Relaxed and Casual
on Mar 27 in Art and Media, Church, Leadership, WorshipA few weeks ago, my pastor preached about “the fear of God”.¬† I have been haunted ever since.¬† It is, without a doubt, the key missing ingredient in churches today.¬† It’s also the key missing ingredient in my life.
When I was a pastor on staff, I was the guy in charge of the corporate worship thing.  In 1997, our worship services had grown quickly, then plateaued by 2001.  So we invited a Church Health Consultant from Saddleback to come spend a weekend with us.  He loved the people, and connected with the staff team.   He and his wife attended both services on a Sunday morning, then met with the Staff Team after.  He was not impressed with our corporate worship.
His words exactly:¬† “I’d like to see more tear stains than coffee stains on the carpet.”
I had worked very hard at creating a relaxed and casual atmosphere – so hard that the reverent holiness of God was set aside in favor of making sure everyone felt “comfortable”.
Recently a bass player on our Worship Team told me that, when he and his wife came to our church during that period, they called it a “happy, clappy church”.
Last week, I was in one of the largest churches in town.¬† A group of women arrived five minutes late.¬† The worship team had already finished a song, and the worship leader was praying – inviting God’s presence to saturate the room.¬† It was a beautiful, reverent moment. The women opened the closed back door, and were laughing out loud about something.¬† Half the room looked back at the laughter and commotion – in the middle of a holy Invocation.
In our churches, have we pushed aside the real God for a happier, hipper idol of our own making?¬† That’s what the children of Israel did.¬† They made a golden calf – not as an alternative, additional god; but as a representation of the one true God.¬† But they missed.
Have we missed?  Have I missed?
As Easter approaches, you’ll receive marketing pieces from churches in your city.¬† Please notice how many churches comment on God’s holiness in their marketing language.¬† The answer will be none.¬† Also please notice how many churches use the phrase “relaxed and casual”.¬†¬† The answer will be most.
There is nothing in my relationship with God that is relaxed and casual.   There is grace.  There is mercy.  There is love.  But those have been bought with blood Рhardly a relaxed and casual afternoon outside the Jerusalem city walls.
So I suppose that, in the end, we must learn to live with the paradoxical impulses of wanting to play in the front yard with the Lion of Judah, and the abject terror of what He could reduce us to.
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I think we have twisted this idea of fear to manipulate people. Though the Bible does indeed speak on numerous occasion about fearing God, it is not in the same context that we do today. Jesus did not tell Peter, “hey, you better be my disciple or I’m going to hunt you down, torment you the rest of your life and throw you into a fiery grave where you’ll boil for all eternity.” I don’t think any of us would want that kind of friendship. And yet, that’s how we evangelize. “Do you want hell or God?” Instead of offering people to step into the Kingdom of God and experience freedom and life, we threaten them with the “hell” thing. The result is an entire generation that only have a “ticket to heaven” and absolutely no relationship or desire to get to know and love our powerful and amazing Father. Fear is a powerful thing- but I have a hunch most of us have no understanding of how much more powerful it is to love and be loved. Don’t get me wrong, I do fear God. But do I wake up and read my Bible because I’m afraid if I don’t God will punish me with a flat tire? Or do I read my Bible because I want to learn more and grow in my relationship with my Daddy? What is a better motivator, fear or love?
Great post Gary. I share very similar thoughts on that. I think much of the late 80′s/90/early 00′s worship movement was the other side of the pendulum, a backlash from being brow beaten from churches. I think that the trend is that the pendulum is swinging back the other direction now. I think you see that with the recent inclusion of hymns of old in modern worship tunes.
One of the things that I still remember from seminary that stuck with me is that it is critical for us to exercise our faith, life and ministry in the center of Biblical tension…in other words a balance; worship experiences that communicate the grace of God along with a healthy fear (reverance) of the holiness of God. Just a thought.
I think that sometimes I tend to forget about the Old Testament… you know that part when saints of old were afraid of DYING in God’s presence. I’ve got to believe that while the “fear of God” is certainly related to a deep reverence for God, there has to be something else there.
Maybe that something comes from brushing up against a being that is so perfect and so powerful and so beyond out limited space and time that we can not physically or mentally or emotionally begin to cope. Maybe the fear of God is really just that… fear.
But the fear of God doesn’t end there. While being in the very presence of the Almighty evokes reverence and fear – unworthiness in the extreme – it is also the place where we experience the love and forgiveness of God.
And so the presence of God is a mix – it’s a fearful place where every bit of us is laid bare before the God of the universe who could obliterate us with a though; and yet it is the very place where, being laid bare, we are told that out sins are forgiven and have been cast into the depths of the sea.
Amazing.
On a lighter note… the quote of the day from last Sundays message: “Jesus has a passion for hurting people.”
It’s all on which word you emphasis.
Gary,
Well said. I’m gonna take a huge leap here and say the number one reason that most people have an unnatural relationship with God (and don’t fear Him) is because of crappy fathers. This country has gone fatherless. Guess what the number one focus for ministry is in most churches? Children Ministry. Guess what is second? High School. Guess what’s thirds? Women. Guess who’s last in most churches? Men. We are biblically backwards on this one. If men are truly the cornerstone of the family and our community then why aren’t we teaching them how to be one? If you want to fear God you must first have a positive example of a man to fear in your life. Otherwise, God isn’t familiar to us. Just my two cents!
I think part of the issue is that we don’t understand what “fearing the Lord” is. I grew up in a babtist denomination that taught you could loose your salvation. I was in constant terror of going one sin too far. I think in my early walk I was at the alter rededicating my life at least every other Sunday. It’s hard to have an intimate worshipful relationship with God when you are afraid of Him hurling lightning bolts at you.
One of the great works when I came to the E-V free chuch was an understanding of the difference between being afraid of God and the fear of the Lord. Fear of the the Lord is reverernce. Realizing He is God and we are not, and understanding as much as we can at our level of knowledge of Him what that means. I am mear human, yet by Gods unimaginable grace, I am given the priveledge of standing in His presence. So the question for my soul is do I comprehend that and do I treat that with the proper respect, what is my attitude?