.” This was controversial, especially since he brought the organ into church because many thought that this was a “worldly” instrument.
A couple hundred years later, fifteen-year-old Isaac Watts was turned off by the stuffy church music of his day and finally his dad had enough and said to him one Sunday after the service, “Then give us something better, young man!” He wrote his first song before the evening service. He had a millennial mindset and believed that “songs should stir the soul” and be plain, personal and powerful. He’s known for “Joy to the Word!” and “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.” Do you think people liked his 600 or so songs? No, they hated them, referring to them as “Watts’ Whims!” Congregations actually split over whether or not they could be used in church services. One article I read indicated that it took about 100 years for his hymns to be accepted because many didn’t like how he paraphrased Scripture with his “man-made” music.
Later in that century two brothers kicked things up another notch – John and Charles Wesley. They believed that the only way to reach the common person was to give them music they could relate to. Did you know that Charles wrote 6,500 hymns like “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” and “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing.”
Years later Fanny Crosby introduced a new form called “Gospel Hymns” with titles like “Redeemed How I Love to Proclaim It” and “To God Be the Glory.” While her 7,000 hymns are appreciated today, back then her songs were attacked as heathenistic “dance music.” Tempers boiled over and churches ruptured.
In 1865 William Booth believed that the way to reach the lost was through the music they loved and so he adopted popular tunes and gave them Christian lyrics. He’s famous for saying, “Why should the devil have all the best music?” Black gospel music was criticized when it first came out and southern gospel music was met with this refrain from many: “Not in our church, you don’t.” Then, in the early days of the Jesus movement, a man named Larry Norman, who was so committed to reaching people with music, tried to bring guitars and drums into the church, only to be criticized. He has been called the “father of Christian rock” but refers to himself this way: “I’m just an artist reaching toward heaven.”
So in once sense there has always been conflict in churches about music. The real issue is not really our preferences but whether or not we have a passion for God. We shouldn’t be in wars about worship but rather be growing in our wonder for God. John Fischer, a singer and songwriter, wrote an article several years ago called, “What to Do about the Worship Wars” (www.moodymagazine.com). I appreciate his perceptive insight: “Never before, at least in my lifetime, has worship been more important to Christians; and never before has it been so complicated and tentative, as people shuffle from church to church seeking the right blend of worship experience for their families in what seems like an endless zero-sum game…Many people go to church today more to experience God than they go to hear about Him…and that experience they define as worship…The bad thing is that each person now becomes the sole and final authority as to what worship is. In effect, ‘worship’ is whatever connects with me. What I like and understand is what ministers to me.”
I want to suggest that the real war however, is being fought on three fronts. It’s not so much about music as it is about a believer’s battle with society, with Satan and with self.
1. War with society. We could call this the war “out there.” In our sin-soaked society where celebrity is supreme and entertainment is our elixir, we must crave the Word and not cave to the world. While we live in this world, we are not to be of this world. James 4:4: “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:20 says that the wisdom of the world is “foolish.” As an example of what our society is like today, a state senator from Nebraska has sued God, seeking a permanent injunction against Him (www.ketv.com). People can curse God on national TV and utter blasphemies regarding Jesus with hardly anyone batting an eye. And Colossians 2:8 cautions Christians against following empty philosophies and worldly ways: “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” James 1:27 adds that we are to keep from “being polluted by the world.”
The way to do battle against society and win the war against the world is through faith. Listen to the words of 1 John 5:4: “For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.”
2. War with Satan. We could call this the war “beyond here.” I turn to John Fischer again: “The war is not between those who want traditional worship and those who want contemporary worship. The real war is with the enemy who would do us in by dividing us and rendering us ineffective by our bickering and fighting.”
Ezekiel 28 describes a scene that played out in Heaven a long time ago. Satan was originally created to be an angelic leader but wanted to be totally in charge and overthrow God’s rule by leading a number of other angels in his insurrection. As a result, God cast him and his cohorts out of heaven. The language is graphic and intense in verses 12-17: “You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty...you were anointed as a guardian cherub...you were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until wickedness was found in you...your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth...”
In a parallel passage, Isaiah 14:11 says that Satan was puffed up with pride and loved the sound of music before being kicked out of heaven: “All your pomp has been brought down to the grave, along with the noise of your harps; maggots are spread out beneath you and worms cover you.”
Ever since their expulsion from Heaven, Satan and his minions have had an agenda for revenge and have launched a celestial conspiracy against the person of God, the purposes of God, the people of God, the praise of God, and the pursuers of God.
* Satan Attacks the Person of God. One verse that describes Satan’s ultimate desire is found in Isaiah 14:14: “I will make myself like the Most High.” Since he failed in this attempt and was cast out of the presence of God, Satan and his evil angels are set on attacking the person of God. And they are relentless. Satan is referred to as the “adversary” 56 times in the Bible. It was pride that caused his downfall and it is pride that makes him continue his adversarial attacks on the Almighty.
* Satan Attack the Purposes of God. Satan is diametrically opposed to everything that God is accomplishing today. While the good angels serve as messengers of God, Satan and his cohorts will do anything they can to derail what God is doing. The evil one is set on annihilating the church or neutralizing its effectiveness. He takes great pleasure in causing chaos and conflict within churches. He knows that if he can get a church to fight against itself, it will lose its effectiveness as a conduit of God’s truth and grace to a hurting world.
* Satan Attacks the People of God. When Satan attacks the person and purposes of God, he does it very boldly. When he attacks the people of God, he’s much more subtle in his strategy. To borrow the title of Ray Pritchard’s new book, Satan uses a “stealth attack” to divide, divert, deride and dishearten believers. Look at it this way. Satan and his followers know that they will only get a small percentage of people to become Satanists. So, instead of making bold appearances, their tactics are subtle -- but they are designed to shipwreck your faith.
* Satan Attacks the Praises of God. The devil hates it when we sing praises to God. He hates our music because our singing rouses our souls, gives us courage, lifts our hearts, restores our faith, builds our confidence, unites our voices, and lifts up the name of the Lord like a mighty banner. Music is not just preparation for warfare. Music is spiritual warfare. When God’s people sing together, we invade the devil’s territory. When we’re seething with anger instead of singing with adoration, Satan wins.
I know Satan has already been defeated by Christ and that he’s lost but sometimes I wonder if he’s wining the “worship war.” In a 2002 study by George Barna, only three out of ten church-going adults indicated that they view worship as something that is focused primarily on God (www.barna.org). Pastor Dick wrote down some ways that Satan attacks in this area.
* Satan gets us to argue so we don’t sing.
* Satan wants us to be split over music.
* Satan wants us to be critical of someone else’s music.
* Satan wants us to not accept others’ music.
* Satan wants us to get the idea that music=worship.
* Satan Attacks the Pursuers of God. Armed with spiritual scud missiles, he plays insidious mind games with those who aren’t yet believers. 2 Corinthians 4:4 says that, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
If we war against society through our faith, then we win against Satan by resisting him. James 4:7: “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
3. The war with self. We must fight “out there” and “beyond here.” We must also do battle “inside here.” Mark Labberton writes: “…Many debates about worship are just indirect ways of talking about ourselves, not God. Our debates devolve into how we like our worship served up each week. It’s worship as consumption rather than offering. It’s an expression of human taste, not a longing to reflect God’s glory.”
In worship, God is asking us to do something that we are uniquely designed to do but at the same time, what our sinful nature rebels against. Society and Satan are my enemies but my other enemy is myself and my own divided heart that fights against my full devotion to Christ. Worship is like a wrestling match because I am selfish.
The way to win the war with self is to surrender. It comes back to Romans 12:1: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship.” For a refresher on how to do this, see the sermon called “Worship is a Verb” (www.pontiacbible.org).
Adoration Must Lead to Action
We want to always be application-oriented at PBC because our adoration must lead to action. These action steps will help us fight on three fronts – against society, Satan and self – so that we can become those who worship in spirit and in truth.
1. Sing the Psalms for 30 days. A beautiful story is told of a young French girl who had been born blind. After she learned to read by touch, a friend gave her a Braille copy of Mark’s gospel. She read it so much that her fingers became calloused and insensitive. In an effort to regain her feeling, she cut the skin from the ends of her fingers. Tragically, however, her calluses were replaced by scarring that took away all feeling. She started sobbing and gave the Bible a goodbye kiss, saying, “Farewell, farewell, sweet word of my heavenly Father.” In doing so, she discovered that her lips were even more sensitive than her fingers had been, and so she spent the rest of her life reading God’s treasure with her lips. If you sing five psalms a day, you’ll finish all of them in a month.
2. Ask to hear someone’s testimony. Once we know how someone got saved, it’s much easier to appreciate the kind of singing they like. That reminds me of the young girl who got saved at a revival in the morning and in the afternoon was singing and dancing in the house. Her sour grandfather rebuked her with these words: “You ought to be to be ashamed of yourself! You just went to church and now you’re singing and dancing on the Lord’s day!” Crushed by her grandfather’s attitude, the little girl went out to the barn, climbed up on the fence and observed an old mule standing there with a sad, droopy face and bleary eyes. As she reached over and patted the mule sympathetically, she said, “Don’t cry, ole mule. I guess you got the same kind of religion that grandpa has!” The next time you’re talking to a Christian, ask to hear how he or she became a Christian – it may keep you from being grumpy.
3. Spend time with someone you don’t like this week. It’s easy for us to just hang out with people who are like us. The body of Christ has always included people who are not like each other and don’t like each other. Think of how the Jews and the Greeks got along, the Barbarians and the Scythians, the slaves and free. If we’re going to be the church, then we must seek unity in the midst of diversity. Here’s a principle that Beth and I heard in a marriage conference over twenty years ago. When you see another person who has different preferences than you do, say these words silently: “Not wrong, just different.” By the way, if you want to get together this week I’ll know it’s because you don’t really like me.
4. Practice praying. Harold Best suggests this prayer for those of us who like the familiar when it comes to music: “Almighty God, here I am again in the same place, hearing the same music. I love it; it means much, I feel close to you and know you to be close to me. Help me understand that I risk danger by vainly repeating, by assuming you are nearer because everything is so familiar. Instead, make all of this new to me once again, as only the God of mystery can. Take me back to the first day of creation when all was new; bestow on me the gift of offering all to you as never before.”
And, here’s a prayer we can pray when we are in the midst of newness: “Almighty God, what I am now seeing and hearing makes no sense. It is not what I like or what I expected. Even so, it is here; I am here; you are here. There are some here who passionately love you and have made this offering to you, even though I can’t make hide or hair of it. Nonetheless, I join with them by faith; I join with an offering that, to me, only bespeaks a mystery. I offer what I do not understand to you, the one whom I will never fully understand…I turn from what I already know to what I need to know.” (“Music Through the Eyes of Faith,” pages 154-155).
5. Start serving now. I’ve brought this up the last two Sundays and I do so again today because it is so important. Worship must lead to work. If you’re blessed in here on a Sunday morning that’s good, but God defines worship as each of us leaving here to be a blessing to others. The evidence that worship is happening is not whether we like the songs but whether we are giving our lives away in service. One pastor puts it this way: “Biblical worship that finds God will also find our neighbor.”
I played around with some phrases this week, looking for a perfect punch. Here’s what I came up with: Singing must lead to serving. If you just soak, you’ll croak. If you don’t commit to serve, you’ll end up criticizing those who are serving. Pew paralysis leads to too much analysis. Friends, if you and I aren’t serving, then we’re not worshipping. I received a very encouraging email from someone this week. Let me read part of it: “We feel as though it is time for us to do more than just attend on Sundays. We understand that there is an abundance of opportunities for us and it’s about time for us to take advantage of them.”
I was grieved in my heart Thursday morning when I heard that we had to turn children away from AWANA because we don’t have enough leaders. I don’t say that to guilt you into serving but I do want to challenge you to serve if you’re not already doing so. The PBC pathway looks like this. Come and engage on Sundays, then plug into a small group, and then start serving.
6. Give God your heart. We should always define ourselves with deeper issues than style or form. The ultimate question is this: Does God have my heart?
[Go back to bench] Where are you sitting today? Look down the row and see someone who might sing differently than you but matters greatly to God. Think of the person who sits in your chair during the other service and pray for him or her.
It ultimately doesn’t matter where you sit or whether you attend the first or the second service. What matters most is whether you’re surrendered and where you’re serving. As we sing this closing song, maybe its time to not sit anymore but to actually drop to your knees. We might as well do it now because everyone will do it later as Philippians 2:9-11 says: “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
If you want to kneel or come up front or stay seated or stand, that’s fine. But make this song a prayer of surrender.
Lord I give You my heart,
I give You my soul, I live for You alone.
Every breath that I take,
Every moment I’m awake,
Lord have Your way in me.
Closing Song: “Lord, I Give You My Heart.”
