Will Graham wrote: ...Praise has gone romantic. Worship has turned fluffy. It’s official. The most popular tunes amongst us are the ones that leave us feeling all gooey and mushy inside. Doubtlessly biblical worship was a sentimental affair; after all, having feelings is a constitutive part of being human. Nevertheless, there was an unmistakably masculine element to Old and New Testament praise that is evidently missing nowadays. Once upon a time, worshippers were soldiers of Christ, warriors of the Gospel and flames of the Spirit; now they are mummy’s boys, weaklings and teary-eyed slush puppies who only come to church for the hairs on their neck to stand on end. Look at Abraham. Struck to the core about having to sacrifice his own son, he uttered to his servants in vicious agony, “Stay here lads whilst my boy and I go up this mountain to worship.” Abraham wasn’t saying he was going up the hill to fall more and more in love with his wonderful super-mega Boyfriend God and bring him pretty pink flowers as an offering. The patriarch ascended Mount Moriah to slay his son. Worship meant blood, sweat, death and the fiercest existential conflict humanly imaginable. How on earth can someone stick a knife through his own son’s throat? Such worship verges on the inconceivable. Abraham’s example shows us how foreign contemporary worship is when compared to Scripture. Worship means everything in our life is God’s. Absolutely everything- even Isaac- belongs to God. He is our Lord with a capital ‘L’. And when God comes calling for our all to be put on the altar of sacrifice; then we are compelled by the Spirit to do so. Such is the nature of true worship. It’s a whole lot more than singing love songs to gentle Jesus.
Posted on: Fri, 09 Aug 2013 15:55:40 +0000
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