T he church and worship BY M Makgalemele

1. The church and worshipBYM Makgalemele

2. Christian worship • James F. White observes: “Take away Christian worship, and it is hard to conceive of Christianity as long enduring.”1 If this be true of Christianity in general, it is certainly true of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in particular.

3. What is worship? • According to Webster's Dictionary, its verb form includes such synonyms as "esteem," "exalt," "revere," "glorify" and "respect." As a noun, it can encompass adoration, veneration, devotion, supplication and invocation. Its actual definition, though, is "reverence, honor or homage paid to God; ceremonies or services expressing such reverence." Worship thus includes both an attitude and the actions that accompany and are motivated by it.

4. Mmm? • Worship is homage consisting of both an attitude of deep respect, adoration, reverence and even awe and the activities designed to describe the position and worth of the One worshipped

5. Why worship? • The most basic answer is that He is the great and powerful Creator and we, the insignificant and weak creation. Therefore, we humble ourselves and submit. • Revelation 4:8-11 proclaims: The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!" Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created."

6. Is It a Requirement? • Philippians 2:9-10 says, however, "Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth.“

7. How did we get here? • After the flood. • Because the human desire to conform to what we admire and respect is so persuasive, we need to worship Him. This desire is so strong that, if we do not give it to Him, we will probably give it elsewhere • Nimrod was undoubtedly the most notorious man in the ancient world who is credited with instigating the Great Rebellion at Babel, and of founding the vs, astrology and even human sacrifice.

8. Examples of different gods • Nimurda, the Assyrian god of war • Marduk, the Babylonian king of the gods • Sumerian deity Amar-utu

9. Need for reverence • We Have More Reasons for Reverence Than the Hebrews.--It is too true that reverence for the house of God has become almost extinct. Sacred things and places are not discerned; the holy and exalted are not appreciated. Is there not a cause for the want of fervent piety in our families? Is it not because the high standard of religion is left to trail in the dust? God gave rules of order, perfect and exact, to His ancient people. Has His character changed? Is He not the great and mighty God who rules in the heaven of heavens? Would it not be well for us often to read the directions given by God Himself to the Hebrews, that we who have the light of the glorious truth shining upon us may imitate their reverence for the house of God? We have abundant reason . . . even to be more thoughtful and reverential in our worship than had the Jews. But an enemy has been at work to destroy our faith in the sacredness of Christian worship. {CG 541.1}

10. Should we be silent? • To Be Sober and Quiet.--Do not have so little reverence for the house and worship of God as to communicate with one another during the sermon. If those who commit this fault could see the angels of God looking upon them and marking their doings, they would be filled with shame and abhorrence of themselves. God wants attentive hearers. It was while men slept that the enemy sowed tares. {CG 542.2}

11. Dancing in the Bible • "We are called to be a godly people who think, feel, and act in harmony with the principles of heaven. . . This means that our . . . entertainment should meet the highest standards of Christian taste and beauty. . . . `Many of the amusements popular in the world today, even with those who claim to be Christians, tend to the same end as did those of the heathen. . . . Satan employs [the dance] to break down the barriers of principle and open the door to sensual indulgence.'--Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 459, 460. . . . • which tend to deaden and destroy the spiritual life."

12. Why did Moses get angry? • . . as he came near the camp, . . . he saw . . . dancing. So Moses' anger became hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain" Ex 32:19; NKJV • Moses chose rather to suffer "with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin" Heb 11:25 • "What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?" (Ex 32:21). Aaron understood the wickedness of dancing and idolatry. He responded, "You know the people, that they are set on evil" (v. 22). • How did God feel about this sin at Sinai? (v 33) 3000 died! ( I would rather walk my way into heaven than dance may into hell – Dance of death)

13. Our commondefence • Psalm 149:3 teaches us to worship God with dance. The verse says, "Let them praise his name in the dance" BUT Oxford University Press edition of the King James Version gives an alternate translation of the original. For with the dance it says, "or, with the pipe." Psalm 150:3-5 lists eight musical instruments which can be used to praise the Lord; the list includes the pipe if you take the marginal reference for "dance" in verse 4.

14. Continued • Then Masego what is pipe? • Any dictionary including the Seventh-day Adventist Bible Dictionary, Volume 8 of the Commentary series, and you will find that the pipe was probably a flute or a reed instrument. There is a lot of difference between praising God with dance and praising Him with a flute or shepherd's pipe. • Douay version of the Bible, which is translated from the Latin Vulgate, uses the word choir instead of dance in both Psalm 149:3 and Psalm 150:4. Translators may not agree on the exact word to use in these texts, but dance is not a correct translation. God does not contradict Himself.

15. What God you I worshiping? • to get off the mountain. He said, "For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves" (Ex 32:7). • Dancing corrupts, worshiping another gods corrupts. Are we going to corrupt ourselves by bringing dancing into our worship services?

16. White adds • "How often, in our own day, is the love of pleasure disguised by a `form of godliness'! A religion that permits men, while observing the rites of worship, to devote themselves to selfish or sensual gratification, is as pleasing to the multitudes now as in the days of Israel. And there are still pliant Aarons, who, while holding positions of authority in the church, will yield to the desires of the unconsecrated, and thus encourage them in sin" (Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 317).

17. Dancing at Jordan • "Invite them to a great festival," he suggested • "Beguiled by music and dancing" and beautiful women, God's people drank wine, committed adultery and bowed to idols (ibid.). A plague followed. And talk about a dance of death, Numbers 25:9 says, "Those who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand." Many others repented, and Moses led the people in battle with the Moabites. Balaam, who had promoted the whole wicked scheme, got caught in the battle and died (Num 31:8).

18. Cabarets in Bangkok • "I have made a covenant with my eyes; why then should I look upon a young woman?" (Job 31:1). David clinches it when he exclaims, "I will set nothing wicked before my eyes" (Ps 101:3). • "Cabarets were a direct descendant of the Thai ramwong dances found in almost every town and at every fair."3 The secular press sees dance as a factor in Thailand's prostitution problem.

19. "Who Is on the Lord's Side?" • Moses stopped the dancing at the foot of Mount Sinai. Then he asked the important question, "Who is on the Lord's side?" (see Ex 32:26) • "David's dancing in reverent joy before God has been cited by pleasure lovers in justification of the fashionable modern dance, but there is no ground for such an argument. . . . The music and dancing in joyful praise to God at the removal of the ark had not the faintest resemblance to the dissipation of modern dancing. The one tended to the remembrance of God and exalted His holy name. The other is a device of Satan to cause men to forget God and dishonor Him" (The Adventist Home, p. 517).

20. But I'm no Hebrew scholar • One verse in the King James Version describes David as "leaping and dancing before the Lord" (2 Sam 6:16). The word dancing may also mean whirling. I checked my New King James Version and here is what it says: "leaping and whirling before the Lord.“ • Describing the same incident, the King James Version uses "dancing" in 1 Chronicles 15:29. Strong's gives other meanings such as "spring about wildly or for joy; jump, leap, skip."

21. Today, we wait for Christ to come. • We can dance with the devil or rejoice with Jesus. It's our choice.

22. Kneeling to pray? Why is this important? • Invasion of psychology and sociology into the realm of church services, is slowly displacing God from the center of worship, making it more human-centered. • One of the more common words in the Old Testament for kneeling down is karac, which means "to bend one's knee, to bow down, to kneel down." In nonreligious contexts it is associated with the position of a woman during childbirth (1 Sam. 4:19) and with sexual activity (Job 31:10).

23. Continued • 1. An Expression of Honor and Submission: Fearing for his life, one of the captains sent by King Ahaziah to arrest Elijah "went up and fell on his knees" before the prophet, saying, "Man of God, . . . please have respect for my life and the life of these fifty men" (2 Kings 1:13). • 2. A Symbol of Defeat: When individuals were mortally wounded they collapsed on bended knees, falling and dying (Judges 5:27; 2 Kings 9:24). The psalmist praises the Lord because his adversaries "bow at my feet" (Ps. 18:39). The prayer of the righteous is that God may cause the adversary to bow/kneel down defeated by the Lord (Ps. 17:13). The idea of defeat is clearly expressed in Psalm 20:7, 8: "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm."

24. Continued • 3. An Expression of Adoration: Prayer to God is most often made standing, but there are cases in which people knelt to pray and to worship the Lord (2 Chron. 7:3; 29:29; Ezra 9:5; Eph. 3:14). Kneeling before the Lord is a voluntary act of honor, submission, and adoration. The psalmist invites us to "bow down in worship," to "kneel before the Lord our Maker" (Ps. 95:6). • But in worship something wonderful happens. By kneeling down we are, in fact, voluntarily returning our lives to the Lord, acknowledging Him to be the very source and ground of our being, the Creator (cf. Acts 7:59, 60).

25. Kneeling? • The next time you kneel in worship you are in fact making the nonverbal statement "Lord, here is my life; it is Yours. Take it and use me as You please."      Shall we kneel?

27. And Now, a Round of Applause • the Lord said to Moses, "By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; and before all the people I must be glorified" (Lev 10:3 NKJV). • We must magnify, not decrease, the difference between the holy and the unholy, the clean and the unclean (see Ezek 22:26). • Hand clapping, as innocuous as it appears to some, is letting the camel's nose of secular influence into the church. Shouting, whistling, and foot stomping have not yet arrived, but can they be far behind?

28. The Entertainment Quotient • What are we trying to accomplish by clapping? Is it to give praise and adulation to the per-formers? If so, we have defeated the purpose of worship, which is to give honor and praise to God. • “A quiet place, far from the rapid pace, where God can soothe my troubled mind."1It seems reasonable that the church should be that place, and not a kind of Sabbath theater.

29. The Music Makes Them Do It • . People applaud what they instinctively recognize as "gospel entertainment"--a term used without embarrassment by many in "music ministry" today. • I have yet to hear any group of worshipers applaud the singing of "The Lord's Prayer" or "Just as I Am," although I'm not ready to rule out the possibility.

30. Shades of Pentecostalism? • Early Adventism we find several instances of individuals who went beyond shouting and clapping; they were "prostrated" by the Spirit and "slain by the power of God" (Spiritual Gifts, 2:27, 221). Ellen G. White even seems to have approved of these demonstrations at the time • "With some, religious exercises mean little more than a good time. When their feelings are aroused, they think they are greatly blessed. . . . The intoxication of excitement is the object they are seeking; and if they do not obtain this, they suppose they are all wrong, or that someone else is all wrong" (Selected Messages, 2:21).

31. Continued • Seventh-day Adventists historically have chosen the path of calm reason and quiet joy so that the world might see us as "an intelligent, thinking people, whose faith is based on a surer foundation than the bedlam of confusion" (ibid., p. 24). • "In our speaking, our singing, and in all our spiritual exercises, we are to reveal that calmness and dignity and godly fear that actuates every true child of God. There is constant danger of allowing something to come into our midst that we may regard as the workings of the Holy Spirit, but that in reality is the fruit of a spirit of fanaticism. . . . I am afraid of it; I am afraid of it" (ibid., p. 43)

32. Dealing an Uneven Hand • And if Heaven approves clapping at all, my guess is it would be for a struggling soul who has gained the victory over some besetting sin, or someone who has come through a great trial of suffering and loss with a triumphant spirit. In such cases, I can hear Jesus saying, "Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!" (Luke 15:6).

33. An Intoxicating Wine • I have found no instances where it is used in a positive sense. She speaks of people "panting" for applause, of those who "seek more earnestly the applause of those around them than the approbation of God," of some who "receive applause for virtues which they do not possess," and of some whom applause stimulates much as "the glass of wine does the inebriate" (Testimonies for the Church, 4:375; Early Writings, p. 107; Testimonies for the Church, 2:512; 3:185, 186).

34. Everybody Clap? • But what about the Bible references? At first glance, the Bible might seem to be on the pro-applause side. It speaks of the "trees of the field" clapping their hands in joy at the deliverance of Israel (Isa 55:12), and the rivers clapping their hands in anticipation of the coming of the Lord to judge the earth (Ps 98:8, 9). Second Kings 11:12 says the people "clapped their hands" during the coronation ceremonies of King Joash.

35. Continued • The only reference to hand clapping in connection with worship is Psalm 47:1, 2: "Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples! Shout to God with the voice of triumph! For the Lord Most High is awesome; He is a great King over all the earth.“ • And in any case, we can say with certainty that hand clapping did not come into the Seventh-day Adventist church as the result of a prayerful search of the Bible and Mrs. White's writings. It came, rather, as so many things have, out of "a desire to pattern after other churches" (Selected Messages, 2:18).

36. A divider • Hand clapping is one of several elements in worship that divide us. We need to come together and resolve the issue with prayer and study and much humility of spirit. • "If all the proud and vainglorious, whose hearts are panting for the applause of men and for distinction above their fellows, could rightly estimate the value of the highest earthly glory in contrast with the value of the Son of God, rejected, despised, spit upon, by the very ones whom He came to redeem, how insignificant would appear all the honor that finite man can bestow" (Testimonies for the Church, 4:375).

37. The Foolishness of Preaching Vs. the Preaching of Foolishness • "My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. . . . Now why go to Egypt to drink water from the Shihor? And why go to Assyria to drink water from the River?" (Jer 2:13, 18, NIV). • The apostle Paul refers to the method as the foolishness of preaching (1 Cor 1:21).

38. Why We "Don't See Anything Wrong" • 1. Desperation • 2. Weak Church Leaders. • 3. Denial of Faith. • 4. Lack of Conversion.

39. Desperation • "the Bible and the Bible only," • Our identity as God's "remnant" church makes us complacent instead of inspiring us to fulfill our divine mission to the world. We assert repeatedly that "we have the truth," but very often the truth does not have us. • Instead of our worship being reverently vibrant, it tends to be either dull and sterile or emotional and superficial. • Parents and teachers, in sheer desperation to hold them in the fold, encourage every worldly fad, even if it means importing "gospel rock," "gospel clowns," or "gospel magicians" into the church.

40. Continued • forms of worship and outreach are incompatible with biblical Christianity • fact, we share the same worldly values and do practically nothing for the Lord. On the other hand, our children and students want to be active in the church. But the only way they know how is through different forms of worldly idolatry.

41. Weak Church Leaders. • Unfortunately, some of us pastors and church leaders are sometimes to blame for the introduction of gospel gimmicks into church. • We seldom preach Bible-based messages. With hazy preaching and teachings paralyzed by uncertainty, our churches are dying. • We find it easier to jump on the bandwagon of what is new instead of courageously holding on to what is true

42. Denial of Faith. • Some of us have embraced liberal higher criticism. • Although we may accept some aspects of our faith, such as the Sabbath and “our health principles”, in the honesty of our hearts we do not see the uniqueness of our message, the distinctiveness of our identity, the end-time dimension of our hope, and the urgency of our mission.

43. Lack of Conversion • Perhaps, unknown even to ourselves, we have never been fully converted. • Our tastes and affections are still in the world. We are honest when we say that we see nothing wrong with these biblically-questionable innovations • “A contemporary church program that meets the needs of our generation." We don't realize that the god of this world has blinded us (see 2 Cor 4:4). Without a true conversion, there is no hope of changing our minds against the use of worldly methods in worship or evangelism.

44. Worldly Entertainment • (1) Worldly methods trivialize the message; • (2) Worldly methods are contrary to biblical teaching.

45. Worldly methods trivialize the message • we trivialize and cheapen the importance of the message when we adopt the world's entertainment methods to communicate the truth • If it is true that rock music (disguised as praise music and praise dancing) is the most effective medium to reach young people today, why is it that math teachers and chemistry professors don't set their classes to heavy-beat and hip-swinging music? Why don't politicians employ clowns and illusionists to present their political messages? • (1 Jn 2:15-16).

46. Continued • Jesus did not use the gimmicks of entertainment to proclaim his Sermon on the Mount. On the day of Pentecost, Peter did not set up a drum set or ask Mary to lead out in praise dancing to announce the resurrection of Jesus and His enthronement in heaven. And Paul did not persuade people on Mars Hill using gospel magicians.

47. Contrary to Scripture • It is a mistake for us to think that the world will embrace our message when we use worldly methods. The New Testament tells us that when Christ came to the world, "the world knew him not" (Jn 1:10), for He was "not of this world" (Jn 8:23). What makes us believe that we can succeed where Christ failed? • The apostles also taught that "friendship with the world is hatred toward God" (Jas 4:4) and that the world "pollutes" the believer (cf. 1:27).

48. What God wants • Divine worship is not to be conceived as a form of religious entertainment in which the action takes place “up in front,” and the congregation remains passive.

49. Continued • In harmony with Revelation 14:6-7, authentic Adventist worship is decidedly theocentric. Whereas anthropocentric worship encourages unrestrained emotionalism, theocentric worship produces the conviction of Isaiah: “I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty” (Isa 6:5)

50. Worshipers Identified • True end-time worshipers of God (Rev 14:1-5) is found between the final persecuting scenes of Revelation 13:11-17 and the call to worship in Revelation 14:6-7. • The sound of praise they make is like the orchestrated blend of the melodious harp, an instrument uniquely adapted to the praise of God (Pss 149:3; 150:3).