Thursday, March 02, 2006

Theses on Worship--Part 3


In Theses on Worship, author Jim Jordan further clarifies his position that Sunday morning worship should be predominantly for Christians. (See this post for the introduction to this idea.)

First, he highlights two seemingly contradictory statements in scripture. Matthew 5: 16 says, "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 6: 1 says, "Beware of practising your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven." Jordan contends that this conflict is resolved by first understanding that we do good works for purposes of evangelism, NOT for the praise of men. Secondly, he states that Matthew 5 is speaking of public works, and Matthew 6 refers to private works (eg. almsgiving, prayer, fasting).

Next, Jordan reiterates that unbelievers won't be turned away, but that the Sunday morning worship service is not an evangelistic event. We should not even try to accomodate other Christians who may not understand our form of worship. He says, "We don't worship to be seen of men, but if men are going to watch us anyway, we should not compromise for them. The more uncompromisedly Biblical we are, the better the 'witness' is."

I see too many churches today trying to appeal to man rather than God. There's too much "me" and not enough "Him." I think Jordan makes a very good case for his argument.

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