Bloesch is not the only one who has seen these wars wage on. Others have likewise seen this trend. In a Los Angeles Magazine article title, "God for Sale," Katheleen Neumeyer wrote, "It is no surprise that when today’s affluent young professionals return to church, they want to do it only on their own terms – what’s amazing is how far the churches are going to oblige." One advocate of market-driven approaches to church growth writes, "This is what marketing the church is all about: providing our product (which he describes as "relationship") as a solution to people’s felt need." "It is critical," he says, "that we keep in mind a fundamental principle of Christian communication: the audience, not the message is sovereign." A Newsweek article describes today’s churches: "They have developed a `pick and choose’ Christianity in which individuals take what they want ... and pass over what does not fit their spiritual goals. What many have left behind is a pervasive sense of sin." In the place of the sin-and-grace emphasis of Scripture a variety of self-help cures attempt to make Christianity into a spirituality that will appeal to seekers. But as the quest for "spirituality" supplants Christian truth, one wonders if the salt has lost its savor. (In the Face of God, Horton, p49)In light of the present state of the church, what help could we ever find in a four thousand year old code of laws for a nomadic people? Deuteronomy 12 is written for a place and time so distant from our world we could brush it aside were it not for the fact that it is the Word of God. For that reason what God told his people before they entered the Promised land is just as pertinent today as it was then.
Worship is not... Directed by our desires - verse 2 The opening command here is stated in the strongest of terms. What the NIV has as "destroy completely" in Hebrew is literally: "Destroy destroying..." What Israel must do when they enter Canaan is to leave no vestige of false worship. They are to remove any trace of pagan places of worship as well as the paraphernalia of their worship. First is listed the places of their worship. The sites where they worshipped are common among animistic cultures. When it is thought that the gods or spirits are to be approached, the location is of supreme importance. The mountains, hills and under the spreading trees was special for it was thought that such places were made sacred because of a special visitation by a deity. The heights were important, for that placed the worshipper nearer to the gods. The spreading tree in verse 2 is a luxuriant tree, considered sacred because its leafy greenness symbolized fertility, a dominant theme in Canaanite religion. This first injunction in verse 2 corrects the idea that we can approach God however we desire. We do not set the agenda. He does. This verse gives us some understanding as to how we can respond to the common idea that we can worship God in the woods or watching a beautiful sunset. First, notice that the command here is not to destroy all the mountains, hills and trees. As we have seen before, it is God who made all things and all creation reflects His glory. We can and should enjoy God’s creation. There is obviously nothing wrong and everything right to stand in awe surrounded by what God has made. But what is corrected here is the confusion of the creation with the Creator. If we imagine that God is more accessible there rather than here, that God will hear me better in the boundary waters than in the Pick N’ Save parking lot – then we need to re-evaluate what we believe. Their mistake was that they imagined that their own desires, their owns schemes as how to make the gods listen to them were sufficient. Our worship can not start at that point. It is not what we imagine is best, right and good. Determined by our needs - verse 3 Verse 3 covers a variety of accouterments of pagan worship. The list gives us an insight into what their worship involved. The altars and sacred stones were part of their sacrificial system of worship. It is difficult for us to comprehend what their worship was like. Western attitudes toward pantheistic and animistic worship tends toward a paternalism which views such activities as naive or quaint. But what took place in those ancient rites were gruesome and destructive acts. 12:31 describes one such form of worship. The burning of their children to the gods is well documented not only by Scripture but also by archeology. This ritual involved the placing of a small child in the arms of an idol whose arms were outstretched and sloping down toward a fire. The "god" would receive the child who would then roll down into the flames. As the flesh burned, it would tighten across their face, showing their teeth, thus producing a macabre smile. That smile was the sign that the gods were pleased. In addition to infanticide, their worship was sexually degrading. The Asherah poles that were to be burned were phallic shaped pillars which promised fertility for their wives and beasts as well as for better crops. Part of their worship involved erotic rites which denigrated women by unspeakable acts. The ultimate goal was the removal of their names. In the ancient world, the name was more than a collection of sounds, it connoted power and authority. To remove their names is to remove their authority over people. With the removal of their names, so the acts associated with those names would cease. They worshipped in a way which reflected their belief system. Canaanite worship was pragmatic. They designed their worship to satisfy their own needs. They need food, so they worshipped their own procreative functions. They desired peace, so they killed their own children in the hopes that the gods would not harm them. But worship must never be designed merely as a reflection of our own needs. Our needs must never be the starting point as to how we are to approach our God. We must never imagine that we are capable of devising ways in which we can approach God. Our minds constantly produce idols which are only fit for destruction. When we approach God on our own terms, when we dictate what must be acceptable to Him, we reverse the order of true worship. We demand He come to us on our terms. When we do this, we, as John Calvin said, "trifle with God like children with their puppets..." Too often today well-meaning Christians will make the audience the starting point. In an effort to reach those outside the church, they neglect the truth of sin-hardened hearts which, until God draws them to Himself, will not hear the truth of His Word. Often the focus of many worship services is on felt needs. These are the issues and questions facing today. Job, family, relationships, and so on, are the center of messages designed to help a person to live more fully and effectively in a hectic society. Topics are carefully selected to stress the personal over the doctrinal, and the relational over the abstract. [We] no longer trust the power of Scripture to authenticate itself; instead we rely on techniques and strategies to assure the desired result: church growth and personal fulfillment. We resort to apologetic argument rather than biblical exposition, to psychological manipulation rather than to proclamation of the good news of salvation.(CT 2/5/01 54)I’ve seen churches structure their worship after Lettermen complete with a Top Ten list. The music is reminiscent of a Holiday Inn Lounge act and the preaching is oriented to self-help rather than God’s grace. When we use the world as the model for worship at best we fail in even producing good entertainment and at worst, we ignore the Gospel of God’s grace. Worship is... Directed by God’s command - verse 5 Rather than looking to the world for answers as to what we are to worship and how we should worship, our worship is to be directed by God’s Word. The place where God is to be worshipped is to be dictated by God. The issue here is not so much the location, as upon God’s choice, rather than the places they thought best, the place God desires; rather than the multitude of names, God’s name is to be on their lips. The two forms could not coexist. The change must be radical. Imagine the turmoil of an adulterous spouse who repents. Yet he still keeps pictures of his mistress scattered around the house; her name comes up in casual conversation; she calls now and then. He may not be sleeping with her anymore, but the behavior is unacceptable. Marriage is exclusive because love is that strong, not because it is too weak to tolerate others. God’s Word must regulate our worship. Our Confession of Faith puts it this way: "The acceptable way of worshiping the true God is instituted by Himself, and so limited by His own revealed will, that He may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in the holy Scriptures." (WCF 21.1) This understanding of what Scripture says guides not just the form of worship, but the content of the worshipped as well. The issue is not one place vs. another, but who is worshipped. This was the point of conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman in John 4. After confronting her about her immoral lifestyle, she decided to switch topics to worship, a seemingly safer subject. But Jesus was clear, the place of worship is not the key; what God the Father desires is true worshipers who worship in spirit and in truth. What Jesus is saying there is just what is said here. The point is not the place of worship, but the person who is worshipped. Jesus who is the way, the truth and the light stood before her, and if she was to properly worship, she must worship Christ. One could easily remove the altars and idols, but still not engage in proper worship. The issue in Deuteronomy 12 is the place of Jehovah’s dwelling. That place is in Jesus Christ. He is the Temple; in Him the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form. What is at heart in worship is a proper understanding of tradition. The mistake that is often made when worship wars erupt is to think it is an issue of traditional vs. contemporary worship. That needlessly confuses the issue. Jaroslav Pelikan's distinction is needed here: "Traditionalism is the dead faith of the living, whereas tradition is the living faith of the dead." When we speak of tradition, we speak of what has gone on before us, that we stand on the never-changing Word of God, but what is more, that we are a part of the catholic church, those who have lived and died in faith long before we ever confessed the Creed. When it comes to tradition, G.K. Chesterton stated the issue well: "Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about." Some will contend that they alter their worship so as to attract the unbeliever. They will leave out certain harsh aspects of the Christian faith; they will wrap the package in pleasing paper. But what is neglected is that the Bible does not command that we worship the Lord to attract the unbeliever. We worship the Lord because God is worthy of our praise. Certainly we must reach out to those who do not know Christ, but evangelism happens in our daily lives, our regular encounters, our simple conversations and carings – in order that we can bring others with us to worship God. On occasion I will speak of my wife Janet in my sermons. But when I am at home, I do not speak of her, I speak to her. Worship is the language of adoration addressed to God and the language of God's instruction to equip us for life and witness. Good worship will be evangelistic, but that is not its purpose, for worship is directed to God as its subject and object. Good worship will both nurture the character of believers and the community and also form us to be the kind of people who will reach out evangelistically and in service to the world around us. (taken from Worship for Postmodern Times, M. Dawn, www.elca.org/postm.html) Received by God’s grace - verse 6 The worship described here is first a mediated worship – there are burnt offerings The worship they are to destroy sacrifices to manipulate the gods. There worship brings them into direct contact with the spirits so that they can gain favor. But while the worship of Israel may look similar at certain points, what is done and why it is done is vastly different. The burnt offering described in Leviticus 1 first assumes the reality of sin. The worshiper’s hands are laid on the animal which must be without defect. The blood is drained and sprinkled on the altar and the flesh entirely consumed. The burnt offering points to the work of Christ for us. That is where all worship must begin. The worshiper comes before God acknowledging God’s need to be propitiated, that his wrath be poured out on another. That one who is sacrificed in our place now is our mediator. There can be no access to God without that work done for us. That is first and foremost. In light of that, we must be certain we engage in mediated worship. That is, we do not achieve direct access to God’s majestic throne apart from an atoning sacrifice for our sin. Pagan worship extols immediacy before the gods based on one’s own personal merit. We come because of Christ’s merit. What we sing, what we confess, the messages which are preached from the pulpit must have that as a central feature or we will never have truly worshipped the Triune God. Grace must flow from every aspect. Mediated worship then may become a responsive worship – there are tithes, gifts, vows, etc. From grace flows gratitude. That order is important. Worship that acknowledges sin, that accepts God’s gift of forgiveness because of Christ, then will respond. The author of Hebrews calls us to continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of the lips that confesses His name. This offering of praise, worship that never stops with navel gazing contemplation of our sin, but explodes with excited giving, is what is described next. Celebrating in God’s goodness - verse 7 Over against the pagan worship which sought out the gods according to their own designs, as opposed to the worship which molested and murdered loved ones, verse 7 offers us a wonderful picture of biblical worship. God’s presence will be with us as we rejoice in all He has done. There is a sense of satisfaction and joy, of celebrating and festivity. Any misconception that God disapproves of human enjoyment of material things is far removed from this passage. Eating and rejoicing are not just permitted; they are commanded! What is pictured here, is repeated in the life of Christ with His disciples; it was an infectious part of the early Church. It is found in the eucharistic meal at the heart of Christian worship, which both celebrates what God has done redemptively as well as anticipating the Messianic banquet of heaven. What is spread before us is also an opportunity given to us by God to celebrate His goodness. This meal we share together is not a means to make God happy with us. It is not a way to make ourselves better people. It is simply a means by which God extends His grace to us. His spiritual presence is here, inviting us to trust His provision for us, reminding us of how He has caused His name to dwell in our midst. He calls us to simply trust Him and worship Him as He has commanded. Just as the war between God and us is now over, just as peace reigns between heaven and earth as our Father is satisfied with the Son’s sacrifice, so let us now be at peace and prepare our hearts now to receive this kiss of His grace. |
