April 10, 2009
Jesus paid it all, and thanks for Heaven
Sometimes I wonder about the focus of our worship. I sit through some churches that sing more about Heaven and about how great it will to be there so we can see all of the people we have lost and can enjoy the reward than the one who made it possible to be in Heaven. I see people “accept” Jesus as their Lord and Savior because of a sermon that spoke of fear of hell and not fear of God. Are we that selfish? Now I know the answer to that is yes, but we eat this stuff up. I’m not sure if it is wrong to sing about Heaven in and of itself, but everything put ahead of Christ and the holiness of God is an idol, even characteristics of God that are put in front of holiness (see Idol of Love by Greg Pinkner). I’m just not sure of our motives to have salvation. I get some of it. I sure don’t want to go to hell, but I see the reward of Heaven as getting to be able to worship Christ in all his glory without all of the sin that separates me from a pure relationship with Him. Is that not enough? Christianity is more than not going to hell; it is pursuing, trying to love, and trying to glorify the One who first loved us. Obviously Heaven is important as Jesus talks about how he is preparing a place for us, but let’s not lose focus of the Way, the Truth, and the Light.
Heaven-worship sounding music is one of the things I don’t like about much of the music we sing in Church. There seems to be a break down of honesty in worship music.
Oh worship music. Hymns or Choruses? Witnessing a church move from hymns to choruses is quite the sight. I’ve heard it been put as the “Shout to the Lord” stage. The hymns the churches are moving away from leave much to be desired as well. C.S. Lewis called them “fifth rate poetry set to sixth rate music.” If they don’t have sound hymns, then they probably won’t have sound choruses. Let’s dive in Read the rest of this entry »
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