7.20.2005 | "Fear God and give him glory..."

...because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water." Thus says the angel in Revelation 14:7. Sinners, if we wait until the time of judgment to "fear" God, it's too late. We must fear him now.

Anybody who reads the Bible should fear God in the sense of having a respectful dread of the future that is in His hands alone. We are to be judged, and that judgment will affect how we spend eternity. So "dread" and "fear" are not over the top. Anything less than this, when we worship God, is just not right.

When we worship we should view God, our Creator, as truly awe-inspiring in a way that makes the current overuse of "awesome" look puny and vapid. One mustn't describe a television show as "awesome", and then use the same word to describe how we approach the Almighty.

And this is the heart of what ails much modern, mega-church (and not-so-mega-church) worship: a lack of the true fear of God, the use of music, feigned hipness (gotta get those twenty-somethings into the pews), and, especially, the sappy every-day-in-every-way-I'm-getting-better-and-better approach to being a Christian -- the "gospel of prosperity" (think Joel Osteen and Robert Schuller).

This may be fun, and it may feel good. But church is not a place to feel good. It should not be a sanctuary from the wicked world. It is not a place of refuge for us. It is not a museum for saints. What church is, or should be, is a hospital for us sinners. A place to worship God through His word. A place to, at least metaphorically, fall to our knees and fear God's judgment on an evil world.

And know that we are very much a part of that world.

| technorati tag | Christianity|