majestery…
i have been pondering some stuff lately…or dwelling on stuff…no pun intended. you may recognize some pun action as you read on. anyways, i have been thinking a lot about how we have designed church services. i hear many times a church say, “our church is about the word”, or “the word is central here”. what they really mean is that the preaching of the word is the main act in the carnival-like weekend service. the worship set builds up to the full-crafted delivery of the sermon and if the service has a lot going on, what usually gets cut down…yep, you guessed it…worship. as a result, we can very easily establish a culture where most of the ministry being done is towards the individual believer. if this is the case, then most of the ministry is spent on the church, producing a dependency culture of introspective and powerless believers who live from week to week.
the temple in the OT…the original OC, was about the mystery and majesty of God. people went and participated through worship, an offering, and prayer. the worship was filled with awe. everyone waited on baited breath as the high priest emerged from the Holy of Holies. in the temple, instruction and communication of God’s word always led people into an experience with God. this gave way for the synagogue. here the instruction and communication of God’s word led people into debate and discussions about God.
the teaching of the word must lead people into an experience with God Himself, not just into an experience of the church. only the presence of God can prevent institutional Christianity from reducing truth to a set of rules or worship to a meaningless time of singing without awe. our meetings can quickly become man-centered instead of revolving around the presence of God. without experience, our relationship with God has no where to go.
our greatest ministry is our ministry to Him. we gather for His glory. God doesn’t just want to visit His people, He wants to habitate. this habitation is what leads to reformation. i am not saying we don’t need the teaching of the word…we for sure need this. but, i think we have elevated the teaching of the word beyond the more important issue: our ministry to Jesus. we have become expert listeners of the word, but if our hearing doesn’t progress to the point of our doing, then we are deceived. when we hear and minister to Jesus, it doesn’t take long and we must like a sponge that has just soaked up immense amounts of water…squeeze.
soak in…squeeze out…and repeat…
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