Choosing a Church, Part 2

Many people today look at music as a decision making factor of where they will attend church. “I love the worship part of the service, it really gets me ready to hear the word, or I like the traditional hymns, and so on.” Music has been a huge part of my life, so I’m right here with you on this one. One of the things that I loved so much about our churches in Romania was the music. The people loved to sing and did so with no inhibition. They truly just made a joyful noise to the Lord and it was loud and strong and beautiful.

I remember when “worship and praise” music was becoming popular in churches and there was such a debate, especially between young and old, about the type of music that would be dominate in church. This goes right back to the problem of children not learning respect for their elders. Because this music makes ME  “FEEL” good and puts ME in the mood to worship, it has to be the best way, right? We have definitely learned the lesson well that it is all about “ME”.

I’ve seen churches go several different directions on this. I’ve seen churches split over it, I’ve seen churches segregate the age groups over it, I’ve seen split services, where the early morning service is “contemporary” and the later is “traditional” or vice versa. I have seen churches that just leave the traditional hymns and go strictly with praise and worship, which is where I think most have gone. Some try to incorporate both to make everyone happy.

When we first started having services, we did a good deal of looking back at the first church and what they did. What did their services look like. Even though our culture is a part of who we are, we don’t want it to rule us. Culture doesn’t dictate truth. Culture does affect our lives, but it changes with time and from place to place. Do we really want something that changes with the passage of time to be our standard of truth. Of course not. So, what did the first church sing? The Bible says, “… psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.” All of us knew the hymns, and spiritual songs is a more broad term. Praise and worship music could even fall into this category, at least some of it. When we think about psalms, I could probably count the ones I knew on one hand. There were a few children’s songs I knew that were based on psalms, but not many. The elders discussed it and we ordered psalters. I have to admit when we first started singing psalms it was a little awkward. We didn’t know these songs and so it really didn’t “feel” right. It is still hard at times, but I can honestly say that it is one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. God said His word doesn’t return void. What could be more beautiful that singing God’s words back to Him? We are also learning many of the psalms in 4 part harmony, which has also been a challenge. Sometimes after singing one that we’ve been working on for a while, the words of Jimmy Stewart in “It’s a Wonderful Life”  come to mind, “Hot Dog! It’s just like an organ!”

I would say that music is definitely something to be considered in choosing a church home. Should it be a deciding factor? I don’t think so. It has too much sway over our emotions. The key is to look at the music in the church to discern whether it is God honoring, not according to how it makes us “feel”. My emotions and feelings can be manipulated and deceived. Not that they are bad, but I can’t trust them. Always go back to the word of God. The fact that there are actually songs in the Bible written specifically for praise and worship is amazing. I don’t see how we could do better than that.

How to Choose a Church, Part 1

As I drove by a church in town this week and read their sign it caused me to ponder the subject of choosing a church. How should we choose a church? The sign read, “Something for Everyone” and I immediately thought, “Really?” May be I’m a little cynical, but church signs bug me sometimes. That is another post entirely.

When we first came back from Romania our kids were 15 and 16 years old which is a really critical stage. Being raised in a developing country they were very different from the teenagers that they encountered here in the US, and each one in their own way was going through major culture shock. We were somewhat prepared for this, but the effect of life in a new country was greater than we had anticipated. My first thought in looking for a church was, “We need to find a church with a great youth group where our kids can make good Christian friends and assimilate into the culture.” That sounds logical, right? Many people choose a church according to the ages of their children. “This church has a nursery with people that I know and trust, or an amazing children’s program, a fantastic youth leader, or whatever.”

In the Bible, from the synagogues to the temples to the first churches in the New Testament you will never see a segregation of ages. Families worshiped and heard the word of God together. (Joshua 8:35)

The concept that children learn better when lessons are taught on their own level is very new. If we go back even 60-70 years to one room churches and schools, which many times were the same building, children were learning just as well if not better than they are now. But they weren’t just learning to read and write or hearing Bible stories, they were getting so much more. An attention span longer than 15 minutes or manners and the ability to be self controlled and disciplined are very important lessons that were learned in this type of environment.  

Another very important lesson for children, that is not being taught in our present system, is the respect of elders or authority. (One quick example of the lack thereof) In almost any church that I’ve attended in the past 10 years, if a meal is served, children are served first. This also, is a very new tradition. I realize the practicalities of this process. Children are fussy and loud, so if we feed them first, they will be pacified and the mother might actually be able to eat her lunch in peace. Sounds great to me, too, but believe it or not, children are learning something from this. If I am fussy and loud and make life difficult for my parents then they will serve “me first”. Whereas, the Bible teaches that “tribulation” (whether it be in the form of them not being first or something a little more straight forward if they get overly fussy or loud), worketh PATIENCE…”and patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed;” Romans 5

I’m not telling you that there is a set way to go through the lunch line in the Bible. I’m saying it is a good thing for children to learn order and respect for elders and that everything doesn’t revolve around them. Since we, as evangelicals are losing over 80 percent of our children to the world, as statistics indicate, I’m only suggesting that there may be a problem with the methods we are using in training them up. Instead of our children being part of a church where everything is centered around them, maybe they need a church where everything is actually centered around God.

We all love our children, and I’m not saying that it’s wrong to consider them when you are choosing a church, in fact I think we should consider them. Ask yourself some serious questions. Is this a place where my children will systematically be taught the truth from God’s word? Is this a place where my children will be taught to honor and respect their elders and the authorities placed over them? Is this a place where my children will be able to see a biblical role model for the family? Will they see families worshiping together? Will they see children older than themselves and teenagers and young adults that are striving to follow God and being a living example? No one is perfect and we’ve all heard the joke that says, “If you ever do find the perfect church, don’t join it. It wouldn’t be perfect anymore.” That is so true. Churches are just made up of sinners, but they are sinners saved by the grace of God to do good works and fulfill the work of God in their lives. Churches today, ours included, need to stop, take a look back about 2000 years or even 200 and remember their first love. Let’s don’t lose sight of the one that we need to keep our eyes fixed on, Christ, who is…….the head of the church.

Horton on Home Schooling

We downloaded "Horton Hears a Who" for our granddaughter Elizabeth this year. I had never actually sat down and watched it with her until recently. I try not to be too hard on cartoons, but I expected more from this one. The movie released in 2008 was highly praised by anti-abortion activists who claimed that the motto of the movie, "a person's a person, no matter how small" was somehow helpful to the cause. I highly doubt it. The statement is definitely true, and it would nice if everyone watching it would have miraculously come away realizing that the killing of millions of babies annually is an incomprehensible sin, but I'm not so sure it was that enlightening. While the 1954 book by Dr. Seuss was sweet right down to it's core, whoever made the movie definitely had their own agenda.
Jane, the proud, annoying kangaroo, was the antagonist in the story. In the movie, they brought out the fact that she "pouch schooled" little Rudy. Poor little guy, he had no socialization. Toward the end of the movie, Rudy, ignoring his mother's orders to return to the pouch, grabs the clover and gives it back to Horton saving the proverbial day. So the problem I have is this. The film shows home-schooling, which is good, as evil. It also portrays Rudy's disobedience to his mother, which is evil, as good. All of the good that I could have found in the movie, was voided by these two things. The fact that Horton was willing to lay down his life for his friends was a very Biblical concept. I could have probably stood the little jab at home-schooling, but the Bible states clearly that "rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft". I heard in a sermon recently that "obedience" to God and His word does not mean that we follow His instructions only if we agree. Obedience means that we follow instructions even when we don't understand. When God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, Abraham didn't try to reason with God or persuade Him to his way of thinking. He obeyed. I realize that obedience and Biblical authority are not the order of our day, but do we really want our children seeing Rudy rebel and coming to the conclusion that the ends justify the means? I know most people say, "That's ridiculous. It's just a cartoon." Everyone has to draw their own lines, right? Actually, my lines have been drawn for me. If God calls something good, it's good. If God calls something evil, it's evil. In the words of Martin Luther, "Here I stand, I can do no other." So, my take on Horton? Skip it.

What is Your View?

I ended my last post with Isaiah 5:20, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil…….” I have realized recently that I judge many things in the light of this scripture. Today’s mantra of NOT JUDGING is something taken completely out of context in the Bible. Everyone judges everything. Judging is simply to come to a conclusion about something (whether it be good, or whether it be evil), right? The standard by which we reach our decision is what is important. So many times we are guilty of coming to a conclusion about something by how it affects us. If you steal my car, that’s bad, because the car is mine, and if I don’t have it I can’t get to work or do the things I need to do. If you give me a million dollars, that’s good, because it would make me extremely happy and help me do a lot of things that would bring pleasure to me (and by extension, others). There is a problem with this sort of reasoning, though, and I’ll tell you what it is. I am not the standard of truth. Whether something affects me positively or negatively doesn’t bring to light whether it is good or bad. When we look at anything in life, we need to look at it through the light and truth from God’s word. Some people now, call the way we look at things our worldview. We all have some sort of filter that we put everything through before we reach our conclusion. I love the way C.S. Lewis said it,” I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

This is so true. Some of my future posts may surely be about everyday, ordinary things put under the microscope of God’s word. I think especially the things that we put before our eyes and the eyes of our children, and the things we listen to, should be put to this standard. I wasn’t always so careful about what I let my children watch or listen to. I guess I could say, “Look how they turned out. They’re o.k., they survived.” But then, how things affect me and my children, is not how I judge things. I pray it is not the way my children judge things.

Let’s take off those rose colored glasses of moral relativism and look at things the way God sees them. That’s one thing I pray for when I write my blog. I don’t want people to see my opinion, not that it doesn’t come out, I know it does. My prayer and my hope is that God will give me eyes to see and ears to hear what is true.

Mes Aieux

Degeneration - intellectual or moral decline tending toward dissolution of character or integrity 

progressive deterioration of characteristics from a level representing the norm of earlier generations or forms 

In a previous post I talked about being multi-generational minded. A few years ago I ran across a French song that really sums up our present state of “degeneration” (The translated lyrics follow, or you can watch the you tube video)

Mes Aieux (Degenerations)

Your great-great-grandfather, he cleared the soil
Your great-grandfather was the one who worked the soil
And your grandfather turned a profit on the land
And your father sold it to become a state employee

As for you, my boy, you don't know what you're gonna do
In your small one bedroom apartment, that’s too expensive and cold in the winter
Sometimes a vague desire comes over you
And you dream at night to own a small plot of land of your own

Your great-great-grandmother, she had fourteen children
Your great-grandmother had almost as many
And your grandmother had three, that was enough
And your mother didn't want any ; you were an accident.

As for you, my girl, you go from partner to partner
When you do something stupid, you get out of it with an abortion
But there are mornings, you wake up crying
After you dream at night of a big table surrounded by kids of your own

Yesterday’s sermon brought up the curse again. And Rob said something I thought was interesting. The curse for the man was not work. It was the fact that his work would be hard and painful because the ground would not give up it’s increase easily. The curse for the woman was not childbirth. It was the fact that her labor during childbirth would be hard and painful. In the end, work is a man’s blessing, and children are a blessing from God. When men don’t work, and women don’t have children, we have what is called, “depression”. You know, that’s what your doctor asks you every time you see him, “Are you depressed?” There is even a medication now to boost your anti-depressant if it is not working for you anymore.

Another item of conversation was President Obama’s coming out in support of gay marriage this week. The church in Florida was also discussed that is so very public and offensive with it’s opposition of sodomy. God’s word plainly states that God does hate sin of any kind, but if He wouldn’t have loved sinners, we would all be in trouble, right? The key is repentance. God doesn’t accept us IN our sin. We must turn away from it, and turn to Him. The old hymn “Just As I Am” was written in a time when people knew that we can do nothing but come to God just as we are, but it’s impossible to stay that way after you’ve fallen on your face before Him.

I think Americans are depressed like no other country on the planet because we had the truth and didn’t hold it in high regard. We are in a sad state of DEGENERATION.

“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” Isaiah 5:20